May 31: Tuesday Refocus

“What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life.” - Henri Nouwen

We are in a hurry, but love is patient and kind.

We to possess and consume, but love does not envy or boast. 

We want authority and ownership, but love is not arrogant or rude.

We force our own agenda, but love does not insist on its own way.

We are upset when our needs go unmet, but love is not irritable or resentful.

We glory in the failure of others, but love does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, 

believes all things, 

hopes all things, 

endures all things.

Love never ends (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

Power creates distance, but love moves near.

Power protects, but love invites vulnerability.

If the watching world is to know us by our love for one another, we must first know that we love because God has first loved us (John 13:35, 1 John 4:19).

God we thank You that You have first loved us. That Your love moved near us in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ. May we be known by our love as we love You and others. In Jesus name, amen.

For love,

AB

May 24: Tuesday Refocus

“We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him.” - Oswald Chambers

Doing for God will always be easier than being with God. That is because honoring God with our lips while having hearts that are far from Him is our default posture of heart (Matthew 15:8). The appearance of holiness is not as costly as giving ourselves to the slow, painful, sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

But as followers of Jesus, we are called to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, a spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1). As followers of Jesus, we are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:37, Luke 10:27). Ours is a faith of internal, heart transformation that gives way to external change. Not moral behavior modification. It will always be easier to be a Pharisee than a disciple of the One who is gentle and lowly, the One who learned obedience, the One who came to serve rather than be served (Matthew 11:29, Hebrews 5:8, Matthew 20:28). 

Lord, may our service to you be surrender to the work of Your Spirit in us. Again and again. Amen.

Serving,

AB

May 17: Tuesday Refocus

“Faith is a refusal to panic.” - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

One of my favorite writers has spoken regularly in the last several years about the free-falling anxiety, and fear that we are all experiencing being human these days. And why shouldn’t we panic? We are more aware than ever - some of us for the first time - of our deep vulnerabilities. Our inability to control our lives.

Why should the life of a follower of Jesus look any different? Faith.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).” 

Faith is a gift, that is secure in the one who authors and completes our faith (Ephesians 2:8, Hebrews 12:1-3). It is faith that enables us in peace to lie down and sleep because it is the LORD that makes us dwell in safety (Psalm 4:8). It is faith in Christ that gives consolation to cheer the soul of the heart with many cares (Psalm 94:19). It is faith that we can believe God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do.

Lord, like your apostles, we ask that you increase our faith. And that the natural outworking of our faith is trust and peace as we rest in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Learning,

AB

May 10: Tuesday Refocus

“It is normal to feel restless as a child, lonely as a teenager, and frustrated by lack of intimacy as an adult; after all, we live insatiable desires of every kind, none of which will ever find complete fulfillment this side of eternity.”  - Ronald Rolheiser

Our desires are deep. And every desire is an arrow pointing toward the true longing and desire of every heart: a desire for God Himself. He is the source of every desire, and the One who has only to open His hand to “…satisfy the desire of every living thing (Psalm 145:16).” Our earthly desire should stir in us a desire to be awakened and satisfied with the likeness of God (Psalm 17:15).

“Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:25-26

Lord, may we be satisfied now, and always with You, and You alone. Amen.

Satisfied,

AB

May 3: Tuesday Refocus

“The more bored you are with the things of God, the more vulnerable you will be when difficulty comes.” - Jared C. Wilson

Apathy is easy. 

It requires no work, no effort, no surrender.

Only indifference. 
But wonder is cultivated by the heart that burns within from encountering Christ (Luke 24:32).

It grows as we taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).

It is awakened as the morning when we are satisfied with the steadfast love of God (Psalm 90:14).

Treasuring Christ anchors us in the immovable character of God, rather than our circumstances (Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17).

Spirit, awaken our hearts to see, know, delight, and obey Jesus. In Your power, and in the name of Christ we pray, amen.

Treasuring,

AB

April 26: Tuesday Refocus

“All joy comes through encountering beauty. The richest is found in Christ.” - Mike Reeves

Joy is more than happiness. Beauty is more than beholding. It is in the presence of God that we encounter beauty and experience joy. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth… (Psalm 50:2)” as more beautiful, because, “splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary (Psalm 96:6).”

We can only encounter this beauty because Christ became as one who “…had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him… (Isaiah 53:3).” We can only experience this joy because Christ “…for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).” Now we can declare with the Psalmist “…in Your presence, there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).”

“One thing I have asked fo the LORD, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD al the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple (Psalm 27:4).” Amen.

Encountering,

AB

April 19: Tuesday Refocus

“If Biblical Christianity is to survive the present world of upheaval, we shall need to have a fresh revelation of the greatness and beauty of Jesus. He alone can raise our cold hearts to rapture and restore again the art of true worship.” - A.W. Tozer

Wars and rumors of wars. Deadly diseases. Long-awaited reckonings of race and gender. Power imbalance and abuse. Beauty is often hidden in the cracks of our broken world. But it is out of the perfection of beauty that God shines forth as more beautiful (Psalm 50:2). It is into the darkness that a light has shone and not been overcome (John 1:5). We celebrate on Easter that Christ has made a public spectacle of death triumphing over them in the cross (Colossians 2:14-15). That Christ has come and is coming again. That He will wipe every tear, and dwell among His people illuminating hearts and lives (Revelation 21:3-4, 22:5).

It is not in a world - or circumstance - free from brokenness and upheaval that worship is restored, but here and now as we acknowledge our brokenness and catch glimpses of the beauty of God.

God, give us the ability to recognize the brokenness in ourselves as much as the world. Spirit, lift our eyes to see, know, love, and treasure Jesus. In His name, amen.

May it be so,

AB

March 1: Tuesday Refocus

‘…never spare a little sin.’ - J.C. Ryle

We are prone to overlook, avoid, and justify.

It is easy to shrug in the direction of quiet, little sins.  It takes both humility and courage to pray with the Psalmist: ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!’ (Psalm 139:23-24).

The Apostle Paul was no stranger to his own sin - both great and small - he called himself the chief of sinners (1 Tim 1:15), confessing that he does not do what he wants to do, but does the very thing he hates (Rom 7:15).  And yet, it is this former persecutor of the Church who says that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance (Phil 3:6, Rom 2:4).  Repentance requires that we must acknowledge our sins - small and great, the wrong things we have done, the right things we have failed to do, sins of omission and commission, those things are known to us, and those things that are still hidden.  Even here, maybe even especially here, we experience the kindness of God that leads us toward repentance - turning away from our sin and turning toward Christ.

Lord, as we enter this season of Lent, would you give us the courage and humility of the Psalmist, so that we might experience your kindness toward us as we see our sin, and experience Your grace?  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Praying,

AB 

February 22: Tuesday Refocus

‘For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.’ - Thomas Merton

Truth understood intellectually, becomes embodied through experience.  We can cognitively understand and grasp truths with our mind, but our desire should be to declare like the Psalmist - ‘…Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.’ (Psalm 139:14).  This is understanding not just at the level of the mind, but at the very center of our being.

Lent begins in two weeks.  A season of introspection and reflection before the celebration and joy of Easter.  The spiritual disciple of fasting has traditionally accompanied the season of Lent.  And one of the things that fasting can do is expose the gaps between our intellectual understanding (God is good), and our lived reality (God is good, my soul knows it very well).  With the Psalmist we may declare intellectually ‘…there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You (Psalm 73:25).’ But as we give up and go without our functional saviors - as Tim Keller has called them - are exposed.  Those things that we desire to give us value, significance, comfort, and worth.  Yet this too is a gift - the chance to confess, turn to God and move our intellectual, hearsay understanding of God, to embodied reality.

God, in your kindness, would You expose the areas of our lives where we grasp the truths of Your character intellectually but live as though we do not believe?  Might we know Your goodness and Your kindness not by hearsay but by our everyday walk with You?  In Christ’s name, amen.

Learning,

AB

February 15: Tuesday Refocus

“Confession and forgiveness are the concrete forms in which we sinful people love one another.” - Henri J.M. Nouwen

Grand, romantic gestures, gifts, and extravagance are often the visible markers of love the culture recognizes - particularly on Valentine’s Day.  But Scripture tells us, greater love has no one than this than they lay their life down for their friend (John 15:13).  But when Christ laid down His life for us, we were not friends of God.  In fact, we were His enemies, hostile toward Him (Rom 5:10).

Maybe there will come a day when you will be called upon to literally lay down your life on behalf of someone you love.  More likely, you will be called upon to lay down your life by dying to self, taking up your cross, and in humility thinking more highly of others as you confess your sins, and give and receive forgiveness (Gal 2:20, Col 3, Rom 12:3, Luke 9:23, James 5:16).  There are few things more vulnerable.  There are few things that display the kind of Christ-like love that is ours in and through His life and death.

Jesus, You have loved us with an everlasting, steadfast, immovable love.  May our love not just live in our hearts, but move our actions as we confess and forgive.  This is love too deep, and too difficult for us to accomplish in our own strength.  Help us to love with the power of Your Spirit.  Amen.

Love,

AB

February 8: Tuesday Refocus

‘Faith is ever occupied with God.  That is the character of it; that is what differentiates it from intellectual theology.  Faith endures ‘as seeing him who is invisible’ (Heb 11:27): endures the disappointments, the hardships, and the heartaches of life by recognizing that all comes from the hand of Him who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind.’ - A.W. Pink

There are many careless words spoken in the language of faith.  

You didn’t have enough faith.  

Have more faith. 

In Matthew 8, a storm is tossing the sea-worn disciples as Jesus is asleep in the boat.  They cry out for Him to rescue them, and Jesus says ‘Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?’  But it is the storm, not the disciples who receive a rebuke: ‘Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.’ (Matthew 8:26).

Make no mistake, the disciples are witness to Jesus’ strong words against faithlessness at other times: “And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?…” Matthew 17:17

But like God calling out to Adam and Eve in the garden - ‘Where are you?’ (Genesis 3:9) - the questioning of faith as an invitation to draw toward God not away from Him.  Because of Christ, the invitation from God for the follower of Jesus is always to come, always to draw near (Heb 10:19, Matt 11:28, Rev 22:17).

Keep drawing near.

‘…for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.’ James 1:3-4

Lord, thank You that You do not stand far off, but You have drawn near to us. And now we can draw near to you with full assurance of faith, with hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Help us to hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for You who promised is faithful… (Hebrews 10:22-23)

Drawing near,

AB

February 1: Tuesday Refocus

“Surely to be proud is to be more like the devil and fallen Adam, than like Christ.” - J.C. Ryle

No one needs to learn pride, the fall built that into our DNA.  A genetic trait passed on from our first parents.  A hereditary malformation of soul and spirit.

But we are invited to learn from the Son of God and Son of Man - the One who is gentle and lowly of heart (Matthew 11:29).  And it is in this learning that we find rest for weary souls - those souls made busy and searching by pride.

God opposes the proud (James 4:6).  But it was for the proud and rebellious that He came - though He was rich, for our sake He became poor, so that we by His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).  Through the humility and humiliation of Christ, our prideful hearts may be made gentle and lowly like His.

Lord, make us like You. Amen.

Asking,

AB