Covering and Calling

June 6

(Isaiah 6:1-9 NIV)  "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. {2} Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. {3} And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." {4} At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. {5} "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." {6} Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. {7} With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." {8} Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

With God’s covering comes a calling. We were not saved just for our benefit. We were saved to serve God’s purposes. When Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses”, it was more than just a prediction... it was both a promise and a command. God saved us, in order to send us. He sent Jesus to us, and now, Jesus sends us to others. Among men, “Go”, may be Christ’s most neglected single word command. Christ reveals himself to us and then commands us to reveal Him to others. Do not shirk or ignore this calling. Not all of us are called to go across the sea, but we all can certainly go across the street. Everyone, everywhere, has been sent to someone, somewhere. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will do what I command.” Do you love the Lord? Do what he says. Go! Be his witness. Take His name to someone else today. You’ve been sent! -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day

Putting God Off

June 5

(Luke 14:15-24 NIV)  "When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." {16} Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. {17} At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' {18} "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' {19} "Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' {20} "Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.' {21} "The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' {22} "'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' {23} "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. {24} I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'""

(James 4:13-17 NIV)  "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." {14} Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. {15} Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." {16} As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. {17} Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

If Wal-Mart announced today that they were giving away digital widescreen TVs, you would not be able to get into their parking lot. People would flock to the store. There would be fist fights for a better place in line and blood would be spilled -- all to get something that will be obsolete in less than ten years. But when God offers eternal life for free, people say, “Well, I might get around to it someday -- I’m not ready yet. Maybe tomorrow I’ll look into it.” The problem is, tomorrow never comes for most people. They never do get around to Jesus. The Lord must sometimes wonder if he messed up when creating the human brain. We’ll do violence for something that will soon be thrown into a dumpster… but we’re apathetic about the one thing that will last for eternity and bring us unending pleasure. We are indeed, very strange creatures! -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day

Many Gods = No God

June 4

(Exodus 20:1-4 NIV)  "And God spoke all these words: {2} "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. {3} "You shall have no other gods before me. {4} "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below."

(Jeremiah 2:28 NIV)  "Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah."

(Jeremiah 19:4 NIV)  "For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned sacrifices in it to gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent."

A people of many gods, is a people without God. A polytheistic culture can appear to be very religious, but it is actually a godless culture. You either have one Lord, or you have no Lord at all. Even many Christians today live as closet polytheists. We have a plethora of gods competing for our affection, filling the rooms of our homes, and demanding our offerings. We may call them something other than gods, but they rule our life. We’ve lived in pagan territory for so long that we’ve begun to think, talk, and live like pagans. We’ve squandered our godly heritage on the altar of cultural norms and political correctness. We’ve abandoned the God of Scripture for a more pleasant god… a “seeker- friendly” god, a god who blesses our lifestyle and prosperity… a god who loves everyone so much, there could never be a place like hell. Welcome to Gomorrah. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day

Let’s Call It Good

June 3

(Mark 10:18 NIV)  ""Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone."

(Matthew 7:21-23 NIV)  ""Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. {22} Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' {23} Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

(Romans 3:12 NIV)  "All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.""

The world may consider us “good people”, but the crucial question is, “Are we godly people?” Being “good” is about what people think. Being godly is about what God thinks. “Good” is such a relative term and its definition continues to morph. As it does, the bar to qualify seems to keep getting lower and lower. Movie stars and rock stars who live like the devil are hailed as “good people” because they raise money for popular charities or hunger funds. That’s nice, but God has a different standard, and in the end, what God thinks is all that really matters. Eternity measures differently than time. The wise man will keep his face turned toward the winds of the eternal Spirit, rather than holding his finger to the winds of temporary popular opinion. The winds of this world change and fail. God’s Spirit is steady and constant. The Lord never fails. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day