Quick thought from Seth

In Luke 16 Jesus tells this story about a wealthy man who finds out that his manager, who oversees his property and wealth is  “wasting his possessions ”. So, the wealthy man fires his manager. The manager realized that he is “ not strong enough to dig and too ashamed to beg ” so he comes up with a scheme to help himself when he’s fired. He calls in all of his manager debtors and allows them to only pay half of what they owe. So, all of these debtors will see the manager as an ally and  “ so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses. ” The master finds out what is going on and actually praises the shrewd manager for what he was doing. I want to make two points out of this parable toward the times we are living in today. The first point comes from Jesus summary of the parable in  Luke 16:9, “ And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you int...

When I was getting ready to graduate from college I told God that I would do anything and go anywhere He called me too except youth ministry (I didn’t want to be a youth minister) in Kentucky (I  love  KY but they didn’t need another preacher in my arrogant estimation). Do I need to tell you what my first job out of college was? Youth ministry in KY – and I love it and I still love Bridges Christian Church and all my dear friends from there.  In the prophet Jonah’s story, we find God asking Jonah to do something crazy! God calls him to go to Nineveh, an evil city, and tell them how evil they are. Now you know how our world responds these days if you ever tell them they are doing something wrong? In those days, you could be killed in the square for less and nobody would bat an eye. It is very likely that Jonah may have said something to God like, “God, I’ll go anywhere you call to, except for Nineveh.”  Just like me in college, just like Moses probably would ha...

Ok, so far in these devo’s we have talked about a number of spiritual disciplines. We have talked about the spiritual disciplines of study, fasting, silence and what I called “re-creating”. A spiritual discipline is essentially  a spiritual habit you regularly practice in order to grow closer to and more into the image of Christ.  Today, I want to suggest that  empathy is an essential spiritual discipline to Christian living . Empathy means to try to see things from another person’s perspective. And it is all over the Bible – even though it isn’t named.  Paul talks about it in Romans 12:15,  “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” And then he tells us in Galatians 6:2 to  “Bear one another’s burdens…”,  in Philippians 2:4 he tells us to  “look to the interests of others”. And, most profoundly, in what Jesus says is one of the 2 most important commandments in scripture, we are to  “love your neighbor as yourself”...

I am always encouraged by the Psalms. In it we find the Psalmist moving constantly between emotions and levels of faith. Sometimes he is joyful and praising, sometimes sorrowful and desperate, sometimes happy, sometimes angry, sometimes focused, sometimes distracted, sometimes fulfilled and sometimes depressed. Is this not our lives? In all of it, however, he never stops  seeking God , he never stops  calling on God’s name . That is the key isn’t it? To never stop reaching for God, no matter how you feel or how long you’ve been waiting.  Today we examine Psalms 6,  O   Lord ,   rebuke me not in your anger,   nor   discipline me in your wrath. Here we find the Psalmist to be  confident in his own faithfulness to God . While we always ought to be humble and aware of our flaws, aware that we can never obtain perfection I fear that sometimes in our effort to drive home our own sinfulness we lose a grasp on our ability to actually have vic...

Today we are going to read through James 1:12-18 and talk a bit about temptation.  Our text begins with James saying something particularly meaningful during these times in verse 12, “ Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive   the crown of life,   which God has promised to those who love Him.”  This is very similar to the profound statement Jesus makes in  Matthew 24:13, “ But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ”   It is important to understand what they are talking about. Have you ever seen a scene in a movie where someone suddenly falls from a great height and they catch a rope on the way. Then their friends start to pull them up and there is this suspenseful moment where you wonder if they will hold on to that rope? All they have to do to stay alive, to be saved is hold on to that rope and not let go – someone else does the pulling. That is what these texts are saying. Under tri...

You remember the Nike slogan “Just Do it”? This morning I watched the very first Nike “Just Do It” commercial ever run. It first aired in 1988 and featured an 80-year-old man named Walt Stack who ran 17 miles every morning! It showed him running across the golden state bridge in his Nike’s and ended with the slogan “Just Do It” on the screen.  Today we are going to be reading from Luke 10:25-37, On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26  “What is written in the Law?”   he replied.   “How do you read it?” 27  He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’;   and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28  “You have answered correctly,”   Jesus replied.   “Do this and you will live.” If you can truly love God, enough to love other people as much or more than you l...

Can you imagine what Daniel must have felt like when he was thrown into the lion’s den? Hopeless? Terrified? Maybe even feel forgotten by God? You feeling like you’ve thrown in a lion’s den lately? Today we are going to examine the classic account of Daniel and the lion’s den in Daniel 6. As we move through the story, I want to make 4 quick points. Daniel is made a part of the king’s top 3 high officials to help him run the country. Daniel is so effective that we find this in verse 3 – “ T hen this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.”   Even in this group Daniel becomes distinguished because of the excellent spirit that was in him. What is this “spirit”? We shouldn’t assume this to be in reference to the Holy Spirit. Rather it has more to do with the character and attitude of Daniel. No matter his situation he strove t...