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The Hope of Lent

The Hope of Lent

I didn’t grow up in a Christian tradition that observed Lent. It wasn’t until my late twenties, when I was going through a terrible time in my life, that I began to observe it. It was one of those seasons where I was stuck. Stuck in my sin. Tangled in counterproductive thinking. Sinking. I didn’t know how to get free. I needed someone to deal a severing blow to the invisible cords binding me. 

That’s when a counselor I was seeing at the time said, “How about Lent?” I’d always thought of Lent as a legalistic, religious type thing where people gave up chocolate or chips or soda to have a better shot at getting into heaven. At the very least, his suggestion seemed woefully short of what I needed. He encouraged me to set something meaningful aside during the 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, not to earn God’s favor, but to make more room for Jesus. I don’t remember all the details of how that season went, only that what I gave up was a true sacrifice for me and by the time Easter arrived, something had changed. In a good way. I had more freedom in areas I previously hadn’t. And I’d drawn closer to Christ, partly because I’d made more room for Him by giving up what had previously taken up space. 

To be sure, Lent isn’t a magical formula that strong-arms God into doing what we want. No. It’s a practice. It’s a drawing closer to the Lord. It’s letting Him know that He matters to us, not by our mere words but through our intentional actions. As we focus on Jesus, and less on ourselves, we find healing. But, more importantly, we find Him.

I don’t know what you’re going through at the moment, but I wonder what you might lay aside so something new can grow in its place. No matter how many days are left until we celebrate Easter, it’s not too late to focus on the cross of Jesus and make room for Him. 

This particular Lent I’ve been focusing in Luke’s Gospel on Jesus’s march toward Jerusalem, the place where He would ultimately lay down His life. On the road toward the cross, He met a woman who said, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the one who nursed you” (Lk. 11:27)! In other words, this woman from the crowd recognized the importance of Jesus—to what degree we don’t know—and naturally understood His mother Mary to be exceedingly blessed as the one who bore and nursed Him. This is a logical conclusion. But Jesus’s response is both surprising and encouraging. He said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk. 11:28). 

As I read those words, my soul was lifted. I was reminded that to be blessed in this world isn’t to have a nicer house, a more lucrative job, a husband, or for the people around me to better meet my needs (all good things and blessings in their proper place). To be blessed doesn’t solely belong to Mary, the mother of Jesus. To be blessed, truly thriving in this world, is to listen intently to the Word of God and obey accordingly.

Are you holding back obedience to the Lord? Is there any area of your life you’re clinging to? Is there a place for you to make more room for the Living God?

As we move toward Easter, we can intentionally do both of these things (listening and doing). Perhaps we lay something aside so we have more time to listen, or simply more quiet to listen. And hopefully, our listening to God speak through Scripture will lead to greater obedience. And as we especially focus on the sacrifice of Christ, the triumph of His resurrection will shine even brighter against such a scandalous backdrop. I love Paul’s words in Romans 5:10, “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.” 

I suppose Lent is a time to focus on the death of Jesus, His inestimable sacrifice for each of us. And Easter is the opportunity to focus on His resurrection, His life that saves us even now! 

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What It Means To Be Blessed

What It Means To Be Blessed

This is Day 5 from Kelly’s 90-day devotional book, The Blessed Life. 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” Matthew 5:3

Sometimes when I’m really out of sorts my friends will remind me of how truly blessed I am, how much I have to be thankful for. But this always feels like an evasion to me, like they’re not giving my “pain and suffering” its due. They’re looking for what is going well in my life, doing the math, and then deciding I’ve got more going for me in the blessed column than in the poor in spirit one, so blessed it is. 

I don’t know how the word blessed hit Jesus’s disciples on the hillside that day, or how it landed on the crowds, but I can’t imagine it was the first word the sick, lame, shunned, or hungry expected to hear Him speak to them that day. And Jesus wasn’t using the word to convince them that the good things in their life outweighed the bad, that they were more blessed than not. Instead, He was declaring those in His kingdom as wholesale flourishing. 

Blessed.

Think of that word hanging out there over a Jewish people hobbling under Roman oppression. The ones who for centuries had been pining for a powerful Messiah in the image of King David to knock their enemies out of the land. Surely some had followed Jesus out of curiosity but most out of pure desperation. Some were longing for a new leader who could help them figure out how to get back on the God of Israel’s good side, someone with a solid campaign slogan. Some may have showed up hoping to hear a strategic and gutsy military plan: Who’s ready to defeat Rome once and for all? Strap on your swords! Others may have been looking for something more personal and close to home, like a much needed healing or handout.

Blessed.

The word itself is not an unusual opener. It’s only shocking when you think about who He addressed it to: the poor in spirit, mourners, stomped on, hungry, innocent, persecuted. Well, now, this just feels like madness. How can the poor in spirit be the blessed ones? In what kind of a world, in what kind of a kingdom, in what kind of a religion, has this ever been so?

Before we consider an answer, it is worth asking, why are you here? Why have you come to listen to the words of Jesus?

Are you looking for Him to overpower someone who has wounded you? Is a family member ailing and you need a healing? Are finances tight? Is work unfulfilling? Is your marriage suffering? Are you simply tired of the grind, like the average Jewish peasant in first-century Galilee looking for a sustaining word of encouragement, a change in the political landscape? Perhaps you’re not looking for anything from Him as much as you simply want to be with Him and listen to what He has to say. 

Note the “them” who Jesus begins to teach in verse 2 appear to be His disciples. But at the end of His message, it was the crowds who were astonished at His teaching (Matt. 7:28). We should establish at the outset that both disciples and undecideds are invited to listen. Whichever you are, I’m glad you’re here.

But back to our question. How can people like the poor in spirit be blessed? In the original language, the word for blessed is makarios, and it means “prospering, fortunate, flourishing, and in some cases, downright happy.” (This is different from the word used when someone pronounces a blessing on another, translated eulogeo). Makarios is a description of the state of a person who is thriving in the kingdom of God. So Jesus isn’t saying that the poor in spirit will eventually gain a blessing. He is saying that their current state of being is a prosperous one because God’s very kingdom is theirs. In fact, in every case of the nine Beatitudes, a difficult state of being is paired with a promise of blessing. 

So if you’re struggling or hurting today, may Jesus redefine your circumstances as only He can. If you find yourself poor in spirit, malnourished by the “blessings” of our culture, you’re in prime position to experience the blessed life of the kingdom.

Ask Him to teach you and show you what it means to flourish in whatever your circumstances. Look for Him to answer you as you go about Your day. He is eager to meet you in it. 

*Download the graphic below to share on your socials. Don’t forget to tag @kelly_minter on Instagram and @KellyMinterAuthor on Facebook! Click the button below to open in a new tab, then right-click on the image to download.

Savior and Friend

Savior and Friend

The Christmas season is fully upon us. I have no idea how this happened, since it feels like only a few days ago I had 31 people at my house for Thanksgiving. I love hosting, but this was the longest day of my life. I am not at all opposed to going back to my growing...

Seeing God in Every Season

Seeing God in Every Season

It’s November, one of my favorite months of the year. I don’t know if you love all-things homelike I do, but I have my autumn décor and colors out, and I’m about to slash open somepumpkins for pumpkin pie. The leaves have mostly fallen, and with the crunch of them...

A Case for Grace

A Case for Grace

I baked bread yesterday. I milled my grain, used a digital scale my brother bought me for my birthday, and converted everything from ounces to grams. It was a disaster. I’m not sure where I erred but one loaf looks like it’s trying to throw up and the other like a...

What Will You Receive This Year?

What Will You Receive This Year?

Happy New Year, friends. If you’re anything like me, every last Christmas tree needle has been swept from the house, the gnarls of Christmas lights are tucked away in boxes, and you just found a stray ornament, one that will possibly sit on your dresser until next year because you’re just not walking that thing down into your unfinished basement when it’s six degrees outside. Or maybe no one is like me. At any rate, here we sit at the beginning of a new year. A fresh slate, prime for dreams and ambitions to be etched into its stone. Another chance to strive for what might not have been accomplished last year. A new beginning.

As I sit atop the New Year, I will tell you something. I am less about dreams and ambitions this year and more about listening and receiving from Jesus. My personality hasn’t gone through a sudden transformation, nor have I finally figured out a newfound secret to this journey we call the Christian life. It’s more that the Lord has stopped me in a sense. Oh, yes, I am still doing all the things I feel very much called to–teaching, writing, studying, investing in family and friends and my local church, but how I go about these things is somewhat in question for me for a few reasons.

For starters, and maybe you can identify, a few of the doors I’ve tried to jar open aren’t budging, while some other ones I’d never considered before, appear wide open but I’m not sure how to walk through them. I don’t mean to be vague, except I’m trying to make sense of it all myself, and maybe you’re in a similar position. Maybe I can best frame it the way the Gospel writer Luke did.

Do you remember the story in Luke 10:38-42 where Jesus comes to Mary and Martha’s house for a meal? I talk about it in my latest podcast episode. Martha is frustrated because she’s “serving alone.” The person closest to her isn’t doing for her what she is sure needs to be done, and she’s distracted by many necessary tasks (anyone?). Jesus goes further when He describes Martha as worried and upset about many things. Meanwhile, Mary is taking the position of a disciple. She’s sitting at Jesus’s feet and listening to what He says—a once in a lifetime moment for her. She’s not so concerned about what she can serve Jesus in this moment but rather what He can serve her. The good portion, or the right part, as some translations read, is what Mary has chosen, and Jesus says, “It can never be taken from her.”  

I believe Jesus was inviting Martha to come sit alongside Mary, not because what Martha was doing didn’t matter, but because He was offering her something better. To listen. To receive. Oh, yes, we all have much serving and many things we need to do this year. And that is not wrong. As Christ-followers we are called to reach out, invite in, love others in tangible ways. But we’re also called to sit. To commune with Christ. To partake of the Bread of Life. To let Him fill us up. And that is what I want to do more of this year. And this is what I hope you will choose this year. 

One of the primary ways we sit at Jesus’s feet and listen to Him is through Bible study*, prayer, and our fellowship with others. If you haven’t decided on a Bible study at the top of this year, I hope you will choose one today. Or maybe you’ll start a read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan. There are many free ones to choose from. One wonderful place to start is seeing what your local church has to offer in the way of studies. Just know I’m cheering you on in 2023 as you look to not only see what you can do for Jesus, but as you first invest in quality time with Him. That which can never be taken away!

*If I can be of any help to your Bible study journey, you can find all the studies I’ve written here. I’m also thrilled that on February 7th, I’ll be releasing my first devotional called: The Blessed Life: A 90-Day Journey Through the Teachings and Miracles Of Jesus. Every day for 90 days, we’ll walk through Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount as well as 10 of His most notable miracles and healings.

*Download the graphics below to share on your socials. Don’t forget to tag @kelly_minter on Instagram and @KellyMinterAuthor on Facebook! Click the button below to open in a new tab, then right-click on the image to download.

Savior and Friend

Savior and Friend

The Christmas season is fully upon us. I have no idea how this happened, since it feels like only a few days ago I had 31 people at my house for Thanksgiving. I love hosting, but this was the longest day of my life. I am not at all opposed to going back to my growing...

Seeing God in Every Season

Seeing God in Every Season

It’s November, one of my favorite months of the year. I don’t know if you love all-things homelike I do, but I have my autumn décor and colors out, and I’m about to slash open somepumpkins for pumpkin pie. The leaves have mostly fallen, and with the crunch of them...

A Case for Grace

A Case for Grace

I baked bread yesterday. I milled my grain, used a digital scale my brother bought me for my birthday, and converted everything from ounces to grams. It was a disaster. I’m not sure where I erred but one loaf looks like it’s trying to throw up and the other like a...

Consider the Birds

Consider the Birds

I was awake at 3:30 in the morning. My mind racing as it’s been doing non-stop the past few weeks or so. Certain realities of life that have mostly felt concrete, prior to very recently, are suddenly gone or simply up in the air. Where will it all land? We don’t know, is what the professionals keep saying.

As my mind flitted about from one worry and prayer to another the sound of birds relentlessly pecked at the door of my thoughts. Why are the birds chirping at this hour? I moaned while fluffing my pillow for the countless time. Don’t they know it’s the middle of the night!

Scientists call this early morning bird singing the dawn chorus, which is most noticeable in spring when birds are migrating or mating. The name dawn chorus sounds so delightful except when you’re trying to sleep in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. And, yet, maybe this is the point: singing in the middle of a storm, reaping during a time of scarcity, staying on mission. Maybe the birds have something to teach us after all, I mused.

CONSIDER THE BIRDS

Before I could complete the thought I realized it’s not actually the birds but Jesus who has something to teach us through the birds. The comforting lesson found in Matthew 6:25-26 that Jesus delivered over 2,000 years ago about the birds of the sky feels particularly meaningful right now.

“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?”

Some translations say look at or observe the birds. The Greek word means to look intently. In other words, we’re to reflect on them, really think about how they go about their lives, and then listen to what Jesus is telling us about our own, and about our heavenly Father’s provision. We notice from Jesus’ teaching that the birds don’t sow, reap, or store, which are have to do with our ability to plan.

Yesterday I sowed seed in my backyard garden and I checked the seed packet for the section that says, days to maturity. This tells me when I can reap the lettuce, kale, and spinach I planted. Sadly, my little raised beds don’t produce enough for me to store anything in barns (I’ll let you know when I’ve reached that level), but if I could store, I would. Planting, reaping, and harvesting require reason and foresight.

HOW MUCH MORE ARE YOU WORTH?

Point being, we humans have the faculties to plan, save, invest, freeze the ground beef until we need it in a few weeks. The birds cannot do this! They live day to day, meal to meal, worm to worm (ne’er was there a pleasanter thought). And still they are fed. Still, they are nourished. Still they have enough for their chicks.

How can this be? Jesus wants us to ask ourselves. He quickly answers. Because we have a heavenly Father who feeds them. And that heavenly Father isn’t just the Father of the birds; He is your heavenly Father. And how much more are you worth to Him than the birds? The answer is clear: infinitely more.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”You can have confidence your Father will take care of you.” quote=”You can have confidence your Father will take care of you.”]

During this season where what you sowed might have just disappeared, or what you reaped is no longer enough to be stored into barns, or what you had in your barns was supposed to be for tomorrow but now needs to be for today, you can have confidence your Father will take care of you. This is not pie in the sky theology, but an evident truth seen in the fabric of nature of which God is the Creator.

YOU MAY BE PART OF GOD’S PROVISION

It’s natural to think, well, what about those who are homeless? Those in poverty? Those who go hungry? Part of what Jesus is demonstrating is a general principle that stems from God’s generous care of creation found in Genesis 1­–2. Jesus reminds us of this care by pointing to two everyday examples, birds and flowers.

Generally speaking, the birds of the air have food, and the flowers of the field are beautifully clothed. Through them we see the fundamental goodness of God, His care for creation, and the ways we can witness this in everyday life. Jesus wants us to remember that we’re infinitely more valuable to Him than birds and flowers and that He will provide for us in even more abundant ways.

In addition, if we go back to Matthew 5:13-16, we see that Jesus calls us to be salt and light, and to do “good works” for others, which can also be understood as “tangible deeds of mercy.” And if you go back to Matthew 6:19-24, Jesus teaches radical generosity. We can look to countless parts of Scripture where God clearly calls His people, His church, to meet the needs of the hungry, hurting, and homeless.

While God is generous in His care for us through creation, we as the church are part of His answer in meeting the needs of the world around us. We are part of God’s generous provision for others.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”While God is generous in His care for us through creation, we as the church are part of His answer in meeting the needs of the world around us. We are part of God’s generous provision for others.” quote=”While God is generous in His care for us through creation, we as the church are part of His answer in meeting the needs of the world around us. We are part of God’s generous provision for others.”]

You may be in a time of need where you’re trusting God and His provision. Or you may be in a time of abundance and He’s calling you to give to others. No matter what season you’re in, my prayer is that in the middle of the night, in the middle of unprecedented times, when we hear the birds chirping with purpose and delight, we will remember the words of Jesus and so add our hallelujahs to the dawn chorus.

The post Consider the Birds appeared first on LifeWay Voices.

WAYS TO STAY CONNECTED AND TO GIVE

For more posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for Kelly’s FREE 14-day devotional, The Blessed Life. Sign up here!

If you would like to partner with us at Justice & Mercy International to provide food, medical supplies, and disinfectants to some of the hardest hit parts of the globe, see how you can help here! 

The Nearness of God in Uncertain Times

The Nearness of God in Uncertain Times

If you’re anything like me over the past few weeks you’ve been vacillating between a confident trust in God and waves of panic and fear. For those of us who are Christ followers we want to trust the Lord but we get tripped up on wondering what exactly we can trust Him for—can we count on Him to spare us from looming hardship and make sure everything turns out okay on our terms? We know He’s bigger, greater, higher, stronger, but what does that mean for the very real and ominous threats we’re facing?

I’ve been reflecting on the account of Jesus calming the storm that threatened to overtake His disciples in Matthew 8:23-27. Since I think we can collectively agree we’re in a pretty big storm right now, I think this a timely passage that helps solidify what Jesus has promised us.

THE NEARNESS OF JESUS

“As [Jesus] got into the boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea …” (vv. 23-24).

Right away we find it’s possible to be a follower of Jesus who follows Him straight into a storm. This is something we don’t talk enough about. The context is also important. Right before this story Matthew tells us of two other “disciples” who wanted to follow Jesus but who either didn’t count the cost of following Him or didn’t count the value. Regardless of their hang-ups, those two were safe on the shore while the true Christ followers were scrambling for their lives in the storm tossed boat.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”My fears get the best of me when I believe that God delivering me from the storm is more valuable than His presence with me in it.” quote=”My fears get the best of me when I believe that God delivering me from the storm is more valuable than His presence with me in it.” theme=”style6″]

But—and this changes absolutely every single detail of the story—the disciples who were in the storm were also the ones who were in the boat with Jesus. My fears get the best of me when I believe that God delivering me from the storm is more valuable than His presence with me in it. We don’t know what today or tomorrow holds, but we can lean into the unshakable reality that He is with us and promises to never leave us. He is able to comfort, speak, guide, and offer peace in tumultuous times.

THE GODNESS OF JESUS

We’ve often used this story to assure others and ourselves that God will calm the storms in our lives. And He certainly can, no question! He’s done it over and over in my life. But I think there’s more to the story here. I appreciate what Dr. Craig Blomberg says, “…the focus of this passage remains squarely Christological—on who Christ is, not on what he will do for us.”1

In Psalm 89:8-10 the psalmist describes Almighty God as the One who is able to rule the raging sea and still the surging waves. The disciples would have known from the Old Testament that the only One who had power over nature was The Lord of Hosts. By rebuking the wind and the waves Jesus was showing His disciples that He is God!

This doesn’t mean that Jesus won’t do mighty things for us during uncertain and troubling times. Of course He will. But what we can absolutely count on during the trials in our lives is that Jesus is God Himself. He alone holds the power over storms, viruses, stock market crashes, and our personal health and finances. It brings me great comfort to remember that just as He brought the wind and waves under His control, so any other storms He rebukes must also obey.

THE HOPE OF JESUS

The other night I read this story out of a children’s Bible to my 9-year-old nephew, Will. He said, “If I was in that storm I would have woken Jesus up and asked Him to read me a bedtime story, because I would know everything was going to be okay since Jesus was there.” And Will’s not wrong. But the question he will wrestle with later in life is, what does it mean for everything to be okay?

My prayer is that he will continue to understand that in Jesus everything will ultimately be okay because of the enduring hope we have in Him. And because of Jesus’ ultimate power over death, sickness, and evil, one day all will be made right and we will dwell with Him forever. In the meantime, He is present in us and through us now to bring redemption here on earth.

We hear this ring of hope in Jesus’ question to His disciples, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” (vs. 26.) I think Jesus was trying to communicate to His followers, though not yet in full, that they were ultimately safe because He had come to conquer the storm of sin through His death and resurrection. He had them once and for all whether He stilled the immediate storm of the moment or not. And He has us both now and forever.

1 Blomberg, C. (1992). Matthew (Vol. 22, p. 150). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.​

The post The Nearness of God in Uncertain Times appeared first on LifeWay Voices.

The Blessed Life: 14 Day Devotional Series

The Blessed Life: 14 Day Devotional Series

I’ve been praying and thinking about ways I can meet you with encouragement during these uncertain times. Jesus’ Word has always brought me unrivaled hope and comfort, so I want to pass it on in whatever way I can. For the past couple years I’ve spent time studying Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. It’s a message that’s stirred my heart and deeply affected my personal life and ministry. I would go so far as to say it’s touched every part of me in some capacity.

So here’s what I want to do: For the next 14 days I’ll send you a daily devotional along with a few reflection questions from Matthew 5-7. This will keep us in touch with one another, encouraged, and focused on Jesus during these difficult days. All you have to do is click the link below, sign up, and a new devotional will come straight to your inbox every morning. It’s called, The Blessed Life: 14 Days of Hope from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.