Morningside Devotionals

M uch of what the Bible says about God and man seems confusing, and sometimes it downright doesn't agree with our ability to really think from the God point of view. Ever wonder why God would make us in His image and then we'd choose to not stay there? T hat's not a bad question and some have answered that question by maintaining that man didn't choose to fall from perfection, that he had help in the process in the form of the Devil, or Lucifer, who approached Eve with a subtle test of the situation about God making humankind in His image. Really hardcore interpreters will insist that Adam could have simply resisted the whole situation and told Eve to get right and that would have been it. What they tend to forget is that wouldn't be very loving (would it?), and God sort of insists that we do what, love one another? So what if we go ahead and get a bit deep here and suggest that in the overarching Godly nature of loving one another, is the final solution set tha...

You and I and all people are subjective, not objective; in that, when you find yourself in a situation for which there is no former frame of reference emotionally, you start to learn. Your personal learning process may involve acceptance, or, rejection, or analysis. In one of those three you will find the learning taking place. Rejectors tend to tell you why an idea is wrong, or won't work, or, is just "plain silly," they resort to labeling in order to maintain their relativistic stance. Accepting types want to get it right, you will hear them saying, "so you mean this, and this means this or that...," they tend to ask a lot of questions and gather information. The same can be true of those who function from rejection, they can also be enormous questioning types, but their questions are aimed at their outcome, not your growth. Accepting types don't have an agenda until they know what the whole picture is, then they may form one. Those who learn by anal...

Ever have a conversation where you know more is being said than the words themselves? Ever want to ask a question, but you get so into the person you are talking with that you forget the question to ask? Have you perhaps had the experience of thinking through what you would like to say, and hearing a little voice inside your head say, "yes but if you say that, you know it won't go over well." Now I'm not talking about a Schizo type voice, rather the normal internal dialogue that just about every person has at some time when considering what they believe they are going to do. If you have been there then you know that sometimes things don't add up- things should be said, but they aren't, things shouldn't be said, and they are, things should be done but they aren't, and things shouldn't be done, and those are the very things that end up taking place. If you have had that experience then what I am about to say won't seem alien to you; it isn...

The way that we live may say a great deal about us to others that we don't realize we are saying. It isn't the big things that we do, it is the little details of who we are that make the difference. This is why, when people who are agnostic, such as Bart Erhman, say the things that they say, about the history of the scripture and canon, and other things that matter so much to them; my curiosity is always peeked as to how they ignore the really huge obvious detail that is Jesus? The power that is in our lives, all of our lives, isn't something we can turn off or turn on, it is Christ, He is in our lives, and; in spectacular detail. The big things Erhman mentions may be correct, historically, they might be right, history is a hard subject to reach conclusions on because, well, until we bust the time travel barrier, we won't really know, we're all guessing, and so here is my guess- if Christ isn't who we believe, then isn't it odd, that after thousands of y...

S ometimes when it is quiet, nobody wanting to know whether this is so, or that is so, or trying to explain why they did or didn't do what they were or weren't supposed to do; comes the chance to hear the truth. Truth is quiet, it doesn't yell, because it doesn't have to; it's not hasty, because it doesn't have to be, it doesn't try to convince you of some need that doesn't exist, because truth simply is, truth. Is your life true? Jesus is truth ; He isn't complicated, although so many try to make Him be, Jesus just is, and anytime, that is enough for me, what about you? If you have ever known love, really felt the powerful moving of your soul, ever felt the never forgetting, never able to forget, love; the kind that propels your life, moves you from within, and had that love, mean, not a whole lot , then your getting pretty close to the truth , you see, when it's quiet that truth comes through, like the night our Lord realized there was n...

The present world culture likes things to move along smoothly, the vast majority of people alive today aren't into warfare, yet, they find themselves fighting all the time. Think about it- who do you know who gets up in the morning and says "yup, todays the day I wanna go kill some poor miserable hungry lil kid..." I don't know a single person who thinks such thoughts, do you? Even terrorists, as warped as they are, don't think that way- honestly, they don't. They are deluded into believing that they are serving a higher cause. Think about it. Christian's aren't immune to being deluded into action, either; in fact, we fall for the lines, just as hard as anybody else. I heard a song once that said, "you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah...but it's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough...you're addicted to love." Now that song sold billions, not millions, billions of copies world wide and ma...

S ometimes the truth will swamp your ability to handle it rationally, this is when you see people shouting with joy, they don't know what they are shouting about, really, but they are shouting. This is when you see people tearing up, crying and weeping. One of the dearest, most incredible loves in my entire existence was a person who just doesn't get emotional, it's not their style. So when you see them getting that way, it really impacts on you. One day in the midst of hearing what I thought about them, it started to hit home, first that I wasn't kidding, that I really felt that way, and then, it hit them, it was the Holy Spirit speaking through me to them, the tears flowed. It was then that God impressed upon me to read Proverbs 31; it just came into my mind out of the air, "read Proverbs 31." Now I have to tell you, that was pretty freaky on so many fronts, but what happened next as I read it, has never left me; in that chapter is my friend, for she, ...

Ever meet somebody and you just don't click with them? Ever meet somebody and you just click with them? Both come from a place that you don't happen to believe exists, as if though you are being guided from some spiritual direction where you can't see, touch, smell or hear the guide, but for some odd reason, when you meet this person, there it is- you like 'em or you don't, and you can't put your finger on it? Welcome to the realm where your deeper Father, God, works- welcome to the realm where your active agent on behalf of wisdom, the Holy Spirit, guides you. After the contact what takes place moves into an entirely different realm, called faith, that's a whole 'nother matter, but this first contact experience, that's the one where you know what I'm describing. Once I met somebody and it was instant love, don't know how to explain it, can't explain it, really can't, what is even odder still is that we're now going into years...

I have a friend who is beyond afraid to fly, they totally panic when they even see a plane. When they went on a stateside missionary journey, they decided it would be good to quit smoking, so the two combined to make them jumpy, and very, alert as we sat in our seats. The voice came over the intercom: "ladies and gentlemen we've had a brief delay, we will be getting under way as soon as possible." My friend looked at me, "delay?" It would be fine I assured him, and we waited. 30 minutes, now my friend, no cigarette available, is starting to get a little tense, voice comes over the intercom, "ladies and gentlemen, we're going to have to wait a little while longer as the ground crew replaces a window in the cockpit we are concerned about." My friend looked at me, and his eyes were panicked as he said: "what in the world have we gotten into?" As we took off an hour later, my friend, I am sure, experienced one of the most uncomfortab...

Here is a link to CBN (That's Pat Robertson's 700 Club page) now, this is bizarre because it is 180 degrees removed from what he said ...click here to see video if you need to... Yes Pat Robertson does say they made a pact with the devil.. I was so shocked I researched it and it's true...I was floored. It is so shocking to me to hear this kind of nonsense that I scarce didn't want to address it, but have to...folks please don't fall into the easy trap of being a liar about history; if you haven't read the history of Haiti, if you don't know what you're talking about, please don't lie and then make that lie worse by sharing that lie with others, please don't do it- Haiti didn't make any such pact, historically they fought for freedom from Europe in the first slave led revolt and race baiters throughout history (you know, those folks who know that a persons skin color is how God sees them...yeah...those folks...)have said hateful things about ...

The idea of history and life as a matter of perception rather than reality is a great philosophical leap for humankind, we have actually reached the point in our development as created order that we contemplate our realities past. So that history is questioned as never before. I write this to you that you may gain a foothold on faith as love, for in that power is the redemption of those who believe that Jesus rose from the grave; as He did, but which is questioned today. There are some things you cannot buy into, no matter how great or small the need, no matter how great or small the price; the offer of the goods may seem reasonable, even more than reasonable, and that's the real crux of the problem to you about faith in God. If God and having faith in God were a matter of simple, were a matter of beyond any shadow of a doubt, then there would be no need for love, and God is love. We who bear the banner of Jesus are thereby shown what we are to be, like Him! The ideas of phil...

What is life; really, if not growing toward a higher purpose, a higher goal? What the Book of Ruth teaches us in no small measure is that life isn't made up of a casual acquaintance with challenge. Just as God is no respecter of "hu"-man, (the actual Hebrew carries no gender implication as we do in our cultural nuance of the quote); so God is a God of might and power who expects His people to respect what He gives them the grace and gifts to grow into. Love, as Ruth displays; will carry faith, such a person will grow as God deems the growth must happen. They might not understand it, they might not feel at peace (do you really think Ruth felt at peace as Naomi raised her child, in the line of Christ?); and they might not even think it was a God sent or God deemed appropriate action, read Ruth's role as handmaid to Boaz (Ruth 3:9)and yet in the thousands of years since, that has been remembered of the human lineage of Jesus. What odd but mighty thing might God be s...

Do we respect God as we should? Are we considering God as we should? Do our lives reflect that, or do they reflect something else? Can we have a faith that is O.K. but not radical enough that our life must reflect it? Do we in our hearts respect God as we should? Tough questions if you are being honest with yourself about your heart- those are tough questions for anybody about any subject when it comes to being respectful, but in my walk it is so often the case that people believe in their hearts they are respecting God, yet, when we break that down, it's not God that they are respecting, it is self- their own definition of what they believe it is that they should respect. Ruth got that straight early in her life, when you read the book of Ruth, the last book of the Jewish bible, you will see many interesting and powerful statements of respect, anyone would be glad to hear them, but especially glad to hear that love is at the center of their core, and that love is shared with...

You are reading this, that is action, you are thinking about it, that is action, you are considering what to do with the day, you probably call it your day (that's a common phrase, my day, my time, the day, this time- but that's all wrong, it's God's actually); and that's action. Action is all over the life which God has chosen to let you live. It is tough to understand why He made such a choice, rather than other choices, but it is easy to be thankful that He did. We may not ever get an answer to Paul's prayer that we would know the mind of God, but we may get an answer to the prayer which we pray in earnest, as our last hope; and yet, even then, we may not see the results of that prayer until later. Faith is action, taking action on what you believe and understand about God, such an adjustment to the otherwise selfish outlook of man is called many different things, but a very simple truth is, if you acknowledge God, He will acknowledge you- and that'...

What do we know of God, honestly- without any embellishment, without any adding in for any other factors, what do we know, about God? What an honest Christian has to answer to that is, what God let's us in on, but do we really believe He'd be holding back? So if there is a limiter in the process we might want to claim that for ourselves, but be careful there; because the spectrum plays out at God, one of the aspects is set up by God, this is called revelation, in the case of Boaz, this would be the field, the field hands, and Ruth's presence. In the case of God Himself, this might be the timing when Boaz shows up, and the inclination to ask the other workers who Ruth was, out loud! For you and I the story asks some questions which aren't easily answered by any other aspect of God than faith, and it comes down to love, as the active force of faith. It is hard to hold on to the belief that God is love, it takes no small doing when you look at the world, see the suffe...

When we consider the enormous power that love brings to our lives, the ability that love has to move us, to lift us, to change us, to motivate us, to make every sensation, every nuance, every breath; more. Love takes us to a level of living where abundant doesn't have relevance, because it is abundant living heaped onto abundant living; as Jesus said, our blessings will not only be multiplied they will be "pressed down, and shaken together, and running over," (Luke 6:38) and we believe this, but we fail to live it. It happens quickly, we have the chance to do a letter to the editor, but we pass on it, because, "why would anyone want to listen to me?" We have a chance to increase our income significantly, but we pass on it because, "I can't believe it's real, it just seems like it's not, why would they want me?" We have a chance to become a more significant leader in the community, but we pass on it because, "I'm really not inter...

These days I hear far too much of the negative invective, why we should serve God, and far too little of the honest truth about God loving you, and why that results in service. Let me share with you the difference from out of the book of Ruth, here in one paragraph. You can be guilt tripped and guilt laden into service, you can be scared of Hell, into service, you can be shamed into service of God, all of those are standard sermon approaches and appeals, but none of them come from the heart of God - catch that phrase, it means what it says, God isn't interested in putting a heap of guilt on your head, that isn't where His heart is at. God, as the Bible makes clear, if you study it deep enough, God is love- and love, as displayed by Ruth's unsheltered devotion to Naomi - sworn as a death oath, love, doesn't shrink back, it moves on, from within it's own power! Not guilt, not shame, not fear - love- and when you move to the symphony of God who is love, the music w...

One paragraph, short devotional thought about the power of love to bring life, love expands your current state, love moves you to a place where you aren't, but where you would love to be, love takes you on a journey, and when love is there, present, you know it. God as the Bible let's us in on, is love. When we talk about Ruth everyone has heard the familiar passage of the past couple of days, but the next passage contains the element of love that we will see is so powerful and life changing: Ruth 1:17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, [if ought] but death part thee and me. Simply put, love puts you into a place in your life where doing what you must to satisfy love is better than continuing to live. Ruth tells Naomi that if she doesn't honor her commitment of love to Naomi, then she would rather die. Having someone who loves you to that degree is what takes your live in an entirely different direction, ah my...

We don't speak much about loving folks nowadays, it is becoming a very cold natured culture, and the warm, "want to hug you forever," kind of loving person, and personality, isn't respected like it once was. Know what's replacing it? Love based not on what you can give to them, to that person you love, but rather, far too often the questioning mind of our world today asks, "if you love me - you will..." That's called conditional love, and when those conditions aren't met, guess what; the so-called love goes right out the window. This is why relationships are dying around us, it is because the base of their love is receiving not giving. Whereas the base of love which we are shown in the life of Jesus is giving. He had nothing, that we know of He kept nothing. That we know of, He desired only that those who He felt closest too, would love Him as He loved them; but at that time, they couldn't- for example, Peter. Imagine for all those years...

One of my all time favorite stories from the Old Testament is of two women, nomads, associated to a long, arduous, dangerous journey of survival. In that journey Naomi instructed her daughters to return and not travel with her, return to safety, don't go with me. This feeling statement is one that you may grow to respect as we look into it, it is a feeling statement, but it is also so much more, feel this with me this morning: Rth 1:16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, [or] to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people [shall be] my people, and thy God my God : Three things mean something in love: 1) Is it real - do you mean it? 2) Can it last - test of time and strain? 3) Does it allow you to grow? When you love someone, another person, it's very helpful if they also love you in equality, for love which isn't returned in kind can be very lonely. When you love someone, another person,...

Ever feel like life is losing it's pizazz? Ever wonder why? Let me suggest in this one paragraph devotional thought, not only a why, but a how to do away with that "blah" that comes around New Years ...here we go- one paragraph- is all, ready- curious about what it might be? Wondering, "how in the world is he gonna do this in one paragraph?" Isn't it something when your mind gets engaged into something? My heart is one of those that when I love somebody it's totally, all the way, like Jesus, I love my Lord all the way, I have a magnificent, absolutely awesomely incredible and inspiring person I love who said I needed to focus- and that, my friend- that great loving, inspiring moment, my brain went into another place, and the point came home. The blahs were gone- and this Bible verse came to me, love is the most powerful experience there is, I pray you may have such a love in your life: "Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye t...

One of our most pleasing experiences is when we are touched, as babies we love it, crave it, long for it, and get vocal when it doesn't happen. As young people we dearly long for and enjoy when our mom holds us, and for many of us, we gained enormous satisfaction when our father did the same. (Fathers aren't like they used to be, but that's another writing for another time) As we entered into teenage years we started to get off on being touched by members of the opposite sex, which, brought us enormous satisfaction when our boyfriend or girlfriend provided a positive stroke our way. As we enter into adulthood, the need is still there but often the satisfaction dwindles. It is a sad statement of the culture within the world that we are becoming less and less touch motivated, and more and more, technologically motivated. Young people are increasingly making use of a cold and detached computer system; whether cellular or not, to make up for the satisfaction which they are ...