Tag Archives: metaphor

God does the work (Mark 4:26-29) July 20, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 84-86

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 4:26-29
Jesus: Here is what the kingdom of God is like: a man who throws seeds onto the earth. Day and night, as he works and as he sleeps, the seeds sprout and climb out into the light, even though he doesn’t understand how it works. It’s as though the soil itself produced the grain somehow—from a sprouted stalk to ripened fruit. But however it happens, when he sees that the grain has grown and ripened, he gets his sickle and begins to cut it because the harvest has come.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Did you ever do one of those experiments as a kid where you put a seed in something that would let you watch it grow throughout it’s whole cycle? Maybe you put it in a glass jar filled with water and all the right nutrients to allow it to grow. Maybe you put it in a similar jar, but put the seeds right next to the glass so that you could watch the process but not have too much water and perhaps rot the roots. Maybe you put the seeds between two glass plates and watched the growth. There are a lot of ways to watch the beginnings of life spring from a single seed, but no matter how you watch the process, it still seems miraculous.

Scientists tell us the total sum of matter doesn’t change, so chemical processes that happen in that tiny seed start to convert water and air nutrients around it into the spout and stalk and finally the mature plant that comes from that tiny seed. Whether talking about a tiny flower or a giant oak, the results are still pretty miraculous. We think we understand all the science behind that growth, but do we really? We find bits and pieces that lead us to yet another step in the process, but ultimately, every scientist comes back to a circular argument about how plant and animal life begins unless God, the creator, is introduced into the equation.

It’s like the Big Bang theory that so many atheists like to hang their hat on. They forget the theory came decades ago from a priest who tried to explain the expanding universe and said out of nothing God created all things from a single point of nothingness. And from that first point of nothingness, God spoke light, energy, into place. From that point using the math that Einstein used to develop his Energy = Mass x the Speed of Light squared, God changed that pure light that He created from nothing, that energy into mass and lots of it. The universe came into being and has expanded ever since. The Big Bang.

So why bring that up? Why talk about seeds and the expanding universe and theories that can’t really be proven but all ultimately lead back to an Almighty Creator and Designer of all things?

First, I mentioned several days ago that scripture isn’t a science book. It tells what God did for us, but not how He did it. If God used a Big Bang to create everything in the universe, that’s fine with me. I really don’t care how God put everything in place. I just know He did. If He molded each planet and star and galaxy with His own hands and carefully placed each one in its own orbit, I’m fine with that, too. The Hebrew words in Genesis are vague enough in the ancient language either sense is possible and either one is okay with me. God is still God and in charge of all things. How He choose to do His work is not within my authority to debate with Him. He is God, we are not. If that offends you, go back and read His word again. You’ll find scripture doesn’t tell us how God created all things other than He spoke and it happened. How it happened, not a clue. His word handed down to us is not a science book.

Second, the thought that when we are part of His kingdom building and do our small part, the simple tasks He asks us to do, He does the rest and we don’t need to know how He does it. If we will sow seeds of kindness, He can use them to grow His grace in the hearts of those who receive it. If we sow His love, He multiplies it and it spreads not just to the ones we love, but well beyond them to touch many who see and hear of that love through the stories of those we touch. If we share the story of Jesus, God’s spirit helps it mature in fertile ground.

We don’t need to worry and fret about what happens to the gifts we share with others, prophecy, teaching, healing, hospitality, or any number of other gifts. When we share them, God uses them the way He sees fit and they spread His love and mercy and grace into the hearts and lives of others. Isaiah records God’s message to us:
So it is when I declare something.
My word will go out and not return to Me empty,
But it will do what I wanted;
it will accomplish what I determined.

God just expects us to carry out the simple tasks He gives us to do. They’re not always easy, but they’re usually simple to understand. When we do, He does the rest.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Heaven is like yeast (Matthew 13:33) March 27, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Genesis 48-50

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 13:33
Jesus: Imagine a woman preparing a loaf of bread. The kingdom of heaven is like the leaven she folds into her dough. She kneads and kneads until the leaven is worked into all the dough.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Bread making in this part of the world has become a hobby instead of a part of everyday life as it was in Jesus’ day. In fact, a century ago, bread making was part of everyday life in most American households. It’s still a lot cheaper to make bread than to buy bread if you have the inclination and time. About 15¢ worth of material and a couple of hours and you can have a loaf of bread. Or you can even make it easy on yourself and throw all the stuff in a bread maker and four hours later you have a loaf of bread.

But most people in this country, buy their bread today. Bread making is more a hobby than a necessity. We rely on bakers to make our bread for us. So many of us don’t know much about leavening or what it takes to make that yeast bubble and foam and cause bread to have all those little holes inside. But that’s exactly what yeast does. Yeast is a live usually single-celled organism in the fungus family that uses carbohydrates to produces carbon dioxide. It’s this carbon dioxide trapped in the bread that makes the holes. The gluten in the flour holds the fibers in the flour together so those holes can stay in the shape of tiny bubbles.

If you don’t let the yeast activate and eat up some of those carbohydrates before putting the dough in the oven, the yeast gets too hot too fast and the dough won’t rise as much as you want. If you let the dough rise too long, the dough collapses on itself because the gluten isn’t strong enough to support the large bubbles the yeast creates and like bubbles you blow with bubble gum, they reach a point they can’t sustain themselves and burst. So, again, the dough collapses and you have flat bread.

So how do you avoid these problems? The like Jesus says in comparing heaven to yeast, the woman kneads the dough and the yeast spreads through the bread. It rises for a couple of hours and then the woman kneads it one more time to let it rise a second time. This second rise gives the yeast more even rise capacity so that the race horse bubbles which had their heyday now don’t ruin the loaf and the real work horses that will stand up to the heat can take over.

So Jesus says heaven is like that yeast. There is an initial phase of real excitement. A huge bubble of growth that everyone sees happen fast. But life happens and those, like the seed sown in rocky and thorny soil fall away. They don’t stand up to the pressure of the world and succumb to the temptations Satan throws at them instead of living the life God has planned for them. The pressures of the world crush the fast growing, flash in the pan believers, just like the first kneading crushes the bubbles in the first rise of the dough.

Jesus also says yeast spreads through the dough and heaven is like that. If you look at a loaf of bread, there are tiny holes in every slice, top to bottom, end to end. It shows that the yeast has traveled to every part of the dough. Just so, God’s kingdom spreads to every part of the world. Once yeast is put into the mixture of flour, water, salt, and sugar, the other basic ingredients for a loaf of bread, you can’t take it out and you can’t keep it from spreading through the whole loaf. It goes everywhere in the mixture. God’s word and His kingdom is like that. Once His word broke out into the world, there was no stopping it.

Satan has tried in every way He knows how to stop God’s word from reaching people. He tried banning it with government laws. He tried persecution. He tried ridicule of God’s followers. He tried scientific enlightenment. Satan even tried nailing God’s Son to a cross. None of it worked. God’s word spreads whenever and wherever people of faith go.

Bread making also takes work. Perhaps Jesus used the metaphor to remind us that being part of God’s heaven doesn’t mean we sit around and do nothing. God made us originally to tend His creation and worship Him. Building His kingdom means work. If you want to be lazy, you won’t be part of His kingdom. He gave us a day for rest, but only one day out of seven, not six out of seven. He expects us to use what He’s give us and be productive in building His kingdom. Yeast, to be effective, must be worked into the dough. We must get our hands sticky and covered in dough if we are to make that perfect loaf of bread. And we must get our hands dirty and sticky and covered in the kingdom issues if we are to build His kingdom.

Are you ready to smell that good homemade loaf of bread? How about the growing kingdom of God? Then it’s time to get to work!

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Come back, stay faithful (Hosea 2:2-20), July 5, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Hosea 2:14–23

Set – Hosea 2; Hebrews 2

Go! – Hosea 2–5; Hebrews 2

Hosea 2:14-23
14 But once she has nothing, I’ll be able to get through to her.
I’ll entice her and lead her out into the wilderness where we can be alone,
and I’ll speak right to her heart and try to win her back.
15 And then I’ll give her back her vineyards;
I’ll turn the valley of Achor, that “Valley of Trouble,”
into a gateway of hope.
In the wilderness of exile she’ll learn to respond to Me
the way she did when she was young, when I brought her out of Egypt.
16 And I swear when that day comes, she’ll call Me “my husband” and never address Me again as “my master” as she did those other gods. 17 She’ll never invoke the name of any other master again.
Everyone will forget that gods by that name ever existed. 18 When that day comes, this is what I’ll do for My people: I’ll make a covenant for them with the wild animals and flying birds and crawling insects, and they’ll agree never to devour her crops again. I’ll smash all the bows and swords and weapons that could be used to invade their land, and they’ll live in security.
(to His reclaimed bride) 19 I’m going to marry you, and this time it’ll be forever in righteousness and justice. Our covenant will reflect a loyal love and great mercy; 20 our marriage will be honest and truthful, and you’ll understand who I really am—the Eternal One.
21 And I swear that when that day comes
I’ll answer the sky and prayers for rain,
and the sky will give the land the water it’s asking for.
22 And the land will give the grain and wine and oil the fertile soil they need to develop,
and the crops will shout back to Me, “God sows!”
23 I won’t just restore the agricultural abundance;
I’ll sow into My beloved land and plant the people in the land and make them My own.
To the one who has not been shown mercy,
I’ll rename her Mercy.
I’ll tell Not My People, “You are now My People!”
and he’ll respond, “You’re my God!”

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

You might remember Hosea’s story. I asked him to marry a harlot as an example of how My children treated Me. Hosea’s wife ran off to other men instead of being faithful to her husband, but he goes to her and brings her back home despite her unfaithfulness. The poetry in the prophecy tell of his actions to win her back. Hosea tried everything he could to keep her faithful to him. He gave her his love and remained faithful to her even though she was unfaithful to him.

My children treat Me like Hosea’s wife treated him too often. I give you blessings and you don’t appreciate them. I give you My love and you chase after worldly things instead. I protect you, provide for you, help you, teach you, yet you throw My love away and give yourself to meaningless activities and throw yourself to whatever will give you temporary pleasure instead of aspiring to develop lasting relationships with Me.

How is it that you can read history and know what happens to those who oppose Me and still continue on the path you take? How can you continue to defy Me when you see that in the end only a relationship with Me will last? How can you chase after the things of the world when you see the evidence time and again that those things only lead to your destruction?

It was difficult for Me to use Hosea as an example for the Israelites. I knew the heartbreak he would feel as his wife deserted him and ran off after other men. I knew the tears he would shed because of her deceit after all he did to provide for her. I knew the anguish Hosea would experience because of the rejection he felt from the one he loved.

I knew Hosea would experience these things because I experience them when one of My children, one of My creation, reject Me despite the love I give them. I do everything I can to reach to you, yet you run away from Me. I give you My love, even to the point of sacrificing Myself on the cross to redeem you, still you turn from Me and follow your own path. I love you with a love that reaches deeper than your vilest sin. All I ask is that you return to Me and be a faithful bride.

Like Hosea, I will take you as you are. But I won’t let you remain in your sin. I won’t let you continue to return to your unfaithful ways. I won’t allow you to continue to reject Me forever. I love you, but I remain holy. I cannot live in the presence of sin. It must be blotted out. I made provision for you so your sins can be blotted out. I died for you for just that reason.

Perhaps remembering Hosea’s story will help you understand how I feel when you run from Me. I want you with Me. Come back to Me. I’ll accept you as you are and help you remain faithful if you will work with Me.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.