In Spirit and Truth

"Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." - Psalm 86:11 For all his flaws, King David understood the heart of God. I think that if I had written this psalm, it would have read, "Tell me your plan, O Lord, and I will get there any way I can; give me the all the details so the future won’t be such a frightening prospect." But David knew that if he had the whole picture, he would likely miss the point. And just what is the point? We follow God, not to get somewhere, but to be something. God, I think, is much more interested in journey than in the destination. God is more concerned with who we are, than with where we are. Often times we get caught up with what task or to which position God may be leading us — should we stay with this job, or move to another — when God is trying to lead us into a certain character quality or attitude, and he may be able to use either physical location to achieve his

"Though [God] slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face." - Job 13:15 Job knew something of which we are often ignorant. The most important things in our lives depend on our choices. We often degrade love, forgiveness, and worship to simple emotional responses. But if these things were merely emotional, then they would be very fickle responses indeed. We would only love those who loved us in return. We would only forgive those who groveled enough to satiate our anger, and we would only worship a God who continually brought us good things. If these were based solely on our emotions, it would also make God something of a tyrant! God has commanded us to love one another, to forgive one another, and to worship the Lord, our God, and serve him only! If we could not choose to do these, but could only love, forgive, and worship as an emotional response, then God would have commanded something of us that we could not give. But, I believe that Job was

"The zeal for Your house will consume me" John 2:17 In this age of Wal-mart, we all know what it means to consume. We know that the reason Wal-mart exists is because when we buy things, we use them. When we use things, we lose them. When we lose things, we need more things! And we know that when something is consumed, it is used up, and is no longer useful. Isn't that the point of consuming? But what if something could be consumed, and yet retain its properties? What if something could be assimi-lated and yet retain autonomy? When God consumes something, it continues to be useful after consumption! In John 4:13-14 Jesus talks about consuming living water and never thirsting again; in Exodus 3:2, fire engulfs the bush, and yet the bush doesn't burn up; and in Acts 2, the Spirit of God envelopes the disci-ples and they become more useful than ever. But why does it matter? How does this effect us? Simply this, the Spirit of God wants to consume us. God is never satisfie

Almost three years ago, shortly after my wedding, I lost half of my closet. Those of you who are married know how lucky I am to have more than a fourth of it. One day I walked into my closet, and realized that I could no longer find anything. It had all moved. I learned that "off-season" clothes go under the bed in a specialized zippered bag. I learned that I didn't really need the space that I had grown accustomed to. All of my necessities could actually fit in a much smaller space. And honestly, it was quite easy for me to relinquish control of that closet (and many other areas of the house.) It was easy, because I was delighted with what was occupying the space. It was easy because the space vacated by my "winter overflow" is now occupied with dresses, skirts, and blouses. Every time I look in the closet, I am reminded that I am loved. The space that I gave away is nothing in comparison to what I gained. As we enter the sanctuary each Sunday morning, we are i

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." —Matthew 6:19-21 These days the word treasure isn't bandied about very often. Perhaps you've seen your treasure eaten away by the moths in the financial systems. Perhaps a Bernie Madoff or two broke in and stole it. Whatever the case may be, treasure seems in rare supply. However, there are important lessons to be gleaned from this scripture, especially in these times when we can't afford for our treasure to be corrupted or stolen. Someone once told me that their philosophy of investing was to invest in companies that interested them. If they shopped at Krispy Kreme, then they would buy stock in Krispy Kreme. If they shopped at Wal-Mart, they would invest in Wal-Mar