Tag Archives: Christian Living

Devotional, Lent, Series

ALTAR AUDIT, Part 10: The Altar of Preference

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Read Luke 6:20-26

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5 NLT)

Altars reveal what we worship. Some are obvious—raised platforms of stone and flame. Others are quieter, constructed in systems, reputations, loyalties, and assumptions. Lent is a season of holy examination. It calls us to look closely at what we have built, what we defend, and what we trust. In this series, we conduct an audit—not of budgets or buildings, but of allegiances. Lent strips away every false altar until only Christ remains.

Image: AI-generated using DALL·E and customized by the author. Used with the devotional “ALTAR AUDIT, part 10: The Altar of Preference” at Life-Giving Water Devotions.

Part 10: The Altar of Preference. It’s easy to hear “blessed are the poor” and quietly translate it into something more comfortable—something spiritual, something distant, something we can agree with without changing much. But Luke doesn’t give us that distance. He places Jesus on level ground, among the people, where these words land differently.

What we often call the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel appears differently in Luke. Here, it is known as the Sermon on the Plain. And that difference is not incidental. In Matthew, Jesus goes up the mountain, sits, and teaches his disciples. In Luke, Jesus comes down, stands on level ground, and speaks among a large crowd—disciples, the sick, the poor, the desperate, all gathered together. What is said here is not abstract or removed—it is social, embodied, and immediate.

And even the words themselves shift. In Matthew, the blessing is for the “poor in spirit.” In Luke, it is simply the poor. Not a category that could be internalized or spiritualized, but a reality standing right in front of them. A reality standing in front of us all.

“Blessed are you who are poor… Woe to you who are rich.”

There is no softening here. No easy reframing that lets us keep everything exactly as it is. This is not an abstract principle. It is a reordering, and it cuts directly against the way we operate. Why? Because we do not build around the poor.

We serve them. We support them. We minister to them. We create programs, organize drives, and mobilize volunteers. Much of this is necessary. Much of it is good. People rely on it. It matters.

But it is also worth asking what kind of world our systems are actually forming.

We don’t reject the poor…we just build systems around them. We tell them who they are and what they need.

They are not the center. They are the recipients.

And over time, that distinction begins to matter more than we realize.

Because what we call ministry can slowly become preference. Not maliciously. Not intentionally. But structurally. We build in ways that are sustainable for us, manageable for us, comfortable for us. We decide what is possible, what is realistic, what is wise. Who fits the mold enough to be helped, and just what help we can give.

And in doing so, we may never notice that the system itself remains untouched.

Or worse—what we build around the “least of these” can quietly become part of the prison.

Not liberation. Not the release proclaimed in Luke 4. But a managed, contained version of care that keeps everything functioning just well enough to continue as it is.

Jesus does something different.

Jesus heals who is in front of him. Jesus feeds who is hungry. Jesus restores who is broken. But Jesus also announces a Kingdom that does not simply patch the existing system—it overturns it. The poor are not recipients in that Kingdom. They are centered. Blessed, not because poverty is good, but because God’s reign is breaking in among those the world has pushed aside.

That is the inversion.

And it exposes something deeper in us.

Preference is not always about what we like. It is about what we are willing to reorganize our lives around. It is about who we place at the center—and who we keep at the edges, even while serving them.

Even in the Church.

Especially in the Church.

This is not a call to abandon the work we are doing. It is a call to examine the structure in which we are doing it. To ask whether our ministry reflects the Kingdom Jesus proclaims—or simply makes the current world more bearable.

Because one sustains.

The other transforms.

And those are not the same thing.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
The Kingdom of God does not ask us to serve the poor from a distance—it calls us to rebuild the world with them at the center.

PRAYER
God, open our eyes to the ways we have mistaken preference for faithfulness. Give us courage to see clearly, humility to listen deeply, and wisdom to build differently. Reorder our lives, our churches, and our systems so that they reflect your Kingdom—not our comfort. Lead us from maintenance into transformation. Amen.

Devotion written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI).

Devotional, Series

ALTAR AUDIT, Part 9: The Altar of Strength

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Read Isaiah 42:1–4

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,

Altars reveal what we worship. Some are obvious—raised platforms of stone and flame. Others are quieter, constructed in systems, reputations, loyalties, and assumptions. Lent is a season of holy examination. It calls us to look closely at what we have built, what we defend, and what we trust. In this series, we conduct an audit—not of budgets or buildings, but of allegiances. Lent strips away every false altar until only Christ remains.

Image: AI-generated using DALL·E and customized by the author. Used with the devotional “The Altar of Strength” at Life-Giving Water Devotions.

Part 9: The Altar of Strength. Strength is one of the most celebrated virtues we know. It is praised in leadership, rewarded in culture, and quietly expected in everyday life. We are taught to admire those who endure, who push through, who hold it together no matter the cost. Strength, on its own, is not the problem. It is real. It matters. It can protect, sustain, and even heal.

But what happens when strength becomes something more than a virtue—when it becomes an altar?

The altar of strength is built not just on what we admire, but on what we are willing to overlook. Because the moment strength becomes the standard by which we measure worth, those who cannot meet it begin to disappear. Not all at once. Not violently, at least not always. But quietly. Systemically. Acceptably.

We tell ourselves a lie: that strength is simply what is good. And in doing so, we justify who we ignore.

Isaiah offers a different vision. The Servant of God does not raise a voice to dominate. The Servant does not crush the bruised reed or extinguish the faintest flame. This is not weakness. This is not passivity. This is strength—restrained, intentional, and directed toward justice. It is power that refuses to prove itself through destruction.

That is a direct contradiction to the strength we are used to seeing.

Because empire has always defined strength by who survives and who does not. Strength, in that system, is measured by dominance, endurance, and control. Those who cannot keep pace—the bruised, the exhausted, the barely holding on—are not centered. They are managed, minimized, or moved aside.

And here is the harder truth: the Church is not immune to this.

We say we follow Christ, but we often mirror empire. We celebrate resilience while ignoring burnout. We platform voices that project stability while sidelining those who struggle to be heard. We call it wisdom. We call it order. We call it strength.

But beneath it is a quieter confession: we do not know what to do with weakness—especially our own.

So we construct an altar.

We convince ourselves that we are strong, even when we are not, because admitting otherwise feels like losing value. And in maintaining that illusion, we distance ourselves from those who cannot hide their fragility. What we refuse to face within ourselves, we often reject in others.

This is how the altar holds.

Jesus dismantles it—not by denying strength, but by redefining it. In Luke’s Gospel, the good news is not announced to the powerful but to the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed. Not as an afterthought, but as the center.

That is the inversion.

Strength, in the kingdom of God, is not proven by who stands above others. It is revealed in who refuses to step over them. It is not the ability to endure at all costs—it is the willingness to remain with those who cannot. It is not dominance—it is presence. Not force—but faithfulness.

And that kind of strength cannot coexist with the altar we have built.

Because one sustains systems that discard. The other restores those systems have already crushed.

So the question is not whether we value strength.

It is which definition we are willing to lay down.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Strength, in the way of Christ, is not proven by power over others, but by refusing to abandon them.

PRAYER
God, strip away the false strength we cling to and the illusions we use to measure worth. Teach us the strength of Christ—the kind that does not crush, does not discard, and does not turn away. Give us courage to face our own fragility, and compassion to stand with those the world overlooks. Re-form us in your way of justice and mercy. Amen.

Devotion written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI).

Devotional

Christian Living Translated

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Read Philippians 2:12-18

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world” (1 Peter 2:12 NLT).

Christian living can be such a wonderful experience, one that helps one to learn, to grow, and to become transformative in the world around them; however, it can also seem near impossible to live as a Christian in today’s world, given all of the different things vying for our worship, let alone where to begin. Of course, this has always been the case and is not exclusive to our time; however, our time does present a number of unique challenges that other times and periods did not present.

I remember that, as a kid, I used to truly aspire to live a Biblically-based life. By kid, I mean when I was in my formative years leading up to my mid teens. Once I hit, 16 years old or so, I began to seek out my own religious identity apart from that of my parents; still, leading up until that point, I always aspired to please Jesus even though I realize I was far from perfect at that. Truthfully, even as a wayward teen, I never sought to displease Jesus or God, it’s just that I began to seek Ultimate Reality out for myself.

As a kid, I would try to read the Bible from front to back because that is how I was taught books were read. I didn’t realize that method didn’t work in all regards and the Bible was one of those books that a front-to-back reading wasn’t necessarily the most efficacious. I wasn’t taught in Sunday School, or church for that matter (to my recollection), that I could read the Bible in any order I wanted to and that the Bible doesn’t read chronologically from front to back. 

For instance, the first five books of the Bible tell of Creation and the first peoples to inhabit the earth. It shares of the founding of the faith in Yaweh and how Yahweh planned to bring redemption into the world through that faith. Laws and ways of living were established in those early books; however, then the Bible goes off into history, then legen, then poetry, then prose, then prophecy, with other earlier accounts such as Job dispersed in between.

I wasn’t taught that praying DID NOT require bowing one’s head and dropping to one’s knees at specific times, but that prayer can be an ongoing, sometimes outloud, dialogue with Jesus in the shower or driving down the road. I wasn’t taught that failure is a required ingredient to success and that perfection didn’t happen overnight, but was an ongoing process.

My mom, God bless her, taught me some of those things. For instance, one of the ways she used to read the Bible was to pray for guidance and then to open the page to a random place and start reading. What a powerful and trusting way to approach Scripture. One can also read it by following the Chronology of the stories being told. There are a plethora of ways to approach Scripture in meaningful and meditative ways.

The same is true with every aspect of Christian living, not just reading Scripture and prayer. Evangelism, for instance, need not be handing out awkward tracts to people and telling them to “turn or burn”. In fact, that is the LEAST effective way of evangelism and one that has been the least employed in the church’s most successful moments. Evangelism, rather, is the sharing of Jesus Christ in ways that are relevant to whom one is sharing Him. This can be done with words, with actions, with silent presence, and most certainly by example. 

If one knows you are a Christian, trust me when I say that they are most definitely watching how you live and act. This is not necessarily true as to determine whether you sin or not, but whether or not you LIVE UP to the values you preach. If you are graceful, loving, compassionate, present, and a peacemaker among those you know, they will begin to associate those things with your faith; however, if you are the opposite of what you preach, you will be seen as a fake or, worse yet, your faith will become associated with those things.

The fact is that it important to daily engage in Christian living. The disciplines of studying Scripture, praying, partaking in the life of the Church, fellowshipping and being in accountability groups, observing the ordinances of God (Holy Communion, worship, etc.), sharing one’s faith and more are all vital to cultivating the true Christian life. Let us, as Christians, not shy away from doing so but actually double down in doing so. We can do so that both honors Christ and respects the people and culture to whom we are sharing. Let us take our faith seriously so as to not waste the grace God has given us to be transformed and participate in making more disciples of Jesus Christ for the tranformation of the world!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“The Christian faith never exists except as ‘translated’ into a culture.” – David Bosch

PRAYER
Lord help me translate the Christian life into my context so that I may be transformed and, as such, be transformative for your glory in the lives of others. Amen.

Advent Series, Devotional, Previous Post

A LOOK BACK: God’s People, part 141: Baby John

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Read Luke 1:57-66

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Then [Jesus] said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.’”  (Luke 9:23, NLT)

When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.

Part 141: Baby John. One may be scratching their heads and asking why on earth would someone be writing about baby John? After all, there really isn’t anything in the Bible about baby John, is there? John isn’t really talked about until he’s a full grown, hairy, sweaty, locust-eating adult, right?

Well, that is mostly correct. John isn’t directly spoken about in the Nativity story with brief reference to him leaping in Elizabeth’s womb at the sound of Mary’s voice. In fact, it is only in Luke where we hear anything at all about the John’s family or his birth. In Mark, the Gospel starts with John baptizing folks and in Matthew, we first hear of John when Jesus shows up at the river’s edge. In the Gospel of John, we again first see John at the Jordan river baptizing people.

It is only in Luke, where there is any back story on John’s birth, on his family, and on his connections to Jesus. In fact, we find out in Luke that John is the cousin of Jesus, as both of their mothers are cousins. This fact is never even hinted at, let alone mentioned in the other three Gospels. Thus, in Luke’s Gospel, John is not just the forerunner crying out for people to repent and heralding the coming Messiah and his Kingdom, rather, he is also a blood-relative of Jesus’ and is a part of the extended Holy Family.

What’s also important to note is that, because of the miraculous nature of his conception and birth, John is seemingly dedicated by his mother to be a Nazarite. While the word Nazarite is not to be found in any of the accounts on John the Baptist, there is evidence in the Scriptures to back this up.

First, a Nazarite was someone who was dedicated to the service of God. They were not to cut their hair, or drink intoxicating liquors of any sort. Nor were they to handle or consume anything made from grapes. They were also to avoid becoming ritually impure. The Nazarite was someone who was considered holy unto God, and thus filled with the Holy Spirit.

In Luke 1:13-15, Gabriel announces to Zechariah: “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.”

Thus, Gabriel tells Zechariah that he is to raise his son as a Nazarite from birth. At the end of chapter one, the author confirms that John’s family raised him according to God’s wishes as expressed through Gabriel: “John grew up and became strong in spirit. And he lived in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel” (vs. 80, NLT).

What if  Zechariah and Elizabeth decided not to follow through on that? What if they thought it unfair and even wrong of God to demand that their child be forced to follow the strict Nazarite code? Put yourself in their shoes. Would you have listened to Gabriel and forced the Nazarite vow upon your child?

Would you never give him grapes, never let him attend funerals of family members, never let from getting married (sex ritually defiles a person due to the contact with bodily fluids), etc.? Would you send him off to the wilderness to live so that he has no temptations to live like the other kids in his neighborhood?

The challenge for us is to recognize the kind of commitment God is looking for from each of us. That’s not to say God is calling all of us to be Nazarites, but that God is calling all of us to be committed to Christ. Are you willing to forego all things for the sake of the Gospel? Are you willing to deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow the Lord of all Creation, even if it costs you your very life? Reflect on these questions honestly, and draw yourself closer to the Christ, who denied himself, picked up his cross and died so that we might have abundant life in service to God’s Kingdom.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
How willing are we to follow Jesus Christ and how much are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of God’s Kingdom?

PRAYER
Lord, I am far from being as committed as I should be. Work within me so that those parts of my heart that are hardened to you and your call, may be softened bent toward your will for me. Amen.

RECLAIM Video Series

RECLAIM, Episode 11: Unity

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RECLAIM premieres on YouTube every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. EST (GMT -400).

In this brand new video series, Pastor Todd of First United Methodist Church of Newton, NJ brings passionate awareness and helpful tips on various transformational Christian practices and theology. Each episode will inspire and motivate spiritual growth through time-tested practices and and wisdom.

This week’s episode invites you to RECLAIM unity as a God-given requirement. Pastor Todd discusses what unity is and why it is so important.

RECLAIM Video Series

RECLAIM, Episode 9: Hospitality

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RECLAIM premieres on YouTube every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. EST (GMT -400).

In this brand new video series, Pastor Todd of First United Methodist Church of Newton, NJ brings passionate awareness and helpful tips on various transformational Christian practices and theology. Each episode will inspire and motivate spiritual growth through time-tested practices and and wisdom.

This week’s episode invites you to RECLAIM hospitality as a God-given requirement. Pastor Todd discusses what hospitality is and why it is so important..

RECLAIM Video Series

RECLAIM, Episode 9: Justice

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RECLAIM premieres on YouTube every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. EST (GMT -400).

In this brand new video series, Pastor Todd of First United Methodist Church of Newton, NJ brings passionate awareness and helpful tips on various transformational Christian practices and theology. Each episode will inspire and motivate spiritual growth through time-tested practices and and wisdom.

This week’s episode invites you to RECLAIM seeking after justice as a God-given requirement. Pastor Todd discusses what justice is and what it means to seek it out.

RECLAIM Video Series

RECLAIM, Episode 8: Listening

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RECLAIM premieres on YouTube every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. EST (GMT -400).

In this brand new video series, Pastor Todd of First United Methodist Church of Newton, NJ brings passionate awareness and helpful tips on various transformational Christian practices and theology. Each episode will inspire and motivate spiritual growth through time-tested practices and and wisdom.

This week’s episode invites you to RECLAIM listening as a wholesome and healthy part of our daily lives. Pastor Todd discusses what it means to truly listen to other voices and how that helps you grow spiritually and as a person.

RECLAIM Video Series

RECLAIM, Episode 7: Faith

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RECLAIM premieres on YouTube every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. EST (GMT -400).

In this brand new video series, Pastor Todd of First United Methodist Church of Newton, NJ brings passionate awareness and helpful tips on various transformational Christian practices and theology. Each episode will inspire and motivate spiritual growth through time-tested practices and and wisdom. This week’s episode invites you to RECLAIM faith as a wholesome and healthy part of our daily lives. Pastor Todd will discuss who has faith, and how it can lead us to different levels of seeing.

Devotional

God’s People, part 289: Epaphras

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Read Colossians 4:12-13

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings” (Philemon 23)

When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.

Part 289: Epaphras. When one thinks of Paul, he almost always seen as a giant. I mean, he wrote or had attributed to him thirteen out of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament. Out of those thirteen, he definitely wrote seven of them, though I personally believe he wrote eight or nine of them, and he even had a book written about mostly him and his missionary journeys. Also, there are other letters he mentioned that he wrote, but are lost to us today. So, yeah, Paul was a theological and missionary giant. He planted churches such as the one in Corinth and he left behind a legacy that has endured nearly two millenia! That’s quite an accomplishment from this Jewish Pharisee turned apostle of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.

With that said, while Paul was certainly an important, giant-like figure in Christian history, he was not the sole missionary maverick that people often wrongly imagine. Paul was a brilliant networker. He was not the only one setting up mission fields and planting church. There were a bunch of people who were doing so, many of whom, Paul was networked with. Epaphras is one of those people.

Colossians is one of the disputed letters of Paul. What I mean by this is that half of the scholars believe Paul wrote it, and half do not. I am with N. T. Wright on his assessment that Colossians is authentically Pauline. I view Colossians as one of Paul’s authentic letters and find the evidence presented to fall more convincingly on the side of authenticity.

In this letter, Paul sent greetings from a co-worker of his called Epaphras. Paul also mentioned this co-worker’s name in his letter to Philemon. According to Paul in Colossians 1:7, Epaphras (pronounced Epa‘phras) was the one who taught the Colossians the good news and planted the church there. He was their planter and their pastor. Paul knew of the church there because of his friend and colleague Ephaphras, and was writing to them because Epaphras had no doubt reported to Paul of the struggles going on within the community.

Paul acknowledged that he had never been to that community in Colossae in. He opened his letter acknowledging that Epahpras had told him of the “love of others that the Holy Spirit had given” that faithful church community (1:7). They were a loving church and, upon hearing of their struggle with false teachers, Paul wanted them to know “how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally” (2:1).

The focus of this devotion is on the fact that Christians are not meant to be islands unto themselves. What made Paul the giant that he is was the fact that he knew it was not about him; it was about Jesus Christ. Paul networked with people, and gave credit where credit was due. Epaphras and others did the same. They looked to one another for prayer, support, and help. They stuck by one another so that they were not alone in their endeavors.

This is the heart of Christianity, sisters and brothers. We are all called into mission and ministry by our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of us have been given gifts by the Holy Spirit to be used to preach the good news to the world around us. None of us is expected by Christ to go it alone, and Christ does not wish for anyone to be free from doing the work we are all tasked to do. No one is called to be a beast of burden and no one is called to be a freeloader. Everyone has their part to play.

In the church today, we are so good at dumping the load of the work on a few while others do absolutely nothing to contribute. We are good at enslaving beasts of burden for the ease and comfort of the freeloaders. This may sound harsh, but the reality is harsher. The current state of the church is a direct result of this and other harsh realities. Epaphras, Paul and all of the earliest Christians in the New Testament remind and challenge us to be cooperative in ministry and unified in the mission of Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us grow to live up to that challenge.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received from us.” – The Apostle Paul (2 Thessalonians 3:6).

PRAYER
Lord, inspire and motivate me to lead by example, to contribute to your church, and to lead others to do the same. Amen.