My thoughts (Brent Walsh):

Imagine you saw the following in your church bulletin this Sunday:

Breaking news! Our pastor has decided that passing the offering plate is not working very well, so he has a better idea. In the parking lot, there will be a tent set up where the church staff will collect a mandatory offering. Before you are allowed into the church, you must purchase worship tokens that are guaranteed to buy you favor with God. You can buy one token for $25 or five for $100. If you don’t have enough money to buy the tokens, the church will gladly give you a payday loan to cover the cost (at a rate of 70% interest). This loan stipulates that if you don’t pay the amount in full within two weeks, your  vehicle will become church property.

If you choose to bring your own tokens with you, they must be inspected by a deacon prior to entry to ensure authenticity and to see that they are in perfect condition. There is a fee of $15 per token inspection, and if any tokens are deemed unsatisfactory, they will be confiscated. You will have to get back in line for pre-approved tokens.

This may seem a bit unconventional, but consider the benefits! This new mandatory offering system will enable the church to build a larger sanctuary with a more impressive media system, no doubt enhancing your worship experience. In addition, the clergy on staff will see an increase in salary of about 300% in order to focus more on sermon jokes instead of the financial stress that comes with serving a ‘freewill offering’ church.

The crazy scenario I’ve just fabricated would undoubtedly solve the problem of church overcrowding in one fell swoop! But what if attending church was the ONLY way to access God? What if you were forced to pay the worship expenses in order to get forgiveness for sin? This is the kind of robbery that was taking place in the temple that enraged Jesus as described in our scripture passage today.

It was thought that the Temple in Jerusalem was where God dwelt, and in order to get close to God, you had to come to the temple to worship and offer sacrifices. Various types of sacrifices were required (as outlined in the Old Testament) in order to have access to the temple and, therefore, to God. The sacrifices were called offerings, but they were not discretionary like ours is today. If you did not have an acceptable offering, you would have to buy one and have it inspected for blemishes. The vendors at the temple were happy to provide acceptable offerings, but they charged exorbitant prices.

Jesus did not object to the practice of going to the temple with a sacrifice, but rather the abuse that the temple keepers inflicted on the masses. They were a captive consumer. People were broke and dying while the vendors at the temple were fat and wealthy.

When Jesus saw how the church was taking advantage of the people it was supposed to be serving, he flew into a rage and started turning over the tables. This was the worst kind of abuse of power the church could carry out against the people of God. The people were being told that they had to toe a certain line in order to find favor with God, but then the church made it nearly impossible to reach that line!

What does it mean to “take the Lord’s name in vain?” I don’t think God is concerned with insignificant utterings that come out of your mouth while, say, you’re being chased by an angry wasp! I think God is more concerned about the things you DO in the name of God that do not reflect the character of God. To say that someone must do a certain thing that they could never do, or be a certain way that they could never be, in order to find favor with God is just as abusive as the vendors at the temple who provoked Jesus’ rage.

So I challenge you to stand up against those who would keep you from experiencing the fullness of a relationship with God simply because you don’t measure up to a certain standard. You wouldn’t buy a costly worship token in order to come to church, so why must you buy the untruths that would stand between you and God? Knock over the tables and claim your spot in the fellowship of believers. You are welcome just as you are.

Thought for the day:What barriers have others put between you and God? Can you imagine Jesus overturning those tables, chasing your personal “loan sharks and dove merchants” away?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Brent Walsh):

Why is it that betrayal seems to hurt worse than most other offenses?

In our passage today we see that Jesus is trying to prepare the disciples for what was to come. With everything else that Jesus had to go through to secure redemption for humankind, why was betrayal part of the deal? Maybe it’s because betrayal attacks the core of a person and mercilessly drops them to their knees. Could it be that in Jesus’ case, the pain of betrayal made everything that was to follow feel less painful in its wake?

The passage says, “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.’ And the disciples were filled with grief.” We see that no one seemed to notice the last part of his statement about being raised again to life! This is a shocking prediction! Yet the idea of betrayal and death seems to overpower any promise of resurrection in the minds of the disciples. Regardless of the fact that Jesus knew the betrayal was going to take place, I wonder if there was part of him that took it personally.

I think it’s fair to say that the act of blatant, intentional betrayal has more to do with the betrayer than the betrayed. Whether a person “deserves” it or not is not even an issue. Somehow the person committing the act has justified his/her behavior and has deemed it necessary — or maybe just convenient — in order to get what they want.

But what if the person who has betrayed you didn’t realize they were doing something to make you feel that way? Maybe they promised you the moon when you were dating, and then failed to live up to their promises? Maybe they sold you a vehicle for a super low price because “you’re a friend,” only to have the transmission go out a week later. Maybe they inadvertently repeated something you told them in confidence. Maybe they developed a friendship with you in order to get close to your sister so they could ask her out.

But the worst kind of heartache is when you feel that God has betrayed you. You prayed earnestly for the healing of a loved one, only to have them die in your arms. You put your finances and reputation on the line for the sake of the church, only to learn that the leadership was taking advantage of you. You raise your children to be responsible citizens, then watch helplessly as they waste away their adulthood. You devote your life to a mission field, only to have the village burn to the ground.

In what way do you feel betrayed? If you have been deliberately betrayed by someone, take the situation to God and ask for guidance on how to heal from the pain. If someone has unintentionally betrayed you, ask if you can share your feelings. You might find that your friendship is strengthened as a result. If you feel that God has betrayed you, don’t be afraid to express yourself honestly. God is not threatened by your emotions, so talk frankly and openly about your pain.

Thought for the day: Think of an instance where you’re harboring some hurt over being betrayed. How can you begin to make it better?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Brent Walsh):

The morning breeze was a bit stronger than we would have hoped for the first day of a garage sale. We were busy pulling tables out of the garage and loading them down with clothes, kitchenware and knickknacks. Our cat Friday was “helping”, inspecting everything that came out and trying to catch anything that blew in the wind. Straw hats, plastic bowls, blankets, and ball caps would go flying across the yard, and Julie would follow behind in a rush to block their progress.

I pulled a mattress set into the driveway and leaned it against a tree. When Friday saw the mattresses, she was delighted to discover it was a perfect scratching post! With ears back and brow furrowed, she sunk her claws deep into the fabric and scratched to her heart’s content — until I noticed what she was doing. “Friday, NO!” I exclaimed, running towards her with a lamp in my hand. When she saw me coming, she bolted up the side of the mattress and leapt onto the roof of the house to escape my rebuke. Once she realized I wasn’t going to ascend the mattress in pursuit, she slowed her pace and decided to just take a tour of this fascinating part of the house she had never seen before.

Friday stayed up there for about half an hour, walking up and down the various pitches of the roof, chasing birds, and exploring the intriguing contents of the gutters. When she eventually grew bored, she sat down at the edge of the roof and started meowing. There were four people setting up the sale in the driveway below, and we all looked up to see her crying to get down. She would walk a few paces, crouch down against the gutter, walk a few more paces and then turn around. I put down the box of stuffed animals I was holding and retrieved a ladder. I climbed up, and she ran over to me and let me cradle her under my arm.

Friday did just fine as I started to descend the ladder, but suddenly she panicked and all four feet produced razor-sharp claws that found purchase on my chest and shoulder. I bellowed and tried to pull her away with one arm as I clung to the ladder with the other, but I was no match for her fright! She squirmed and hissed as she fought to secure herself against me. When I finally made it to the bottom of the ladder, I released my grip and she catapulted from my arms. I expected her to hit the ground running and never look back, but to my surprise, as soon as she was on solid ground, she simply plopped down and started licking her paws as if nothing at all had happened!

In today’s passage, we see Peter in the boat realizing that Jesus is approaching them, walking on the water. He asks Jesus if he could join him on the water, and Jesus says, “Come.” Then the Bible says, “Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’”

Now we might be tempted to shake our heads and accuse Peter of not having enough faith, but just remember that he obviously had enough to get out of the boat in the first place! That’s nothing to be ashamed of! Maybe he’s not that different than you. You find yourself in the middle of your leap of faith, doing fine and getting excited about how things are progressing… and then you look down! You might not see anything different than what was there all along, but you realize where you are and you wonder how long you can be safe in that position.

Maybe it’s a new relationship. You open yourself up to the possibility, and you like where things are going so you muster up your courage and get out of the boat. It’s a miracle that you found such solid ground in a tumultuous sea of fickle relationships! You move forward in amazement and start to get comfortable in your new reality. And then, for reasons you can’t explain, you look around and start to worry. Are you too happy? Are things going too well? Is this too good to be true?

Or maybe it’s a new career path. You feel called into church ministry, so you enroll in seminary. Things are going well, you’re enjoying your classes, and you’re getting good grades. But then you take a class that challenges things you’ve believed all your life and you find yourself wondering what on earth you’ve done! Are you kidding yourself to think you could actually pull this off? How could you serve God if you’re questioning everything you believe?

Let’s just take a deep breath and try not to freak out. Try to summon the faith you had when you stepped out of the boat. Reach out for Jesus’ hand and allow him to calm your spirit. When you do, you’ll see that everything is going to be just fine.

Thought for the day: Maybe it’s not a “leap” of faith that will see us through, but rather, “steps” of faith, one after the other.

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Brent Walsh):

The hospital waiting room was filled with a mix of people I knew and people I’d just met. Julie and I had driven through the night to make it to the bedside of our dear friend Denise as she bargained with her feeble lungs for every breath. As much as we wanted to camp out by her side, we spent most of our time in the waiting room visiting with the other friends and family members who were gathered to pray and to wait for her condition to improve.

When there was a pause in the conversation around the room, I turned to someone sitting next to me. “Tell me one of your memories of Denise,” I said. Her smile turned introspective as she said, “Denise has been my AA sponsor for fifteen years. She is the reason I’m sober today.” What followed was a story of struggle, temptation, and courage to overcome alcoholism. Denise had been there and had learned those lessons well, so she took what she knew and passed it along to others. She spent twenty years helping people and teaching people how to live sober, and some of those people have in turn helped others to find health and healing through sobriety.

In the passage of scripture before this one, Jesus tells a parable about a farmer who sows his seed on four kinds of ground: the hard pathway, shallow soil, weedy soil, and rich, fertile soil. Our passage picks up when Jesus is explaining to the disciples what the parable means, and when I read his words, I can’t help but relate the meaning to people who take steps to change something in their life for the better.

If you were to put a group of people into a room for a twelve-week course or a twelve step program, you would most likely have four different results among your class members:

• Some would probably sit through the entire class playing solitaire or texting her friends. Like a seed that falls on the pathway, she absorbs nothing and learns nothing.
• Some would pay attention and even contribute to the discussion, but when he would leave the room after each lesson, the information offered would stay behind. Like a seed that falls on shallow ground, this person doesn’t take the time to apply any of the principles and his life doesn’t change.
• The third kind of class member does all his homework and is determined to make all the necessary changes in his life, but then times get tough and hardship chokes out all the resolve he had. He becomes like a seed that falls among the thorns. He is discouraged and might even quit coming to class because he’s so disappointed in himself.
• The fourth kind of class member absorbs all the material, makes changes in her life, and can barely contain her excitement! This person is like a seed that falls on fertile soil. She isn’t satisfied with simply reaping the benefits of the class herself, but rather helps others to get involved and find help and healing the way she did.

When was the last time you enrolled in a program that promised to change your life? Was it a weight-loss clinic? A drug rehabilitation program? A financial skills course? A codependency group? A dating/marriage class? An Alcoholics Anonymous group? A career skills class? A Bible study or discipleship class?

Whether it does any good is completely up to you. If you provide fertile soil for the seeds of the program, they will take root and grow tall and strong. They will change your life. And when they do, you can turn around and help others who are just starting out on the journey you’ve already taken.

Thought for the day: What kind of soil do I want to be today?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Brent Walsh):

It was near the end of our last Financial Peace University class. There were several guests — friends, co-workers, fellow church members — among us who had been invited to see what a FPU class was like. They had been told how lives are being changed and families united in the effort to reclaim their financial destinies. I wanted to show our guests what kind of result they could reasonably expect.

“Raise your hand if you started this twelve-week journey in financial crisis,” I instructed. Our guests turned in their seats to see the response. Almost everyone who had been on this twelve week journey together raised their hands.

“Now keep them up if you thought that the first baby step of the program — putting $1000 into a savings account as an emergency fund — was absolutely impossible.” It was no surprise to me that everyone kept their hands in the air, and some even raised their other hand for emphasis! You see, for those of us who start our FPU journey in financial crisis, it seems like a joke to suggest we put so much money into savings when we have creditors calling. We are quick to say, “Yeah, right. And if I had a thousand dollars sitting around, I wouldn’t be in financial crisis!” Some of the guests chuckled in agreement that baby step number one indeed seemed unrealistic.

“One last question,” I said. “Raise your hand if, within these twelve weeks, you have accomplished baby step one by putting $1000 in a savings account.” It was not the roomful of raised hands that surprised me at this point. What thrilled me were the looks of hope and validation that I saw on the faces of my class members when they were able to hold their hands in the air to testify that they are on their way to financial freedom! I guess it’s true. . . when you have $1000 in a savings account, you are no longer in financial crisis!

So what on earth does this have to do with our scripture today? The story is of a couple of blind men who pursue Jesus with a plea of mercy. Jesus keeps walking, seeming to ignore them. But the men follow him and ask again for healing. Finally Jesus says, “Do you really think I am able to do what you ask?” They were convinced he could, so by their faith that they were healed. Before they left, Jesus warned them sternly not to tell a soul about what he had done. There are various speculations about why Jesus would issue such a request, but there is no speculation about why the two men completely disregarded it. The iron gates of their struggles had been unlocked and flung open and they found themselves in a vibrant, colorful world of new opportunities! They were no longer bystanders in life! They were able to take an active part in the planning of their future! How could they keep such a thing to themselves?

So it was with every person sitting in that classroom with their hands raised to say that their iron gates had been unlocked and flung open. With their hands they were telling us what the balance of their savings account looked like. With their eyes and their smiles they were telling us what the balance of their future looked like! And it looked bright! They had learned valuable lessons about how to take control of their finances, and they were no longer bystanders in life. With the simple raise of a hand they were saying that, even though they had a lot of work to do, they were now able to take an active part in the planning of their future!

One last note about our scripture today, though. It’s important to realize that the two blind men did not sit around at home waiting for Jesus to happen along their paths. They knew that to find healing and restoration, they had to go out and pursue him. If you are looking for healing in your life, don’t sit around waiting for it to happen. Find people who have overcome the same kinds of problems you’re facing, and ask them how they did it. Read a book. Take a class. Get off your couch and do something! The answer is out there. Go find it!

Thought for the day: Think about one thing you really want to change. What’s my first step?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Brent Walsh):

It was just this last Sunday in our Financial Peace University class that the debate arose over how much a person should worry about their future.

We had just finished a lesson on long-term savings for things like college and retirement. One person suggested that we should be reluctant to spend money on anything that is not completely necessary until we are in a secure financial position with ample savings. Another person disagreed, saying that if you wait until you’re financially secure before you do anything, then life could pass you by. Money can always be gained, she said, but you can’t get back the time that you wish you had spent on vacation with your kids.

So which is the better advice? Do we worry about the future, thereby putting off doing fun things until we can afford them? Or do we throw caution to the wind and risk running short, in order to fill our lives with fun memories?

Today we see that Jesus says,

“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes. . . Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. . . ”

Upon first glance, it looks like Jesus is disregarding the value of a good plan for the future. In other parts of the Bible we are urged to work hard, save for the future, and be wise with the money we have. Why would Jesus say not to worry about these things? Is he suggesting we should just sit around and wait for God to throw money, food, and clothes on our doorsteps?

I don’t think so. If you look a bit further into Jesus’ words, you will see he says,

“. . .your heavenly Father knows that you need [these things]. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”

I think what Jesus is saying is that there should be a balance of concern between planning for the future and living a full life. You should do everything in your power to clothe your family and put food on the table, but if money is tight, you should not sit around worrying about where your next meal will come from. This is God’s promise that we will be taken care of. So plan for the future to the best of your ability, and live every day with purpose. Serve the Lord diligently and God will make sure you have what you need.

Thought for the day: How is my balance? Do I spend too much or save too much? Am I full of worry, or full of trust?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.