There comes a time when we experience attacks, not for things we have done wrong, but for things we are doing right. Our enemies are so angry toward us in general that they are blind to the benefits our actions are having on the world around us. Jesus was healing people, taking away suffering and curing diseases that would have ended the lives or caused long term suffering in the lives of hundreds of people…and still the Pharisees wanted to get rid of Him.

The wicked make evil plans
against good people
they grind their teeth at them
in anger. ~ Psalm 37:12

It’s a good thing that Jesus goes on to tell us that we should love our enemies, and that He lives this out in His own life. Otherwise we might make the mistake of fighting back and stopping the good work that we should stay focused on.

It’s hard to keep your spirit up when you are being treated like an enemy or criminal. You desperately want to defend yourself, and you suffer the pain of public opinion: whatever side of the story people hear first, they believe. You simply have to hold up under the attack until time and your good work prove your character, and you have to live with the fact that you will have enemies. You simply cannot allow them to distract you or discourage you from what God has called you to do.

Luke 5:36-6:45

what must it have been like as the parents of john the baptist, jesus, or sampson? Knowing your child is born for some great task, yet seeing them grow toward it from infancy. God does not often reveal the future with such detail because we tend to be foolish when we have a guarantee of His blessing.

Foolish, yet courageous. God’s promises and loyal love are what give us courage for the days ahead. As lamentations says in today’s reading, “i have hope when i think of this, the Lords love never ends”

I have a weak will and make plenty of mistakes, and this promise gives me courage amidst my failings. Gods love never ends. His mercies are new every morning.

Father help me to love with great courage knowing that you won’t abandon me in my failings. thank you that although i don’t have many promises regarding the future, i have this one.

lamentations 3:21-26

Two thousand pigs…drowned. Two THOUSAND!
I would be pretty willing to send away the guy who caused that to happen too.

I find that there are more unanswered questions than answered ones regarding this event:

• Where did the demons go after the pigs died?
• Why did Jesus allow such destruction?
• Did the death of the pigs help His cause, or hurt it?
• What was the point of this encounter?

I am reminded of the words of C.S. Lewis in this encounter:
“He’s not a tame lion, but He is good.”

Jesus is rarely predictable, and often controversial and even astounding in His actions…but they served His purpose to spread the news of the kingdom, of that I am certain. I just think I would have done it differently.

I need to keep an eye out for how God wants to work in unexpected ways in my own life and community. I need to be more willing to follow Him if He does something controversial or risky. And I need to remember how valuable one man’s life was to Jesus.

One of the hardest things to grasp in the Christian walk when you are excited and pursuing God with great diligence, is the lukewarm attitudes of so many others. I didn’t really appreciate the parable Jesus tells of the four soils until I started to get discouraged by the people I meet at church sometimes.

I realize now that the world is full of distractions and challenges that take our energy and effort away from the spiritual life…and that it is a blessing to be young and have more time than responsibilities, like I was, when you start following Jesus. That time and flexibility allow a lot of spiritual growth to occur that the average adult does not have.

Take advantage of your free time if you have it. Invest it well, and pursue God passionately.

And make sure you use every ounce of time you can make available if you don’t. Sacrificing hobbies, getting up an hour earlier, and even reducing expenses or income by changing your job or possessions are worthwhile sacrifices if you use that extra time to grow spiritually.

The Christian life is one of growth into a state of maturity, and that’s a lot harder than growing physically to maturity. You can’t stop physical growth, but you can stop mental, emotional and spiritual growth. It’s not uncommon to see a 20 year old acting like a twelve year old. It looks odd when a senior citizen behaves like a teenager. And I often fail to hold myself accountable to acting my spiritual age too. Sometimes I am the twenty year old Christian acting like a two year old Christian.

Jesus is quick to point out our attacks on new believers–the way we are quick to point out their faults and failings in faith matters. But the opposite is also true: the longer we have been a follower of Jesus, the more maturity and faith we ought to show. Unfortunately that is rarely true. Most long time believers have acquired a sense of dignity and poise in life, but rarely to they hold themselves to a life of dynamic faith and outreach. They’ve got the morality down, but not the mission of Jesus…myself often included.

God help me to act my age!

Let these disciplined times with you break me out of a life aimed at stability so that I life a dynamic, mission-filled life of faith each day.