The Welcome Mat

By Cheri Cowell –

Hospitality is big business today. Businesses even hire outside firms to help them offer better hospitality. These experts look at everything from the colors of the walls to the scents in the air. They train people on the best practices and explain that it is often the little things that say, “You are important here.” The Temple was to be God’s welcome mat to the whole world. Through it, and the people He chose to oversee it, all the nations of the earth were to be welcomed into God’s presence. Isaiah recorded God’s hospitality training manual for the temple leaders in chapter 56 verses 4-8, but over the years that system had been corrupted. Instead of welcoming people, the temple system had become a way to exclude people, and Jesus was angry about it. Passover was the time when all the nations would be gathered in the city, and the temple should have had the welcome mat out. Instead, it put up barriers and Jesus could no longer take it.

Jesus quotes Isaiah and Jeremiah in this passage in Mark, passages that the temple leaders would have known well. They knew what they were doing was wrong, but when confronted they chose to blame the messenger rather than look at their own sin. When reading this passage it is easy for us to point fingers at the temple leaders, but the question remains for us: How welcoming are our houses of prayer? Are peoples of all nations, social and economic statuses, educational levels, physical abilities, and religious affiliations welcomed by us? Do we make it easy for those who are different to join in and feel a part of our family?

“On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city” (Mark 11:15-19 NIV).

See also Isaiah 56:4-8. Ask Him to help you become aware this Easter season of those who may need the hand of hospitality extended to them in the name of Jesus, the Messiah.

PRAYER: Dear God, forgive us for turning Your house into a den of thieves, stealing away Your intended purpose for Your people to be the welcome mat for all to come to You.

Doggone Wealthy

By Cheri Cowell –

When I was growing up, we had a huge collie named Happy. Happy was the perfect dog for children; he was protective, playful, gentle, and a lot of fun. We often dressed him up like a doll, and he loved to play in the Water Wiggle with us in the back yard. It was my job to feed Happy at night, which meant filling his water bowl, scooping a big cupful of dry food into his dish, and then topping it with table scraps. The bowl would almost overflow, but it didn’t take long for it to disappear. Every once in awhile my father would stop at the butcher to get meat for our family, and while there, he always got a box of bones for Happy. Once a week, my sister and I would go into the freezer and get one of those bones for him. You would have thought he had died and gone to heaven. Today I believe he is enjoying a doggie banquet in heaven, where even the lowliest of us here on earth will sup with God.

“Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.’ Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.’ The woman came and knelt before him. ‘Lord, help me!’ she said. He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’ ‘Yes it is, Lord,’ she said. ‘Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed at that moment” (Matthew 15:21-28 NIV).

A dog was a term the Jews used to demean Gentiles. Jesus was not demeaning the woman by using this term; he was showing their hypocrisy. She saw in Jesus someone whom she could trust so she offered to eat the scraps from His table if He would heal her daughter. This woman, a Canaanite enemy of the Jews, was then offered the best meal in town, for her faith brought her the very thing she wished. All of us are equal in God’s eyes, so we should not be surprised when one day we see who is seated next to us at His large banqueting table in heaven.

PRAYER: Thank You Lord for the privilege of even being allowed the crumbs from Your table, yet incredibly, You have offered me a seat of honor there. Help me treat others the way You see them: valuable, worthy, and to be honored.

The Invisible Man

By Cheri Cowell –

A few days ago some friends and I went out to eat at a counter service restaurant. When we entered we noticed a table full of older men enjoying their afternoon out with the guys and a group of women in the far corner near the kitchen. The restaurant was busy so when no one acknowledged our arrival we figured they just didn’t see us. We waited what seemed like five minutes without anyone saying anything to us. We almost left when a man came through the back door, but even he didn’t acknowledge us. We asked if anyone was going to help us and a waitress finally said, “I’ll be right with you.” I’m sure glad she said something. I was beginning to wonder if we had become invisible. God must feel the same way with us sometime.

God has great plans for us. He desires to give us more than we can ever imagine and all He asks in return is to be loved by us. He longs for us to acknowledge His presence, to see His love painted in the sky each day, to feel His breath in the breeze, and to love Him in response. When we acknowledge His name as the name above all names, we are saying to Him, “I see, I believe and I love you in return.”

“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name” (Psalm 91:14 NIV).

PRAYER: God, I praise You today for all of the ways in which You show Your love. Thank You for being there even when I treat You as the invisible man. Help me see You more clearly, believe in You more fully, and love You more dearly today and everyday.

Inside Out

By Cheri Cowell –

Today I met a friend for lunch and through our conversation she learned that I indeed wore a southern belle gown and big picture hat for my wedding. For proof I pulled the picture from my purse. As she looked at the picture she said, “Funny, I didn’t picture you as the southern belle type.” To which I replied, “You’re right. I guess I was filling a role I thought I should play.” Come to think of it, I have played many roles in my life that were not accurate reflections of my inner self. Jesus can see beneath the surface and calls us to be who we really are.

The Pharisee had invited Jesus into his home, but Jesus knew that the man’s heart (his motives) were not pure. In Luke 11:39, we read that in order to reveal truth to the man, Jesus spoke of the inside and outside of a cup. True giving comes from what is inside, He tells the man, implying that his invitation to Jesus to dine with him was not given from a pure heart. He was just playing a role. His true character was revealed. Are you living a role that does not accurately reflect your true character? Jesus is more interested in lives lived from the inside out, and gifts given from a pure heart.

When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. (Luke 11:37-41 NIV)

PRAYER: Father, Thank-you for tenderly revealing my inner self to me so that I can live a life that is clean from the inside out. Help me to clean the cup from the inside so I may accurately reflect Your image to the outside.

New Year and a New You

By Cheri Cowell –

Statistics tell us 90% of Americans will make New Year’s resolutions. Sadly, 50% of us will have abandoned our goals by the end of January. Of those still holding on to hope, only 50% will be realized. So, why do we continue this tortuous ritual?

Perhaps it is the hope that this year we will make better choices. This year, we tell ourselves, will finally be the year we turn that corner, flip over the new leaf, and begin again.

In another ritual, during ancient days, the standard or flag was carried into battle by one sworn to uphold all that the emblem signified, even to the point of wrapping his body in the banner before the fatal blow should the safety of the symbol no longer be secured.

In the same way, Christ was God’s standard-bearer to the world. His standard is the measure by which we are called to live.

Are the goals you’ve set for 2013 based upon His standard or someone else’s? Are God’s goals part and parcel of your own goals? Are serving the poor and disadvantaged part of your goals? Is time in God’s Word scheduled into your calendar? If you’re not sure, you may want to make one of your goals to spend some time getting to know your Standard-Bearer better.

When we know His ways, we’ll know our way.

PRAYER: God, I declare today that You alone are my Standard-Bearer. Help me to align my goals and priorities in 2013 so they reflect Your standard, Your goals, Your heartbeat.

“He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. From the west, people will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along” (Isaiah 59:16-19 NIV).

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