April 11--What it Means to Really Live

Does your latest life-hack or precious wear you out?  Mine has.  Today's passages say what it means to REALLY live and not bounce about:  Joshua 3-4, Luke 14, Psalm 81, Proverbs 12:28.

Click here for the written post of today's episode.

Eve reads her Bible journal aloud on this episode.

Click here for the FREE Yearly Bible Reading Plan she uses.  

Transcript

Joshua 3-4

Luke 14

Psalm 81, Prayer, Proverbs 12:28

SPEAKER_00 0:00

April eleventh What it means to really live I won't be reading the scripture references. For those, please check the written post. I've had bouts of insanity when I found myself stretching bread dough at one AM because I didn't feed my starter sooner and I had to wait for it to get loaded. Like a temperamental toddler sourdough starter will rise up and go down on its own timetable and not before. Has the sourdough craze sucked you in too? I've been up early to shape and bake it and gone late to bed for stretching it, all of which says I'm in over my head. These are the signs that you're getting close to the edge when you decide that the errands you have to run have to wait because your starter is bubbly and these errands include buying toilet paper. Or when you're late to lunch with friends because your starter started calling the shots and it won't be silenced. When scrolling the many amazing sourdough loaves on Meadow recently, another sign, I ran across this wry reality check that read sourdough ain't righteousness, it's just bread. Oh yeah. Sure it might increase the good bacteria in my microbiome, but it can't wash my car, figure my taxes, or put out pine straw, and it can't tell me who I am or validate me either, though sometimes I live as if it can. I rarely miss the chance to let it slip that I only use whole grain flour that's been freshly milled in my very own grain mill, which means my sourdough actually is a cut above the sourdough of others if you're talking about what's healthiest. But did you notice how I just slipped that fact in here? What's that about? As good as freshly baked whole grain sourdough bread is, there I did it again. It can't stop time from ticking or poverty from devastating or war from destroying. It's just bread. And as much as I want it to give me better health, and maybe it has, it will never tell me who I am or give me a fresh perspective or wrestle me for my tendency to go whole hog on stuff like this. It's just bread. Really living isn't getting caught up in something that wears you out and messes up your kitchen. It's getting caught up in someone you can't get enough of, which is just what today's passages are about. The Old Testament chapters are Joshua three to four. This is not your stellar group of human beings, it's your subpar sort who complain about the food and accommodations, who don't cooperate, who forget who their benefactor is and what he's done for them, who even turn on him and accuse him. If God's goal was to produce a godly, obedient, trusting nation, then he might as well leave Israel where they are in Shidam and find another group of people to raise up. If there's one thing they've proven, it's that left to themselves, they'll pull up stakes and head back to Egypt, the place where they were enslaved and not well treated. When you don't like your circumstances, memory morphs into make believe. The meager food they ate as slaves was remembered as a gourmet buffet at a five star resort. Never mind that they had to work all day and never got to enjoy it. Though they've accused God of abandoning them, the truth is he hasn't. He's been right there with them, patiently teaching them a whole new way to live, and while their obedience thus far has been mere baby stepping, God keeps showing up and giving them what they need right when they need it. These Israelites are those who've grown up on the road from Egypt to Sinai to Shitam. Their parents have all died and their children are now this new generation allowed to enter the promised land. And Joshua is their untested new leader, wearing shoes as big as all Moses. He's up early for his new role as Israel's general because it's finally time to cross the Jordan and move into the promised land. I wonder if these people had any idea of what was about to happen, because to go in the Jordan River had to be crossed, and it was in flood stage. They'd had some experience with what God could do with a large body of water when they were young, namely opening the Red Sea when Egypt was closing in, but this new generation needed their own personal encounter as adults with the God who saves against impossible odds. Because remembering God's saving is good for everyone, and even more so now that they have an inexperienced commander. God says he'll make Joshua great in the eyes of the people, and he does it by letting him head up the Jordan River crossing, but God as water tamer is the one to watch out for. At the Red Sea Israel was attacked. At the Jordan, Israel positions themselves to mount an attack on Jericho. Regardless of being on the defensive or offensive, the vital ingredient in their winning is having God with them, which, wouldn't you know, is the same vital ingredient for ours? Joshua says why God dried up both bodies of water so the people in both places walked on dry ground, quote, so that everybody on earth would recognize how strong God's rescuing hand is, and so that you would hold God in solemn reverence always end quote. The goal of God's work at the Red Sea and at the Jordan River, and anywhere and everywhere he's been working ever since, is that all people would see what God can do, so that everyone would know how powerful He is and be in awe of Him. Toward that end, Joshua instructs twelve leaders from the twelve tribes to select stones as a memorial from the middle of the Jordan to set up where they'll camp. In the future, when their children see these stones and ask what they're for, their parents will tell them what God did for them there. Remembering God's help in the past is crucial for living for him in the present because failing to remember him is how we drift away. This is why Moses commands Israel to do what it takes to remember God and not let themselves forget him. Eugene Peterson writes forgetfulness is one of the great breaches in our relationship with God, for when we forget his saving ways, either in biblical history or in our own personal histories, the results are disastrous. But remembering our crises and how he's rescued keeps him alive and in front of us. The Israelites had props that helped them remember him, like the staff in Moses' hand, the pillar of cloud and fire, the bronze snake on a stick, the commandments on stone tablets, the Ark of the Covenant, all these were signposts that pointed to the God who kept saving. God doesn't tell us to do what it takes to remember him for his benefit, he says to do it for ours. We're the ones who doubt that he's good, who are prone to wander off, who are afraid he's abandoned us, who deny and accuse him. Remembering all the times he's helped us keeps us focused and engaged with him. God has been all inclusive since before it was trendy. I know because he said he wants quote everybody on earth end quote to know who he is, the savior of everybody who wants to be saved. Since creation God's been reaching out in love to a lost humanity with power to save us, with fellowship to commune with us, with kindness to teach us, and all this for everyone who wants him. The end game for God isn't judgment and hell for those who don't measure up. His end game is life and more life for everybody who wants life, life lived wisely and well the way he spells it out, an entire lifetime of saving by our God who delights to save and not destroy us. It's a good thing to be clear on this point before Jericho is taken and all her people are slaughtered, which is what the next two chapters are all about. Before we dive into them tomorrow, we need to remember God's goodness, kindness, and love to all people everywhere, regardless of their background, religion, race, sin, skin, or occupation. We need to remember his plan since creation to save everyone who wants him. But do more than remember God's goodness to others. Remember his goodness to yourself personally because the most vital ingredient for really living is having God with you and remembering it. The New Testament chapter is Luke fourteen. Jesus presents four ways to really live in this chapter. One, he saves a man with swollen joints on the Sabbath. Those who judge his Sabbath breaking don't get it, but for the rest of those listening, the takeaway is obvious to really live, do good daily, regardless of what religious rules may say. two, he says not to take the honored place, but to take the last place. Honor is something to be conferred, not presumed. The takeaway is clear, to really live, humble yourself, and you'll be exalted. three. He tells the story about the host who invites guests to a party, but at the last minute they refuse to come. So he invites everybody off the streets, the hungry, the riffraff, the destitute, the needy, because enjoying the party is for those who will actually come. Here's one takeaway among many to really live, hang out with the host who is God. four. He says those who want to follow him have to put him first before everything, before loved ones, before other interests, before self. So count the cost before you commit and be willing to sacrifice everything you love best. This takeaway is sobering. To really live, put Jesus first, because if Jesus isn't first, maybe you're not his disciple. To really live, do what Jesus says from Psalm eighty one. Asaph says sing and shout out loud, celebrate and strike up the band because of what God's done. Never forget what he did in Egypt, end quote. My interest tanks. Really? In Egypt? I'm tempted to skim the rest of the Psalm, but then I remember these words aren't just for Red Sea Israel, they're for you and me too. I remember my Egypt and my enslavement to sin. Do you remember yours? The isolation, the emptiness, the hopelessness. Egypt seems like a lifetime ago, and yet I can call it up in a moment. When I think of God's rescue, I remember how he loved me enough to come after me, how he fought for me, how he wounded and won me. Remember and keeps me moving forward. I never want to go back. Asaph says never forget what God's done, recount the ways he's come through for you. Like the props that helped Israel remember God, here's some props to try for today. Collect small rocks and write a short phrase of God's rescue, make written entries in a journal, photograph locations, put notches on a post, speak his rescues in a voice memo. God says you're not to follow other gods the way you used to, because if you do, he'll quote let go of the reins and say run, do it your own way, end quote. But if you surrender, he'll protect you from enemies, feed you, and treat you in ways you never knew you needed. He says, quote, you'll feast on my fresh baked bread spread with butter and rock pure honey, which I read his code for you'll feast on what delights you. To really live, bring your empty cup and watch how God fills it up with more good stuff than you can hold. Prayer God let the first thoughts of my day be of you and not how I've messed up. Forgive my preoccupation with me and more me. Help me to really live by remembering you and more you. From Proverbs twelve twenty-eight. Good folks find the good life while the rabbit trails of the wicked lead to their doom. Passages in Joshua, Luke, Psalms, and Proverbs are selected for today in the Yearly Bible. This is Eve de Bartelaban, Roebuck.