Month: May 2021

Psalm 130:1 – Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
²     Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.

³ If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
⁶ I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.

⁷ Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
⁸ He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins. (NIV)

There are a number of Psalms that are called ‘penitential psalms’.  Psalm 130 is one of those psalms.  The penitential psalms stress repentance and forgiveness of sins.  Scholars also note that Psalm 130 was most likely one of the psalms that was written during the time of Babylonian captivity.  Sin and captivity – the two are certainly related.  The Jews believed that their sin as a people led to their captivity.  Likewise, our sinful behavior will hold us captive, as well.

Out of their depth of captivity (verse 1), they cried out to the Lord.  Whether we recognize it or not, this is humanity’s plea.  Humanity’s search for fulfillment – which often leads to sin – can only be found in the one who can forgive sin.  Our forgiveness can only be found in the one who, if we were left to stand upon our own merit, we could not stand before (verse 3).

The psalmist, speaking for those held captive, was waiting for the Lord (verse 6).  The Good News is that our wait is over!  In verse eight the psalmist looked forward to the time of redemption, and we know that that time has come, redemption has come through Jesus our Lord.

While this is a powerful psalm, I am drawn to verse four: “But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.”  This verse speaks to the age old question of the relationship between works and forgiveness.  We don’t work to receive forgiveness, for our sin does not deserve forgiveness.  We work – we serve – because we are freely offered forgiveness!  Verse four speaks to this – forgiveness is given and then we are free to serve.  Our service to the Lord is our loving response to the free gift of salvation.

Today, let us give thanks and praises to the Lord who forgives!  Let us thank God in tangible ways, as well – through loving service to our Lord. 

Posted by Ramón Torres

John 6:53 – Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. (NIV)

Our reading for today has some very difficult words from Jesus.  Modern Christians are troubled by the imagery that Jesus’ words suggest.  However, I think if we understand them in the context of his day, we will still find them difficult! 

For a person of that culture to say something like, ‘unless you eat my flesh’, was an idiom.  An idiom is a saying that has a different meaning than what it appears on the surface.  For example, we know of the horrible events of People’s Temple led by Jim Jones.  We know of the mass suicide of nearly 1000 people.  We know that they drank Kool-Aid laced with cyanide.  As horrible as the root of the saying is, today when one is talking about being fully committed, they may say, “I drank the Kool-Aid”.  Drinking the Kool Aid means an all out commitment.

Likewise, Jesus was calling for an all out commitment.  In Jesus’ day, eating one’s flesh meant an all out commitment.  It meant that you took upon yourself the very same life of the other – the one whose flesh you would eat.  We spiritualize this saying of Jesus as we connect it to Holy Communion.  That is a good connection, but the saying truly meant an all out commitment.

Jesus is calling for us to make an all out commitment.  The body and blood of Jesus represent to us a sacrifice, and when we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we are committing ourselves to live sacrificially. We are committing ourselves to living like Jesus lived, and to love like Jesus loves.

Today, let us reaffirm our commitment to live sacrificially.  Let us live and love as Jesus.

Posted by Ramón Torres

John 12:20 – Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. (NIV)

Today we encounter some strong words from Jesus.  Jesus speaks of dying, losing our life, and hating our life.  What can all of this mean?  After all, Jesus told us in John 10:10 that he had come to give us a satisfying life, and now Jesus says we must hate our life.  Does Jesus contradict himself?

It basically comes down to what are we living for? Each of us can have a satisfying life, but we will not find that satisfaction in the things of this world.  A death is required to find satisfaction – a death to this world.  The Apostle Paul spoke of this dying to the world (sin) in Romans 6:2-4: “We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Our satisfying life – a life of peace – begins when we die to the world and live for Christ.  This is what Jesus is talking about when he says:  “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (verse 25).  Hating our life is turning from worldly ways and desires, and so eternal life actually begins now.  When we turn from our worldly ways and desires, we then follow Christ, and will be where Jesus is (verse 26).

We will be tempted this day, and every day, to love the things of this world more than God.  It is a constant battle, but a battle that can get easier as we persevere in following Jesus.  Today, let us be steadfast in dying to the world and living for Christ!

Posted by Ramón Torres

Psalm 57:1 – Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me,
for in you I take refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings
until the disaster has passed.

² I cry out to God Most High,
to God, who vindicates me.
³ He sends from heaven and saves me,
rebuking those who hotly pursue me,
God sends forth his love and his faithfulness.

⁴ I am in the midst of lions;
I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—
men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp swords.

⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.

⁶ They spread a net for my feet —
I was bowed down in distress.
They dug a pit in my path—
but they have fallen into it themselves.

⁷ My heart, O God, is steadfast,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make music.
⁸ Awake, my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.

⁹ I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
¹⁰ For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth. (NIV) 

Before I became a pastor, I was a park ranger.  Naturally, I spent a lot of time outdoors.  I also had a lot of experience with wild animals.  Of all my experiences with wild animals, I was only attacked once.  Now, you might be thinking that it was by something exciting like a bear or a mountain lion.  Well, believe it or not, the only animal that ever attacked me was a Ruffed Grouse.  A Ruffed Grouse is woodland bird that as an adult weighs in around two pounds!  The attack happened one day when I was hiking through the woods and walked too close to the mama Grouse’s clutch of chicks. Mama Grouse was relentless!  Over and over again she would fly towards my face with her talons extended.  Needless to say, I backtracked at double speed! 

I share this story because ever since that day, the opening verse of this psalm has held for me a special meaning: “I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.”  I used to think this verse quite strange – just how safe could the shadow of wings actually be?  Well, I found out that they can be a very safe place for baby birds!

The psalmist must have known something of the protective nature of a mother bird, for he used the imagery to convey God’s protective nature.  Have you ever stopped to consider that God wants to protect us from danger?  God is not only faithful to us, God is fiercely loyal, and has gone to great lengths to protect us from evil.  God has given us God’s Word to guide and teach us, as well as God’s Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth (John 16:13). To seal our victory over death, God has even given us a Savior through Jesus!

Today, let us give thanks for refuge in the shadow of God’s wings!

Posted by Ramón Torres

1 Peter 1:13 – So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. ¹⁴ So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. ¹⁵ But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. ¹⁶ For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

¹⁷ And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” ¹⁸ For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. ¹⁹ It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. ²⁰ God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.

²¹ Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. ²² You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. ²³ For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. ²⁴ As the Scriptures say,

“People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
²⁵     But the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And that word is the Good News that was preached to you. (NLT)

Many Christians have some difficulty understanding the concept of salvation through faith alone.  Most Christians profess to believe in it, but when you get them talking, they really aren’t so certain.  Is salvation a gift, or do we have to do certain things in order to earn it?  Passages such as the reading for today may make the water a little muddier for some, so let’s take a closer look.

In this passage, we encounter some things that we ought to be doing: exercising self control (verse 13); living as obedient children and not living only to satisfy our own desires (verse 14); being holy in everything we do (verse 15); showing sincere and deep love for one another (verse 22).  All that would seem well and good, except that Peter says the following: “He will judge or reward you according to what you do” (verse 17). Will God really judge us according to what we do?  Didn’t Jesus pay the price for salvation for us by dying on the cross?  Are not our sins paid in full?

We encounter numerous different writers throughout the New Testament, and each writer had a particular emphasis for his intended audience.  Most of the letters in the New Testament were written to particular churches, and those particular churches may have had questions about particular subjects.  Many of the people to whom Paul wrote were struggling to believe that Jesus really paid for all of their sins.  So, in those letters, Paul stresses that salvation is free.  Some letters were written to churches in which some people believed that since they knew about Jesus paying for their sins, that meant that they could live however they wanted.  In those letters, we find an emphasis on holy living.  1 Peter is one such letter. 

Salvation is free, and Jesus really did pay for our sins.  However, faith in Jesus should not just be faith in some future event (eternal life).  Jesus spent much of his ministry teaching us how to live, love, and to forgive.  If we really have faith in Jesus for some future event, then we should have faith in Jesus’ teachings about daily life, and our faith in those teachings should be evident in our daily lives.  In the end, our actions will reflect whether or not we really had faith in Jesus.

Will we be perfect, and will we always be holy?  Certainly not, but there should be a difference in the way we lived before we had ‘saving faith’ and the way we lived after coming to such faith.  In verse twenty-three, Peter reminds us that we have been born again.  This new birth should be evidenced by new life.  Our actions really do speak louder than our words.  Today, let’s be sure to put our faith in Jesus into practice so that our actions speak loud and clear! 

Posted by Ramón Torres