Sow Integrity, Reap Kindness

Sow integrity for yourselves, reap a harvest of kindness, break up your fallow ground: it is time to go seeking the Lord...
Hosea 10:12

Hosea is calling the people of Israel back from their idolatry and preoccupation with wealth.  The antidote to these distractions? Integrity and kindness.

Preoccupation with acquiring wealth.  Hmm... some things never change in human nature. But, if the sin hasn't changed then neither has the antidote.

From the dictionary:
Integrity n.   adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. 
Kind       a.   of a good or benevolent nature.

Today I embrace honesty and goodness of nature as my hallmarks.  Simple words that lead to a radical lifestyle.

Lord Jesus, You are the ultimate example of integrity and kindness.  Send me Your Spirit today to help me embrace these virtues.
Little Flower who embodied integrity and kindness, please pray for me.

God of Love

When that day comes – it is the Lord who speaks – she will call me, ‘My husband’, no longer will she call me, ‘My Baal.’ I will betroth you to myself for ever.
Hosea 2:16-19

Hosea prophesies the restoration of Israel.  He speaks of a time when there will be conversation of heart and a re-flaming of the passion of first love.  The worship in fear of false gods will be replaced by a relationship of spousal love and faithfulness.

I live in an age where "Baals", false gods, are are worshipped all around me.  The temptation is always there to worship wealth, power, status, appearance, even health. These gods demand that I fight for them. They are competitive gods that pit me against my brothers and sisters.   There is no peace in them.

But what a beautiful alternative is placed before me this morning.  I'm invited again into a relationship with my living, loving God; a relationship based on loving tenderness, mercy, faithfulness and sacrifice.  The love of my God motivates me to love my brothers and sisters.  Peace flows like a river.

I walk into this day knowing I am loved by God and with a love to demonstrate to others.

Lord Jesus, You are Love.  Drench me today in Your love that it may flow through me to the people I meet today.

Little Flower, Saint John the Apostle of love,  please pray for me.

New Wineskin

Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; if they do, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and the skins are lost. No; they put new wine into fresh skins and both are preserved.’
Mt.9:17

John's disciples see something new in Jesus and His ministry and and start asking why.  Part of Jesus' reply is to do with timing (...the time will come) and part is to do with content (...new cloth ...new wine).  Everything about Jesus is new.  This newness needs a fresh perspective, a new approach... a new wine-skin.

Today is my fifty-eighth birthday. Sometimes I find myself treating my faith a bit like a comfortable old jersey.  It fits, it's snug, it's familiar, it has no surprises.  This happens when my prayer-life is slack and my relationship with Jesus has drifted.  The flame of my first-love has dwindled and I'm in cruise mode.

It's time to throw away the old jersey and put on the new cloak ready for the new cloth.  It's time to get out the new wine-skin with an expectancy that new wine is about to flow ...today!

Lord Jesus, You are new every morning.  Rekindle in me the fire of my first love with You.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

By Your Word Give Me Life

Keep my eyes from what is false; by your word, give me life.
See, I long for your precepts; then in your justice, give me life.

Ps.119:37,40

The first reading from the Second Book of Kings tells of the Law of the Lord being rediscovered by King Josiah.  Psalm 119 is a powerful discourse on the beauty of God's Word that could well have been sung by King Josiah as he rededicates himself and all the people to the Word of God.

This morning is my first Bible study for some weeks, and I've missed it.  Busyness has led to late nights and late mornings.  It's good to reconnect with God in His Word.

Father, thank you for Your inspired Word.  They are for me, life!
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Most of the Most

Jesus called his disciples and said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in everything she possessed, all she had to live on.’
Mk.12:43,44

Jesus observes people placing their offerings in the temple treasury box.  He singles out the lowest of the low giving the least of the least saying she has given the most of the most.  Jesus' value system is different from the world's.

To be a widow in Jesus' time was bad enough.  To be a poor widow placed you firmly at the bottom of the heap.  Yet, after Jesus' proclamation of her generosity, you just know where she is going to be placed in the Kingdom of God.  It's what's in my heart that impresses Jesus, not what's in my show.

Attitude is everything, circumstance is nothing.  Each time I compare myself with my neighbour, I'm comparing my show.  Today I work on generosity of heart.

Lord Jesus.  You know how fixated I can become on the external.  Help me be fixated on the condition of my heart.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Eternal Life

He is God, not of the dead, but of the living.
Mk.12:27

The Sadducees, who denied there is a resurrection, set a question to Jesus to discredit Him and prove their own theology.  Jesus demonstrates from the Torah that rising from the dead has always been God's plan for mankind.  The resurrection is a promise Jesus is very strong on as He knew He was to be the first of many to experience it.

Belief in the resurrection puts my life in right perspective.  As good as this life is, it's not all there is.  The resurrection makes sense of the pain and suffering of this life, it is insignificant when compared to the glories that await.  As C S Lewis writes in the last page of The Last Battle, the final book in the  Chronicles of Narnia, "all that had happened before was just the title page to their great story that was about to begin".  What a wonderful promise I can carry into my day.

Thank you Lord Jesus for the promise of eternal life with You.  On this sure promise I place my hope today.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

God's First

‘Why do you set this trap for me? Hand me a denarius and let me see it.’ They handed him one and he said, ‘Whose head is this? Whose name?’ ‘Caesar’s’ they told him. Jesus said to them, ‘Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.’ This reply took them completely by surprise.

Mk.12:15-17

Jesus has been set a trick question by the Scribes and Pharisees to try and discredit him.  Jesus identifies their hypocrisy and steps over their trap, giving a truth to live by in the process.  We are to pay our dues to the world and to God.

There is a tension created when I recognise I am living in the world but trying to follow God.  The "Caesars" of the world can be tyrants and despots busy creating anything but the Kingdom of God.  Yet Jesus recognises my dilemma, saying it is not being disloyal to him by paying my dues to the world.  I am in the world but not of it as long as I also pay my dues to God.  As Saint Thomas Moore famously said before his execution by Henry the Eighth, "I am the King's good servant but God's first".

Lord Jesus, I want to be an honourable and authentic witness for You today.  Help me always put You first as I be a good servant today.

Saint Thomas Moore, please pray for me.