Devotional Thoughts for Today
The AMI QT Devotionals from May 28-June 2 are provided by Pastor Joshua Kim of Church of Southland. Joshua, a graduate of Emory University and Columbia Theological Seminary (M.Div.), serves as the pastor of Access (singles) Community at the Church of Southland. He is married to Christina.
“The Religion of Just Fulfilling Obligations”
Jeremiah 7:1-7
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’” 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ 5 For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
Growing up in Salt Lake City, UT, I had the unique experience of getting to know Mormons in close proximity. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met. But many of my friends who grew up in the Mormon church participated simply because that’s what they were supposed to do. I was talking to a high school friend of mine who was getting ready to go on his 2-year mission trip with the LDS church. I was curious because I knew his negative feelings toward the religion he grew up in, which showed in his lifestyle choices. But despite these feelings, he told me, “I don’t know if I really believe in this stuff, but this is what I’m supposed to do.”
We see this dynamic in todays’ passage. One of the central representations of the Hebrew faith was the temple. It was symbolic of God’s presence amongst the people. So when we consider Jeremiah’s prophetic act of standing at the gate of the Lord’s house, physically blocking people from entering the temple, this is a huge deal: he is literally blocking the people from God’s presence. This physical act embodied the judgment of God upon the people.
God wanted to address the attitude of the people who felt safe/justified/righteous/etc. simply because of their practice of coming to the temple and offering their worship and sacrifices. We know from verses 5-7, their lives beyond the temple did not reflect the kind of reverence they may have displayed within the temple courts. In other words, just like my high school friend, their faith was mere token ritual, limited to certain part of their life. It did not transform their hearts, which showed in their lifestyle. And God would not allow this to continue.
How about us today? If we were to be honest, we have or can remember moments where our thoughts were uncomfortably similar to my friend or even the people in this passage. We are reminded in this passage that our relationship with God is not merely satisfying certain procedures. It is not about fulfilling quotas or checklists. It is a vibrant, love relationship with the Most High God that cannot but transform the way we live.
Prayer: Father, thank You that You first pursued a deep relationship with us. You did not create us to practice empty religion; you created us to enjoy and experience Your love in ways that bring You glory. Forgive us for those moments where it simply becomes about the physical, religious acts, and change us in ways that only Your love can. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Ezekiel 1
Lunch Break Study
Read James 2.14-26: What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. 18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Questions to Consider
- What is the passage saying in terms of the relationship between works and faith? How might this be different from how we often understand these two things?
- To be clear, what is the passage not saying when it comes to work and faith (specifically in regards to salvation)?
- Take a moment to reflect: in light of this passage, how should we pray for ourselves?
Notes
- Especially if you pay attention to how the passage is translated, James in verse 18 makes clear that faith is shown BY works. Oftentimes, it is tempting for us to separate the two, especially because of what we will address in question 2. True faith will always lead to righteous works because true faith is transformative. We cannot remain the same when we have a relationship with God in faith.
- What we must be careful is that this passage does not suggest that we earn our faith or salvation through works. This is not a prooftext of work-based salvation. It’s perhaps this reason that we tend to shy away from what James wants to get at: our faith must reveal itself in our works.
- Personal reflection. Perhaps some of the things you can pray is for courage to live out your life in such a way that reflect who you believe God to be and what He has done for you. Perhaps others, God is calling you to check your busyness in serving or your “works” that might be overshadowing a truth faith relationship with Him.
Evening Reflection
Taking the last question from today’s lunch study, pray those things over yourself as you end the day. Pray as one who believes our God truly wants an intimate relationship with us; that God can and will transform us. Don’t forget to take a moment to allow Him to respond. Listen for His voice.
When my parents sold our family home of 16 years, I tried to convince myself that it was not a sad parting. While I loved our family home— and it was certainly God’s provision to give us such space—my primary concern was more for my parents. It wasn’t until I visited our home one last time to surrender my keys, when I found myself in a flood of tears. Seeing our home that had been filled with memories, keepsakes, and valuables completely empty for someone else to move their things in, hit me with the reality that I would never live in this house again. I realized at that moment that I needed to grieve this transition properly for me to walk into the new season that God had in store for myself and my family.
The first year that I started as the youth pastor at Catalyst, I was enthusiastic, excited, and filled with idea upon ideas of all the ways I would lead our youth to love and serve the Lord. Sermon prepping, event planning, and discipleship was a complete joy, and I instantly fell in love with my kids. It was about two years into my stint when I was bombarded with certain life circumstances that began to take a toll on my physical body, as well as spiritual and emotional health. What used to be exciting became a drudge, and it was about that same time when I saw my youth kids begin to struggle with complacency and lack of excitement for our youth events. I had my wakeup call when I was preaching a message about Jesus as the true King, and each one of my students— even the active participants—seemed disengaged. I knew at that moment that my actions, attitude, and spiritual life was seeping into the very lives that God had entrusted me with; and I needed to do everything I could to get well, not only for myself, but also for my students.
In 2014, after living apart from my family for five years, the Lord convicted me to move back in with my parents. It was an extremely difficult decision because of my long family history, but upon hearing from the Lord that this was my next mission field, I went in faith. It wasn’t long into my move when I started experiencing the same tensions that had originally made me believe I would never live at home again. I began to react to my old ways and I felt I was being everything but the beacon of light to my family that God had called me to. It was during this time when I had one of the most vivid dreams — my mother was nearing the end of her life, and during her last moments all I could say and feel was the remorse and regret for not treating her right and spending more time with her. Upon waking up, I knew the Lord was warning me of the regret I would feel if I did not mend my relationship with my mother.
Sometime last summer, I was at our church office working especially late preparing for three large events, when I heard our church doorbell ring. Assuming it was a fellow staff member who might have forgotten their keys, I unassumingly opened the door to find a homeless man covered in soot. Startled, but concerned, I asked the man if he needed food or water. He politely declined and simply asked if I had socks in the building. Upon looking at his feet, I noticed that he was bleeding on his foot; yet not having any clothes at our office, the man asked if I could call an ambulance for him. Soon after, the paramedics and police arrived; and upon seeing the man, they began to interrogate him without ever asking if he was hurt. Their first words were, “Why are you so dirty?” It was an absolutely heartbreaking experience to see the people who took an oath to serve and protect the community marginalize this man without a concern for his health—simply because of his state.
Growing up my mother was the epitome of the Asian tiger mom: authoritative, controlling, and all about her rules. Truth be told, I grew up fearing my mother out of apprehension of how she would dictate my life if I went against her ways. And thus, I got good grades in fear that she’d send me to more after school programs, I never argued back in fear that she would scold me, and I stayed home when asked in fear that she would never let me hang out with my friends. While it would take me years to understand that it was my mother’s love for me that compelled her, my fear certainly instilled in me the need to do what was right.
Back in 2014, after moving to the suburbs of New Jersey and starting a 9 to 6 job, I felt an urgency to bring some new excitement into my daily routine. Thus, in my efforts to bring some joy into my daily grind, I attempted to pick up a new hobby – gardening. So I went and bought three succulents and propagated a dozen of its leaves until I had about fifteen plants on my window sill. I diligently watered those plants, gave it plenty of sunlight, and repotted them as they grew bigger. My goal was to get these little succulents I had bought for $5 to grow to become big, luscious succulents that I could replant in beautiful flower pots around our family home. Let’s just say, I went from fifteen plants to one pink moon cactus. The problem: I didn’t prune the leaves, all in my attempts to get them to grow bigger!
The AMI QT Devotionals from May 21-7 are provided by Jennifer Kim, a staff at Catalyst Agape Church (New Jersey). Jennifer, a graduate of Boston University, spent a year in Shanghai as one-year intern from 2013-14. She is currently attending Alliance Theological Seminary.
During the early seeds of my Christian faith, I struggled to understand the call to be holy and righteous in all things when it seemed that certain sins did not affect others and most went unnoticed. After speaking with an older believer, her response shook me to my core when she said, “Nothing is hidden with God. Even if you get away with something now, when you go to heaven everything will be revealed.” I remember the crippling fear that came over me as I thought about all the sins that I thought I had gotten away with but would be revealed to everyone in heaven. I feared judgment from the people I had wronged, I feared what people would think of me, and I feared the consequences of my actions. Mind you I was a new believer with no biblical foundation on heaven, love, grace, and mercy, but it certainly convicted my eleven-year-old self to be pure and righteous in all things.
There are lots of people in this world who are pretty darn good at doing evil. Career criminals, mafia members—and who can forget Dr. Evil, who actually spent six years in evil medical school perfecting his craft, all have certain forms of evil down to a science.
“And while potential jumpers often wait for officers to arrive because they may want to be talked out of killing themselves, there are those who never give officers the chance. Detective Canale recalled a man who leapt from a lower stretch of the Verrazano and struck the rocks below. The man was still alive when the detective got to him, though many of his bones were broken, his internal organs ruptured. As the man’s shattered body was secured to a long board and he was administered oxygen, the man, in some of his final words, said he regretted jumping, the detective recalled. ‘I can’t get this right, either,’ the man said, according to Detective Canale. ‘I told him: “We’re going to get you to the hospital. We’re going to try to make it better.”’” – Ruderman, Wendy, “The Jumper Squad,” The New York Times, Oct 5, 2012