“Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying:

“BE ON YOUR GUARD against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”

 It’s been an especially busy day of ministry for Jesus and His men. There’s a crowd a MANY THOUSANDS who have gathered around, hoping to listen to His teachings and witness His miracles.

Jesus had recently finished eating at a Pharisee’s house, and must have been agitated after having to confront him for his hypocrisy.  He ended up exposing a number of breakdowns in this man’s empty ‘religious’ ways, and provoked the group of Pharisees to begin opposing Him fiercely. Jesus isn’t finished talking about these broken ways, and continues sharing His heart about them in front of this crowd of thousands.

Now, I get the impression that the Pharisees LOVED big crowds – especially when they were in the middle of it all.  Fame, notoriety, and attention were all theirs to gain, and they really knew how to put on a show to get it.  But in this moment, they must have been crawling in their own skin.

Jesus begins teaching His followers to protect themselves from this trap of showmanship, and the heartbeat of His message becomes very clear:

‘Don’t be someone you’re really not, especially when you’re in front of others.’
‘Don’t strive to be famous… strive to be authentic.’
‘Don’t allow the pressure of a crowd to push you to into hypocrisy.’

Jesus had an axe to grind and He was working it fiercely.  He was showing them that when we are in front of others, temptations come that can morph us into someone publicly that we really aren’t privately.

He called this the ‘yeast’ of the Pharisees, and identified it as hypocrisy – the practice of professing and projecting something that is contrary to our true self. It’s no secret that Jesus didn’t mince words when it came to the Pharisees.

This had nothing to do with the religious sect they belonged to, and everything to do with the state of their hearts, which is a little unnerving to me. It means that I don’t have to actually BE a Pharisee to live like one.  It can happen to ANYBODY, but Jesus wants it happening to NOBODY.

He said we should be on guard.  He said we should be diligent and watchful.  He said we should make sure this ‘yeast’ of hypocrisy doesn’t invade our lives and ruin everything.

At the end of the day, most of us want to put our best foot forward, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  Job interviews, first dates and sports tryouts demand our very best, and so do the promises and commitments we make to God.

But we need to do everything we can to MAINTAIN giving our best in all these things as well!  On the job site, in the marriage, and for the Lord – because these continue to deserve our very best as well.

May God help us all, as we live a life of professing AND practicing our very best for Him!

18 He went to his father and said, “My father.”

   “Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”

 19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” 20 Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”   

“The LORD your God gave me success,” he replied.

 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.” 22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. 24 “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked. “I am,” he replied.

 25 Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”  Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank.

26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.” 27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,

   “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.”

 Isaac was getting old, blind, and near the time of his death.  He wanted to pass on his blessing to Esau, and told him to take his weapons out in the country, hunt some wild game, and bring it back to prepare a tasty meal for him.  Isaac was planning to eat that meal, give Esau his blessing, and die shortly after that.

Now Rebekah had overheard this whole conversation between Isaac and Esau.  Since she favored Jacob much more than Esau, she conspired with Jacob to trick Isaac into giving him his blessing instead.  Jacob went out to the flock, and brought in two choice goats for Rebekah to prepare.  He also put on  some of Esau’s best clothes, and covered his hands and neck with goatskins to impersonate his overly hairy brother.

It’s here that we pick up the story in verse 18.  Jacob approaches Isaac, pretending to be Esau and take his brother’s blessing.

There’s a lot that suggests Isaac wasn’t confident Esau was really standing before him, but since he was blind, he had to trust in other senses beyond his sight.  Problem is – he ignored the most important sense of all, his discernment, and messed everything up!

He trusted in his own sense of touch (verse 21) and it misled him.  He trusted in his own sense of taste (verse 25) and it tricked him.  He trusted in his own sense of smell (verse 27) which fooled him as well.

God has given us the amazing ability to discern a situation, and understand what is going on at a deeper level than what our natural senses provide to us.

We see this play out so clearly in Isaac’s situation.  When his natural senses were telling him it was Esau who was with him, his discernment was saying something else.  It was telling him the timing was off, and it was waving multiple warning flags, which prompted Isaac to keep questioning and probing.

To his own peril, Isaac ignored the voice of discernment, and his whole plan to bless Esau was ruined.  There’s an important truth for us to learn from this.

When our own discernment is sending us warnings to slow down, stop or change direction, we shouldn’t ignore them and force our way into trouble.  Instead, we should listen.  We should pause.  We should pay close attention to the checks in our own spirit that came from God’s gift of discernment.

God, help us to pay close attention to the discernment you’ve given us, and lead us into life in the fullest, as we follow you!

“Go the extra mile… it’s never crowded”

It captures the idea that there are many people who only do/work/give what is required of them.  Yet what I’ve found is this: it’s the amount and excellence what is OVER and ABOVE the required, that determines the success and overall victory we’ll achieve.

Genesis 24:15-21 tell us;

“Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.

The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.”

“Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.

After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.”

So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.”

This ‘servant‘ we read about was on a mission (sent by Abraham) to identify and recruit a suitable wife for his son Isaac.

Upon arriving at the spring, the servant prayed to God, and asked for a specific sign to show him which woman would be the right one to bring home for Isaac.  More specifically, when he asked a girl for a drink, if she offered to water his camels as well, it would be the sign to him that SHE WAS THE ONE God had chosen for Isaac.

Before he had even finished praying all of this, Rebekah came out to the spring with a jar on her shoulder. It was time for him to sit back and see which one would stand out from the rest.

We see that Rebekah had some sparkling ‘outward’ qualities that would’ve made her a great candidate – she was beautiful and she was a virgin.  BUT it was something else that set her apart -  her willingness to go the extra mile.

Once their conversation began, everything unfolded just as the servant had prayed beforehand. Not only was she willing to help him in his own thirst, but she also volunteered to make sure his camels were taken care of as well.

He knew that his journey was a success, and that he had found God’s woman for Isaac!

The application we can draw from Rebekah’s story is this: she had a special spirit about her that was wide open and willing to go the extra mile… and that spirit opened the door for great things to come in her future!

I can’t help but think how the servant had brought TEN camels with him.  You’ve got to believe this would have been a HUGE TASK for Rebekah to carry all that water to them all until they thirsted no more.  She never blinked at it though, and gave herself fully to the task at hand.

Since she sacrificially gave herself to this act of service, God opened up a door for her to marry into the most significant family and lineage in the history of the entire world!  Now that’s what I call ‘marrying up’.

What this means for us today is this: At the end of the day, God gave us the VERY BEST He had in His Son Jesus Christ.  If we step out and give God the very best we have, I’m convinced it opens up the door for God to keep giving us His best as well.

So – let’s commit ourselves to follow Rebekah’s lead in our own lives.  At work. In Marriage. With our family. Through service. In purpose. Watch and see how setting yourself apart is actually setting yourself up for something amazing in Christ!

“One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.

The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!“

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm.  “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.  In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

Now, the disciples had been with Jesus for a while, journeying through the season of His ministry that was full of demonstrations of His miracle working power.

They were no strangers to the sight of the supernatural.

They had already seen Him heal the sick, raise the dead, and drive out evil spirits.  Surely they were growing more accustomed to the idea that He could turn the tables on earthly challenges in a heartbeat.

Once again, they were face to face with a desperate need.  But, they don’t quite pass the test, and it’s interesting to see how they deal with the challenge.  Actually, we can see two separate reactions on part of the disciples that reveal to us a big need for growth.

FIRST – it’s how they feared drowning when the storm came upon their boat.  Sure, I get it – this particular storm was ‘dangerous‘.  But after witnessing some of Jesus’ amazing miracles, it still didn’t show up on their spiritual radar that He could deliver them out of the trouble they were in.  Why were they afraid, when He had already demonstrated His ability to rescue people out of terrible situations – even death?

SECOND – it’s how they respond when He actually does answer their prayer by delivering them.  Jesus wakes up, rebukes the wind & raging waters, and the storm goes calm.  Their reaction afterwards blows me away.

“WHO IS THIS???“

Really?  They have to ask themselves again who Jesus is?  He had already identified himself as the Son of Man.  He had already worked some incredible supernatural miracles.  Yet, it was as if they were seeing it happen for the very first time.  It was if they weren’t even expecting to get out of there alive.

I think we’ve got to learn from the disciples’ missteps in this situation.  When the dangerous storms are stirring in our lives, as long as Jesus is in our boat, we don’t have to be anxious about our safety.  We don’t need to worry about the outcome!

He may even appear to be ‘sleeping’ on us, totally unaware of what we’re facing, BUT – He is never out of control, and He is not going to let us sink!  AND, when He does rescue us from our trouble, let’s not act so surprised like His own men did!

Instead of coming off shocked that He answers our prayers, we need to be praising God with a heart that was looking for His answer to come all along.  Just as Psalm 34:19 says: “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.“

“His eye is on the sparrow… and I still KNOW that He watches over me!!!”

Breakfast is down, tuxedos are ready to strap on, the rings are buffed and sparkling. All the prep that’s needed to be done has been, and now it’s time to simply enjoy this special moment.

What I LOVE about be part of or even present at a wedding ceremony, is how it refreshes the amazing memories you shared with your spouse back on your own special day.

I always end up leaving a wedding holding Carrie’s hand a little bit tighter, staring at her a little bit deeper and maybe even kissing her a little bit longer!! There’s such a welcome renewal of the strong love that I have towards her, as I look upon the face of the one I love. I feel more passion towards her and am reminded how much she really means to me.

Of course, there’s such a strong parallel in this towards our relationship with God. It’s easy for the routine of it all to set in. It doesn’t take much to get caught up in the pressures and struggles of life. And when this happens, we end up needing a reminder how much we love the Lord… and how much He really means to us.

So – let’s be open for the Lord to renew our hearts towards Him, and take us back to our first love!!

Not as easy though when it applies directly to us, and we’re in the middle of a heated situation that could quickly get worse with a retaliatory response.

LUKE 6:27-31;

“27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

REALLY!?!  I can only imagine how He had everyone’s attention, making radical statements, and challenging them to LOVE their enemies, to PRAY for those who mistreat them, and to GIVE more to those who steal from them.

Many present that day must have been confronted for the very first time with this reality – you can’t always follow through on the emotional reaction that comes when someone mistreats you, verbally attacks you, steals from you or even ‘hits you in the face’.

In fact, I think there’s something we need to understand about actually choosing to function this way.  I believe we’ve got to know the difference between REACTING to a situation and RESPONDING to a situation.

Most times, our ‘reaction’ is an immediate, reciprocal response to a certain force or event in our life, and many times, it is highly driven by emotion.  It could be considered quite similar to a ‘chemical reaction’, where there is a responsive action that chemicals have when introduced to each other.  There’s no thought.  There’s no delay.  There’s no processing.  It just happens.  Everytime.  Bang.  Flash.  Heat.  Fire.

In contrast, a rational ‘response’ would take us through a much different approach.  We can still act in reply to a situation, but not without processing it first.  We filter it through prayer.  We sift it through God’s Word.  We deal with our own offense privately with God, and pray away our own need for restitution or justice.  And, when we process our response this way, we no longer need to react with an equal amount of aggression that came our way first.  Actually, we’re much more ready to walk in the opposite response Jesus gives to us in Luke 6.

Did someone mistreat you? Bless them and pray for them.

Did someone steal from you?  Don’t demand it back, but give even more.

Did someone hit you in the face?  Don’t hit back, but give them the other cheek as well.

These are some of the real ‘responses’ we should have when we are facing conflict.  Let’s do our best to embrace the higher call of living that Jesus gave us and live in the ‘opposite spirit’!

“All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.  They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.  But he walked right through the crowd, and went on his way.“

I see two things happening here that I want to share about.

First, I see that Jesus had an incredible ability to escape from a threatening situation.  The whole crowd was swarming around, and they had bad intentions in mind for Him.  They wanted to cause Him a great deal of pain.  They wanted to shut His ministry down.  They wanted to make an example of Him.  They wanted to take away His life.  Yet, with an angry mob pressing in, ready to make good on their ill motives, He passes through them all without suffering ANY harm at all!

Second, I notice how quickly the hearts of people can flip from being captured by Christ to driving Him out of our lives. If you read a little earlier in Luke 4, you catch how the crowd was initially amazed at His great teachings, hanging off of every word He spoke.  Verse 22 tells us that ‘they all spoke well of Him, and were amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips.’  There was a sense of awe and appeal.  It all changed though when His teachings began to target issues in their own lives, and their demeanor towards Him altered.  They wanted to throw Him off a cliff!

So, what does all this mean for us today?

Well, for those of us who are feeling swarmed by adversaries or confronted by dark circumstances, THERE IS HOPE.  Many years ago, Jesus demonstrated His capacity to escape from threatening and perilous situations, and I believe He is overwhelmingly able to rescue us out of similar moments today!  Sometimes, life can feel a lot like that menacing crowd in Nazareth… pressing in and threatening the things that matter most to us.  BUT – no dilemma is too big or dangerous for Jesus to make an escape out of!  When the Lord wants to ‘go on His way’, nothing can stop Him.

Looking at it from the other angle, I’m also impacted by the crowd flip-flopping on Jesus from awe-struck amazement to down-right denial of His ministry!  This massive switch was triggered when Jesus focused His teachings towards an area of their lives that needed correction.  Surely they must have felt the conviction of the Spirit, but they managed that opportunity for adjustment quite poorly.  Instead of receiving it with an openness to improve, they rejected it with hostility and disapproval.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen this play out in churches of our time and generation as well.  The encouraging sermons coming out of pastor’s pulpits that speak of hope, peace and blessings are the crowd favorites.  Yet, some of the harder messages that target a need for change and growth in our lives don’t get near as much of the fanfare.  We need BOTH types of messages in our lives, and we need to receive them with equal openness.

PRAYER

If this week’s devotional spoke to your life in some way, I encourage you to pray about it… even something like this:

God, help me to be reminded of your supernatural ability to deliver us from ANY situation the enemy means to harm us in.  When the pressure is mounting and the hope is bleeding, may we NEVER lose hope that you can come to our rescue, and lead us on our way.  AND, help us to be courageous enough to receive your word in our lives, especially in those moments it creates the opportunity for us to move forward in the things of God. In Jesus’ Name… AMEN.

“God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil-evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said, “I’ll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds-the works. I’m sorry I made them.”

But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.”

Let’s set the stage for this.  The human race was growing, and spreading across the earth. But, along with their numerical increase, there was a parallel increase of sin as well. All of their hearts were fully saturated and consumed by evil thoughts.

Darkness shot up like a spike in the stock market, and God was deeply affected by it. He was troubled, and He was grieved. He was in so much anguish that it moved Him to regret that He had ever made us to begin with!

So, He decided to wipe the human race from the face of the earth, and give it all a fresh start.  And Noah would be the one to lead that new movement, since he had found favor in the eyes of God.

It’s shocking for me to see how strongly God was emotionally impacted by the presence of sin in the lives of His people. Earlier in Genesis 1:31, it says that; “God saw all that He had made, and IT WAS VERY GOOD.”  Yet just a couple chapters later, He was experiencing a ton of regret over His ‘very good’ creation, and decided to shut it all down – all because it had become so twisted by sin.

I believe the most difficult times we struggle with our on-going sin, is when we become desensitized to it. We’ll shed no tears over our violations, and feel no brokenness over our offenses. It’s such a scary season to find ourselves in, as it only leads us along to a deeper condition of numbness.

But – it’s a season we don’t ever have to be in again.

What we need is fresh insight into the broken heart of God that results from our breakdowns.  Let’s not be fooled.  God isn’t so busy hanging some stars somewhere that He’s disconnected from the daily struggles of our lives.  He wants us to win the battle, and overcome the darkness that’s working overtime to trip us up and knock us down.

And when we don’t – He feels it.

NO ONE likes breaking the heart of someone they truly love. If anything, we strive to PROTECT those hearts from being broken. So we should do everything we possibly can to protect ourselves from breaking the heart which matters most – the heart of God.

“Now the serpent was MORE CRAFTY than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.”

It’s no joke.  It means he is mercilessly skillful in underhanded agendas and evil schemes against us.  He is cunning, deceitful, and sly.  He is a master of betraying our common sense, and hustling us into spiritual treason and treachery.

And it’s important that WE KNOW OF THIS.

In the story of Adam and Eve, it plays out perfectly to his advantage.  They are living in a beautiful garden, experiencing an unbroken relationship with God – and the enemy was intent on sabotaging it all.

Funny thing is, in his first attempt to trick Eve into eating some fruit from the forbidden tree, she doesn’t blink.  She restates to him that God did tell them NOT to eat from that particular tree, and she would have no part of it.  Her first defense mechanisms were solid and fortified.

But then, the story takes a bad turn, as Eve gets into a conversation with the enemy.  The longer he can keep it going, the better chance he’s got in his ‘craftiness’ to lead her down the dark path of disobedience.

Eventually, she breaks.  Verse six tells us that she “looked” at the fruit on the tree again, it was desirable to her and she ate it.  That’s quite a contrast from her initial position of resistance!

That’s because he’s more crafty than the rest.

I think it’s an important reminder for us all… to know our enemy and to be aware of his agenda to take us right out of the game.  He’s crafty to lead us in sin.  He’s crafty to lead us in believing lies and half-truths.  He’s crafty to lull us into a spiritual sleep and be snoring away in complacency while “life to the fullest” passes us by.

I’ve got to believe this is why 1 Peter 5:8-9 tells us;

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

He may be crafty, but we have the ability to be alert of that craftiness and position ourselves to resist him and his strategies against us.  Let’s do it!!

If you’re anything like me – wasted time, money or focus just simply GRATES away at you.  I love investing time into something worthwhile.  I’m not afraid to spend money on someone or something of value.  I treasure opportunities to sow my focus wholeheartedly into something of worth.

I want to be profitable.  In all things.  My time.  My talks.  My talents.  My relationships.  And when I’m not… you better believe I know it.  I feel it.  I’m tormented by it.

The other day I was reading Proverbs 21:5, which tells us;

“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty”

This really spoke to me in a fresh way.  If I want to be profitable in all these things, then I’ve got to have plans, and I’ve got to be diligent in seeing those plans through until completion.

Sitting on a couch daydreaming of a better life won’t do it.  Even having a journal chock full of exciting dreams, but no plans to see them come to life isn’t enough.

I’ve got to be strategic.  And I’ve got to be diligent when I come up against resistance. Tiredness is my enemy.  Negative voices are my adversaries.  Procrastination is my nemesis.  I must push through my natural resistance factors if I’m going to be profitable.

How excited do we get when we are in the zone, kicking butt and taking names?  What if we could translate that passion into the rest of our lives, and let that passion push us to be profitable in ALL things?

Sounds like a good plan to me…