Meditations Monday: Seeking Fault

Dear Lord; Happy Meditations Monday Father!

And once again Lord, we lay behind us yet another lovely weekend filled with family, friends and Your obvious Love for us all.  While the scorching weather restricted our outdoor activities, there were many Blessings to be found inside with good company, good food and great fun to be had by all.  Thank You so much for those days of respite Father!

Today’s Meditations Monday Scripture comes from Chapter 9 of the Gospel of John:

“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”” – John 9:1-3 (NIV)

Now Father, something I hear quite regularly from people going through difficulties in their lives is “What did I do to deserve this?” or “Why is God doing this to me?”.  I’ll admit it, I’ve even had those thoughts myself over the years.  In the case of this passage, when Jesus and His disciples came across a man who had been blind since birth, the question was raised as to whose sin was at fault for his affliction; the man’s or his parents.  Jesus clearly replied that it was in fact neither, but instead was intended to allow for Your Grace to be made manifest.

This is an important and powerful truth Father, and one that I fear we all miss now and again.  As the limited beings we are, we try desperately to put everything into a “Cause and Effect” bubble.  And while quite often there are certainly consequences for our actions, not all earthly suffering is a direct result of a specific “Instigating” sin.

When my son Jonathan was born and we were initially given his grim diagnosis, I spent many hours asking “Why?!?… Why would You do this to us?!?”  I was angry, and scared, and very insistently sought answers that at the time, seemed never to come.  Ten years later, I realize now that Your Plan for his life, and for mine to a great extent, needed those events to unfold as they did.  Our lives, and the lives of many others were altered by his struggle, and Blessed in ways we’re still unraveling today.  We weren’t being persecuted for something we’d done, but were instead walking a journey designed by the One with the “Big Picture” in His sight.

“but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”

Heavenly Father, as this week begins I pray that in times of trial you open our hearts and minds to this fundamental truth.  Let us see past our desire to seek fault and lay blame, and gain strength from the knowledge that Your Path for our lives comes from a far greater perspective than our own.

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Digging Deeper…

Dear Lord; Happy Wednesday Father!

You know Lord, I love it when You plant a seed in my heart and it drives me to seek out answers.  Such was the case with the Scripture verse I posted to my Facebook Wall today:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” – 2 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV)

But apparently You weren’t done with me on this one.  Over the following hours, the phrase “Strive for full restoration…” kept running through my head, over and over.  Finally, I decided to do some research on that particular expression in context and see where it led me.

Now Father, as You know I usually reference the New International Version (NIV) Bible as that’s the version that speaks to my heart most often.  However, when I run into a passage that churns in my head one of the first things I do is to compare it to other translations to see it from other perspectives.  In the case of this verse, the variance seems to be significant across translations… even in the case of the previous NIV (1984):

“Finally, brothers, good‑by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” – (NIV 1984)

“Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.” – (KJV)

“Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, set things right, be encouraged, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.” – (NET)

“And that’s about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure.” – (MSG)

Wow… There’s obviously some differences there Lord.  Realizing that these translations stem from words that may not have an exact English equivalent, I then decided to dig deeper and see what the Biblical Scholars had to say on this phrase.  From what I found, it appears the original word was Καταρτιζεσθε, which according to Clarke’s Commentary converts to mean : “Be compact; get into joint again; let unity and harmony be restored”.  Other commentaries were similar, but the description that finally settled my heart was from Wesley’s Notes which stated : “Be perfect – Aspire to the highest degree of holiness.”.

Strive for full restoration…

I love seeing where Your whispers take me Father.

Heavenly Father, I thank You for making Your Presence known through these quiet instructions to my heart.  I pray that You continue to challenge me to dig deeper into Your Word, so as to bring my Walk even closer to Your side.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Meditations Monday: Transformational Benevolence

Dear Lord; Happy Meditations Monday Father!

Well Lord, yet another weekend has come and gone at the Malmstrom home.  As seems to be our norm as of late, it was a somewhat hectic weekend but also one filled with fun, laughter, and the company of good friends.  Your Presence was felt in abundance, and I thank You for Blessing us with these times of recreation and fellowship.

This week’s Meditations Monday verse is taken from Chapter 4 of Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians:

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:31-32 (NIV)

Wow… no pressure there Father.  😉

This a powerful, relevant verse Lord, and one all Your Children should take to heart more thoroughly.  As the fragile, broken beings we are, we often allow our sinful natures to overshadow Your Desires for us.  Feelings of inner conflict and malicious intent eat away at our souls, and obscure us from Your Voice.  In this passage, Paul reminds us that You Blessed us with the perfect example of Divine Forgiveness.  You set the bar, and guide us in our Walk to emulate that behavior in our dealings with one another.

And as we discussed on Friday’s post Father, You know our hearts, not just the persona we put on for others.  “Surface forgiveness” isn’t what Your edict to us defines, but instead we’re to strive for true, transformational benevolence.  It’s a steep climb to be sure, but one that leads us ever closer to Christ’s Footsteps and to Your Kingdom.

Heavenly Father, I thank You once again for Your consistent guiding Presence in my life.  Please help me to cast off the chains of sinful emotions, and reach out to others in the nature of true forgiveness and compassion.  Help me to make decisions that best glorify Your Will, and to bring Your Light to those around me.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Spiritual Decompression

Dear Lord; Happy Wednesday Father!

Today Father, I hit the wall.

Not literally mind you, but from a mental, emotional and to some extent, spiritual sense I hit a point today where the events of the past couple weeks all seemed to pile on top of one another, and I allowed that self-imposed load to overwhelm me to the point of exhaustion.  I spent my afternoon trying desperately to focus and get a handle on the deluge of tasks strewn about me, but to no avail.

My mind had left the building.

After everyone else had left the office this evening (rather promptly in fact, as today was a payday), I was beginning to get things together to head out myself when all of a sudden I was stopped dead in my tracks by Your Voice in my head…

“Spiritual Decompression” I heard You say.

Huh?  Ok… I hadn’t heard that one before.

Driving home, I had some “quiet time” to contemplate Your somewhat unusual directive.  At first, it seemed like maybe I’d misunderstood, but as I meditated more on the phrase Your point came through loud and clear and I realized why I was in the throes of such inner turmoil.  Over the last week or so with all of the hectic goings-on preparing for the party, having to deal with a series of business nightmares, coping with an onslaught of worrisome news regarding friends’ health along with the day-to-day duties required to keep family life moving along, our time together had been broken up and limited.  Yes, we’d certainly talked but it was always “in-between” rushing to deal with the earthly duties around me.

You were reminding me that I needed to rest in You… To reconnect, and decompress.

Message received, and understood.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Thank You for the reminder Father.  🙂

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Thankful Thursday: More Multitudes

Dear Lord; Happy Thankful Thursday Father!

Following last week’s example Lord, I’m going to add to the list of Your Gifts that I’ve been especially grateful for this past week.  It’s funny, but since last week’s posting I’ve been finding myself making mental notes as I go through the day; “Wow… This needs to make the list this week!”.  I love having the mindset of “filing” all those wonderful Blessings You bestow on me so I can write them down later on.  🙂

Anyways Father, here’s my list this week:

16. Children who remember to say grace at dinnertime… Even when I forget.

17. A caring, God-loving veterinarian who understands what our “furry family members” mean to us.

18. Hunny responding well to the medication after only two days.

19. Good friends who go out of their way to help our family.

20. Live worship messages streaming from Crosspoint.tv on Sunday nights.

21. A staff who “rolls with the punches” in uncertain times.

22. Finding a Bluetooth headset for my phone that fits comfortably and works properly, (finally!)

23. Spring rainstorms that lull me to sleep at night.

24. A wife who likes mowing the lawn.

25. The smell of warm cinnamon bread baking in the oven.

26. Exploring the beauty and wonders of nature with the boys.

27. My hacked Nook Color Android Tablet.

28. Breakfast for Dinner.

29. The online Bible at YouVersion.com which I can access from my PC, my phone and my Android tablet.

30. Chunks of fresh strawberries in my fruit slushie.

Heavenly Father, as always this list could go on, and on, and on… Your Blessings surround us all each day, and I just love connecting with You further by putting them in writing.

Amen.

~Phather Phil