Burn it, Crush it, Ground It, and Throw It - Moses Style

"Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain."

- Deuteronomy 9:21

Moses knew how to burn a bridge, in this case a sin bridge. He brought out a four-part attack on the Israelites' plaguing sin problem, enabling them to capture God's promise for their lives. If you don't know the background of this story and the destruction that this golden calf brought on his nation, you probably think that Moses was overreacting.

But Moses knew far too well that this calf represented his nation's reliance on self and an unauthentic devotion to God. See that's the problem with sin bridges: They enable us to go back and forth between our devotion to God and our reliance on self, but remove all traces of authenticity from our lives.

Did the Israelites really want to worship a phony cow and put their futures in its hands? Of course not, they just wanted a fix until Moses returned to lead them again. In your life, when hope seems dim, promise lost in a fog, and you feel yourself reaching for temporal relief, remind yourself of this contrast: while Moses was climbing a mountain to find God, his people were building an idol to substitute God.

Those things in your life that have become sin bridges, are really endless detours around the life God has for you. So I encourage you to deal with it Moses style - burn it, crush it, ground it, and throw it. Even though yours isn't, you'll find His grace is sufficient.

Pleading for the Privilege of Helping Out

"You do so well in so many things - you trust God, you're articulate, you're insightful, you're passionate, you love us - now, do your best in this too."

-2 Corinthians 8:7 Message Bible

Paul wrote these words to the Corinthian church to serve as an acknowledgment of their good deeds and also to challenge their lack in something else. What was the "something else"?

Earlier in the chapter Paul described the churches in Macedonia who were facing "fierce troubles" that were "pushing them to the very limit." This was a trial that Paul said "exposed their true colors". But it was their response under pressure that caused Paul to write the Corinthians.

Paul states that the trial the Macedonians faced triggered them to "an outpouring of pure and generous gifts" and that they "gave offerings of whatever they could - far more than they could afford!" In 2 Corinthians 8:4 Paul says that they "pleaded for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians."

My heart is heavy for our Haitian brothers and sisters whose nations is in ruins after the recent earthquake, but I am proud of the Christian community's immediate response of grace, mercy, and aid as we, "plead for the privilege of helping out."

Want to give? Here is an organization that has already mobilized teams and is currently sending aid: Global Missions