Short devotion: Step Back - 1 Corinthians 13:4-6

 

1 Corinthians 13:4-6 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. (NRSV)

 

One of the great sadnesses that I have noticed about this prolonged pandemic has been the lack of love that is constantly missing when people argue about their personal choices. It’s far easier to berate and ridicule our opponents, just like those who mocked Christ on the Cross, rather than have a healthy conversation to exchange fruitful ideas which may get us nearer to solving and ending this crisis. Perhaps if we as Christians were to apply Paul’s teaching about love not insisting on its own way, we might be able to combine our focus and strength to get us out of this pandemic pit. Sadly, however, if we keep attacking one another, we’ll be continually divided and eventually conquered by a coronavirus which doesn’t care about our personal freedom, faith, or notions.

 

I believe that this is one of the moments in history when the Church could make a substantial and crucial difference by showing love and helping folks to care for one another. If we become consumed by our internal divisions, then we’ll be guilty of burying the talents of faith, hope, and love which Christ has given to us. If we pander only to those who are like-minded, then we’ll be ignoring the empathetic compassion that Jesus urged His disciples to display when He told us to love one another. This is not an individual option either; it’s a personal command from Christ.

 

So, let’s all step back from the lines in the sand that we have drawn by honestly reflecting on Christ’s love and what it means to be a Christian. Let’s take time to reconsider what our faith is, and to whom we can effectively and lovingly share it. The world is broken right now – Christ’s Church can do much to repair it.

 

Prayer: Lord God, You know us fully and Your Son expects much of us. Challenge our ways and misconceptions. Fill us with love, instead of pride; grant us compassion and teach us to be humble.  Heal us of all that would harm us and help us to be whole. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

 

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to see what the church is doing, check out its website at www.erinpres.org.

 

Short devotion: Wise Words - Ephesians 4:31-32

 

Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (NIV)

 If ever we needed some wise words from God, we sure do need these today.

 There’s too much division and rancor among us, presently. Instead applying grace to restore goodness, we nurse our wrath and spit out our anger. We live in stressful times because we have created them with our suspicion and anxiety, our conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated misgivings. We forget too easily that faith is the remedy to what we fear and that love is how we should show our faith. If we’re too busy complaining about other folks and too focused on maintaining our point of view, we’ll miss the bigger picture that God sees: the diverse beauty of humanity.

 We are all finite beings and only have a certain number of days to live on Earth. As we grow older, we can sometimes mistake our mortality for the end of the world. Even though many generations have come and gone before us, we may delude ourselves into thinking that we’re living in the end times. We’re not – we’re just approaching the end of our own lives which can be hard to accept, so we interpret our existential crisis as being the end of everything we cherish. We find it hard to think that the world will go on without us, so we live in fear and doubt, instead of dwelling on the love and grace of God which are boundless and endure forever. If, instead of fretting, we place our existence into the hands of God, He takes away our futility and makes this life-long journey meaningful which is why God encourages us to ‘be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.’

 Q: What am I afraid of most? How can faith diminish my fear?

 Prayer: Lord Jesus, lead us with Your love and help us to share Your grace. In Your Sacred Name, we pray. Amen.

 

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.

 Today’s image is John’s latest drawing called “Breakthrough.”

Only A Youth - Jeremiah 1:7

Jeremiah 1:7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you.” (NRSV)

            Ever since the tragic Parkland massacre, High School students in the United States have been at the forefront of our daily news. Our young people are gravely concerned about the violence in our nation and want to make changes. Their voice is raw with intense feeling and their statements are unfettered by any cultural niceties or social courtesy. They feel insecure and outraged; they express a strong desire to make a difference, so that their generation can live in a more peaceable world and a less intolerant one. They are determined not to let this moment pass away, so they are showing a high amount of solidarity which may eventually define this upcoming generation.

            Sadly, some people are dismissing their views because they are young and inexperienced in the ways of the world. There is a pushback against any proposed changes to our current laws and some folks are even disparaging the sincerity of the young people, accusing them of being political foils for clandestine groups. I find this difficult to accept because I’ve watched and listened to these young people on all sorts of different occasions, but I guess those who falsely promoted the Sandy Hook conspiracy theories are jumping on the same cynical bandwagon once more.

            When God chose Jeremiah to be a prophet to his generation, Jeremiah pushed back against God’s choice because he thought he was too young. He couldn’t see himself as being effective because of his age and inexperience, so he tried to get God to change His mind and pick someone else. But, as always, God knew what He was doing. He needed someone to be the voice of prophecy for an entire generation, someone who had decades of life ahead of him. God was enlisting Jeremiah’s youthful zeal to a prophetic call that would constantly challenge God’s people for many years. In other words, God knew what He was doing when He appointed Jeremiah to the role of prophecy. No matter how young he was initially, God would use Jeremiah’s voice for justice and mercy, truth and change; perhaps He is still doing this with our own High Schoolers today.

Point to ponder

What kind of world do I want young people to live in? Am I willing to help them accomplish this?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, when You were a teenager, You asked many questions in the Temple which amazed the elders and priests who heard You. Your life challenged traditional values and contemporary customs. You came to both save and change the world. Allow us to continue Your ministry in our communities, so that we may make this planet a more peaceable and less fearful place. In Your Holy Name, we earnestly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment or ask questions about today’s devotion, please send him an email to Traqair@aol.com.

Today’s image is one of John’s drawings of a Celtic Peace Cross with the Liturgical colors surrounding it. If you would like to view a larger version, please click this link: Peace.