365 Days with God - Day 108: Shortsightedness

I'm giving myself a challenge. Read the Bible each day for a whole year, following the ESV Study Guide 1-year plan. Each day, I will post whatever God has revealed to me in His Word, and how it is changing me. A friend of mine once said that nothing has changed her life as much as reading the bible each day - and I'm excited for how this will change me. Join me on an adventure into the heart of God - and day by day, we can learn more about who He is and what that means to us!

- Andy Catts

Day 108, April 7, 2014

Readings: Psalm 108, Leviticus 14:33-57, Isaiah 17, Isaiah 18, 2 Corinthians 12:14-21, 2 Corinthians 13:1-14

And in that day, man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.
In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
though you make them grow on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain. (Isaiah 17:7-11)

The day is coming. Despite our greatest desires to ignore the inevitable, we will all meet our maker. Through natural causes or not, none of us will live on this earth for eternity. So what will we value then? Will we have so short of a view that we can't see beyond our own creations? Our former boastings and triumphs will be as nothing in the face of our God.

If this is the future, if this is all of our futures, then why do we spend so much time acting like it will never happen? Why do we go on ignoring reality, living for today? If our actions now affect our standing before God, why are we willing to live life without hope or care for the God who holds our world and our future in His hands?

This is the word that the teenage generation needs to hear. The generation of YOLO and "live like we've got one life, live like we've got one night." This is the word that my generation needs to hear, the generation of identity-seeking and trying to find ourselves in finding meaning for our existence. This is the word that our parents need to hear, a generation who is coming face to face with their own mortality, yet dumps countless dollars into trying to act like death will never come.

But this is not a message of death and destruction. This is a call to remember, to return to the God of our salvation, our maker and Rock of refuge. He is the only one with the answers, the only one who can give meaning to life. There is so much more than our short time here. What are you living for?

365 Days with God - Day 107: Failure (can be) Good

I'm giving myself a challenge. Read the Bible each day for a whole year, following the ESV Study Guide 1-year plan. Each day, I will post whatever God has revealed to me in His Word, and how it is changing me. A friend of mine once said that nothing has changed her life as much as reading the bible each day - and I'm excited for how this will change me. Join me on an adventure into the heart of God - and day by day, we can learn more about who He is and what that means to us!

- Andy Catts

Day 107, April 6, 2014

Readings: Psalm 107, Leviticus 14:1-32, Isaiah 15, Isaiah 16, 2 Corinthians 10:13-18, 2 Corinthians 11, 2 Corinthians 12:1-13

I really don't like failing. I plan, strategize and work hard to achieve success. I want my efforts to be fruitful, and not unsuccessful. I do not like wasting time. And I always feel like failure is wasted time. But there is one constant here - it all concerns me. I don't like to fail, I don't like to waste time, I want success. And suddenly, my desire sounds a lot more selfish than humble.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

I'm admittedly not keen on weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. None of them are pleasant! None of them are things I want for my life. And there are times, many times, when I plan, and scheme, and structure my life to avoid those kinds of things.

But instead of looking at every failure and every hardship as a tragedy, instead of lamenting my imperfection, I have the opportunity to look at them as a opening door for God's grace. A means to use me for His glory, rather than my own. So I am no longer relying on myself. So I am humble. So God would change other's lives, instead of me thinking that I have anything to do with it.

Am I willing to look at my challenges this way? Am I willing to put aside my desire to avoid pain, disappointment and failure so that Christ may be magnified?

365 Days with God - Day 106: The Ridiculousness of Idols

I'm giving myself a challenge. Read the Bible each day for a whole year, following the ESV Study Guide 1-year plan. Each day, I will post whatever God has revealed to me in His Word, and how it is changing me. A friend of mine once said that nothing has changed her life as much as reading the bible each day - and I'm excited for how this will change me. Join me on an adventure into the heart of God - and day by day, we can learn more about who He is and what that means to us!

- Andy Catts

Day 106, April 5, 2014

Readings: Psalm 106, Leviticus 13, Isaiah 13, Isaiah 14, 2 Corinthians 10:1-12

They made a calf in Horeb
and worshiped a metal image.
They exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
They forgot God, their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,
wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. (Psalm 106:19-22)

When I read this, the first thing that pops into my mind is, "How utterly silly! We eat cows! They're big and slow, smell bad and seem to be literally created for the sole purpose of providing food and sustenance to humanity. Why in the world would you choose a cow as the object of your worship?"

So let's take a second and define worship. It's a word that, at least for me, conjures up images of praising God, bowing down to something, and performing whatever rituals are required by a specific religion. But I think it goes so much deeper than that. If it was merely that, why did the people of Israel need a golden cow? Couldn't they have just sung some songs about cows? Rejoiced in the cow's great...saving...majestic... okay, I'm not sure about that.

No, they felt the need to make a cow because they felt the need to have something tangible and present in their everyday lives to worship. They sacrificed their own wealth to make the cow by melting down their jewelry for gold. Worship of the cow filled a daily void in their lives, a reason for existence. And we do it too.

Someone once said about humanity that worship is like a hose. A hose that is constantly running, spraying on something at every moment. It never turns off. We are always worshiping something. We are always willing to sacrifice our wealth (spending money, time, mental & physical capacity) on something or someone. We are always filling voids in our life with people and things. We are worshiping whatever we look to in that moment to satisfy our desires.

It is so much more than a song. Worship is the moment-by-moment attempt to satisfy our needs and desires with something or someone. And we (I am included!) worship ridiculous things. When I am more concerned about the opinion of someone than the opinion of God, I am worshiping them. When I allow my own desires to drive my behavior instead of God's desires, I am worshiping myself. When I care more about owning a thing than I do about God's plan for me, I am worshiping that thing. When I seek fulfillment, satisfaction, meaning from anything other than God, I am worshiping that thing.

I am ridiculous. And I need to change the object of my worship. Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, I need to be constantly refining that which defines my existence. To the only One who saves. Who satisfies. Who fulfills. Who gives meaning. Who is God.

365 Days with God - Day 105: Abundance Isn't Ours

I'm giving myself a challenge. Read the Bible each day for a whole year, following the ESV Study Guide 1-year plan. Each day, I will post whatever God has revealed to me in His Word, and how it is changing me. A friend of mine once said that nothing has changed her life as much as reading the bible each day - and I'm excited for how this will change me. Join me on an adventure into the heart of God - and day by day, we can learn more about who He is and what that means to us!

- Andy Catts

Day 105, April 4, 2014

Readings: Psalm 105, Leviticus 12, Isaiah 11, Isaiah 12, 2 Corinthians 8, 2 Corinthians 9

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written,

"He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever."

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! (2nd Corinthians 9:6-15)

Wow. There is a lot there, but the first thing that I see is the beauty of giving. That God is generous with us - in so many ways! That we are not prone to give (we're selfish) but He provides grace when we are selfish. We are not able to give, because we have nothing, but He provides grace in giving us abundance so that we may give. We are not capable of coercing others to glorify God, but through His generosity to us and our generosity to others, God will be glorified!

I know my first thought in regards to giving is often this: "Wait! My budget is full! There's no fudge room! We live on little already! Where is the money for xyz going to come from??" Yet God promises to meet this need. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way. And this promise is even bigger than just the material goods you need to be generous! Are you selfish? Do you suck at giving? God will provide the heart of generosity, and the goods to give to others!

Is our God not amazing? Is he not fulfilling all promises and overcoming every weakness we have? Even more, as He gives us all things and prepares us for all things, he uses us, broken that we are, to bless others so that they may give and glorify God! This is an exponential growth, merely through our submission to Him. God supplies everything - we enjoy the fruit of the vineyard.

There is no room left to be a stingy, ungenerous person. Of what has God not supplied? How has He left us with unanswerable questions in regards to generosity? He is generous with us in all things, gives us all things, and asks us only to be a conduit for His riches. We are not the supplier, we are the pipe! A pipe that holds back the water bursts. A pipe that flows freely, generously, brings life-giving water to those at it's end. We are deliverers of God's life-giving water.

365 Days with God - Day 104: What is a Powerful Man?

I'm giving myself a challenge. Read the Bible each day for a whole year, following the ESV Study Guide 1-year plan. Each day, I will post whatever God has revealed to me in His Word, and how it is changing me. A friend of mine once said that nothing has changed her life as much as reading the bible each day - and I'm excited for how this will change me. Join me on an adventure into the heart of God - and day by day, we can learn more about who He is and what that means to us!

- Andy Catts

Day 104, April 3, 2014

Readings: Psalm 104, Leviticus 11, Isaiah 9:8-21, Isaiah 10:1-34, 2 Corinthians 6:11-18, 2 Corinthians 7:1-16

Have you known an arrogant person? (I'm sure you have.) Someone who boasts in their powers and abilities? Someone who is convinced of their own strength, and has an attitude of unwavering dominion? They consider themselves above the rules and regulations because of their power or prowess?

There are many such as this. And their main downfall is not the power that they wield. No, the downfall is who they give credit to for that power. God uses the weak and powerful alike to reach His ends. God gives the power, and God takes it away. Are you willing to recognize that it is God who has given you everything you have?

When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. For he (the king of Assyria) says:

"By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
and plunder their treasures;
like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened the mouth or chirped."

Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should life him who is not wood!
Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts
will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled,
like the burning of a fire.  (Isaiah 10:12-16)

The imagery was so vivid for me, it nearly jumped off the page. Possibly because I just spent an entire day sawing down half a tree with a handsaw. But the idea that (if saws could speak) that it would boast of cutting down the tree! That it would say to me, who provided the strength of my arm, the height of my ladder, the will of my mind,  that it was powerful. That the saw had brought down the tree, all by itself.

But if I had not provided the power, the capability and the direction, the saw would have lain, useless and lifeless, in my tool shed. The tree would not have been cut. The supposed power of the saw over the tree would never have been realized, because the saw is nothing, it is lifeless, without someone to guide it, to power it.


And yet, to God, the king of Assyria, a mighty man who had felled many nations, was just as a saw is to us. Without God, he had no strength to plunder other nations, no reach to do so, and no mind to plan the battle strategy. He saw himself as the sole reason for his success. He chose to boast in himself, to simultaneously reject God and elevate himself to a position of godlike power.

And that never goes over well with God.

God declares through the prophet Isaiah that Assyria's glory will burn. That it will not last because of their boasting. Because God is the one who provides all power, all capability, all strength. To whom do you attribute your success? Your accomplishments? Your power?

365 Days with God - Day 103: For Unto Us a Child is Born

I'm giving myself a challenge. Read the Bible each day for a whole year, following the ESV Study Guide 1-year plan. Each day, I will post whatever God has revealed to me in His Word, and how it is changing me. A friend of mine once said that nothing has changed her life as much as reading the bible each day - and I'm excited for how this will change me. Join me on an adventure into the heart of God - and day by day, we can learn more about who He is and what that means to us!

- Andy Catts

Day 103, April 2, 2014

Readings: Psalm 103, Leviticus 10, Isaiah 9:1-7, 2 Corinthians 5:11-21, 2 Corinthians 6:1-10

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
For the yoke of his burden,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called 
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:2-7)

I love Isaiah's poetry about Jesus. I'm not normally a poetry guy, but I think it is beautiful. But even more beautiful are the promises Go dis making to His people and to the whole world. We who are not Jews are dwellers in a land of deep darkness, and have been added to the nation, to God's people. We will receive God's blessings as well - what a gift!

It's hard not to think of the Christmas song while reading this, but I'm trying. But seeing the promise made, knowing that God sent Jesus to be so many amazing things, to do amazing things, and that this is even a foreshadowing of things that have not yet happened even still! There will be no end to the increase of peace, justice, righteousness. I could go for that.

And God makes this a promise. There is no uncertainty here: The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. He is committed. We have nothing to fear, and Jesus to trust for all our needs. He will come through. He will do great things. We will be added to His nation, His kingdom. Thank you God for your son Jesus! Thank you for His sacrifice!

365 Days with God - Day 102: The Rescue Plan

I'm giving myself a challenge. Read the Bible each day for a whole year, following the ESV Study Guide 1-year plan. Each day, I will post whatever God has revealed to me in His Word, and how it is changing me. A friend of mine once said that nothing has changed her life as much as reading the bible each day - and I'm excited for how this will change me. Join me on an adventure into the heart of God - and day by day, we can learn more about who He is and what that means to us!

- Andy Catts

Day 102, April 1, 2014

Readings: Psalm 102, Leviticus 9, Isaiah 7, Isaiah 8, 2 Corinthians 4:1-18, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

God has always known what he's doing. He knew what humanity would do when he made them. He knew, each time that he rescued his people, each time he forgave them, that they would break his heart. That they would reject him. And yet he chose to create us. To pursue us. To love us. Never has he faltered. And this love is not only for "his people," the people of Israel - it is for all.

This is what Jesus was furious about with the Pharisees, and all the people that had come before them. Israel was never meant to be a "chosen nation" that would never interact with others. Israel was always intended to be a nation that God blessed and loved, carrying the message of the one true God to others around them. They were to be the example that drew others in. God wanted other nations to see God's work in the Israelites and compare the true God to their false gods.

But the Israelites were selfish and haughty. They took what God gave and kept it for themselves, while constantly flirting with other gods and other nations. God knew this would happen, and so, from the beginning of time, God had other plans. And He didn't even keep it a secret!

Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD:
that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,
that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the LORD. (Psalm 102:18-22)

Hundreds of years before Christ, the Psalmist shares God's heart for the world. God desires that many nations will come to him. That he plans to save them, to release them from their shackles. I am one of those prisoners. I have been set free by God's plan, the plan he has had since the beginning.

Blessed and freed by God, I am set apart, as Israel once was. I have a choice about what to do with my freedom, my blessings. I can keep them for myself, as Israel did, or I can declare the love of God to the nations. I can show who God is and how He loves us. How He gave everything for us. How he has loved us since the beginning of time. God's love, God's grace, was never intended for me to keep to myself. He always desired that it would be spread and shared.