An Advent Prayer

On this second day of Advent, I am pondering E. Stanley Jones' description of "generic Man":

Man needs nothing so much as he needs something to bring life together into total meaning and total goal. . . . He is being pushed and pulled and beckoned to, enticed and bludgeoned from all directions.  He is being pushed from relativism to relativism.  He is confused--the most confused and yet the most intelligent person that ever existed.  He knows everything about life, except how to live it. (The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person, 11)

To what extent does that describe me and my life?  How often do I go through life like a ball in a pinball machine which is flipped into motion through the efforts of others and which then bounces off bump cushions at random angles?

Lord Jesus, during this season of Advent, help me to me more purposeful and more thoughtful.  When I am interrupted, help me to realize that you are the Master of my days and hours just as you were the Lord of Water and Wave.  Help me not to fribble away my time but to invest it for your Kingdom and Glory.  Amen.

The Talmud and The Bible

This morning I read in The Oregonian about an Israeli rabbi, Adin Steinsaltz, who, after 45 years, has completed his 45-volume translation and commentary of the Babylonian Talmud. The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism, in the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history.

I was amazed by this Rabbi's devotion to his task. It illustrates well what Eugene Peterson calls "a long obedience in the same direction."

A little later this morning, I was doing some devotional reading and came across the following story of a learned Jewish man who went to visit a "rebbe" (a Yiddish word for "rabbi" or a very wise leader).

The scholar was no longer a young man--he was close to 30--but he had never before visited a rebbe.
"What have done all your life?" the master asked him.
"I have gone through the whole of the Talmud three times," answered the learned man.
"Yes, but how much of the Talmud has gone through you?" the rebbe inquired.

                                                               (Gordon MacDonald, The Life God Blesses, 70)

So what is God saying to me today?  As a follower of Jesus, what am I supposed to "get" out of the convergence of these stories about the Talmud and the rabbis?  Maybe that it's not enough for me to read the Bible. If my reading and devotional activities don't change me, then I've missed the point. Isn't that why the Apostle Paul said "Christ in you is the hope of glory"?  We all need to be changed from the inside out. 

On Being Influenced and Being Influencers

Those people who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us and talk to us, but those who lived their lives like the stars of heaven and the lilies in the field, perfect, simply, and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold us.

Oswald Chambers

On Reading the Bible

I am convinced that how we read scripture is as important as what we read. Do we read quickly or slowly? Sporadically or regularly? With reluctance or eagerness?

Do we read only for inspiration or for confirmation of what we already believe? Or do we read to be challenged and to expose our own weaknesses and flaws?

This morning I read from Psalm 28. Portions of it--the verses that previously encouraged or spoke to me--already were highlighted. Verse 3 was not marked because it's pretty negative . . . but it's the verse that spoke to me this morning.

"Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts."

I wondered, "How often do I do that?" Pastors are taught to maintain their cool and to always speak--and act--cordially, even when they may be seething inside. Given that training, then, it is especially tempting to speak cordially with a neighbor but to harbor malice in my heart. And even when I'm not harboring malice, surely a hidden, condescending attitude toward someone is not what God would want.

So I praise you today, O God, for the "unhighlighted" parts of my Bible, the parts that I don't always like and the parts that still search my heart for hidden sin.