So here are two simple equations for you today:

Love God = Hate Evil and         Love Evil = Hate God

You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked. Psalms 97:10 (NLT)

Here is a definition of hate: to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest.

Do I hate evil?  Am I hostile towards it?  Do I detest it, loath it, reject it, run from it?

Or, do I date evil?  Do I tolerate it, relax with it, laugh at it, enjoy it…even embrace it?

I think the answer is “it depends”.  There is some evil on my Top-10 list of things that I hate.  But I think I also have a list of things that I date but God hates.  Gluttony is just plain fun.  Gossip often feels good in the moment.  Pride and arrogance help me to shift my focus to other people’s short-comings so that I can ignore mine.

Scripture says (in a bunch of places, by the way) that loving God naturally results in hating evil.  It also says that loving evil reveals a hatred for God.  We cannot have it both ways.  Luke-warm is not an option He gives us.

Let me offer this prayer up for you and I.  God, don’t allow us deceive ourselves any longer.  Reveal the areas in our life where we are dating evil, courting it, enjoying it.  Don’t let us rationalize it away, but convict us of our sin and cleanse us from loving the things that you hate.  Help us to hate sin with a Godly hatred.  Help us to love You God, and only you!

Let’s not sing the same old song to God: the whole earth should sing something brand new to Him…something that will praise His name.  Let’s shout out everyday that it is He, and He alone, that saves!  Let’s publish the Good News everywhere, so the whole world will hear about Him!

God is great and worthy of praise!  He alone is God, He alone is the Creator, worthy of honor.  He is majestic and strong and beautiful!  Why can’t you see this everyone?  Why don’t you give Him the proper respect?  Why don’t you give Him your best offering, worshipping Him with everything you have?

He is in charge here, and He judges fairly.  That is something all of creation should be glad for!  He is coming to judge us as only He can.  He is coming to judge us with a perfect justice and a perfect truth. – Psalm 96 (rewritten)

This Psalm fits nicely with Pastor Terry’s message yesterday about “good worship”.  Good worship doesn’t necessary leave me feeling pleased…but it does please God.  Am I giving Him all of me?  Am I giving Him the same-old half-hearted stuff, or something brand-new and whole-hearted?

God, you are worthy of all of my life, all of my love, all of my respect.  Thank you for the salvation that only You could give!  Help Your name and Your truth to be on my lips and mind all day everyday!

Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help. Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you and trust you. You are my God. Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you. Psalms 86:1-4 (NLT)

Here is my challenge for you today:

1. Look down the 1st list and find one thing to thank God for!  For me, it is the great happiness & joy that He has given me!
2. Look down the 2nd list and find one thing You need His help with.  For me, it is to serve and trust in Him alone.

We serve a great and glorious God that is worthy of our praise!  Let’s thank Him for who He is and ask Him to change us into true worshippers of Him!

Mary chose to go counter-cultural, sitting where she wasn’t “supposed” to be.  Mary chose to ignore her to-do list.  Mary chose to put Jesus first, not last.  Mary chose to seize the moment and sit at the feet of her Rabbi, Teacher and Lord…and listen to Him.

Thank you Mary for showing us the better thing to do…the only thing that is necessary!  Thank you for the reminder that while there may be other important things to do in this world, they will only serve as distractions unless we first sit at the Lord’s feet and listen to Him.

I really like the New Living Translation version of this story, as it gives a slight variation on how to read the passage.

As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42 (NLT)

The NIV translates the last verse as “Mary has chosen what is better”, while the NLT translates it “Mary has discovered it”.  I like that way of considering the story.  In one sense, we are to choose God, but in another sense we merely need to discover Him.  Perhaps combining the two terms would be useful.

We must to choose to discover God.

That is my prayer for myself and all of you.  That we would choose to discover God.  That we would choose the one thing that is necessary…Him.

I am His.  So this little wrinkle was interesting to me today:  He is mine.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. Psalms 73:26 (NLT)

Every other major translation reads that God is “my portion”…something like this:

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalms 73:26 (NIV)

The word “portion” literally means “tract” or “territory”.  God is my territory.  He is mine.  Does that change anything? 

To me it does.  It makes it personal.

He is my Father, forever!  He is my shepherd, forever!  He is my potter, forever!  I may lose everything else, but I will never lose You God!  Nothing can separate me from You!  You are mine forever!

But she had God.  She told me with a sobbing voice that she knew He was still there for her.  She was convinced that He would not fail her or forsake her.  She knew there was a great lesson for her to learn in this trial.

I asked her if she had her bible from home.  Through that same sobbing voice she said she did not…that her husband had taken that too.  I was able to give this wonderful saint some small help.  We prayed, I gave her some food from The Open Table, and I shared with her some names and numbers for local agencies that might be able to help her.

And then, I gave her a bible from our lost-and-found area. 

At that moment I experienced the most touching and humbling thing I have seen in a long time.  She grabbed that bible from my hand and hugged it to her chest.  As she sat there, clinging to the Word of God, she rocked back and forth saying over and over again, “At least I’ve got a bible!”  She had nothing else, but she had the Word!  She clung to it like a drowning person would cling to a life preserver!

It is amazing to me how God uses unforeseen circumstances to speak to me.  This lady I had never met before and may never meet again reminded me of the passion and devotion with which I ought to cling to the Word of God.

And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest. Luke 8:15 (NLT)

Oh God, help me to cling to Your Word today and in the days to come!  Thank you that Your Word is alive and active, that it encourages and challenges, that it comforts and disturbs!  Help the example of this lady to never leave my mind…and thank You for allowing me to meet her!

I’m not one of those people any more.  The more I read this book, the more amazed I am at the profound consistency and simplicity of its message.  The more I read this book, the more amazed I am that the message of the Old Testament so clearly lines up with the message of the New Testament.  Here is an example from the book of Amos:

“I hate all your show and pretense— the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. Amos 5:21-24 (NLT)

These words could very easily have come from the mouth of Jesus Himself.  It was not uncommon for Him to simplify His message down to one specific point: “If you love me, obey me”, or maybe “Love God and love others”.  Stop with all the pretense and show!  Stop coming to church and thinking that you’ve checked off the spiritual box for the week!  Stop honoring Me with your lips and dishonoring Me with the rest of your lives!  Stop saying you love Me without acting like it! 

Instead, let your lives be controlled by the Holy Spirit, and then they will reflect your faith.  Then your lives will be a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. 

Amen!  Father, thank You for giving me the Word to read today!  Jesus, thank You for making it possible to follow You!  Holy Spirit, help me to want to live for You and give me the ability to do it!

As is the case with all the prophets, they spoke and wrote not only to the people of their day, but also to us.  I think you’ll find this text extremely relevant to today’s culture.  Things haven’t changed all that much since it was first written!  Amos chapter 1 describes God’s impending judgment on the nations surrounding Israel and Judea.  There would have likely been a murmur of approval at this…God would judge the nation’s enemies!

But chapter 2 may have shocked them into silence.  First, Amos turns his attention to the people of Judah:

This is what the Lord says: “The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They have rejected the instruction of the Lord, refusing to obey his decrees. They have been led astray by the same lies that deceived their ancestors. Amos 2:4 (NLT)

How had they disobeyed God?  They rejected His instructions to them.  What was the effect of their disobedience?  They were led astray by the same old lies as the people who came before them.

Why did they disobey God?  It was probably a combination of several things:

• Self-centeredness: They didn’t like His instructions.
• Pride: They didn’t think they needed His instructions.
• Ignorance:  They hadn’t taken the time to know His instructions.

Why did God give us the book of Amos?  Well, among other reasons, He knew that we would need the reminder that we are not all that different from the people that lived in Amos’ day.  It is kind of like a mirror for us to look into…and see our own reflection.  Like them, we reject God and His instruction, allowing ourselves to be led down the same old paths of sin.  Like them, we do it out of self-centeredness, pride and ignorance.  We would honestly rather do our own thing, or think we can dabble in sin without it effecting us.  Or maybe we have just never taken the time to find out what He wants from us.

Whatever the reason, I pray that the book of Amos will clearly reflect our own lives so that we can see ourselves in it and respond to it.

For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. James 1:23-25 (NLT)

"Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; Acts 3:19 (NASB)

This is as simple as it gets.  Oftentimes, our situation is due to sin in our lives.  God is holy and cannot come near anyone that is not.  He doesn’t move, but our sin moves us a long way away from Him.  So, Acts 3:19 tells us to:

1. Confess our sins.  Both to God and a trusted friend (James 5:16).
2. Repent (turn away) from our sins.  Don’t just say “I’m sorry to God”, but truly leave our sins behind us.
3. Return (turn toward) God.
4. Enjoy the times of refreshing that come from the presence of the Lord.

May you be refreshed by the Lord as you follow His Word.