CamDevo

“He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭21‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Growing up in a Christian church I heard about Jesus “taking away my sin” plenty of times. It’s central to Christianity. But when you hear something a lot, sometimes it doesn’t really mean anything.

That was true for me. I understood Jesus taking my sin upon Himself, and dying for it, on a very surface level. It sounds great, right? Sure.

But one day, probably while reading about some horrible story in the news, I started to think about what it really meant for Jesus.

He took my sin. He took your sin. He took everyone’s sin. Everyone who ever lived or ever will live. All the bad, despicable, horrific, disgusting, shameful, mean, selfish, greedy, sadistic, evil things we did and will do. That’s a lot.

What did He do with those things? Like today’s verse says, He made them His own. He had to. In order to die in my place, paying the price for my sins, He had to make them His sins. That means He felt the guilt and the shame and the regret. He knew those sins intimately, as if He had committed them. He saw children being abused, as if He’d done the abusing. He felt weapons being discharged, as if He had pulled the trigger. He saw hearts He’d broken and lives He’d ruined. He felt the horror of it all. While He died, hanging from a piece of wood with nails pounded through His hands and feet.

No wonder He asked God to find another way the night before.

Dear God,

Thank you so much for going through with it. What an amazing gift of righteousness you have offered. I accept with immense gratitude. Teach me how to live free from my sin and shame. Show me how and when to share this Good News of your salvation with those in my life who need to hear it.

You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭43‬-‭44‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Today’s verse is one of several “you have heard that it was said” teachings of Jesus. He took several widely accepted adages from His culture and turned them around. Some of these adages were even from the Scriptures, the Ten Commandments, in fact. On their own, they seem sensible, harmless, even good. But Jesus taught that the wisdom and interpretation of popular culture is never good enough. His followers need to be better, perfect even. Perfect in love.

Of course, that’s only possible with Jesus. I can claim my perfection through Him.

I’m wondering what adages from my current culture He might have something to say about.

“Nothing is certain but death and taxes.” That’s easy. Jesus would say that even death is not certain and governments come and go, but God was, is, and always will be.

“You only live once.” Another obvious one. Jesus would say that if I believe in Him, repent, and accept His sacrifice, I can have eternal life after this one.

“Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” I’m pretty sure God doesn’t care how much dirt I have on my clothes or hands when I’m busily working to help my neighbor clean up after a fire. Sure there are a lot of commands in the Law having to do with ritual cleanliness, but Jesus yelled at the Pharisees for being “white-washed tombs” or appearing holy while being evil inside.

“God helps those who help themselves.” This sounds good, right? I shouldn’t sit around praying during a flood when a perfectly good boat floats by. But I think Jesus would say this isn’t right. Without God I am useless. That’s the whole reason He came and died for me. I can’t save myself. No matter how hard I try, I will never be good enough. I can’t earn my salvation. Only by completely surrendering to God and accepting his gift will I find my salvation.

Dear God,

Thank you so much for your Word. Remind me to continue to spend time reading it and understanding your truth. Help me to see when something in my culture is taking me in the wrong direction. Forgive me for going with what feels right instead of judging advice according to your Word.

“Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭10‬ ‭CSB‬‬

There have been many times in my life, when listening to someone speak, I was wishing someone else were there to hear it. Someone specific who I thought really needed that particular admonishment or correction. I didn’t need it, of course, but they sure did.

As if.

Every relationship is a like an echo chamber. Whatever I send out comes back to me. If I am getting coldness, I should try sending warmth and see what happens. The thaw might take some time, but if I stay consistent, warmth will probably return to me from the other person’s direction.

On the contrary, if I am complaining and negative, I will most likely get negativity back. At this point, I’ll be tempted to complain even more. And more negativity will come back. It’s a hard cycle to break.

That’s why today’s verse is so important. I need to take the lead in being loving, genuine, gracious, kind, respectful, generous… all the good things.

It’s easy to be kind to someone who is kind and warm to me. It’s easy to smile and be generous to someone who is smiling and grateful. But that isn’t “taking the lead.”

Taking the lead means being kind to a jerk. It means smiling genuinely at the angry, frustrated face and offering a gentle word. It means apologizing even when I don’t feel that I’ve done anything to warrant offense. It means forgiving without needing an apology. It means reaching out again with a helping hand when gratitude wasn’t displayed the last time.

In dancing, whoever takes the lead decides where the two of us go. We could tango under the twinkling lights of the dance floor all night, or we could waltz right off a cliff.

Taking the lead in love is hard. Following Jesus is hard. He said it would be. But He also said the reward will be worth it.

Dear God,

Thank you for today’s verse and for reminding me that my job is to be a trailblazer of love in all my relationships. Forgive me for participating in tit-for-tat behavior or thinking things need to be fair. I’m so glad you do not treat me the way I treat you! I’m so grateful I can count on your love. Always.

“bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭CSB‬‬

When I was a very young child, five or six years old, I think, I was sexually molested by a man in our church. When I say, “in our church” I mean this actually happened in the physical church building by a member of the church, after the morning service in one of the Sunday school rooms, believe it or not.

Sadly, predators are everywhere.

Now, because this happened in the church, I’ve always struggled with forgiveness, even though it is a central tenet of Christianity. Every time forgiveness was preached, I would think of this man and tune out. When I would read Bible verses like today’s, I would skim over them and assure myself that I had forgiven the people in my life who deserved it.

But God confronts me even now. Did I deserve the forgiveness God offered me? He gave it anyway. And continues to give it.

Do I really have to forgive my molester?

The answer is yes.

My molester was revealed when he abused another young girl in our church. (I feel guilty about this. If I had spoken up, perhaps it would have stopped with me.) She was bolder than I. He was briefly excommunicated. Yes, briefly. Apparently he repented. Said he’d changed. Wanted to attend church again. So the church members decided to forgive him and allow him to return.

Thankfully by that time I had grown and gone away to college. But I remember clearly one summer when I came home, I was with friends at a local baseball game. This man walked up to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and asked for my forgiveness. I shrugged disgustedly out of his touch, and mumbled my forgiveness. I think I said, “Ok.” And that’s it.

I felt that because he touched me when he said this, he didn’t really get it. He still didn’t “deserve” forgiveness. I don’t think I have forgiven him still.

Forgiveness is hard. But God did it for me. And He does it for worse things than this man did.

Does forgiveness mean I have to like this man or agree to be around him or not grimace when I see him? I don’t know. What is the loving thing to do?

Fortunately I live on the other side of the country now. And perhaps he’s dead, who knows? I say I have forgiven him. But I’ve chosen avoidance because I don’t have answers to those other questions.

Dear God,

Thank you for your forgiveness. It is so generous and sorely needed. Please give me the ability to truly forgive this man who spoiled my innocence so long ago. Thank you that I no longer have to see him or think about him. You alone know his heart. If he hasn’t changed, please prevent him from damaging anyone else. If he has changed, thank you for the work you did in his life.

“Who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not hold on to his anger forever because he delights in faithful love.”
‭‭Micah‬ ‭7‬:‭18‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I’ve read through the Bible several times. When reading through the Old Testament stories, I get frustrated with God’s people. Over and over, God gives them amazing blessings, like water that spurts right out of a rock when they get thirsty and bread that falls from the sky every morning when they get hungry and a pillar of smoke during the day and fire at night to show them the way to go. But the stories then tell how, almost immediately, the people forget and start complaining and, even worse, start worshiping other gods. This pattern of blessing and rebellion happens over and over and over.

I think one of the purposes of all those disappointing stories is to highlight one key aspect of God’s character: His unrelenting faithfulness. Over and over His people turn their backs on Him. And over and over He forgives them when they come crawling back to Him in shame and regret.

Today’s verse says in one sentence what the whole Old Testament teaches through hundreds of stories.

God’s amazing forgiveness, love, and faithfulness are mind-boggling. As I read the stories, I have to admit I sometimes feel like God should just scrap the human race and start fresh. I would have given up on them pretty early on. But God doesn’t. Every time His people come back to Him and repent with humility, He forgives them. He may make them live out the consequences they created, but He continues to love them, heal them, and renew His promises.

What a God we have!

Dear God,

Thank you so much for refusing to hang on to your anger the way I often do. I’m in awe of your generous forgiveness. Your faithful love is awe-inspiring and beautiful. I’m so glad to be counted as one of your children. Open my eyes to times when I am rebellious and ungrateful so that I can change and return to you for forgiveness and a restored relationship.

“For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints — and by continuing to serve them.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭6‬:‭10‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Any time people live together or share common space, whether it be family, roommates, spouses, coworkers, church members, or astronauts in a space station, there will be chores and things that need fixing, cleaning, or dealing with in some other way. Arguments arise when the tasks are ill-defined or inequitably divided.

Currently, my husband has a full time job, while I have retired. Therefore, the majority of the household chores fall to me. Most of the time I’m OK with this because it seems fair enough. (Until he retires, that is!)

But there are other times when it really rankles me. These seem to be the times when I take care of things that he doesn’t even notice or when he does something to make my job even harder, like make extra messes or throw something on the floor that he could have just as easily thrown in the laundry basket or trash.

Today’s verse made me think of the times like these, when I take care of my husband, and he doesn’t even notice. I do it anyway because I love him.

Today’s verse says God notices. And He never forgets these acts of service, big and small.

When the work I do seems thankless, I need to remind myself who I’m really working for. Are my chores done with love? God sees that and is glad.

Dear God,

Thank you for giving my life meaning and purpose. Thank you for noticing and remembering the work I do in love to promote peace and beauty in the world. Please forgive the times when my pride brings out resentment and bitterness, when I feel I am not properly appreciated. Remind me to seek and desire only your approval.

“The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.”
‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭3‬:‭9‬ ‭CSB‬‬

When I was a little kid, I had to take the school bus to school. It was challenging because we lived at the top of a hill with a very long driveway. We had a rough idea of when the bus would arrive each morning, but its exact time varied quite a bit. Sometimes we would hear the bus’s groaning diesel engine as it chugged down the road towards our driveway earlier than expected. My sister and I would grab our coats and school bags in a panic and race down the hill, hoping to catch the bus before the driver ran out of patience and lurched away. We’d worn a shortcut path down the steep side of the hill, swinging around trees and leaping boulders, trying to minimize the time required to reach the waiting bus. All we really had to do was get out from the trees at the base of the hill and onto the long driveway where the driver could at least see we were on our way. At that point we were confident that he would wait.

I’m guessing his job was a bit of a challenge in rural areas like ours. If he arrived at our driveway and there was no sign of us, I wonder how he decided how long to wait. The other kids who were already on the bus were probably groaning and whining and even starting to act a little crazy like school bus kids do. He didn’t want to strand us if we were on our way. But he also had a long route and his own day to get on with.

Today’s verse makes me think of God being like that school bus driver. He’s about to drive all His children to the new heaven and new earth mentioned in Revelation: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” ‭‭Rev.‬ ‭21‬:‭1.‬ He knows the current earth is going to be destroyed. He wants to make sure that everyone who wants to get on His bus makes it, so He waits.

The people already on the bus are getting antsy and impatient. They even get angry and wonder why God isn’t moving. They complain, “Come on! Let’s go already! I’m here, I’m ready!” They start to doubt that there really is a new heaven and new earth or that the current earth will be destroyed.

And yet God waits.

He is more patient than even my bus driver. And He cares more about His children. He loves us all so much. He doesn’t want to leave even one child behind. He knows the devastating consequences. So He waits.

Dear God,

Thank you so much for waiting for me when I was slow in coming. Your patience is beautiful. Forgive me for complaining about how long you are waiting for others. Show me how to be patient and gracious and teach me how to help other people find and board your waiting bus. I know there is plenty of room, and your timing will be perfect.

“My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭121‬:‭2‬ ‭CSB‬‬

We have had a lot of issues with a certain appliance in our house lately. Several times we have called the company that installed the product, and several times they have come out to try to fix it. But they just can’t seem to make it work right. After a few months of this, they finally called the manufacturer of the product. The manufacturer sent a technician out who knew exactly what to do and had the right tools to do it. He had it working in no time.

No one is more qualified to fix something than the person who made it in the first place.

That’s the point of today’s verse. When my world is messed up, I should go straight to the manufacturer: God.

God made everything so He understands everything, inside-out, upside-down, forwards and backwards. He doesn’t need an instruction manual. He has all the right tools and plenty of spare parts, or He can simply make more.

Why would I turn anywhere else for help? Knowledgeable friends, self-help books, gurus and guides can only get me so far. They may provide a temporary patch, a kludgey work-around or they might just make matters worse.

There is nothing in this universe that God didn’t make so there’s nothing in my life that He can’t help me with, if I ask.

Dear God,

What an amazing and beautiful world you have made. I’m so glad you understand it all. I like to think I understand a lot, but the reality is I need you. Thank you for the reminder to turn to you when I’m struggling. Help me to be humble and trust you.

Then he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭4‬:‭9‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I remember the first time someone told me that hearing is not the same as listening. At first I thought, “That’s dumb, of course they’re the same.” But after I contemplated it a while, I thought the concept, and today’s verse, were profound.

I realized it was easy to hear and not listen. I did it all the time. In school, the teacher would drone on about something, but I wouldn’t remember any of it. My ears were picking up the sound, but my brain was not engaged enough to turn the sound into words and thoughts and ideas. Memories were not formed. No pathways in my brain were created. And I’d fail the pop quiz if there were one.

I find myself doing that sometimes in conversations as an adult. At parties, someone can be talking to me, and I appear to be listening, but I’m really thinking about getting a snack or refreshing my drink or figuring out how to extract myself from the conversation. It can be awkward if they ask me a question or tell a joke.

It’s rude, I suppose, to pretend to listen. But my excuse is that I’m an introvert. It takes a lot of energy to engage and interact and listen. I get tired quickly with the effort. In fact, sometimes listening tires me out so much that I’ll turn the subtitles on when watching TV so I can read instead.

Jesus warned the people He preached to about falling into the lazy hearing-only mode. He knew that His message was life-and-death important. I’m so fortunate to have the Bible! It’s all here for me to read, again and again, when I am fresh and ready to listen. Even better than subtitles.

When I went on a boat trip once, the crew required all the passengers to gather for a safety briefing. They explained what to do in an emergency. It was important to listen well. Knowing where the life vests were and where to muster if things went south could mean the difference between living and drowning. I listened hard.

Jesus’s teaching is more important than that. It means the difference between death and eternal life. Am I listening hard?

Dear God,

Thank you for sending Jesus to teach us about you and your love. Thank you also for the people who wrote down His words so I can read them two thousand years later. Remind me of those words when I need them, and show me how to apply them to my life, to be obedient, and to share them with others who need to hear them.

“What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go and search for the stray?”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭12‬ ‭CSB‬‬

There’s plenty of conflicting advice in our culture. Like, “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” versus the promise of “no man left behind”. And “a penny saved is a penny earned” versus the warning not to be “penny wise but pound foolish.”

In today’s verse, Jesus tells us where God’s heart is. God loves everyone. Every single person. There is no one He doesn’t care about. No one is expendable. There are no “redshirt” characters in the Bible. Not to God. He longs for every last person to come to Him and enjoy His love and have eternal life.

But He also gave every one of us the power to choose. I can choose to turn away from Him and go my own way. I can go down any path without Him. Will He abandon me then?

Amazingly, He does not. He pursues me. He asks me again, “Are you sure?” He reminds me, “I’m still here and I still love you.”

Those who don’t wander off may feel slighted because God isn’t pursuing them. Like the brother of the Prodigal Son. “What about me?” (Luke‬ ‭15‬:‭25‬-‭32‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

Well, the amazing thing about God is that He has enough love, enough attention, enough power, enough room in His house, His heart, and His arms for everyone. He doesn’t have to choose between the needs of the many and the needs of the few. He can meet all the needs of all who want His love. God leaves no one behind but is also with those charging forward in His service.

I don’t have the ability, like God, to take care of everyone I encounter in my life all the time. But I can strive to be like God by being impartial in the care I do offer. Every person is valuable. Every single person is worth saving. If I listen to God, He will show me who He’s pursuing. And He would love to have me participate.

Dear God,

Thank you for your all-encompassing love. I’m so grateful that you pursued me and that you will never let me get lost. Open my eyes and heart to value people the way you do, to see their needs and follow you in meeting them. Forgive me for giving up on some people, for discounting them as hopelessly lost. I know you can do anything, including changing the hardest heart and finding each lost sheep. Show me the people in my life you want me to pursue with you.