The Daily Devo with Steve: Recent Episodes

Steve Anderson

This is a quick summary of my thoughts on my daily devotional readings. To get the most out of this, I would suggest reading or listening to the text outlined in the title of each episode, so you can have some awareness as to what I am discussing, and then you can listen to a few takeaway ideas from that text in each of these 3-5 minute episodes. This is just meant to be a quick way to get a little bit of Bible reading and application. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope it is helpful!

Here is the blog where these are also written out, in full: http://www.stevecanderson.com/journal-entries .

This section is a little harder to read it is a referencing some events and issues that we can’t really know about, but have to just kind of discern. But, it speaks of idolatry and sounds like it is addressing an issue whereby these Corinthian Christians were mixing some of the pagan worship practices with what Paul had taught them, and they were really starting to distort some of the message and the mission. And we do this too, we twist things and we adapt our practices, but it is so important that we hold to the fundamental truths at the root of our faith.

And Paul speaks of temptation, and he rattles off another one of my favorite verses there in 10:13: 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man (there isn’t anything that I am experiencing that isn’t common, that isn’t experienced my many others...that is comforting for me). God is faithful (isn’t He? I mean, can I really think of a time when God hasn’t done exactly what He says He would do in scripture? No...), and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (and He may allow the temptation to come upon me...but He is there, and He provides a way out, a way to endure...and He wants me to see it as a test, as a rep on the weight machine...He wants me to hang in there to the finish line, to win the race in yesterday’s analogy). Really good stuff. So strong and so encouraging.

And that’s my prayer this morning...that I would be pure in what I belief, in what I hold to in terms of my faith...to the gospel. And I pray that I would be strong in the face of temptation, that I would see temptation as a test, and that in framing it that way I would be motivated to endure it and to overcome it. Frankly, when I see temptation in that way, when I simply get my mind right about it, it loses so much of its power. It is funny how that works.

This chapter is largely about Paul defending his work and the work of the other apostles, and it seems like he is defending their right to earn some money and make a living as evangelists. This is an important topic, but for me, the part that really jumped out at me this morning is between v19 and the end of the chapter.

In verses 19-23, we see a great mantra, in a sense. I am going to read it:

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Paul really likes these statements where he states his limits and his personal boundary...we have talked about 6:12. where he says, 12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything; and this is similar, where he says he is free, but that he has bound himself to servanthood. That is awesome. And that’s OUR calling...to bind ourselves, of our own free will and out of love of what’s been done for us, by Christ, at the cross, to serve others, to love others. We are called to love others because of Christ’s love for us, and not because they do or don’t deserve it. We are called to be in the world...to adapt to their needs, to meet them where they are...all said so well by Paul in this text. In the world, not of the world - focused on expanding our influence for the sake of Christ...that is our calling in this world.

And then we get to some of the more famous verses, which I will also read: 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. Remember back in the introduction, part 2 of background, when we said that during this time there was an athletic event call the Isthmian Games? These were like the Olympics, second only to the Olympics and popularity, and they took place right there in Corinth. And we said that Corinth didn’t have shelter for all the people who would flock to see these, so they would utilize tent makers. Well, Paul and his hosts, Pricilla and Aquila were, wait for it...tent makers, and they were right there in the midst of all of this action. They positioned themselves in the middle of the action so they could gain influence. This language we see here in these verses is Paul’s doing exactly what he is teaching...he was leveraging culture to make his case for Christ.

Am I leveraging my influence and my resources for Christ? Am I following Paul in that way? Great thoughts for today!

This is a great little section that addresses an issue that we germane to the church, is mostly foreign to us, but is universally applicable in our daily living. Paul is addressing the church regarding the food they eat. There were so many competing religious ideas of the day and there were crazy religious eating rules and even some pagan food rituals, and everyone was trying to figure out what they could and couldn’t eat as they were starting a life of following God. Paul really cuts straight to the heart of the matter - food doesn’t make us clean, Jesus’ blood does. Food doesn’t help us or hurt us in God’s eyes. The caveat to that is this...we are called to bring others to Christ, to be a witness to others of Christ’s saving Grace. To the extent that our food selection hinders that, we are to monitor our intake. In all of Paul’s letters, we see this theme pop up often - that we are to consider the effect we have on others, and on our witness. That is a powerful idea.

If the food we eat offends someone else’s religious beliefs, will that attract them to us? No. What about drinking alcohol? What about drinking alcohol in front of an alcoholic? It isn’t the thing, it is the impact of that thing that matters. The elegance of this ideal is that is requires us to think of others, which means it requires ‘love’ from us. Imagine that. And, look at the verse in this chapter: “Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.” Paul is telling us that we can’t lean on our knowledge of what is and isn’t allowed, we have to lean on the love we have for others, and what we know about what they need. It goes back to his idea in 6:12, “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.”

Is what I am doing, is how I am living inviting for the sake of God’s message about Jesus, or am I living in a way that distracts from that purpose? Great, great question for today.

This section was a little confusing in how it was worded, and how it was answering a question or two that we aren’t privy to and can’t fully discern. But, the big take away from this for me is just how well balanced Paul is on this topic of marriage. Paul is clearly teaching how Jesus taught - that there aren’t really very many black and white ‘rules’, but there are boundaries to our lifestyle, and God is ultimately about our hearts, not our actions. Paul isn’t saying marriage is good or bad, or that sexual relations (within marriage) are good or bad, but he is expressing that the benefits of not marrying are really that we are able to have a single-minded focus on God’s calling on our own life. When we get married, we have a new responsibility - we have to keep our spouse’s ideas in mind in order to love him of her well, and that divides our focus. None of that is hard to argue against.

We need to be thinking about our lives and our commitments that way in general - asking the question, “How does this contribute or take away from me focus on God?”. That’s a great little question to pray through from time to time.

Great little passage today...come as you are is essentially the message. And that’s a great son that I haven’t listened to in a while, by David Crowder. We are all called to God at different points in our lives, in different states, and with different conditions, but God doesn’t care about that - He just calls us forward. He calls us to put down what we are carrying. He doesn’t ask us to change. He doesn’t ask for circumcision, He doesn’t ask for a certain behavior, He doesn’t ask for us to reach a certain level of purity or care...just come. Come taste the Grace, as Crowder says in his song.

Paul is is writing to address the misconceptions about circumcision and to clear the air for these Jewish Christians and non-Jewish Christians to be able to worship together. He is writing to make sure people understand that God doesn’t call us to all be pastors either. God just calls us. And our calling is our own unique experience between us and God.

I am already enough, because it isn’t about me. You are enough, because it isn’t about you either. God has called us because HE is enough...He is enough to take us as we are, to use us as we are, and to grow us starting from right here, right now, into the person He wants us to be. It is a beautiful idea to start the day with today!

The start of this chapter has an interesting comment from Paul, “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote...”; so we can see that Paul was actually writing in response to them. And, we’ve already learned that this letter is actually likely to be the second letter that Paul wrote to them rather than the first (we just don’t have that first one)...so there was some on-going coaching going on here. In antiquity, some people had a deep admiration for certain practices, often legalistic in nature, including celibacy, and authors seem to think that is the nature of the question. Paul makes every concession to their point of view. He agrees that celibacy is ‘good’, and he points to some of its advantages. But he regards marriage as ‘normal’, and though there are some advantages in celibacy, there is a greater completeness in marriage in Paul’s mind. The other question that appears plausible to have been asked is about sexual relationships and whether a married man and woman are allowed to engaged in that manner...Paul obviously feels so.

And then the rest of this section really comes out of the one-ness, the wholeness, that a married husband and wife share together. I don’t see this as much a teaching on the topic of divorce as I see this a teaching of the picture of marriage. Look, we are sinners and divorce was destined to happen from the beginning, and I don’t by into the legalistic viewpoint that people are bound to stay together, or to never remarry, or to really much of any...Paul says it here, that we each have our own calling. It think this is a picture of the implications of marriage, that a husband and wife have come together and that there is some extent to which that almost can’t come apart, or at least it isn’t meant to be that way.

For me, the question that comes to mind as I am reading this is this - “Am I really ‘all in’, meaning, have I really given myself completely to the needs and the desires and the visions that my wife has?” If I am being honest, I can’t say ‘yes’ to that...I have work to do. And, Paul is clearly getting at this idea that a husband and a wife have that as their commitments to each other - completeness, and selflessness.

Another morning of strong words from Paul...there is plenty to come in this application section of our reading of 1 Corinthians.

Flee...don’t mess with, don't play around the edges, don’t get close to the line...flee from sexual immorality. We have talked about this many times in our morning readings, that some things are things that we can work on, that we can pray our way through, that we can exert will power over...and others are better suited to go into the category of ‘flee’. Sexual immorality falls into the this flee category.

Another way to think about these kinds of issues is in terms of appetite. Those thing for which we develop an appetite, for which we develop a craving or a yearning, and that tend to cause us to move away from others and into hiding; those are the same sins we should flee.

And notice another element that Paul introduces, that sexual immorality is a sin against our own body - and that however we want to understand what he is actually communicating, it is unique.

For me, it all goes back to this first verse of this reading, “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. (ESV). Another translation says it this way, “I have the right to do anything,” you said - but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” - but I will not be mastered by anything. (NIV)

However I look at this...I think an important question for consideration today is this - “What has mastered me, or what is in the process of mastering me, that I need to consider, that I need to address, and that I need to pray for either the courage to flee or the will power to manage?” Another great takeaway for us from Paul today!

If you have read this passage, you know that this is about Paul addressing this group regarding some disputes that have apparently ended up in public courts. For some context and background, according to my study Bible, in Paul’s time people could not bring cases against those who were superior to them socially (e.g., son versus father or slave versus master). As a result, the elite used the court system to display their superiority over others. Juries were also influenced by the social or political status of an individual, making it difficult for the marginalized to obtain justice. This would have also made it a little silly for these people, living under a Christian worldview and faith, to go to court and hope for a reasonable outcome. Effectively, the system was rigged against them. Now, we don’t know much else about this, but we can kind of infer that there must have been a bunch of this going on, and we can assume that there was a fair amount of it that was fairly frivolous or Paul wouldn’t have been addressing this.

Here is another thought on this though - think about the courts for a minute; are courts charged with doing what’s ‘right’ or what’s ‘legal’? Obviously it is the latter. Having been through a divorce, and a specific type of divorce with specific circumstances, I can definitely attest to the fact that the courts aren’t supposed to apply any real moral lens to what they are doing...they are just applying the law. Perhaps Paul is putting a message out there that we shouldn’t be dealing with legalities and legal limits, our issues should be addressed through a moral lens first. Think about how unappealing this ruling might be for some people, “Bob, yes, Mike did wrong in that he stole from you. Here is what we are going to do - Mike, you are going to ask for forgiveness and Bob, you are going to extend it.” That is not what Bob wants, especially not in a state of anger. And Mike probably doesn’t want to ask for forgiveness. But, if these two were to really explore that process and were to explore reconciliation, that would probably end the issue more times than not. Now, obviously, not all issues can be settled this way, and there are issues of murder and more serious cases and all of that, but MUCH of what is in our court system today is likely this kind of stuff...petty issues that the church should be able to handle if believers come in faith, ready to live out their faith, and seeking reconciliation rather than revenge. The courts are a place where people seek revenge in today’s world...I have to think that was somewhat similar to Paul’s time in a lot of ways...in some ways, people never change because sin was around then as it is now.

So, my question for today...am I living subject to God’s commands? Really? Or do I take what’s convenient and leave what’s not, and then look for ways to leverage the Bible for my benefit? That’s what so many of us do as believers, we use the Bible as a whip. This is a great thought to consider and to pray about today.

The rest of this chapter, which we started a couple of days ago, gives more color to the idea of judging those inside the church and those outside of the church. Paul makes a point that I think is so important - that as a body of believers, we are responsible for judging those INSIDE of the church, and NOT those OUTSIDE of the church. Here is a subtle way to think about this that - you ever sit in church and hear the pastor talking about something, and you thought, “I know someone who ought to hear this...”...ever think that? Well, perhaps it is ME that should be hearing it. It is so easy to look at others and to think about how what is being taught would be useful for others, but God wants to talk to us. We are responsible for us. And, the church that we belong to is responsible for caring for us, for holding us up and challenging us to grow, and for judging us who are members of the body. Just as our individual focus shouldn’t be on ‘others who need to hear this message’, as a church, we shouldn’t be thinking about judging the world, we should be thinking about how we can inspire our members to grow, how we can walk beside and support members who are participating in that growth and how we should be more direct in intercepting those who are in silent rebellion.

Here is the challenge though - it is sometimes (not always) hard to know if someone is really trying to grow and develop as a believer or not. That said, it is much easier to know that about ourselves. A healthy body of believers is a body that is self-aware and personally motivated to get better. And this brings us back to a big part of the importance of small groups, life groups, Sunday school, or whatever you want to call it. It is important that there is a ‘church within the church’ where there can be enough ‘being known’, enough intimacy, that we can be personally challenged.

It is a common misconception that we aren’t supposed to judge others...that’s not the whole truth. God calls us to judge the insiders, not to judge the outsiders. And, if we want a great example of how to do it, Paul is providing it hear. Paul is saying, “Follow me, do as I do...and if you don’t want to move in that direction, we love you, and we’ll be ready for you when you come back and decide to move in that way.”

Strong stuff!

We are focusing only on a few verses this morning, because there is a very important idea being communicated. The background on this situation is movie-worthy...there is a small group of Christians gathering together and meeting, and like all churches they have sin festering inside of the church. I say ‘like all churches’ because all of our churches are full of people and people sin. And what’s happening here is that there is a young guy who is sleeping with what seems to be his father’s wife, which is likely his step-mother or his father’s ex-wife (not his birth mother though). And, again, sin is sin and we all commit sins, and all sins are bad...but the issue here is the optics. Everyone can see this sin, everyone knows about it - heck, Paul even knows about it and Paul is miles away without Internet or Facebook to hear about it. The problem is that this is the very thing that makes it difficult for Christians to be attractive and inviting to outsiders...outsiders look at what’s going on and what Christians proclaim to be all about and immediately see the hypocrisy.

Now, we all know that both Christians and non-Christians commit sins of all kinds, and we all know that Christians don’t claim to be sinless, but some sins (like this one) are an obstruction to the mission of the church, which is to bring people into the faith. Further, different sins (while ALL offensive to God) require different remedies.

Paul is suggesting that the church send this guy out and let him do his thing, to love him from a distance instead of IN the group, so as to not hinder others from coming to Christ. Paul ISN’T saying throw him out and forget him. Paul isn’t saying that this guy is any less a person and any less deserving of forgiveness and grace...Paul is saying that UNTIL THIS GUY COMES BACK OF HIS OWN FREE WILL, we should let him walk in the direction that he is already heading. That’s the judgement Paul has placed on him. And here is where the church and Christians get into trouble...we tell the world that affairs are wrong, and people on the outside see us ‘judging them’ in that sense, and if we don’t do the same with our own folks INSIDE of the church, we will be nothing by hypocrites. Again though, there is a difference between asking this guy not to come back to their gathering until he repents of his sin and shunning him, dropping him from your life, and withholding forgiveness. And, we don’t know anything more than what’s in these couple of verses, but we have to assume this has been going on for a bit and that initial discussions about this, and attempts to stop this, have been unsuccessful. So, we are down the road with this thing.

The point of today is that judgement INSIDE the church is important - we should have enough love for each other and enough mutual respect to hold each other accountable to the standards to which we are all committing. It isn’t that we should hold each other perfectly accountable, it is that we should hold each other accountable to moving in a direction of growth. And as soon as someone knowingly moves in the other direction, they should be approached, and it should be addressed...at least that is what Paul seems to think.

In today’s reading, which is pretty strong and pointed from Paul, here is the verse that really jumped out at me:

10 “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.”

When we peal back the onion on this verse a little, there is an idea that speaks to me. When he says fools, “we are fools for Christ’s sake”, looking at various translations and the interlinear literal translation, I am left thinking what Paul is communicating is that the ‘we’, meaning ‘he and his teaching cohort’, live a life of “Yes God, now what would you have me do?” vs. the Corinthians to which he is speaking who live a life of “What do you want God, so I can consider it?”. Paul is a fool for Christ in that he is fully bought it, he’s given Christ a blank check over his life, and he’ll follow where Christ leads, he’ll jump when He says jump. When he says that these Corinthians are wise in Christ, I believe he is saying that they KNOW their stuff, they KNOW about the resurrection and about Jesus and about God, but they aren’t bought in...they haven’t given Christ their checkbook. Or, we could use a car analogy - Paul is in the passenger seat of his own car with Christ in drive of his life...the Corinthians have Christ in the passagner seat. Subtle difference in orientation, big difference in outcomes. This is a GREAT idea to pray about, and a great idea to consider for ourselves...who is in front of the wheel in my life? Is Christ in the driver’s seat in some areas, but not all? Great, great thought!

And then Paul goes on to say that he is weak and they are strong, that he is disrespected and shamed and they are honored. What is implied here is that Paul is saying that he is being disrespected and shamed by culture, and that these folks are held in high esteem by culture...not by God. In other words, they are worried about what culture thinks about them, not what God thinks. This is another fantastic idea to ponder...and we talked about this yesterday when we asked this question: “For whose benefit, to further whose mission, am I making this decision, God’s or my own?”. Another way to ask this question would be, “Whose honor am I seeking...God’s or my own?”. All great questions. All challenging questions.

The Lord’s Prayer, which is something I have been working on recently with my daughter, actually has this idea built into it: “.Our Father in Heaven, let the glory be to you. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”, in other words, “God, you are God, I am not...you are in control, you made the world, and you deserve all of the glory...you have given me everything I have and you can take it away in a moment. I know you have a plan for my life, and just pray that I would have wisdom to get a glimpse of it and the courage to come alongside of your mission and your vision while I am here on earth...I know that’s my best shot at real joy in life.” That is the same as saying, “Jesus take the wheel”, or “Jesus, yes...now what would you have me do.” Paul is giving us a great example of being an imitator of Christ, and asking that we follow him in that.

In the first couple of verses, there are some things apparently going on in the original Greek that unlock some depth and meaning here. In the world of slavery, there were the slaves that did the lowest form of labor, which was essentially like grunt work. Then there were slaves that were basically in more of a management role, overseeing the work and directing the work so as to make sure things went smoothly for the master. In these lines, Paul is using that ‘master slave’ kind of word, to indicate to these readers that they were entrusted by God and empowered by God, but that they were also accountable to God at the same time. And, at the same time, Paul is addressing a very common tendency that these readers and this culture had, to be overly concerned about their worldly appearance. In another word, their ‘reputation’. This is as true of us today as it was of them then, that we care far too much about that as a culture. And lastly Paul tells the readers that He hasn’t spent any time considering himself, judging himself in that way, or caring about what the culture says of him.

For me, in reading this, the thing that I am going to think about throughout the day is this idea of reputation...of really letting go of what others think about me. For me, this isn’t an area where I have a tremendous struggle, but I would be foolish to think that I am immune to the influence of others’ opinions. I can learn from Paul here, and I can be inspired by his message to trust God for my identity, and to look at God to get my cues as to how I am doing.

Paul is a great example of someone living on-mission, and staying on-mission. He calls us to the mat on this - to be stewards of the blessings and the message that we’ve been given. It begs this question of us as we are making decisions in our daily lives, “For whose benefit, to further whose mission, am I making this decision, God’s or my own?”

Great reading this morning, and strong words from a great example to follow.

God is going to do what God is going to do, with or without you. God will reward us for our participation in His vision for our future...some how, some way. In the end, I think that’s really the gist of what I read this morning. Paul wonders through a bit of a restatement of the topics from chapters 1 and 2 here in chapter 3, and I have read it 4-5 times and haven’t really come away with anything to which I feel all that compelled to dive into like I normally do. These two truths are definitely embedded in this text though, and we see these same ideas scattered across scripture in various places and in various ways.

We don’t know what hangs in the balance when we take a step forward in our faith, when we take God up on His invitation for us to join Him in our journey. That’s an amazing reality for us.

This morning, I am going to stop early and I am going to pray a little more, a little longer, and I am going to give God the extra time that I haven’t used in writing and journaling. Perhaps that’s what He wanted from me today. See you tomorrow.

This is a somewhat short chapter with 2 distinct themes. The first theme belongs to the first 5 verses and it continues from the last chapter in addressing eloquence of speech, and how Paul felt very strongly that we should hold to the main ideas more often than not when preaching...the fact that Christ was crucified. Now, I am not suggesting that this is the only topic that should be covered on Sundays and in small group teaching sessions...and I don’t think that’s Paul point either. I think Paul is communicating that we need to fight to keep the main thing the main thing. Last reading we talked about divisions in the church, and denominations, and those arise largely on the ares of discussion that AREN’T the main thing. It isn’t he resurrection that divides the Baptists and the Presbyterians or even the Protestants, Catholics, and Assyrians...these differ in the small things. But we’ve allowed the small things to define us. I think that’s Paul’s point - we are missing the point. On this, I think Paul has a great point. As I said yesterday, I have yet to come across a non-Christian believer who has told me that the reason they are NOT a Christian is because they have thoroughly investigated the claims of the resurrection and has decided that they aren’t true. It is always something else...and that is exactly what Paul was wanting the church to avoid.

And then he gets into the topic of the spirit, which spills into tomorrow’s reading as well...but this is a heavy topic. I will let tomorrow’s potentially get into the more ‘thorny’ spiritual stuff, but today I want to point out a simple takeaway idea from what Paul is saying, something I have heard said many times during my reading and studying. That is this: “If you’ll do as God says, you’ll see as God sees”. It is a simple idea that I think kind of gets at some of what Paul is communicating here - that God has placed a spirit inside of us, His spirit, at the point that we accept Christ, and that spirit guides us in our lives from that point on. We can be in-tune with it, or we can miss it, but it is there. These folks, in Paul’s mind, received that spirit, but they haven’t leaned into it and led their lives in a manner that positioned them to be led by it. That’s what Paul is getting at with them. That’s what he is getting at with us.

So that’s the question for me to day. Am I praying like this: “God, please give me your wisdom and show me what to do”, at which point I am subtly and subconsciously thinking “...so I can decide if that sounds good to me and then I will do it if it does”; or am I praying “God, yes, I will do your will...no what do are you calling me to do?”. That second prayer is WAY more vulnerable and WAY more in-keeping with Paul’s view here that we are spiritual beings to be led by God. And I will tell you, it is both freeing and scary to pray that second prayer. Sometimes, I will just pray this, “God, I want to want what you want for me life...I really do...please help me to get there”. That’s an honest prayer, way more honest than the first one...and it is me telling God that I am messed up and I know it. But I have seen God answer that prayer in my life...He has shown up to help my heart to change. That’s my prayer today!

Verse 18 is really interesting to me - Paul says that the Words of the cross are folly to those who are perishing, who are dying...and I think it is meaning those who are falling away from God and living in the world; destined for eternal death. But these same words have power for those who have turned to God. And, you know, that is so true in my experience. When I opened my heart to God, I started to hear things communicated in His word, I started to be able to see things I didn’t see before. When we turn to God, we are able to hear from Him for the first time. This is a great little nugget of truth to get this section of reading going.

And the remainder of this chapter is brilliant...just brilliant. Paul is arguing about how Jews want signs and Gentiles want wisdom and that these groups think these are the ‘proof’ they need to believe in God. In reality, God has given both and both groups have obviously missed them. And, further, God did something in the world that runs counter to their ideas, that runs counter to our worldly wisdom, that makes it so obvious that God is Who He says He is, that it can’t be missed. I mean, wisdom says dead people stay dead. If you want a sign, what more do you want than a man was obviously dead and then was seen walking around amongst friends, after proclaiming it would happen ahead of time. What other signs to you want other than the hundreds of prophecies that were given in the Jewish Old Testament that were fulfilled in Jesus? The Jews couldn’t accept this as their sign because, get this, their traditions say that dead people can’t rise from the grave. And the world says Jesus can’t exist because dead people can’t rise from the grave...science has shown that to us. But, if God created science, is He really going to be bound by it? Wouldn’t it make sense that His proof would be something OUTSIDE of science rather than inside of the bounds of science? What other sign would you want other than something so obviously ‘of God’ than that?

I think Paul is trying to shake these Christians awake and say, “Guys, this isn’t that complicated...Jesus was dead and now He isn’t, and we are therefore, as believers, charged to live the life He taught because He is obviously God.” And, of course, he is communicating one other idea, “...and guys, this life that you are living ain’t it.”.

Such great stuff from Paul in this chapter. Just so well written.

When you read this text, it is obvious that there are divisions popping up in the church, and that various leaders are being followed and it seems like they are almost being idolized. We know the point isn’t that these leaders are set up on a pedestal, but that God would be honored and glorified and worshipped, so we know there is an imbalance.

Thinking about denominations - let’s first identify the positives. Christians, and all people, like to belong to groups. We like being a part of something bigger than ourselves. We like connection to others. We like when our beliefs are aligned. And, we know that there are areas of our worship where we don’t have definitive answers as to ‘how’ to do things based on scripture alone. A classic example is baptism. If we just look at this one element of Christian religious practice, we can find a myriad of methods and practices that have been adopted by different groups. And that’s just ONE element. If you Google “Christian Denominations” and go to images, you will see some great charts and graphs that show how things have progressed over time. And, the thing is, that looks (to me) kind of negative, because it looks like there is so much division. But, in another sense, it means that wherever you land in your faith journey, and whatever I believe and however I want to practice my faith, there is likely to be a group that I can be a part of and feel that sense of unity. Think of it this way...since it is March Madness season...people are fans of college basketball while holding to different ideas about how certain rules should be changed, whether college athletes should or shouldn’t get paid, and whether having various leagues and divisions are better than others...but we love college basketball, and those arguments we have about those nuances are because we want to make it better. Perhaps denominational Christianity is somewhat akin to that.

Obviously though, there is a negative side to all of this as well. I think the MOST negative result to all of that division is that it doesn’t look great to those outside the faith. It looks like division. It looks like chaos. It definitely looks confusing...heck, it is confusing for most of us as well. It doesn’t look ‘inviting’. We may be able to agree to disagree and still love each other inside of the Christian community, but that doesn’t change the fact that those outside of the community just see division.

The biggest theme that I can spot that really flows through this entire section of this letter is that we aren’t to serve our religious practices, our traditions, and our bodies. We are to live lives that direct our bodies to reflect our love for God and for those around us. There were so many ‘hollow’ practicing Christians who would go through the motions and try to check the boxes and get God on their side rather than trying to orient their lives around living on mission for God. And that hasn’t really changed today...in fact, I know I am guilty of that at various degrees and at various points in my life. It is a natural thing to be be self-centered and self-serving and to try to do just enough to get God on our side but to do what we want to do, when we want to do it, and with whom we want to do it. But Paul is really teaching us through this second half of Corinthians that life is about more than that...it is about actually transforming our minds to a life of service to God rather than service to self. It isn’t easy, but it is the point that Paul is driving towards.

Throughout the rest of this letter, he shows us how our faith can be expressed through physical action as it relates to the foods we eat, to how we do ministry both avocationally and vocationally, how we can live ‘in’ the world but not ‘of’ the world, and how we can live out our faiths in our marital relationships as well. There is a ton of stuff in here that we can use and apply in our lives and we’ll really dig into this stuff when we go back through this more methodically.

The last thing I will say is that we see Paul mention this idea yet again of follow me and do what I do instead of watch me and do what I say. I think this can be overlooked really easily, but it is so important. We should live our lives in a way that invites people to follow us. We should know that our lives are an example. Our faith is caught more than taught...meaning, people are going to decide what they think about the Christian faith based on how we act. Too many times people, me included, are Sunday Christians in that we tend to put on the Christian face for one day each week and then go about living our lives in a manner that doesn’t reflect our faith. If our faith isn’t constantly challenging our lifestyle, we aren’t growing. We should have a dull ache within us as we consider this thought, “If I REALLY believed what I say I believe, then I probably would do ____ or wouldn’t do ____”. Our faith should be informing and shaping our lives continuously. Paul is showing us various ways in which we can apply that idea throughout the rest of Corinthians with this morning’s reading.

Tomorrow, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and we’ll dig in deeper!

Here are some talking points and topics I pulled from the first 7 chapters of this read-through.

Paul really starts off taking a jab at the way church was being done, and it sounds a LOT like denomination type stuff that is a part of our church ethos even now. He talks about how some followed one teacher and some another...you know, I really think this is something worth looking into and it may be that I spend some time on this. Are denominations antithetical to the faith Jesus gave us? Really interesting stuff.

Then he talked about living spiritually vs. living in the flesh and this is a study that could last a lifetime...or, that really SHOULD last a lifetime. He then expands on that by discussing talking vs. doing, about being an example and living by leading vs. being a hypocrite. Strong, strong stuff.

When we get to chapter 5 - he says that he has already pronounced judgement on this group of believers, about an almost incestual relationship, and he shows us when and who we are to judge as a church. This is a really important chapter for the church.

He talks about how all things are ‘lawful’, not all things are ‘helpful’. And this goes straight to the heart of the book that I just read, “Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets”, but Andy Stanley. Paul is teaching that we should, essentially, use wisdom and God’s will as our guide, not the legal and moral boundaries. If we are talking about those boundaries, we are already in trouble and headed the wrong direction.

And I love that Paul goes on to teach that we are only to live the life God has given us...our own journey, our own life, our own unique calling. I am not accountable for the life you life, nor am I judged in comparison to you, nor you me...we each have a unique calling. And Paul doesn’t say this, but my life certainly has taught me that I may never know the impact that MY faith has on you, and yours on mine, but our faith is our story and our greatest contribution to this world. When we follow God, we do the most impactful living possible. That’s a great message.

Tomorrow we will pick up in chapter 8 for our read through of 1 Corinthians.

As we ease into this, it is important to remember that Paul was raised in a devout Jewish home, he was a Pharisee by training, and he was both Greek and a Roman citizen. So, he was very well equipped to understand the culture of Rome and or Corinth. In terms of 1 Corinthians, this letter was written about 18 years after Jesus’ resurrection and Acts 18 lays out some background on when Paul came to Corinth and Priscilla and Aquila. It seems like this is the place where Paul’s ministry really pivoted from the Jews to the Gentiles there in Corinth. There were thought to be around 100 people in this church there in Corinth. Paul stayed in Corinth for about a year and a half and it was about 2 years later, after leaving Corinth, while Paul was in Ephesus, that this letter was actually written.

Corinth was one of the most important cities in the ancient world. In 146 BC, the Romans decimated the city and it laid bare for about a hundred years until Julius Caesar issued a decree to rebuild it in about 46 BC. Roman soldiers were given land there, Greeks flocked there to rebuild it, and immigrants from all over landed there because of its central location between major shipping lines and Rome in general, and Egypt and North Africa. The population was about 100,000 people, 5 times bigger than Athens, and Corinth was about 100 years old when Paul showed up.

Interesting tidbit; when people wanted to sail around the peninsula just south of Corinth, The currents and the winds were so bad that what they would often do he’s come in and dark on the South side of Corinth, unload all of their cargo from the ship, have some of the crew carry or push the cargo across the 4 mile bridge that was the width of Corinth, and they would sell the ship around the peninsula empty to avoid shipwrecks, or at least to protect the cargo if there is one. Sometimes they might even try to pull the boat itself across the land to avoid the journey around the Southern tip. This was a busy place, metropolitan, a place where slaves could earn their freedom and become wealthy, a melting pot of cultures, and there was even an athletic event called the Isthmian Games. These were like the Olympics, second only to the Olympics and popularity, and they took place right there in Corinth. And Corinth didn’t have shelter for all the people who would flock to these - they would utilize tent makers. That puts Paul and his hosts, Pricilla and Aquila, in the midst of all of that. In fact, Paul apparently witnessed at least one of these games while he was there in Corinth, and it is thought that this influenced some of Paul’s writing; think about 1 Cor 9:24. That sounds like it draws from that setting, athletic games, doesn’t it?

So, it is easy to see that Corinth really resembles America in a lot of ways. And it places this letter, and the second, into a context that really applies to us. I am looking forward to diving into this tomorrow!

To start off on the background of Corinthians - there is no good reason to think that Paul isn’t the author of these letters. Originally we think there were 4, but we only have 2 of them. Corinth was an economic hub of this time period, in the early to mid 50s AD. It sat in the center of a major sea-bound thorough-fair, which made it a center of various cultures and peoples; it was very diverse. Corinth was also a center of entertainment - at this time, one of the things that was popular was ticketed events to see orators who would teach, entertain, and philosophize. When Paul got to Corinth, he befriended Priscilla and Aquila who were tentmakers by trade and who took Paul in as he launched his ministry. Later Paul bumps into Apollo, who was a skilled Christian apologist as well, and finds out that Apollos had been in Corinth around the same time as Paul. So, there was definitely some action in Corinth at this time in terms of the spreading of the Christian faith.

In terms of the purpose of this letter, Paul had planted a church there and he was writing to them. By ‘church’, I am meaning that he has gone and taught and a group of believers had formed and started meeting regularly to discuss the teaching and to examine their lives against the faith they were professing. It is probably much more like what we would call a small group or something like a kind of Sunday school than a ‘church’. At any rate, it sounds like things weren’t going all that well and that Paul had received communication about this, and about confusion from a previous letter he had sent to them, and that prompted Paul to write to them again in a more thorough manner - in this letter, he was giving instruction on how to apply their faith and to live a God-centered life. The church in Corinth was plagued with an arrogance and an underlying tone of abuse as it relates to that free will that is given to Christians by way of God’s Grace. I use the word abuse because the people were essentially using the gift of Grace as an excuse to live the way they wanted rather than a motivation for living the way God would have them live. In this way, and in so much of these letters to this church, I see parallels with how many of us treat God’s Grace. That makes these letters very relatable and applicable to us.

The way the letter is set up, Paul leads us through this letter that is divided into 5 sections, addressing 5 themes - divisions, sex, food, the gathering, and the resurrection. And with each one of them Paul does the same thing, describing an element of the Gospel and then leading us through how to apply that truth in our lives.

Tomorrow morning, I am going to continue working through background before doing the read-through of Corinthians, and I will work through a study on 1 Corinthians from Lakewood church that Joel Osteen’s brother, Paul Osteen, does...it looks really interesting and I stumbled upon it this morning when doing some research for this - should be interesting. The link to that is in the show notes below if you are inclined to watch it.

https://youtu.be/iDzKPAofh8c

We’ve gotten through Andy’s framework for making decisions now, and the book, and here are the 5 questions he presents:

Am I being honest with myself, really?
What story do I want to tell?
Is there a tension that deserves my attention?
What is the wise thing to do?
What does love require of me?

Something that I think makes sense to ask ourselves before we venture into this questions would be this: “What decision am I trying to make, and am I open to the truth about this decision?”.

I think we sometimes knowingly make wrong decisions and we don’t want to know the truth about them. But, I think it is sometimes easier to ask this questions, “Am I open to the truth?” before we even get into discovering the truth that question number 1 will draw out. But, either way, these are our questions. This is a heck of a framework. I have used TextExpander to create a template with this 5 questions and, from now on, anywhere I type “@5Q” on a page these 5 questions will appear. I will commit to using them in my life as a part of my daily decision making. I can’t see how this wouldn’t be helpful and illuminating over time.

As always, Andy’s book was really good, well written, succinct, and powerful.

Tomorrow, I am going to start reading between background on 1 Corinthians. I am going to start down the path of deep-diving into these letters from Paul to the church of Corinth.

See you then, and hope you enjoyed this book as much as I did.

What does love require of me? This is the relationship question. This is a question that really tugs at your heart if you ask it honestly. And here’s why...it is a much more subjective question. If you REALLY want to make this question difficult, then you must tie in another element, which goes like this: “Knowing what I know about Jesus and the love He gave to me, what does love require of me?”. Ouch. And, look at this, there is ample suggestion of what love actually is if we open up scripture to what is often referred to as the wedding or love chapter:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends.

So, we know these:

Love is patient and kind
Love does not envy
Love is not arrogant or rude
Love doesn’t insist on its own way (ouch)
Love isn’t irritable or resentful
Love doesn’t rejoin in wrongdoing, but in truth
Love bears all things - the good and the bad, it believes through those things, it hopes in those things; it endures
Love never ends

Now, that’s a list. But, back to our question, what does that list, if that’s the example we are following, what does THAT require of me?

Talk about a heck of a standard...that’s hard. Imagine if everyone asked that question when plotting their choices in life. Wow. That would be unbelievable.

The maturity question - “What is the WISE thing to do?”. Notice the subtle brilliance in this question - it isn’t “What can I get away with?”, or “What is legal?”, or “What is permissible?”. In fact, Andy expands on it and makes this into such a powerful question as written:

“In light of my past experiences, in light of my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing to do?

Or, given what I know about me, what I have experienced and learned in life - given what I want for myself and for my future and for the future of my family - what is the best choice, the wise choice? Great, great question.

Immediately coming to mind while was reading this was a passage from the New Testament, from 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Notice the apostle Paul’s comments in 1 Corinthians 10:23: “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. I can almost see this same line of thinking, this same question, buried in his comments.

Poor decisions are like dog poop in the yard - if you aren’t careful you’ll not only step in it, but you may actually bring it into the house. It just goes with you.

This question forces us to face the very things we are trying to ignore in my decision making process. This question is personal...we could just as easily restate the question with the emphasis on the YOU vs. elsewhere and create an emphasis on that element - what is the wise thing for YOU, for ME, to do.

The point of this question is this - if we avoid doing what is unwise, we will certainly avoid doing what’s wrong. If we avoid doing what is unwise, we will avoid regret.

Wow, what a strong question.

Is there a tension that deserves your attention? That’s the question for this chapter; the conscience question. Of the questions, I think this, or the next one maybe, is perhaps the question that requires the most courage. I think that’s the case because this one often isn’t quite so obvious...and this one requires some thought many times. In order to ask this question, we have to be willing to pause and to consider opinions counters to our own. That’s another way of saying that it requires humility.

Here is what happens, at least for me - get into decision-making mode and it is like a brief high. I get excited to get a decision done and to move on. And, once I start in that direction, I want it done, and I typically go into a mode of confirmation bias; that is, I have already kind of made the decision in my mind and now I am looking for ways to confirm that I am right. I am no longer a detective, but I am member of the defense counsel. I become a defense attorney for my idea. And, it is true with alcohol as well as with anything else...intoxication desensitizes our instincts. Not only alcohol - all kinds...we are intoxicated with the idea of being right, with being done with the decision as a whole, with moving forward or moving on. And this lust or intoxication for progress removes that edge in us; that edge that can hear that subtle, “ah-ha...maybe you should consider this thing”. And while our emotions shouldn’t drive the proverbial train, and we shouldn’t be steered solely on the basis of our emotions, our emotions SHOULD be heard. This is the step in the process where we are intentionally tapping into them...into that internal voice that’s trying to tell us something. It is amazing how our minds can relate ideas that are sometimes seemingly unconnected, and it can provide this internal warning. This is about pausing to at least consider that internal nudge.

And here is another thing I have noticed in my own life - that ignoring our internal nudges long enough also desensitizes us to them. If we ignore that emotional tug, the next time it doesn’t tug as hard. And the next time, even less. And eventually we don’t feel it at all. And that’s how good people start doing bad things without really connecting their actions to their beliefs...they have become desensitized because they ignored their intuition too long. That’s a bad place to be...and it definitely sets us up to make poor choices over time. And, this is another reason intentional and productive relationships are so important...they can counter this erosion, and they can help to restore it and to keep it in check. The same intuition that sends us that nudge loves when a friend of ours confirms that they are seeing the same thing, and it just helps that intuition to be affirmed and to stay sharp.

Bottom line for today - let that “something”, that internal nudge that is in you bother you - listen and look; examine it. At least be sure you know WHY it is there before you move forward.

What story do you want to tell? What a great question - Andy calls it the Legacy question. We don’t think of our lives as stories, and we don’t think about how our private decisions don’t remain private...they become part of your story, and the story of those coming after you.

Some day, you want to be able to tell your story; ALL of it. You won’t want to skip any chapters. But it is so hard, in the moment, to keep this perspective. Just as we saw in the last chapter with Confirmation Bias tainting our ability to see reality, to see truth, here we have a hard time keeping the bigger perspective, keeping in mind that we are going to one day see our lives as a story that we are going to want to tell, and we struggle because of another psychological bias called focalism. Focalism is just the tendency to get hyper-focused on this one thing, this one moment. It is when all of our ability to imagine what could be and our ability to see the big picture gets essentially taken over by a focus on the here-and-now; in the moment. And the beauty of this question is that it is almost impossible not to see the bigger picture when we ask this question...what story do I want to tell?

One thing that is difficult with this concept is that, with most stories we watch on TV or read in books, we get to the end and we lose sight of what it was like, in the moment...we are tainted by hindsight. But the next time you are reading through a book or watching a show, see if you can think to yourself, right here and now, this is when the story is being written. See if you can get yourself to think about what’s been and what’s to come, in the context of the moment. It can be a habit that translates into our personal lives then as well...we just need to form the habit of asking this question, in the moment. And, the question is so good, it doesn’t need a ton of explanation...it just takes to into the right mode of thinking.

Andy tells the story of Jospeh, and I have heard him talk about this many times...it is a GREAT illustration of this idea. The story can be stopped at multiple points and you can see this idea both being leveraged (in Joseph’s life) and being ignored (in the lives of most of the other characters in the story).

The first question, the integrity question, as Andy calls it, is this:

Why do I do this, really? Why do I want this, really? Why did I do that, really?

You rarely have to sell yourself on a good idea. Further, you rarely have to justify a good idea to yourself. Justifying is just akin to ‘just-a-lying’. And it is even a little more sinister than that - most of us aren’t REALLY on a truth quest; we are on a confirmation quest. We want to be right more than we want to be true. Our best version of ourselves finds a way to seek and apply truth rather than preference. That’s a huge idea! Why do we do this? Psychologists say that we have a hard time with this, with telling ourselves lies, is because of confirmation bias. Think about abortion and gun control. You and I already have opinions on these, and every time we see something that CONFIRMS our opinion, we key in on it, and when we see something to the opposite of what we believe, we can creatively forget it or ignore it, without trying very hard! This plays into the topic of the last book I read as well - we talked about the Christian faith vs. atheism. The reality is, smart people have found a way to be on both sides of the discussion, and with good reason. The point we should take from the book is that we shouldn’t feel like we are idiots if we truth in God’s existence and in the story of Jesus - there is evidence for that. But, whichever way we decide, the truth is that we tend to identify and adopt evidence that supports our view, and we ignore the other. This is the issue between Democrats and Republicans - just as it a problem internally with ourselves.

The reality is that nothing changes until we are completely honest with ourselves.

Andy says that the 3 areas where people tend to have the biggest regrets are purchases, relationships, and habits. Andy calls this the 3 D’s - Dumb purchases, doomed relationships, destructive habits.

He makes a great point - if a sales person used on you, the same pitch YOU use on YOU, you would be appalled. Think about how you justify your purchasing decisions - “If you don’t like it, just donate it.” Or, “This is the same as the one you already have, except that it has this one extra thing...”. Or, “Come on, you’ve been working hard, you deserve this.” Ever said those to yourself? Sure you have...we all have. But if someone else said to me, that would almost be offensive. Let’s not give ourselves slack on this! And we do things like this, we justify things like this with relationships and habits as well.

Relationships and habits are so similar, but they are typically more on-going and behavioral than the purchases, which tend to be more impulsive decisions, for most people. Think about this - you can’t talk your way out of a problem that you behaved your way into. And, the thinking that led you into the problem isn’t likely to be the thinking that leads you out of it. We have to cut through the noise and get clarity in order to change - and change requires full and unbridled truth. Dishonesty fuels addictions of all kinds.

Great, great chapter - and a great question. Why am I doing this, REALLY?

This book has a simple premise; our decisions determine our story. Further, our decisions determine our legacy, and trajectory of the lives of those coming along behind us. And we know this - private decisions have a public outcomes; our personal decisions won’t forever be personal. The decisions we make really do matter. Even the seemingly trivial ones often compound and become part of the bigger story.

Andy didn’t say this, but in listening, I thought about this as well - we make TONS of decisions. Tons of them. And we get tired and fatigued...that is actually a thing in the executive coaching world - decision fatigue. So a framework like we are going to explore can help to automate decision-making in a way that forces us to filter the decision and not just plow through on autopilot when we are tired.

Andy also gave us one of my favorite quotes of his: most people don’t decide to ruin their lives intentionally, but most people don’t plan NOT to. Let me say that again, but it is so strong - most people don’t decide to ruin their lives intentionally, but most people don’t plan NOT to. These questions are part of a plan NOT to ruin our lives. And we all know this, that we may not be good at sales, but we are all good at selling ourselves.

So, when should you pause and use this framework? Whenever we start selling ourselves. Whenever we start selling ourselves we should pause and work through these 5 questions. And why is that? Because rarely do we have to sell ourselves on a good idea!

Here are the 5 questions:

Am I being honest with myself, really?
What story do I want to tell?
Is there a tension that deserves my attention?
What is the wise thing to do?
What does love require of me?

These are so simple...yet they are so illuminating if you really think about them. I have already created a template for journaling and I am going to commit to using this framework, literally through writing, as I make decisions over the next 30 days, even on seemingly trivial decisions, just to be sure I turn this into a habit for myself personally.

I really enjoyed the reading of God’s Not Dead, and I think I am going to do one more book reading before I dive into the next few Bible readings. I have a book I have been wanting to go through called “Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets” by Andy Stanley. I will start that tomorrow and I assume that this will be a quick read, as his books are normally quick and really good.

Today though, finishing up this Proverbs reading, a couple things jump out at me.

First was verse 29: “Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.” What jumps out at me is how obvious this instruction is - that we aren’t to pay people back. The verse preceding tells us not to be a witness against our neighbor without a cause, but this verse steps it up...don’t repay evil with evil. We see this sprinkled throughout Jesus’ teachings as well, that we should leave vengeance to God, and that once we’ve claimed Grace for ourselves in accepting Jesus, then we’ve also disclaimed our right to hold others to a standard to which WE aren’t being held. It is interesting to see this in the Old Testament context. But think about it purely from a position of wisdom, taking Jesus out of it for a moment...when we are worried about revenge, what are we really doing? We are getting hyper-focused on (a) ourselves and (b) hurting someone else. There is no way to live in love if you we are (a) focused on ourselves and (b) trying to hurt someone. If we are acting in love and truly for THEIR benefit, then we can approach them and can seek correction, but that takes dealing with ourselves and our own issues first...and that’s an entirely different thing. This is wisdom because this is reality - that vengeance hurts us in the end.

The second thing that jumped out at me were verses 33 and 34, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” This got me thinking about something I have heard often in personal development circles, that you can tell the size of a person by the size of the problem that really compels him, or that really gains his attention. I think we can fall into a trap on both sides of this - that we can be so busy with things in life that we miss the important things, and similarly, we can be so laid back and so uninvolved and unproductive that we are constantly focused on trivial things. There is a balance that we want to find. I tend to be stuck in the former personally, which is no better than that latter...we would be wise to monitor ourselves in this way, and to make sure we are in balance in this area.

Jumping back into Proverbs as I set my sights on the next reading, we get back to where left off previously with chapter 24; there are two things that stuck out to me this morning.

First is verse 12, “If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?”. I think we are all masters of deception - especially to ourselves. And it is easy to claim we didn’t know something or we didn’t realize something while, in our hearts, that isn’t entirely true. The writer here is reminding us that we need to go deeper with ourselves...when we are tempted to wiggle out of something with this excuse, “I didn’t realize that _____”, we should pause and ask ourselves, “Really?”...or, “Did I REALLY not know that?”. We should realize that God doesn’t call us to be perfect, but He does value authenticity, or ‘realness’. If we can’t catch ourselves in these little traps and tendencies, we can go along unchecked for a long time, lying to ourselves and creating a narrative that seems right to us but that is not reality. That’s when we check-up, way down the road, and we starting wondering, “How did I get here?”...and it’s because we ignored this little truth, then that one, then another one...and so on. Little lies and little bits of self-deception, its like death by a thousand paper cuts.

And the other thing that jumped out to me this morning is in verses 17 and 18: 17 “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, 18 lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.” Now, obviously we aren’t talking about an enemy in the context of like a war...I mean, let’s not take this to an extreme. I feel like the author is talking about something more like this - that guy against whom you are always competing at work, who seems to always get the recognition and the rewards...or the person you know, of whom you’d have to admit you are jealous (remember our last verse, don’t lie to yourself!), and who always seems to have it all work out...or that person who’s life just generally seems to be so perfect and put-together...whoever THAT person is for you, that pulls out your jealousy, of whom you are envious in one way or another...that person who you view in competitive light in that way, who isn’t someone you’d call your enemy but who really kind of ends up being that in your mind...that’s who we are talking about. And, all of the sudden, he or she fails...she falls on her face and things are perfect anymore, and in your immediate reaction when you find out, you have a little moment of relief, or of celebration, a little ‘yesssss’ moment...I think that’s what the author is talking about. and if that’s in you (and we all have that in us to varying degrees), that is proof that I have work to do on myself; on my heart. We are called to love others, and love for another can’t exist in the heart that celebrates when someone fails...it just isn’t possible. We have to be on high alert when we see this in ourselves, and we have to be brave enough to call ourselves out, confess that, then change. I think the author is confronting the sin of jealousy here, and this is just a vicious sin that hides in our hearts and is easy to miss. I think this ties into verse 12 as well, because this is one of the easiest sins to which we can cling and be unaware, that we can fail to see in the mirror.

Great verses this morning!

Text is here: http://www.stevecanderson.com/journal-entries…

This is the last full chapter of thought, and Brooks makes a clear point - Christianity is growing here in America, and around the world, and it is really interesting; nominal Christianity (traditional and rigid religious practicing Christians) is actually shrinking, but evangelical Christianity (faith based on wisdom, truth, passion, and philosophy) is growing. Another way to say it would be, faith that is based on ‘the Bible says’ is shrinking, but faith based on research and thought is growing. This is a good thing; the growth side at least. The problem is that those with a faith based on ‘the Bible says’ is hollow and brittle, and these people are a victim of an institutionalized faith that hasn’t prepared her people well.

There are countless stories of people coming to faith in Jesus, and there are so many different paths people have taken to great there. But what we seem to miss are the volumes of people that come to faith through examination. That is, there are many people who actually come to faith through science, through philosophy, and through which the very lines of argument that many ‘the Bible says’ Christians leave.

The takeaway for me from today, and kind of pulling the contents of this book together as a whole, would be that faith based on research and science and investigation is strong and is it is achievable and even reasonable. It just requires some effort on our part.

Chapter 9 Summary: http://www.stevecanderson.com/journal-entries/gods-not-dead-rice-brooks-chapter-9

Today’s reading is really more about the Bible itself. It is looking at some of the textual criticisms that have come up over time, and some of the common critiques of the Bible that people use in justifying their antithetical position as it relates to its validity. The thing is, this is an easier chapter in my opinion, as any kind of a real study of the Bible’s origins and assembly leads to one reasonable outcome - this collection of writings is a miracle in-and-of-itself. There just aren’t great arguments that the Bible, as a whole, isn’t a very reasonable representation of historical and revelational events. People can and certainly will always argue about the spiritual element of the Bible, the fact that there is a God and there are supernatural themes and events, but no one has been able to bring a credible argument against the work as a whole. All of the issues that arise in such a critique are fleshed out with just a little textual criticism...in fact, most people who are skilled in textual criticism have accepted that the Bible as a whole is pretty well defended. Rice presents great arguments in this chapter about seeming contradictions one finds in scripture, about the assembly of the Bible, about timelines and history and all of that - it is really good. For me though, I have spent a lot of time resolving this particular issue in my personal studies. If you haven’t, this is a great, great read, and a chapter well worth the time.

My big take away from today’s reading is more reflective...I am moved this morning; moved by the Bible itself, and that I am able to sit here and admire it, hold it in my hands, read it and gaze back into time by opening this thing up. It truly is a miracle that is often overlooked. I mean, when we understand all that had to happen for this thing to be right here in my hands, it is amazing.

Great reading this morning.

This chapter is really on the validity of Jesus’ story from the Bible - did Jesus exist, did He do all the things that the Bible says He did? Was He a man, myth, or Messiah?

Ironically, this is the most easily confirmed historical truth from the Bible - that Jesus was a man who lived on this earth starting around 2020 years ago, that he was highly influential on the people with whom he associated and who later became proclaimed disciples of his, he was eventually hung on a cross and died the death of a hardened criminal by the Roman authorities under Pontius Pilate, and he was seen a few days later by numerous people...numbering in the hundreds. To all of that there is very little debate anymore. And the irony is that THESE truths are rarely the center of discussion when it comes to debating the existence of God and the validity of the Christian faith, and they are ultimately the only points that REALLY matter.

Anyone who takes the time to really look into the life and death of Jesus with truth in mind can’t help but come to the conclusion that the story of Jesus is real. It isn’t really up for debate at this point. We can debate the identity of Jesus I supposed, we just can’t debate the authenticity of the factual elements from scripture...history corroborates the places, the people, and the timelines. That leads to another thought - if history corroborates the places, the people, and the timelines, what does that mean of the people who wrote the Bible (the over 60 authors, 7 or 8 of them from the New Testament after Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection); were they all crazy? They are the ones who claim these events from history that we can’t deny, and they draw the conclusion from these events that Jesus’ is God’s Son, in a sense, God Himself...are they nuts? That hundreds of people claimed to have seen the risen Jesus and go along with their claims, when there would have been a VERY easy out on the grounds of not seeing Jesus, is amazingly strong evidence of the resurrection. What else explains the resurrection? That’s a question atheists really have to contend with and answer...and arguing that Jesus never died doesn’t fly; history refutes that too strongly and non-Christian scientists concede that point as well. But what then?

Today’s reading starts off by talking about the meaning of life...and this is really one of those readings that can make your head hurt if you really think about it hard enough! Then Brooks turns to evolution, which is where I am going to start, and then I will spend the majority of the time commenting on the meaning of life stuff...Brooks comes back there in his writing as well.

Here is the bottom line on the evolution thing - there are a lot of similarities between various species of animals, including man and ape, but there are still some very different elements and, from what Brooks is saying, and credible scientists will admit that there is a genetic leap to get from one species to the other. It LOOKS like evolution might explain the difference, but there are a few pieces of the puzzle that just haven’t been found and can’t be explained. He explores several of them, and this is one of those chapters that I would categorize as GREAT to read and to have ready - you won’t remember everything, but you will remember that you were thoroughly convinced that evolutionary science is a long way from being explanatory about human life. And I have to say, sometimes that is the key with this apologetics stuff...finding a place where you can find truth, and being able to simply return to it later when you have questions. It is like building a library for your faith. Great stuff.

Now, turning to the topic of “meaning”...he makes a good point, is there any coincidence that the great selling book of all time, apart from the Bible itself, is Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life”. Just think about this for a second...why is that? There is a cynical answer - that there are enough Christians in the world who have, as a population, purchased the book in large enough numbers to make that happen, and that is surely part of the explanation. But I know several people who are not practicing Christians, even atheists, who have read the book...it is an easily-approachable book, and it has a lot of great principles that are fairly easy to take and run with in life, and it makes for a great surface level exploration of the Christian faith. I am positive this book has impacted the world as a first step for people to test the waters on the Christian faith. But again, the question, “Why?”. It is clear, people live life in a quest for meaning. And, there is no way around the fact that my two COVID-kittens aren’t doing the same thing, neither are yours, and neither are any other animals. Love, beauty, emotion, religion, meaning, purpose - these are either all human fabrications or we have had these placed into us by a creator.

And, let’s just grant, for the sake of argument, that Darwin was right and that all animals were evolved from a single organism, a single cell. There is still a problem, in fact, a problem that Darwin himself cited and didn’t even claim an answer to - “Where did that first cell come from?”

Imagine getting a text from someone random...you’ve gotten one of those before. It looks like this: “aiojernasroineaoneandepomamd”. But imagine the text you got looked like this, “Hey, guess what, I won the lottery.” What’s the probability that you would get THAT text randomly? And I don’t mean someone sent it to you by accident, meaning to send it to someone else...I mean, you got that text because someone was sitting on their phone and it sent that...how random would THAT be? Well, that’s something like a billion times more likely than the probability our DNA formed just like it in order to make life happen. Think about that for a second. Said another way, from the book Evolution from Space by Hoyle and Wickramasingle, the probability that life could originate out of nowhere with all of the right combinations of chemistry and physics would be similar to a tornado blowing through a scrapyard and piecing together a Boeing 747, gassed up and ready to fly. That’s funny to think about! Mathematically, the probability is something like 1 to 10^40,000,000,000th. I don’t even understand that number.

Irreducible complexity - destroys the argument that evolution slowly and methodically pieced together life by proving that there are many organisms that can’t exist without multiple irreducible minimums in terms of complexity. Think about this...you go to Ikea and get a new piece of furniture, which you will know has to be brought home and assembled by you...a joy of Ikea shopping. What’s the likelihood that that you could ditch the directions and randomly piece things together and take them apart and try a new order for this process each time, and then end up at the final product? And you have to remember this...you can’t do this with a sense of knowing that this is a book shelf, of a chair, because this is random. You would have to do this with absolutely no sense of the end game. It might be easier to think of it this way...imagine you were given all of the parts of that Boing 757 and you were told to put it together, no instructions, no computer or Youtube for help...go. That just isn’t going to happen. And, in your assembly, when you recognize that your 100th decision used a piece that you later figured out needed to be used in your 2,000,000th decision, you’d have to take it all apart and start over again. I mean, come on...that’s the same argument that naturalism is making.

And recognize that there is a difference between evolution within species and evolution from nothing...I mean, people seem to be getting taller, and animals around the world are adapting to changes in the climate and the world...that’s totally fair, but that is different than saying no life evolved into some life and we are just the 100 trillionth iteration of that process.

Both the evidence from the telescope and evidence from the microscope point to the evidence of God.

The bottom line for today is this - there is no credible evidence that points to the fact that there is a common ancestor vs. a common designer; it is perfectly scientific and reasonable to be a believer in God and in the story of Jesus. You can rest in that conclusion firmly. And, if you want to feel more secure in your faith, you can do so be leaning into science; you don’t have to run away.

Quick pause in our reading of God’s Not Dead, just for today, diving back in tomorrow morning. Today I wanted to get into God’s Word directly, so I am picking up where we left off in Proverbs.

We see 3 distinct themes and sections in these few verses - a command to honor your mother and father, a reminder that the adulteress lies in wait and ready to pull us into a trap, and a sobering reminder of the trap of alcohol (pun intended). It feels a little like a punch in the face this morning!

I loved this verse, 23 says, “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” . What a great reminder as to the value of wisdom. Likewise, it places a value on honoring wisdom as well...leaning into it, applying it. Very strong.

And then the reminder that adultery is a trap...it is rampant in our society, or at least it seems so. The best part of these 3 verses is the 1st verse, “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.” It sounds to me like the father is saying that the son shouldn’t follow our societal advice, which is to ‘follow your heart’, which has to be about the worst advice ever...or, at least, the worst advice if you want good relationships. Multiple places in the Bible tell us that following our heart is a bad idea, and that our hearts lie to us. Our hearts can be great guides in aggregate, over time, and when measured against God’s truths. But our hearts as a compass...bad idea. I love that the writer starts with ‘give me your heart’, aka, let me be your guide, and then moves to wisdom about the issue, basically pressing this issue as a wisdom issue and something that isn’t a ‘feelings’ issue. Strong stuff again.

And lastly, the writer addresses the ‘drunkard’. I have written in here, a few weeks ago, that had fallen into a pattern of overconsumption and that I was committing to being free of it for a period of time. I did that, and I realized that God must have been leaning in on me, because I got the message. Moderation really is an important thing. Most things require moderation to remain good things...it is just one of those things about life that seems to re-prove itself time and time again. For some people, this is a ‘flee’ issue, for others, moderation. The most important thing is to know which of those two you are, and then being comfortable with that reality.

Some great truths today...strong stuff!

Blog Entry

Here is the reality confronted in this chapter - that evil exists. We all know it does, so that’s not a secret or a revelation. The struggle is to understand the tension between evil in this world and an all-knowing, all-loving, life-creating God. But there are a couple of bedrock ideas from this chapter that I think really stood out to me, and that I want to reiterate here in my journaling.

First is the reality that without God, and I mean a god of some kind here, then there is no good or evil...morality isn’t a social construct, it is a theological one. Or think of it this way, there is no ultimate good or evil unless it is termed that from a being outside of this life...because, otherwise, your good is yours, your evil is yours, and mine is mine. At best, if good and evil aren’t arranged from a being outside of this life, then good or evil is simply a product of ‘might makes right’. And think about this...if we all do what we want, when we want, with whom we want, we all ultimately destroy this world. Order and peace can’t exist without submission to a truth that we should serve the greater good...that we should love others. Without God, evil and good are opinions. Just look at nature...nature operates purely in this fashion, and it is held in balance by this very reality. You would have to admit, in your heart of hearts, that you have something in there that is different, that you have a vision for your future, a sense of ought and ought not, and a yearning to and longing for ‘more’ from life...the existence of that very sense (which is often what we term ‘the spirit’) is a fantastic argument for God, and by extension for moral order under God’s rule of what is good and evil.

Second, Brooks makes this argument that I think is really awesome, that what God did in the beginning was to create love. And God created love by giving us a choice...a choice to love or not to love. Because, think about this, you can’t be forced to love someone, or to be loving...you can DO loving things, but to love experientially, we have to have freedom to choose NOT to love. What is ‘not loving’? Well, not loving could simply be termed - evil. Evil is the antithesis of love. So one way to think about all of this is that God didn’t create evil so much as he named it. But the bottom line is that we all are benefited by love and we desire love...it is a human thing to want to experience love. And, I am not talking about just romantic love here, but love in general. Joy, happiness, satisfaction, and all of those good things can all generally be rolled up under the term ‘love’. Love is the thing that makes all positive emotions possible. And love can’t exist without the opposite, just as light can’t exist without darkness. So it is short-sighted and one-sided to say that God created evil...God created choice, which is the characteristic unique to human kind, and in doing so He created the opportunity for us to choose love or evil. The evil in the world around us is our own doing. And God is working a plan to redeem the world from this evil. That’s what history and Jesus and the Bible all teach us.

And that brings us back around to the idea that you and I can complain that God isn’t redeeming the world quickly enough or in the right way, but that’s like telling Leonardo de Vinci that he improperly painted the Mona Lisa. It just stands to reason that the God that created the universe would probably understand how best to redeem it...and your opinion, my opinion, about that topic likely isn’t highly useful.

What a great chapter this morning...my head hurts!

In chapter 2, Brooks really starts taking aim at the notion that science and faith are direct competitors in terms of explaining how life came to be. He says, and I would certainly agree with this, that atheists tend to really try to lay claim to ‘reason’ - meaning, there is a notion that is embedded in culture that ‘intelligent’ people tend to flock towards science, and that it is ‘cute’ to cling to faith, but that there really isn’t any explanatory power in faith in terms of how the world and the universe came into being.

Side note, there is a great documentary called “Is Genesis History” that I would recommend watching, it is really good, and it punches holes in this idea some as well.

The reality is that science hasn’t (and I believe can’t) answered all of the questions we have about creation and the universe. In fact, as time has gone on, big holes have been punched in the widely accepted evolution narrative. I would go so far as to say that it is deteriorating in many ways, whereas history is daily being made and discovered in the world of Christian faith.

But, besides that...one thing that I think is SO important, and that Brooks may get to in the coming chapters, is that we ground our faith on the right thing. We can chase these arguments down into various rabbit holes, and that’s fun and all...but we have to keep the main thing the main thing. What is THE main thing? We profess to believe that a man named Jesus came to this earth about 2000 years ago, that He lived a blameless life, that He was falsely executed as a criminal, that He was placed into a tomb and 3 days later was seen walking around in living form by hundreds of people. We believe that this proved that He was who He said He was...the Son of God. That’s what we believe. So, as fun as it is to play with this creation stuff, we have to remember that THAT is the main thing. And science has had an incredibly difficult time refuting that...it has had no luck. The best arguments science has produced against THAT narrative is like the turtle analogy from yesterday, basically, “Well, we know the turtle was alive (ie, we know Jesus came and went), and we can’t deny that he is now sitting atop the fence post (ie, and we have a hard time refuting that people saw him after His death), but we are going to assume that something other than the obvious happened (ie, we are going to try to come up with ways to refute whether or not Jesus was ever actually dead, or that someone was pretending to be Him and tricked everyone, or everyone who saw Jesus was hallucinating, etc.)...we can’t deny the turtle was on the fence post and we can’t deny that Jesus came back, but we CAN come up with various explanations that don’t involved someone putting the turtle on the fence post or Jesus actually being the Son of God. And heck, if you give people long enough (like 2000 years), they will come up with some creative solutions to this puzzle.

Bottom line - our faith isn’t blind faith...there are elements that can’t be seen, sure, but there are plenty of rational, historical, and scientific elements as well. And, besides that, is it really reasonable to assume that all reasonable people are atheists and that all religious people are fools? That’s a very egotistical position for an atheist to take.

Just because we don’t fully understand how something works doesn’t mean there isn’t a creator.

Science isn’t opposed to God.

Chapter 1 Summary:

http://www.stevecanderson.com/journal-entries/gods-not-dead-by-rice-brooks

I am doing something a little different for a couple of weeks. I love reading God’s word and studying God’s word in the morning, and while that it true, it is also true that I am in a season of life where I have 30-45 minutes for devotional time in the morning. At the same time, I love reading as well, and I would like to read some books about our great faith. So, for the next few weeks, I am going to be reading a chapter a morning in this book that was recommended to me, “God’s Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty”, but Rice Brooks. Apologetics is a favorite topic of mine, so this will be a fun journey. I will journal and comment along the way as I normally do, and I will try to pull takeaways from the reading, as always. I am sure there will be references to scriptures and all of that as well, so we’ll chase things down the rabbit hole and have a good time with it.

Here is the bed rock passage for this book:

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

We just studied this passage within the last few weeks. We know that Peter was addressing suffering to a group of Christians spread out across what is now Turkey, and that he was urging them to be prepared to account for their faith. Now, I want to be fair - there are people who are gifted apologists and who can stand toe-to-toe with amazingly skilled debaters and skeptics (Tim Keller and Andy Stanley come to mind), but we aren’t called to that. We are called to be reasonably accountable, at least that’s my belief...Peter doesn’t qualify his statement here in 1 Peter 3:15. But, based on everything I have ready, a reasonable level of accountability certainly seems fitting. In fact, we talked a couple of weeks ago, when reading this passage, about a method of discussing what we believe that I think does exactly that.

In this opening section of the book, the introduction and chapter 1, we see a few topical issues discussed and I think that most important one, to me, is this idea that one of the primary tools that atheists have is this ability to set up a false dichotomy between science and faith. Now, before I go into that more, let me be clear about what I am saying and what I am NOT saying about atheists here - MOST atheists are not actively assaulting the Christian faith and Christians, and they aren’t running around trying to oppress our beliefs. When we talk about pushing back against them, we need to remember that most non-believers are just like most believers...they just walk around with a set of beliefs that they haven’t really ever tested. So we shouldn’t villainize atheists in our minds...sometimes these apologetics books will feel a little like that, and that’s not the intent. The intent is to attack ideas, not people.

This is a longer chapter, so I definitely had to break this into two parts. Today one verse really jumped out at me:

12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.

I don’t know that what I am thinking is necessarily what the author was intending, but as I was reading this I loved the progression. The first part, where we are urged to let our hearts be applied to instruction, sounds to me like it is saying allow ourselves to be shaped and modeled, and be disciplined to take wisdom and put it to work in our lives. It sounds like a subtle nudge to action instead of a nudge to hearing. It is the second verse where we are urged to hear and to find wisdom. In other words, the author is breaking it into two pieces - hearing and doing; listening and applying. I love that. It is easy to read the words of Proverbs and be swept away by their gravity and the wisdom that often seems so obvious, but it is entirely another thing to APPLY those words in our lives. Application is the key though. We have to hear AND do. We can’t listen our way to wisdom. Ironically, or not, I have found that faith is grown in much the same way...we read and we study, but then we have to go our and actually love people, take a step forward in faith that God will give us strength in the moment, and we have to BE Christians to FEEL God’s Grace. In that way, growing our wisdom and growing our faith are very similar. And a part of me wonders if that is part of the plan that God designed. It’s funny how that works.

Just an interesting note, today we are starting the reading in Proverbs which we’re not written by Solomon. It’s interesting, but right out of the gate they pacing in the structure of these Proverbs are slightly different.

Here is the verse that jumped out at me today:

28 Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set.

Interestingly, it is basically repeated in the next chapter and verse 10:

10 Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless,

11 for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.

These are very simple and straightforward versus, essentially just warning us against stealing land from others. In these times, these landmarks would be how property lines were drawn many times. So, moving a landmark was stealing.

On a fairly unrelated note, it just got me thinking about “cutting corners“ in general; it has me asking the question, “Where in my faith am I not really holding myself accountable to the truth?”

Moving a boundary line/landmark a few feet it’s such a small crime that it’s almost not with mentioning. However, if you do that little bit of stealing often enough, eventually you’ve stolen a lot. At some point, it is a big deal. The same is true of cutting corners in our faith. If we don’t hold ourselves to the truth 100%, aren’t we effectively lying to ourselves 100%?

So, this morning, I’m gonna spend some time challenging myself with this idea and with this question.

It is always fun to open up Proverbs and start looking at all of these little zingers...that amazing one-liners. it is difficult to pick just two or three for some extra focus and attention as well. Nonetheless, here we go.

One of of them was easy because this is literally one of my top 2-3 verses in all of scripture. We looked at this a couple of weeks ago:

3 The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

What’s so great about this is that it is worded so succinctly...the wise person is a person who sees danger and flees from it, he isn’t the person who sees it and plays at the edge. He flees it. The simple, or the fool, is someone who doesn’t do that...he plays at the edges of it, or he runs right into it. And I love this...it doesn’t tell us that he dies...just that he suffers. The fool plows face first into danger and in some way will suffer for it. And that’s the trap with temptation; it often isn’t sudden and pronounced, the punishment...sometimes it creeps up on you until you realize that all of your choices are now bad choices. You wake up and you are surrounded with chaos...you are suffering for it. Great, great verse!

The next one that caught my attention was verse 10:

10 Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.

Another comment I have made is that the last few years have been the most stressful of my life. During that time, I have lost some of ‘me’...I have generally been less joyful, less playful, less optimistic and less of upbeat than I normally would be. I have just been less ‘me’. In that, I have become more cynical as well, and I have become more of a scoffer than I was before. This verse reminds me that I want to monitor myself as I am getting my stress resolved and while I am getting myself more ‘back to normal’...I am encouraged and motivated by this verse to NOT be the scoffer in others’ eyes...I don’t want anyone to think about me in this way, that driving me out of their company will resolve some of the tension in the group or the organization. I don’t want to be the scoffer and the source of the struggle. Just a great reminder about being self-aware.

Then, for my 3rd verse, I love this reminder about raising kids. There are two verses directed at this topic in today’s 16 verses, but this one was a great reminder to me:

15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

It is great to remind ourselves that our kids are one day going to face the world. And the world is tricky - as verse 3 says, a fool can move forward without immediate consequence but one day will reap what he sows. It is just the way of life. And, the world often doesn’t punish immediately and harshly...the world often punishes by way of compounding. It is often just the last straw that breaks the camels back in the real world, and when things fall apart you are left wondering how you got here. We have a duty to help our kids realize they have veered with much more immediacy. We have a duty to help them to develop a sense of where the edges are, where the struggles come into play, and how to deal with them. We can’t blow past this and hope for the best...this requires intentionality and hard work. Let us not run from this responsibility and from discipline that is fit for their age and stage of life. Great reminder here.

Looking at this chapter and looking back at what I wrote in the read through, which is the following and which I am going to simply reiterate today:

2 Peter‬ ‭3:8-10‬ ‭ESV

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (something I have noticed about myself is that patience over time is amazingly difficult...I mean, delayed gratification is a skill that takes time to develop, and one thing reading the Bible REALLY demonstrates, when we read the whole story, is that God has an amazing ability to wait and let things play out and then intervene at the right time...after we’ve thought that 2, 3, or even thousands of the right times have already passed. Perspective is one of the great gifts of reading God’s Word). The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you (I love that...not ‘slow’, but ‘patient’...allowing things to develop as He plans, over time, in His time), not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” (Being in the financial planning world, one thing I have noticed is how language can sometimes be completely off-base. Death is one of the common places I see this...people will say that “he died suddenly and unexpectedly”...you know, very seldom is death completely ‘expected’. Even people who’ve been waiting on death for some time end up ‘suddenly’ passing most of the time. Usually there is a goodbye that is missed, a final kiss or a farewell that is lost...death is a thief in that way, striking unexpectedly on all but very seldom occasions. I love the reminder here that God’s next demonstration, God’s coming again, will feel like that. We should live in expectation and in preparation. Frankly, I don’t know anyone who’s lived a faithful life who has regretted it...perhaps I don’t see enough people who’ve reached the end of life to have heard someone express that feeling...but I bet that’s a very uncommon position to take, to say that a faithful life was an unfulfilling life.)

The one thing that I would add goes back to yesterday’s reading, and it is this idea of being curious for truth as we open God’s Word. Today, we read in 2 Peter 3:1-2 that Peter wants to stir our minds up with reminders of predictions past. I was doing a little digging, it according to the website reasons.org, there are about 2500 prophecies or predictions in scripture about the future. What is amazing is that based on their research, 2000 of them have already come true. Now, we can argue about little predictions and I am guessing some of the coming true events are less convincing than others, but that is still 2000...I mean, 200 would be a lot...but 2000? Wow.

We can rest easy that though we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, God does...and God has things under control.

Tomorrow we’ll dive back into Proverbs again for a few days and then we’ll pick our next study.

For me, today, tone is one of the active one of the 2 words that come to mind. Peter’s tone is strong and firm and direct, and Peter is certainly coming in hard on false teachers and false teachings. History has really proven out that these false teachings will eventually get fleshed out - God is cited as doing so in several direct examples today. It is hard to miss Peter’s message on this today.

For me though, the second word that comes to mind is vulnerability. This really isn’t directly tied to Peter’s letter, but rather, it is something I am inferring from his letter. Peter doesn’t tell us that these false teachers are leading others astray because they have educated themselves relating to the gospel and are convinced that what Christians say happened, that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, was a lie...they didn’t take on false teaching with that motivation. They took on false teachings with a motivation to appease their passions and their wallets. These folks seem to have found a system whereby they could do what they wanted, when they wanted, and with whom they wanted, and they could even get rich in the process. However, they figured out that Jesus’ message wouldn’t support this way of living, so they went about trying to construct a system that would. They were likely adding a little here, taking away a little there, etc...and they were shaping Jesus’ message to fit their agenda rather than coming to God with their hands and minds open.

And, the reason I say that the word ‘vulnerability’ comes to mind is because we all do this. We all do it, at least just a little bit. We may be as subtle as to avoid just one little topic of idea from the Bible, like tithing or no sex before marriage (as examples), and with just that little bit of avoidance we can do what we want because we are otherwise living mostly righteous lives; or so we feel, when we look around and compare ourselves against others - which is a whole different issue. Or, we may read the Bible and go to church but avoid smaller group settings where we know our sins will be exposed, thereby shielding ourselves from judgement. Or, we may even completely walk away from our faith because we can’t reconcile our lifestyle with our faith and we just find it easier to walk away.

Whatever it is, we are all vulnerable to this - we are all vulnerable to looking at the world with an agenda in mind, to find what we are looking for. We are equally vulnerable to reading God’s Word with something in mind to get from it...looking to confirm a message rather than to find God’s Will.

Today is a great reminder to me to be curious, that curiosity is an essential part of our faith. Further, today reminds me that we must be open to God’s correction of us, and humble enough to receive it from those whom God has placed into our lives.

I thought this was a great verse this morning, verse 4...it starts off my acknowledging that God has granted us His own promises. Now, it doesn’t elaborate on this, so I just have to kind of think to myself, “What are God’s promises to us?”. Well, for one, His presence...He promises His presence. He also promises His saving Grace, as well has His return, which is a big part of Peter’s letters that we’ve been reading. For the most part, those are the real promises of God. So, turning to to rest of the verse, it goes on... “so that through them you may become gpartakers of the divine nature, hhaving escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire”. This is great - we are promised presence and Grace from God, and His eventual return, and through those promises we can partake in the divine nature. It appears what Peter is doing is contrasting what many Greeks had believed, which was that they could actually become gods, and what God ascribes to be true, that you can partake in some of God’s nature and blessing through your faith and trust in Him. But my favorite part is the last part, where it says “having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire”. The reason I love that is become it is a great reminder...the reason we have pain, the reason we struggle and we suffer, the reason for hunger and for death and for war and for famine and all of the other tragedies and indecencies of this world is the same thing...our sinful nature. That’s why good things happen to bad people - because of sinful nature. Peter isn’t getting into a deep apologetics discussion here, but this one subtle comment is really powerful.

At any rate, now we get to the part I keyed off of yesterday, verses 5-7. In these verses, Peter uses what is known as sorites, which is a literary style that is like a staircase...this leads to this leads to this leads to this, and so on. As we read these verses, we can see this clearly, and this would have been a familiar philosophical style of his audience as well.

2 Peter‬ ‭1:5-9‬ ‭ESV

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So, for me, here is what I am thinking as I read these verses. That I need to first supplement my faith (which is my understanding and my knowledge about God) with virtue - virtue in this context really means excellence in our terms. But what is excellence? Well, it is knowledge paired with self-control, which leads to steadfastness and then to godliness (so now I am living a life consistently moving forward in being more like God), and then I will show brotherly affection and then pure love. So, ultimately, when I am living a life that is based on love, I am living as I have been called. And then he goes on to say that if we are living out these qualities, this keeps us from being held back from knowing God more fully. Or, said from the opposite vantage point...to the extent that we aren’t living out these qualities in our life, we will struggle to understand God.

Ultimately, I think what Peter is getting at here is that we can study God and we can understand God on paper, but to KNOW God, to truly EXPERIENCE God, we have to live more like Christ. We can’t know God unless we try to walk in Jesus’ shoes. That’s strong.

2 things really jumped out at me while glazing over this letter in its entirety this morning.

First would be:

‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:5-10‬ ‭ESV

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.”

‬‬

Now, I am not going to spend much time on this today, because this is up for our reading and discussion tomorrow. But I love these progressions like this, these ‘do a and then b and then c’ type things...Paul does this a few times, and I love that Peter did it too. But, again, we’ll talk about this one tomorrow for sure!

And the second on that I loved this morning was this:

2 Peter‬ ‭3:8-10‬ ‭ESV

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (something I have noticed about myself is that patience over time is amazingly difficult...I mean, delayed gratification is a skill that takes time to develop, and one thing reading the Bible REALLY demonstrates, when we read the whole story, is that God has an amazing ability to wait and let things play out and then intervene at the right time...after we’ve thought that 2, 3, or even thousands of the right times have already passed. Perspective is one of the great gifts of reading God’s Word). The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you (I love that...not ‘slow’, but ‘patient’...allowing things to develop as He plans, over time, in His time), not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” (Being in the financial planning world, one thing I have noticed is how language can sometimes be completely off-base. Death is one of the common places I see this...people will say that “he died suddenly and unexpectedly”...you know, very seldom is death completely ‘expected’. Even people who’ve been waiting on death for some time end up ‘suddenly’ passing most of the time. Usually there is a goodbye that is missed, a final kiss or a farewell that is lost...death is a thief in that way, striking unexpectedly on all but very seldom occasions. I love the reminder here that God’s next demonstration, God’s coming again, will feel like that. We should live in expectation and in preparation. Frankly, I don’t know anyone who’s lived a faithful life who has regretted it...perhaps I don’t see enough people who’ve reached the end of life to have heard someone express that feeling...but I bet that’s a very uncommon position to take, to say that a faithful life was an unfulfilling life.)

Great lessons today...great perspective.

Evidence suggests that Peter was executed under the reign of Emporer Nero, and this likely served as kind of a ‘farewell’ speech from Peter. It was addressed to the same group of people as his first letter.

Peter directly addresses 3 different objections or challenges to the faith that were apparently being made there in these communities, which serves as a great point of discussion for us. First was this idea that the apostles made everything up...that Jesus was just a figment of their imagination and creation. Then Peter argues against the second objection, which is an argument that there actually won’t be this final reckoning where Jesus returns again, and that people won’t REALLY be accountable for their choices in the end. Side note - the motivation for this argument from these corrupt teachers is the same as the argument that people generally make when they follow this line of argument...they are trying to justify their behavior. We know from this and other sources that these teachers were making a bunch of money and were sleeping around in very inappropriate ways, so they were no doubt having a lot of world fun and hoping not to have it catch up with them; we do the same thing ourselves. Peter really goes after this idea using historical Biblical lessons as sources and examples. Peter doesn’t want us to use Grace as an excuse to live free of judgement...there is a difference between freedom from using Grace for the sake of living recklessly vs. using Grace to empower us to live for God...that’s really where Peter is driving with that. And lastly, Peter addresses the argument that this final judgement isn’t coming because it has been supposed to come for generation after generation and has never actually happened...they argue, “Why would it happen now?”. And Peter does something really interesting and really powerful as the counter to this argument...he offers perspective. Instead of asking “Why now?”, he essentially asks a question for rhetorical pondering of “Why is God taking so long?”, which is a question we can carry around with us and think about. And he reminds us that something dosn’t come from nothing, that creation is really pointing at a Cretor, and that we can’t just look blindly past that. We have to remember that our human conception of time is really distorted in that it blinds us to God’s conception of time.

As a note, some see the differences in style between 1 Peter and 2 Peter as reason to doubt Peter’s authorship. In reality, Peter has a secretary or someone who actually recorded his teaching for him, and it is much more likely that this was a different person rather than the author (Peter) being different. This would be a much simpler and much more likely explanation. Assuming this is true, this was likely written, as I said in the beginning, during the reign of Nero and likely in the mid-60s.

Tomorrow we will do the read-through...this will be a great one!

Today we come upon one of my favorite pairs of verses, 1 Peter 5:6-7:

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

I love this verse because it reminds me that I am to take my struggles, I am to take my pain, I am to take the hurt I feel, everything I am feeling that is pain-related and I am to send that God’s way...I am to push that up to Him and struggle with Him; He is the only one who can fully take it in stride and to whom is was designed to go anyways...and it reminds me that He loves me, He is there for me, He will comfort me when I do that...and that is what He desires. Frustrated with my work - take that to God. Frustrated with the relationship with my wife, or my with my kids...take that to God. Frustrated with my life in general, and my repeated struggles with sin and shame - take that to God. That is humility...taking it and laying at God’s feet and admitting, I would even add ‘out loud’, and leaving it for God to work on. And we do this because (a) God is really the only one who can ultimately do anything about it, and (b) because God cares for us and desires this from us. That is a part of having relationship with God. I love this invitation from Peter.

And then one of the greatest encouragements and reminders of God’s presence as Peter goes on in the next few verses, in 1 Peter 5:8-10:

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

It is the reminder that the devil is lurking and looking for a victim, and one little crack or one little stumble and he will insert himself into our lives. We can’t ever think we’ve won the battle...the struggle with temptation and with sin is a perpetual struggle in this life, and we have to accept the reality that it never ends. Otherwise, we get complacent. I am fairly certain that with the exception of people leaving the church because the church didn’t love them and appreciate them and made them feel judged, the number one reason people jettison their faith is just fatigue...it is that they are worn out trying to live rightly. It is easier to live how we want and to just live for momentary happiness...at least for a while. That’s one of the devil’s greatest tricks...living for ourselves rather than God is typically ‘in the moment’ just easier. But, this goes back to that hard-easy principle we’ve discussed several times...when we do what’s hard in the moment, life eventually starts getting easier. When we do what’s easy in the moment, life eventually starts getting harder. We are going to experience hard and easy, and we get to choose the order in which we experience them...it is an interesting thing to realize and to appreciate about life.

Great message to close our 1 Peter this morning. Tomorrow is the background on 2 Peter, then the read through, and then we’ll dive in as always.

Live under self-control, be loving to others - clear themes of today’s reading. Peter also encourages us to use our unique gifts to bless others, that we are stewards of the blessings we’ve received. I love that, in verse 10, “...as good stewards of God’s varied grace”, just a wonderful phrasing in the ESV. And then Peter gets to some of the suffering theme...specifically, suffering as a Christian. Now, one thing I say is that most of the people that would potentially read this probably don’t have to worry about this; here in American, I really don’t know that I have seen or really even heard of a lot of suffering for being a Christian. I am sure it happens, but thankfully we don’t see the real persecution that Peter and the folks of this time saw here in America. That said, there are still sufferings as Christians...just different ones. How about a lifestyle you had, and friends associated with that lifestyle, and all of the sudden you realize you need to go in a different direction with your life? They may not ‘persecute’ you, but you will no doubt struggle and suffer when making that change. That’s a tough deal. You thing about persecution is that it comes at you and you just have no choice but to take it on. With what I am talking about, one of the challenges is that you have to decide to turn and face it...and that’s difficult. You can become subject to a sort of social persecution that you didn’t want but that often is triggered with your choice to change.

Regardless, there is encouragement here...Peter reminds us that God is with us in that struggle. God is asking us to trust Him with our soul and spirit. That’s a strong encouragement this morning.

So I kind of ended my reading with two questions in mind for myself to consider:

Would my family say that I serve them? Would service and love be words they would use to describe me? How can I move the needle on that today?
Is there a change I need to make and that I will have to ask for God’s guidance and presence in for my life today?

Great questions to wrap up the reading this morning.

Yesterday we landed on this question of “Have you ever noticed___?”, and I asked you to think about it and fill in the blank. As a reminder, here were a few of mine:

Have you ever noticed that most people have a sense of right and wrong that is mostly congruent with what other peoples think?

Have you ever noticed that people tend to want to know that they are a part of something bigger, that their life in some way has purpose and has meaning?

Have you ever noticed that you do things that you know you ought not do, but you do them anyways, and you feel guilty about it at times, and that wears on you at times, but still, you struggle to live the life you know you ought to live in some ways - what is that? Have you ever noticed that?

And I said, I used to NOT be a Christian, and I noticed that I always felt like no matter how good science got, there were always questions science couldn’t answer, there were always obstacles for me to believing that something came out of nothing, and that everything I see around me was just truly random and coincidental...I don’t know, have you ever thought about that?

Whatever your thing is, and I actually think having 2-3 handy would be better, because you increase your chances of striking a chord in their mind when you cast a bigger net with 2-3 vs. just using 1....but once you do that, then you come back to the part 2, which is... “For me, my experience and my life finally brought me to a place where I could approach what Christians’ believe with curiousity, along with skepticism, but I was looking for answers rather than looking to make a point finally, and when I looked, it seemed like all of the questions I could come up with were either resolved or at least reasonably addressed as I came to understand Jesus. I am not saying Christians or the Bible have all of the answers...not at all, I probably have at least as many as I started with, but I what I am saying is that when I approached the Christian faith that way, I found way more than I had thought would be there. So I hung around, and I found more, and more, and I believed a little, then a lot, and then more.”

So, think about that, process that...come up with your part 1 and part 2. I have done this so many times since kind of bumping into this idea and I am telling you, it always ends well in that it isn’t challenging or confrontational, and it gets me off of the hook from trying to get into an apologetics arguement. Now, I have gotten to where I enjoy those conversations anyways, but most people don’t want to go down that rabbit hole, and for a long time I certainly didn’t, which is why I thought through this framework and really got it fleshed out for myself.

Hope it helps!

We ended yesterday at the start of a dicsussion about defending our faith, or really just being able to express WHY we believe what we believe. And I started to get into my opinion about how we should be prepared to answer the question, “Why are you a Christian?”, or “Why do you believe what you say you believe?”. We are going to unpack this in 2 parts...today is part 1.

So, let’s make sure we are good with “What do you believe?”. For me, I would answer that question with a simple response that I believe Jesus is the Son of God, that He is God’s human representation, we typically call Him God’s Son, and that He was sent to the earth to live as a man, like me, and who lived the sinless life that I can’t seem to pull off, who died the death of a sinner that I actually deserve to die acccording to God’s law, that my belief in Jesus’ death as a substitute for mine allows me to be saved from that death that I deserve, and as a result I am made right with God and can have relationship with God now and forever.

I realize that’s the world’s worst run-on sentence, but I am writing that in the way that I would say it and I don’t speak ‘periods’ and ‘commas’ unless I am dictating to Siri for a text message!

But that’s what I believe.

Have you ever noticed that most people have a sense of right and wrong that is mostly congruent with other people? Like, most people agree that killing other people is wrong, or that stealing isn’t good. And have you ever noticed that kids dont’ have to be taught how to be evil, they just figure it out, and they also learn to hide and to lie in their evil. Have you ever noticed that?

Have you ever noticed that people tend to want to know that they are a part of something bigger, that their life in some way has purpose and has meaning? Have you ever noticed that?

Have you ever noticed that you do things that you know you ought not do, but you do them anyways, and you feel guilty about it at times, and that wears on you at times, but still, you struggle to live the life you know you ought to live in some ways...have you ever noticed that?

I used to NOT be a Christian, and I noticed that I always felt like no matter how good science got, there were always questions science couldn’t answer, there were always obstacles for me to believing that something came out of nothing, and that everything I see around me was just truly random and coincidental...I don’t know, have you ever thought about that?

What is it for you? What is the thing, or what are the things that you wonder about when you think about life and living at 30,000 feet that truly makes you scratch your head? That’s what this first question is about...have you ever noticed THAT THING...

Think about that today, and let’s pick up there tomorrow this part 2.

First verse, look at what it says...nope, not going there today guys. That is written to my wife and I am not stepping on that landmine!

But looking at verse 7, notice what husbands are commanded to do...to understand our wives, to honor them. And look at the little ‘barb’ at the end of these couple of verses... “...so that your prayers may not be hindered”. Wow - think about that, God may not hear me as clearly as he otherwise would if I am not honoring and seeking to understand my wife.

How am I doing? That’s hard...I know I could do better. We are in the throws of parenting a 12 year old and a 3 year old, and I know I could lead them better in seeking to understand and honor their mother. Man, tough stuff this morning, I have to say.

And then the biggie, a pair of verses that are just rich with application...I mean rich:

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy,...in other words, be right with God yourself, and be faithful to His teaching

...always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; ...we talked about this yesterday, or in the read through, but this idea of defending our faith...are you able to defend your faith? Not are you a Christian apologist expert...but do you have your faith on a solid philosophical footing? If I were to ask you, “Why do you believe what you believe, why are you a Christian?”, what would you say? If your answer is ‘because the Bible says so’, or ‘because that’s the way I was raised’, you aren’t ready for the storms of life. I am not judging you if that is your best answer, I am just suggesting that you should have a better one...because people that come to steal your faith, people that want to convince you that they know a truth that you don’t know have been more intentional about that thought that you, and you are ‘at risk’ as a Christian. In fact, I think tomorrow will be dedicated to this very idea of defending our faith. But think about it.

Why are you a Christian?

yet do it with gentleness and respect, ...and I love this, once you have your answer, it should be something you reserve for the right moments, with the right person or people, and it should be something that is expressed in love and in a way that is inviting of others...or, said another way, not an ‘I gotcha’.

16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. ...then this little gem...having a good conscience, so that we can be confident in ourselves when things get hard. It always feels better when we are hit hard and we feel like we’ve given it our best. Isn’t that true? That’s not only what FEELS good, but that makes God proud as well...and that is how we build spiritual strength. We can keep dropping the ball and coming back to the forgiveness well, sure...God will always give us more. But at some point, we want to move forward and change and be more like Christ. This is a reminder that part of the reward for that is a confidence. A little here, a little there, and before long, we can do things we didn’t think we could because of a confidence, a spiritual confidence, that we’ve built over time, piece by piece. Love that.

Great reading today...tomorrow we will dive into defending our faith and take a quick pause from our study.

The big idea today is about loving each other. Look at the very first verse in this chapter: “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander”. Notice that these are sins that are committed against one another...we do these to each other. These aren’t private sins, but public ones. So, Peter is saying, “stop hurting each other”, there is enough struggle in this world apart from all of that! Then he goes on to reiterate the salvation story of Jesus, emphasizing the suffering Jesus endured as a motivation to these Christians who were being oppressed.

He tells us to put away the passions of the flesh, that we should own our bodies and have our bodies work in service to the Lord rather than being controlled by them.

My favorite verse though, is the second part of verse 8, “...They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

The reason I like this verse is that it reminds me that we are all human...we all fall, we are all tempted, we all fall into this trap of slandering each other and we do exactly what we are supposed to avoid back up in verse 1.

The encouragement though is that we can press on, and we can turn the page on a new day and we can be united with God at any moment...God is there waiting. We are God’s people, we are a tribe. We are united in our struggles and united in our victory in Jesus. Peter is giving them the community encouragement. It is refreshing to me.

And then he tackles the topic of authority, with a clear command that we should honor the authorities that we have in place in our lives. Now, you could take this too far and assume that he is saying we should just rollover and never challenge authority of any kind, and you could take it too far in the other direction and say that we should only accept authority from leaders in which we agree - both of those miss the point. What God ultimately wants from us is our trust. And, this authority idea plays into that. If we trust that God loves us and God is with us and that God has authority over this world, then submitting to our leaders and to each other is not such a huge deal. In fact, think about this...if I am not submitting to you as a leader, I essentially am shutting down your ability to influence change and to create community. It is through submission that community can be created.

And there are a lot of subtle ways that we can see this idea playing out...practical ways. For instance, I didn’t vote for Joe Biden for president. I differ in my opinions of how I think a government should be run and in how I think an economy should be stimulated and maintained. But I don’t have a problem with Joe Biden the person. I don’t have negative emotions about him being president. I don’t think of him as the enemy. I don’t agree with some of the things Congress is pursuing at this point either, for that matter...but I am part of a country, a community, and the worst thing I can do is to rebel everything he is doing and sow seeds of discord in my community. That’s not going to help anyone? And how can I feel confident that I am be peaceful in my political dealings and beliefs? Simple...because God shows us in God’s word that God is in control and has been in control for quite a while now, and I can guarantee you that you can find far worse.

I don’t think that this is necessarily the point Peter is making, but it is the idea that was brought to mind for me in reading 1 Peter 1 this morning. The chapter is broken into kind of a ‘here’s what we profess to believe’ and then a ‘here’s what we do about it’, separated by a transition word that we see so often in the New Testament scriptures, “therefore”. And here is my thought...I have seen a fair number of people who have turned from faith because they struggle with accountability. What happens is this...they live their life a certain way, then they realize it isn’t congruent with the life of a believer or a Jesus follower, then they go back and challenge the existence or the authenticity of Jesus rather than examining themselves and holding their own feet to the fire.

Peter is writing this chapter with a ‘since we believe this, then we should consider and do that’ point of view. And I think that is a big part of living life as a Jesus follower. It is similar to how a successful relationship, I am especially thinking about marriage, works - it works best with a mindset of ‘since I am all in and leaving isn’t an option, then here’s how we ought to move forward’ kind of a mindset.

So that brings me to the simple question that chapter one really got me thinking about today...am I am ‘all in Christian’? Have I thoroughly examined this Jesus thing to the point where I find it easier to trust in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus rather than to believe the opposite? I think there are far too many Christian’s who haven’t done this work in their lives, and they are standing on shifting sand in their faith...a little bit of a scientific breakthrough and they feel their faith is challenged. A strong position of faith is represented by the reaction “Oh, so that’s how God did that” when science brings us a discovery instead of a “oh wow, the Bible doesn’t mention that”. “The Bible says” isn’t an element of a good defense of our faith. Is that what you were taught when you were growing up? Is that ‘all you got’ when it comes to defending your faith?

Why do you believe what you believe?

This morning, I see Peter writing with power to this group BECAUSE of what they believe. Once we are on the same page, then the challenge he gives can be felt by us too. We can ‘since-then’ kind of a life. That’s how we live a life of powerful faith, drawing from our belief rather than pushing back against it. It’s like Peter said to Jesus when he and the disciples were on the front end of their ministry and Jesus scared away a bunch of on-lookers with the truth about what living in faith would look like, and it was really hard, and Peter said, in John chapter 6, “66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Let’s be all in with out faith, that we may accept challenge and that we can wrestle with ourselves and each other as to how we should live out our faith without constantly playing this game of having to prove our faith...we typically play that game because we are afraid to be accountable, and let’s not let that be us.

In reading through Peter, I definitely got a tone of urgency, like Peter really is eager to encourage this group of Gentiles. It is fairly consistent throughout the reading as well.

The first theme I got was this idea of strength in suffering, just as talked about during the pre-reading and background yesterday. It shows up right in the first chapter and then again towards the end. However, where it shows up in the last chapter, it is accompanied with this encouragement that we should cast our struggles and our pains on Jesus (as opposed to each other) because He cares for us and He can handle them. In fact, He is the only person who can both handle them and do something with them. I have always loved that part of chapter 5 in 1 Peter.

There is definitely an action-orientation as well - Peter is telling us what to do, not just what to think. He is connecting action with understanding. And, of course, that’s something that I love personally...Peter and Paul are much more my style of writers and teachers.

He also talks about love, and that love is what we do, love is how we are to be known, and that love isn’t something someone EARNS from us as much as we give to them. In this way, he encourages us not to lash out against others, but to let God deal with the sins of others and to simply let our job be to love those around us.

He says that the way we live life should honor God...which really ties into this idea of love...that the way we honor God is really to love one another.

And lastly, I picked up on this idea that, in Jesus, we can have a purpose in our suffering...that suffering isn’t pointless if we are serving God in our lives. It eludes to this idea that though God may not always ‘rescue’ us from pain, He will always USE that pain for a purpose that will benefit us and those around us. This is a really hopeful idea for us as Christians, and learning to embrace this truth is a big part of our faith and our walk with Jesus in our daily lives.

Great read-through this morning...I am looking forward to diving into chapter 1 tomorrow!

Who was Peter? He was one of Jesus’ first disciples, and he was certainly one of more commonly seen and entertaining of the group. You can’t really read the New Testament without getting a sense as to the kind of person Peter was - emotional, passionate, out-spoken. And when Peter finally ‘got it’, he became an amazing and impassioned ambassador for the Christian faith. His name WAS Simon originally, and was famously renamed by Jesus as Kephas (Kay-fas), in Aramaic, which means Rock, and was translated as Petros in Greek, or Peter.

When was this letter written? Given that Peter doesn’t mention the Neronian persecution that occurred in Rome in the mid 60s AD, it is most likely that this was written in the early 60s. So, we are talking about something written within about 30 years of Jesus’ death, by someone who was with Jesus, had eaten with, touched, experienced life with, and watched Jesus’ ministry and death take place.

What is the story behind this letter, 1 Peter? He clearly indicates that his letter is written to gentiles - and, specifically, to gentiles dispersed across Asia Minor which is modern day Turkey. There are several themes or ideas that jump out the way that this letter is arranged, first that suffering paradoxically produces hope and purifies the spirit, then he talked about a new family that is born out of believers uniting and how there is a newness to life in following Jesus. Then he moves on to discuss further the theme of suffering and how that ties into being a witness for Jesus and really spends a fair amount of the back half of the letter developing that theme. A major takeaway that is so powerful from this is a the idea that violent resistance isn’t the solution to oppression, it isn’t through violence that we are to make our point and make our voices heard...that is a great message for our day and time.

The Bible Project says that 1 Peter is a reminder that God’s people have always been at least a somewhat misunderstood minority, because we are living under a different King and in a different paradigm, and that persecution offers a chance to show others the generous love of Jesus.

Strength in suffering, seeing suffering as a tool for our development and our witness to others...these are what we’ll really be diving into in the days ahead. Tomorrow is the read-through, and I am looking forward to that.

I think I have decided to dig into 1 and 2 Peter starting tomorrow, and we’ll continue to use Proverbs as a buffer to break up some of those readings. Just a heads up...so, tomorrow I will do a day of background, and then a read-through, and then we’ll dive into the text a little deeper as always.

For today though, I see a theme woven throughout this chapter that I really liked, coming from these verses:

1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

11 When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise; when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.

24 “Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.

29 A wicked man puts on a bold face, but the upright gives thought to his ways.

The thing that all of these verses have in common as I am reading them is this idea of humility and teachability. Am I open to God’s direction? And not only that, am I open to God’s direction from the people in my life? That’s a big question. It is hard to be teachable...it is hard to be humble...sometimes it really takes an effort. But we can’t grow if we aren’t open to being challenged. And, we won’t be challenged if we constantly push back when challenged...if we aren’t approachable, we are going to cut ourselves off.

Great thoughts to consider this morning.

Another few verses from Proverbs that I keyed in on today:

First off, Proverbs 20:22, “Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.”

This is so good, and it is so hard to remember in the heat of the moment - that we aren’t to avenge ourselves. When we’re hurt, we aren’t to lash out, to get even. We aren’t to just cut people off from us and hope that they feel some pain from that loss...we are to let God do that work. I have to say, just being transparent, that the divorce I experienced years ago really helped me to learn this lesson. There wasn’t anything I could do after my ex-wife had made her decision...I was helpless at that point. This has nothing to do with taking responsibility for the relationship beforehand or any of that, I am talking about that moment when we hit the ‘do not pass go’ moment and this was happening; it would have been so easy to try to begin avenging myself, to lashing out daily, to carry that forward to now...people go through divorces and are taking things out on their spouses years later. The reality is, that isn’t my responsibility. It is so hard to accept that, but a silver lining to a season of life like that is that you can use that season to really come to grips with this reality. Now, it is much easier for me to let things go, to take steps to distance myself and protect myself from certain people or certain situations, but to do so without that sense of needing to get them back or to get even. What most people miss about this though is that this advice ISN’T for the other person’s sake...it is for OUR sake. I can’t move on if I am trying to get even with you for something. Therefore, I can’t have peace and I be healthy. Often times, that other person has already moved on, and to steal a quote from someone, we are just drinking poison and hoping it hurts someone else...it is just a fools errand. Great wisdom in this simple verse.

And then, a pair of verses that sit next to each other that I think are just so good, Proverbs 20:28-29, “Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king, and by steadfast love his throne is upheld. The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.”

And these are fabulous. LOVE and FAITHFULNESS preserve the king...not power, not even wisdom, but LOVE and FAITHFULNESS. A loving king is a wise king, by extension...love is the key characteristic of a king, of a leader. And then a real memory verse, verse 29...that the glory of young men is their strength and the splendor of old is their gray hair. I mean, that doesn’t need explanation...it is brilliant. And it begs the question, as a young man, why would you not surround yourself with people of wisdom intentionally in your life? Which begs another question, isn’t it true that you are almost always younger than some other people, and thus, aren’t you always a ‘young man’ in some way or another? Translation...we should ALL surround ourselves with wise people whom we can learn from and be challenged by, on a personal level.

Great stuff this morning!

As I have often done, I will break our Proverb into a couple of readings to try to get the most out of it, and there are 3 verses that really jumped out at me this morning.

First was Proverbs 20:1, which says “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.” The reason this jumped out at me is because I actually really enjoy wine, and I enjoy bourbon and Scotch as well...I have gotten to where I am able to appreciate subtle things about them, and have really enjoyed learning about them and all the culture that these beverages bring forward with them. That said, I am also only being honest with myself if I say that I have had more of these than I should over the last 12 months. I think COVID has actually really driven up the consumption of alcohol for a lot of people based on what I have been hearing. We can spend time speculating as to why, but that isn’t really even helpful. What’s helpful is taking action. So, I am going to abstain from any kind of alcohol consumption for a week just to do a level-set. To amplify the effect of this short dry season, I am going to take a moment that thank God for all He has done and continues to do in my life; that will be kind of a ‘substitute’ behavior for the week. Just a short ‘fast’ of sorts.

The second verse that jumped out at me was Proverbs 20:9, which says “Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”?” I love this verse for a simple reason...it states the obvious. We are ALL sinners...none of us escapes that claim. I really think this is something I have embraced, but I know there are some people who still struggle with “yeah, but I am not as bad as ___”, like they almost can’t just stop with admitting they are a sinner, period. I am only pointing this out because of the freedom I have experienced in taking responsibility for my own sin; I am responsible. The result is that I am truly experience gratefulness for what Jesus has done for me. But without that responsibility for my own sin really being addressed, it is really hard to appreciate Grace. And I know a few people who I think really struggle with a true appreciation of Grace because of this struggle.

Then, lastly, Proverbs 20:15, “There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.” This is just a great reminder to close out today’s reading that wisdom really is so valuable, and that I need to right-size it’s place in my heart, as well as right-sizing God’s place. I need to check myself periodically to see what I am really valuing in my life...I need to look at my calendar and my wallet and ask, “If someone got a hold on both of these and tried to figure out my list of priorities, what would they decide on as being most important to me?” Hard, hard question...great question though.

Proverbs - like a gut punch on many days!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I am listening to s sermon series called “Better decisions, fewer regrets”, and it is really good. And this question for today’s journal entry is actually part 3 of the series, but it is question I have heard Andy speak about years ago...and since we just finished this series on Ecclesiastes on here, I thought this would be a nice change of pace. Tomorrow will be a Proverbs day, and we’ll probably do a couple or a few, and then we’ll hone in on another book of the Bible.

The premise of his message is that the decisions we make, in the moment, are what ultimately become the story we’ll tell one day, to someone. And the hard part is that we can’t see this, or we often don’t, as we are moving along the way. Here is the link the messages:

https://northpoint.org/messages/better-decisions-fewer-regrets/deciding-our-way-forward

In fact, we see a great demonstration of this when we look at the Bible character Joseph. And most people have heard the story of Joseph so I won’t retell it, but what’s interesting about his story is that essentially none of what happens to Joseph is really his fault. The story takes twists and turns and Joseph was just getting the worst result from every outcomes, and yet, he refuses to be a victim. He took responsibility for his life. And then there comes a moment when Joseph was approached by Potiphar’s wife, and look at how he responds to her, this is from Genesis 39:7-10:

7 And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” 10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

I’d like to be able to tell my whole story, without any asterisks and without skipping any chapters. I know there are going to be moments I don’t want to share, and there already are...but I don’t want to have whole chapters that I choose to leave out. No one does.

In the heat of the moment, when you have a make a big decision, it is a great practice to stop and ask ourselves the question, “What story do I want to tell?”.

And so the author ties a bow on this for us, drawing everything to a conclusion with these two verses:

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Essentially, he is telling us that fearing God - honoring Him in our hearts, our minds, and with our behavior - is ultimately our job. Life will bring blessing and will sweep it away, and we ultimately can’t really control that...we can leverage wisdom for our good, and we should, but we can’t really exhibit much control over life. Further, life isn’t about accomplishment or achievement, it is about pursuit...pursuit of the one thing for which we were made, God’s purpose of each and every one of us, which is unique to us all.

In a way, we could say that the author could have gotten to that point a lot quicker. But, in another way, we realize that we need that point to be drug out across 11 chapters because we are all going to still do the same thing...we are going to compare ourselves to others and we are going to pursue worldly things for which we have no good reason to pursue. We are stubborn.

The nice thing is though...this is in writing, and we can refer back. That’s the miracle of the Bible...the words live on, and we can and we definitely should keep coming back for the reminders of whose we are, and of the purpose of our lives. Great last chapter today. Tomorrow, I will dive back into Proverbs and then we’ll pick up on a new book of the Bible in the new few days.

This isn’t the easiest chapter from which to really draw a conclusion about the author’s intent...there are multiple ways to to take it. That said, there are some things that we definitely can comment on. First is that the first 4 verses seem to encourage us to prepare for and commit to a journey of life that is long, to work, to sow, and to be committed to wisdom. But with that is this idea that life can end at any time, and we have little control over that timeline. The second idea is that God will judge us, which isn’t something we see much, if any, in Ecclesiastes to this point. The idea being that we are to live in wisdom and we are to understand that life gives and life takes, but ultimately we are going to be judged in some way on what we do in this life.

This chapter is really short but it sets up this idea that there must be a purpose to this life other than personal pleasure, money, accumulation of stuff, etc...there must be a ‘higher’ purpose of some sort. Chapter 12 will lead us into that, but as we close out the work of the teacher and turn to the point the author is making with the book as a whole, I just want to pause and consider what my biggest take away might be from these chapters. For me, I think one of the biggest reminders was the fact that we are fragile and that self-control is a poor tool for self-management. Wisdom isn’t the ability to resist temptation, but the ability to anticipate it and to avoid it. Wisdom is recognizing that we are fighting a losing battle within ourselves, and that we can do best by doing two thing - learning and understanding how God created life to work and remembering that sin has destroyed the perfect relationship between cause and effect.

I think that is a great lesson to ween from these readings in Ecclesiastes.

I found today’s chapter to carry some almost sarcastic notes, some ironies that were fun to read in a way.

8 - He who digs a pit will fall into it, ...though there is a less ironic way to read this one.

9 He who quarries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them.

10 If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength,

18 Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks.

...but back up in v10 we see a resolution to this, a less cynical comment that I think ties everything together pretty well: “...but wisdom helps one to succeed.”

I enjoyed the irony of those parts.

But what REALLY jumped out at me this morning was the very first verse:

“Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench;

so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.”

If you picture an ointment sitting maybe in an open container, and then a fly lands in it...it destroys the beauty of that ointment, and it can destroy the aroma if it is just left in there. And further, just a little folly or a little foolishness can destroy a lot of well-earned wisdom. If you’ve lived long at all, you appreciate the fact that one little decision can destroy a long relationship, it can damage a reputation that was earned over time, or a savings account that was hard-fought. Small decisions can have big consequences. It is an irony of life that most good thing accrue through compounding, whereas destruction often comes quickly and intensely.

There is a ton of wisdom in that idea along - that good things generally come through compounding, over time, and destruction comes suddenly, often in just one or two quick decisions. We must guard ourselves. As we discussed yesterday, “The prudent sees danger and hides himself...he takes steps to protect himself against himself..., but the simple go on...ignoring the realities of life, of how wisdom and folly work, that wisdom lives in a world of compounding and folly is sudden...and they suffer for it.

That’s a great tie-in between yesterday’s reading and today’s.

I am listening to a sermon series and wanted to respond to that this morning, studying this Proverb that was referenced in the sermon and actually serves as the route verse for the series. Here is a link to the series and that verse:

https://northpoint.org/messages/better-decisions-fewer-regrets/deciding-our-way-forward

Proverbs 27:12

The prudent sees danger and hides himself,

but the simple go on and suffer for it.

The premise behind this series is that wisdom, the wise person, is a person who not only knows, but one who does. It is one thing to know the right thing to do, it is another to do it. That said, will power and self-control and earned skills, and they are limited resources. Thus, a wise person, a prudent person, is one who takes the steps necessary to reduce the need to use will power in the first place.

Examples:

Do you struggle with your diet? Well, one idea is to commit to eating a better diet. In some areas of life, just the commitment alone might be enough. In many areas though, that’s not good enough. A prudent person would take further steps, like getting all of the processed sugar out of the pantry and refrigerator and throwing it away. You might say, “Well, what about my kids who want some dessert or my spouse who wants to keep a little something sweet in the house?” Well, a PRUDENT person with a supportive family would take the step and the family would come alongside of him/her.
Do you struggle with spending? Sign out of every shopping app, delete them from your phone, and commit to building a list throughout the day of items you want/need. At night, you can order things from your computer while sitting next to your spouse on the couch. You can do the shopping together...it still won’t take longer than a few minutes, because things are so simple and convenient these days, but it would VASTLY change your ordering habits I bet.

The prudent see danger...and not only that, they FLEE it, they position themselves against it, they seek refuge.

Wisdom without application is just knowledge, and people that know and don’t do are hypocrites. This is a GREAT verse. Further, it is a great series (I am 3 messages in now...finishing it while riding the bike this morning).

Take a listen and enjoy!

There are 3 sections in the reading this morning, and they each have their titles and thoughts. To me though, all of them read as if they are built on section one. Section one re-addressed this idea that death is coming to us all, and that we can’t escape it. We’ve seen that idea before from the teacher. In the second section, the teacher tells us that we might as well enjoy life because it is fleeting, and because it will pass. Then, in the last section, he talks about how even wisdom doesn’t save us from death.

Taking this presentation, these 3 concepts, and taking them in this order as a line of reasoning, let’s think about this for a minute. Yes, death comes to us all...we all start out and end the same, dust to dust in a sense. But with the message of Jesus we are taught that it doesn’t really have to end there. That’s a hopeful idea for sure. And with the second concept, under the guise that ‘death is coming to us all’, the author essentially puts forward this notion that you might as well enjoy life. I think that’s a great take away...yeah, we should. Now, should we over-indulge? No. But, should we construct life in a way as to try to enjoy it? Absolutely. There is healthy enjoyment and unhealthy enjoyment, and we must keep our ‘appetites’ in check, but that is a reasonable conclusion. And then the third point, the third building block...if life is short and we are all going to eventually die, and it we should enjoy life while we are living, then the teacher asserts that we should live in wisdom. Now, the teacher cynically points out that not even living in wisdom can get us around the fact that you are going to die, but living in wisdom does have impact. The teacher tells a little story, like a little parable, that I think can be read in two ways, with two different tones. It is only 3 verses, so let’s look at it:

13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

So here is my thing - the teacher’s tone is one of cynicism, that this poor man saved a town and that he has long-been forgotten, and the conclusion is that ‘even wisdom can’t save us from death’. I will grant that...even wisdom can’t save us from death. But the entire tone of this section is written with the assumption that a person would want to overcome death. So, I have to ask, is that really what we want? I don’t think it is...

I know I am going to die eventually. Personally, my goal is to get to 85, 90, or really to get to 100 and to be able to sit in contentment and think to myself, “Man, this body of mine is tired, I have given life all I have, and I am ready for what’s next whenever God brings me home”. To me, that’s a better vision that overcoming death. Jesus promises that we already HAVE overcome death actually (of course, this teacher didn’t have the benefit of living post-resurrection and of knowing this).

So, since I don’t see overcoming death as the goal, looking at this passage, I see something else...I see the idea put forward that living in wisdom can create a profound impact that isn’t only for our own good, but for the good of everyone around us as well. And while we don’t know this guy’s name, we amazingly still know his story. In fact, arguably the wisest man that ever lived, Solomon, who is reasonably assumed to be the ‘teacher’ in this story, knew about this man’s story.

In today’s reading we see an age-old idea come into the conversation - the question of “Why do bad things happen to good people?”. Fortunately, the teacher doesn’t try to answer the question so much as he aims to make the statement that this is true, and that it is silly to live without recognition that it is true. Said, another way, bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people, and that’s just part of the way life is.

For our purposes though, for the sake of wisdom, two things I think that are important to draw from this are as follows.

First is just to accept this truth, that no amount of living wisely can insulate us from the chaos of this world. Look, the world is cursed and sin is in the world and sin has repercussions. Sometimes bad things happen to good people because even good people have done bad things and sometimes it takes a while for bad choices to materialize as consequences. Sometimes the sin of others ripples into the lives of the ones they love, or people they don’t even know; but, either way, it happens. It isn’t God taking out his anger, it is the ripple effect of sin. Sin has consequence...and it isn’t always localized to the person committing it. That’s reality. That’s life. And that isn’t always fair, but as our mamas taught us, “life isn’t fair”. I think we forget that as adults.

Second is the idea that while bad things happen to good people, and while good things sometimes happen to bad people, there is a natural order in which the world works. Wisdom is leaning into that order. Bad things happen to good people far less often than we like to pretend. In reality, most of the people we know still do plenty of bad things...including us. So, while it is true, it is still my belief that it is the exception to the rule. Therefore, the only reasonable choice is to live in wisdom and assume that more times than not it will deliver us to the best results. It is true that people win the lottery and get rich, but only a fool makes his plan for financial success based on winning the lottery. Only a fool would shirk his responsibility like that...in fact, I think what happens more often than not is that we use the ‘bad things happen to good people’ idea of help in justifying our foolishness. That’s an issue for another day.

Great reminders today though...great reading this morning!

There is definitely a theme in scripture of being loyal to your leaders...not passively loyal to a fault, but loyal and honoring for sure. And we see the teacher commanding that here - that we be loyal to the king. In a sense though, it gets me thinking about this hierarchy and it makes me think about God. Think about this - if you have children, you understand some things about God that would be hard to understand otherwise. There emotions, there are physical actions, and there are circumstances in life that can only be understand or undertaken when you actually parent a child. I think that is a realization that many people have had once they become parents, or many Christians at least. Likewise, and I hadn’t thought about this really, until this morning, are there some emotions and circumstances that you really can’t understand about God unless you have experienced a position of leadership, as well as the position of a follower?

Starting with the latter, it is easy as a follower to shirk responsibility, ultimate responsibility, and it is easy to point fingers and to say “I would do this differently” or “I can’t believe he/she leader did that”, etc...in other words it is very easy to do the ‘arm-chair’ quarterbacking thing. But look at how Jesus followed when He came to the earth. God led from Heaven for a couple thousand years, then Jesus led from the back when He came to earth. Jesus created a new leadership paradigm in a sense...leading from the pack, leading from the position of a follower; He led by example, by humility, and He did it beautifully. And He never leveraged authority for His own benefit. In a similar fashion, the teacher here in today’s reading it is describing how we should follow, and he goes on to describe how the burden the king, the leader, experiences.

Which leads us to the second experience we can use in life to understand God, which is a position of leadership. For me, one easy way to think about leadership is with the word ‘burden’. When I am in a position of leadership, I feel the weight of responsibility, the weight of expectations, the weight of the ultimate results. That’s can be a heavy burden. Here, the teacher is telling us that leaders also experience first hand the disappointment of being accountable for the results and yet unable to ultimately control the outcome. That is a unique burden of leadership.

For me, today’s 9 verses remind me to think about God and to experience God through the lens of leading and following - ultimately asking this question, “How can I experience and understand God better, or Jesus better, through my experience in this situation as a leader or as a follower?”

Interesting idea.

This chapter today has two clear ideas to me, and they are somewhat complementary yet distinct. The first comes in the more poem-like text my ESV, the first 13 verses; it is basically telling us to be open to, and even looking for, growth and being challenged in this life. In other words, don’t seek an ‘easy’ life’’...seeking easy means looking for confirmation and reassurance rather than truth. The teacher is suggesting that this is what fools do; instead of wanting to know what reality is, they are only looking for evidence that what they think is reality. In psychological lingo, this is called confirmation bias...and we all do it to some extent, because it is comfortable. It is a lot easier to look for opinions that agree with ours rather than to critically assess and think about differing opinions that challenge our own. Perhaps it is just true that, at some extent, we are all just a little lazy. Either way, wisdom is living life in search of truth over comfort. That is a subtle but profound idea for sure.

And the second idea that I noticed this morning is this idea that we shouldn’t allow ourselves to see God through your circumstances; meaning, we should give thanks where thanks is due, and we should seek His hand in troubling times, but should understand that good and bad circumstances are not reflections on God’s love for us. I think (and this is just me) that it is silly to think that God is up there looking down on us and flipping the switch, good or bad, at every little circumstance in our lives...like every time something could happen one way or another He is sitting there making an active determination about whether to let it be good or bad. I mean, I suppose that could be true, but that just seems silly. God set up cause and effect in this world for a reason...so He wouldn’t have to micro-manage every little thing. He can swoop in and do something miraculous in an instance, and He does and has, but more times than not, the world just goes according the way is it generally designed. That’s why Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are so powerful...God has given them to us so we can understand the general way the world works. I will say though, going back to my first point today, I don’t KNOW that my point of view on that is correct, but since writing is a one-way form or communication, I am just offering the conclusion I’ve come to in my mind.

At any rate, great reminders and great stuff today!

In this shorter chapter this morning, we get a reminder that we should enjoy life, and that we would be best to soak it up because life is short. That was the more positive reminder. Then we are reminded that we all come and we all go, and that none of us live forever, and that teacher is really pushing this idea that we don’t really make a difference on this earth; that we’ll long be forgotten and that God’s already written this story.

I need that occasional reminder to enjoy life, to live in the moment, and the be content with where I am....that is definitely an area where I struggle to find success historically. So I appreciate that.

The second reminder brings me back to something we’ve said in our reading these first 6 chapters already several times, that I am so glad, blessed really, to be living on THIS side of the resurrection, where our lives are not truly ended at our death, that Jesus gives us a way to simply move on to the next phase of living. Prior to Jesus, it was a much more grim picture...I am thankful it is different than that now.

For today, I am going to cut this a little short, and I am going to spend a few minutes journaling about things for which I am grateful and thankful, as a way to really cement the first message from the teacher in today’s writing. Off to do that now.

These are some very Proverb-sounding verses today, speaking about wealth and about the vanity of just pursuing wealth for wealth’s sake. Some great thoughts here. I particularly love how the teacher finishes up the chapter, with some less cynical and more positive and constructive thoughts - verses 18-20 read:

18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. 19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

In reading this, we see that this is really a recap of a lot the chapter, and it sounds like a few things are being said. First, life should be partly about seeking joy, finding enjoyment...it isn’t about just working or just following orders and marching through life on mission and looking to the future for any kind of enjoyment...no, God wants us to enjoy the world He’s given us. Frankly, that is refreshing, because one question I rarely ask myself that is SO important is this, “Am I happy?”. Think on that for a minute… “Am I happy?”. If the answer isn’t ‘yes’, then I need to get busy working on that. The second thing I get from these 3 verses is that we need to work, we need to toil; our life doesn’t need to be committed to that as a primary mission, because life isn’t just about working, but we are made for work, thus we should work. And no, I don’t think work means career, or job, or any of that...we should use our time, skills, and energy to do something meaningful in this world. Meaningful doesn’t mean everyone needs to be a preacher or teacher or politician either. 2 months ago the trash men in Starkville, MS, whom my 3-year-old son waives at every time he sees, were doing their jobs with smilies on their faces and they stopped their truck and gave my son a little trash truck...he was so excited. They were excited. They were doing meaningful work before they did that, and they stepped it up with that gesture. We just need to make a difference in some way. And lastly, that last verse is great...when we get happy and we get busy living life and working in some way, our hearts are occupied. You know what I would say to that? The most miserable people I know, the most cynical, they are often the most bored, or they’ve spent a long part of life being bored and they became jaded and cynical, and maybe now they are just busy and cynical. The point it, when we are busy living life, there are so many trivial things that just seem not to matter. That’s a blessing that God gives us, I am convinced of that. Let’s just get busy living and enjoying life.

Before diving into chapter 5, let’s pause for a moment and think about where we’ve been here in Ecclesiastes. We started with this idea that there is an author or writer of this work, and then there is the main character, the teacher, who is the one narrating things, speaking to us and giving us his insights about the life he’s lived. We’ve seen several themes all centering on the vanity of setting up the meaning of life as being related to our work, to our enjoyment of life itself, our wisdom, or our attainment of ‘stuff’...meaning, the teacher is telling us that we can’t find satisfaction if that’s what our life is all about. All of the while, we have this innate desire, this quest, to find meaning, so we are longing to find meaning and desire...it’s just that time will help us to realize that those things aren’t THE things on which to be focused. That’s essentially what we’ve done to this point.

For today, I am just going to focus on verses 1-7 of chapter 5, as I feel like there is a great message buried in these verses that the teacher is giving us and that we can blow past if we aren’t careful.

Listen - I think it is pretty simple, listen...that’s the message of this section. Fools speak too much. Fools let everything fall out of their mouth without care for the effect their words have on the world around them. Fools carry that into their prayer life as well, spitting off requests and orders to God. Listen...speak less, listen more, ask questions instead of giving advise, seek to be interested instead of being interesting. Seek to understand rather than to convince.

What would it look like if that was really our mantra? What if I did really carried that mantra into my daily life? What if I did it for a month? Or even for a day? What if my goal for the day was to try to extract as much information as possible by asking questions and leaning into what others are saying and I only offered opinions and advise when I was basically forced to do so. What would happen to the level of understanding I would bring to the conversation?

So that’s my challenge today...to be a big time question-asker. To see if what I can do in terms of information gathering. And that’s how my prayer time will go this morning too...on my knees, in silence, waiting and listening. It may be strange, and it may be silent, but I feel compelled in that way this morning.

So now we can see that what was a clear and concise set of writings grouped by topical argument is more of a grouping of ideas that have a more random feel, similar to Proverbs. Actually, it is kind of like reading a cynical version of Proverbs in a way. What I’ll do is pull out things that really jump out at me while reading, like we’ve done with Proverbs, rather than focus on each topical idea, which would keep us in this text for months.

Here are two little sections that caught my eye:

4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. 5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. 6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

In this first one, we see a clear aim at the topic of envy, that it is a worthless pursuit to strive in envy, to chase others’ status or place in life, and it is foolish to do nothing as well; he says it is ultimately better to be quiet than envious though. In reading this, I definitely would agree...when we are motivated by envy we are wrongly motivated. It is okay to emulate someone, it is okay to have goals, but we have to live our lives as a whole with a more positive motivation. Think about professional athletes, you see these stories of them slaving away in their careers, working and practicing 24/7 for 10-15 years from college through their career and then we hear stories about falling into depression, losing their way...it is sad. They have thrown their whole life into the pursuit of this goal of being the best they can be and what happens is that they let that become their identity. Envy is like that if we aren’t careful too, because if we envy someone and we push to get what they have and then we get there, we move the goal posts and we move on to the next person and the cycle begins again...it is a dangerous cycle. And again, it isn’t bad to pursue goals and emulate...the problem it, we have to maintain balance in that pursuit, we have to maintain a focus on the one REAL goal, which is becoming the person God created us to be. If we get off of THAT track, then our pursuit becomes a problem because it pulls us from our purpose and that will ultimately lead to empty envy, envy of the wrong things, and a pursuit of the wrong things, and potential disaster.

13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. 14 For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

And this is a great message as well, that we can’t stop growing, we can’t stop learning, we can’t become anything less than curious about life. We have to remain young at heart as it relates to wisdom, ready to receive it, ready to be challenged and to accept responsibility for our decisions and outcomes. It is vanity to assume we can ever know it all...when we stop being open to wisdom, whatever wisdom we have will start to wither, it loses its power. What a powerful idea. Wisdom is like a muscle, it needs use and it needs more wisdom stacked on top of it, repeatedly over time. That’s how it is exercised.

Great stuff today.

Switching back over to Proverbs, to get back into a more positive state of mind (haha), we again see a chapter littered with ideas, one-liners, advise...we could go verse by verse for days. But, in light of the reading we are doing in Ecclesiastes, I want to focus on 2 verses that really jumped out at me.

Verse 21:

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,

but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

and Verse 23:

The fear of the Lord leads to life,

and whoever has it rests satisfied;

he will not be visited by harm.

In thinking about these 2 verses, starting in 21, and in combination with our reading of Ecclesiastes, something really seems to be clear between the two texts - we are burdened with the desire to create progress and to understand our purpose in life, and we’ll construct ways to get at that - career paths, ideal family structures that fit to our own image of what we would deem ‘successful’, friendships and associations, etc...we can go about building our lives in a manner that we see fit, or we can lean into the plan that God has for us. When we go our own way, we feel in control, we feel powerful, we feel secure at times, but then we face shocks in life where we are reminded that we aren’t and never were in control; we realize that it is God’s plan that ultimately is coming to fruition. If we are wise, we come to understand that our best best is to lean into that plan, not our own; to find ourselves in His plan. And that’s why verse 23 promises hope...that fear of the Lord, a deep respect for the fact that God IS in control, that God IS working His own plan in our lives and others, leads to a satisfying life...because that is the truth. Fear of the Lord is life lived in reality. And, I don’t know that the author really means that we’ll never suffer any harm if we living according to God’s plan, I like to think He is saying that the hard times in life are felt and experienced with a purpose in mind, and that it is that understanding of purpose for which we all are desirous that really fuels us to get through what would otherwise be really hard times. When there is purpose in pain, the pain is usually far less about the pain and far more about the growth and the progress.

It is great to see how Ecclesiastes and Proverbs read back-to-back like this can get at opposite sides of some of the same ideas.

Another heavy reading today...and there some clear themes in mind - the idea that time is essentially written already, by God, that our work is futile because God already has in mind what is coming and what will be, and that we are like the beasts or animals in that ultimately return to dust as do they. It is a grim reading almost.

I particularly noticed this verse: “...Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end”, which from verse 11.

The teacher touched on this idea before, that God has given us an internal sense for eternity, that we desire purpose and meaning and to make a long-term impact in and on this world, and that we generally desire significance. I think that is MORE true of some people than others, but generally applies to everyone. This desire is challenged by our realization that we are finite and by the reality of life, that we all live and die. This creates a tension, this eternal desire and the understanding that life is finite. It is a great insight.

That said, there is a hopeful thought that I had as I was reading this, and I recognize again that I living on this side of being saved by Jesus, on this side of the resurrection, and I live with that hindsight that I can’t undo...and frankly, I am grateful for that fact; but the pushback I would offer on this notion that life is written and that we can’t really control anything is this - we can control right now. I can choose to write this journal entry, or I can choose to not. I can choose to do a lot of things in any particular moment, and that can’t be taken from me. I can’t ultimately choose the outcomes, granted, but I think that is where faith and life come together. I also think that is why we can’t attach meaning to outcomes. Meaning is in the doing, purpose is realized and joy is experienced in process. There is an element to faith that pushes us to learn to enjoy the process more than the product, which is hard for me admittedly. We must live in each moment, and we must enjoy each moment to the fullest, and we must be present there. We must learn to both seek and find God in each moment.

Heavy stuff today!

No amount of wisdom can put us into a situation where we don’t die. The clock is always taking, for the wise in for the unwise. The same could be said of hard work; we can’t work our way into eternity, and we certainly can’t save our own life.

The author makes is abundantly clear that living life for the simple sake of enjoyed it, living for the sake of being wise and being known as such, and living life with the purpose of working hard; all of this is “vanity”, or “chasing after the wind”.

In my world, my professional work, people come in all the time and it seems like there are two really common themes in the world of financial planning: reduce fees and taxes and avoid insurance. In reality, what people want is to be able to live the life I wanna live, to enjoy it, and to know that if something happened to them the people they love will be taken care of. But those are hard things to define. Most people spend more time brushing their teeth or picking out their clothes than they do sitting and thinking, and therefore, it’s not that they are stupid, they just have spent very little time considering how to get from point A to point B. And when I asked about it, all I can come up with is avoiding fees and taxes and insurance, as if avoiding those things are the difference between success and failure. In 15 years I have never seen a story of someone being successful financially because they avoided fees and taxes and insurance; they are successful because they save more and spend less. And because they don’t think about it, they spend all their time trying to avoid fees and taxes and insurance, and they miss the point.

This reminds me, what the author here in Ecclesiastes is writing, of this phenomenon in my professional life. Wisdom is good, hardwork is good, I hope the level of self indulgence is good… But those should be viewed as tools leveraged in having a great life, not a goal. These tools can’t be seen as being “the point” of life - THAT is the point I believe the author is making.

This next chapter explores the ‘vanity’, to use the teacher’s word, of living a life of self-indulgence, of living a life with wisdom, and living a life of toil (hard work).

We’ll just bite them off one at a time in our reading.

In these first 11 verses, we hear that this guy has lived a life where he had everything...alcohol, property, servants, women, riches, and everything else he could possibly have wanted or had...he literally had it all. And it wasn’t enough to satisfy that striving that was in him.

For me, that raises questions for me...like, am I content? Is this desire to have more something that lives in me? I don’t think everyone struggles with this, but do I? What do I really think it will take to make me content? How do I really push back against this particular issue, this insatiable desire to acquire?

One thing that is really easy to skip past or to discount in reading scripture like this, when we don’t know the writers personally, when we can’t really completely appreciate them fully because the divide between their life and ours is just so big, is that we miss that they really are far more like us than they are different. In other words, it is far more reasonable for me to assume that if I were writing these words, and if I had everything just like this author, that I would feel the same way - it is more reasonable to assume that to be true than to assume that I would be different. Which means, if I had everything, it wouldn’t be ‘enough’ to satisfy the quest for more.

The only thing I have been able to come up with that helps me when I spot this desire to acquire running rampant in me is the practice of gratitude, of pausing and just reflecting on how blessed I am, on how much I have, on the people in my life. In reflecting like this, it shifts me from a mode of “I want” and into a mode of gratitude. It isn’t permanent, so it is a practice that must be upheld, a habit to be built. I am never going to be in the position this teacher was in, with literally everything, so the only way I can truly embrace this reality is through trusting that he got it right...but I can definitely say that they acquisition of more ‘stuff’ in my life really hasn’t produced more happiness. Once you have enough so you don’t feel threatened financially, we have to begin to embrace a life of gratitude. Great reminder this morning!

In this short section, the teacher illuminates 3 conclusions.

1: God has appointed man with the unhappy ‘business’ (or burden) with a quest for meaning. I find this fascinating. The restlessness that we feel when we are challenged with the notion that life is meaningless, that derives from this need to engage in something, to be active in doing something. We are compelled in that way, and we think and plan. We wants to understand where his life is going and we can’t help ourselves in this. This is the burden which, by God’s decree, every man bears. You know, I have definitely felt that. I DO feel that. That’s God in me.

2: The second conclusion is that we are frustrated - ...by #1. He desires a sense of gain in life, of satisfaction, or progress...but we struggle to get that need filled. We are faced with problems which we finds insoluble, with history which is repetitive and without hope - like we can’t help ourselves. We see this ‘striving after the wind’ phrase, and my study Bible sites that the context equally suits two ways to view this: frustration by the insoluble, or ambition for the unattainable. The latter is almost certainly the meaning here...either way though, the result is this frustration.

So, we are appointed with an ‘unhappy’ quest for meaning, we are frustrated because we feel like we are chasing after something that we can’t truly find, and then #3: we can only come to the conclusion that we aren’t equipped to know everything we need to know to resolve #1 and #2...there are twists and turns, there are gaps in life, and we can’t straighten out certain anomalies and condense things down into a perfect system. In a sense, the more we understand, the more we know, the more we know that we don’t know...wisdom is an abyss.

Now, again, that sounds very dark, and almost hopeless. But we can take something from this...think about it, if we can’t find the answers to this life in this life and we’ve been given the quest to find that meaning, then it is there, we just have to discover it. You can’t find the painter in the painting...but you can learn a lot about Him, and you can understand and know that He is out there. Similarly, if we want to find meaning, as the teacher will eventually lead us to conclude, we have to look to the Creator. The conclusion is an argument for God - if life has meaning, it can only be because there is a God that gave it meaning. By extension, if we are to experience satisfaction in life, true meaning in life, God has to be a part of our story.

Deep stuff today...wow!

The reading this morning reminds me of a quote from Heraclitus that says: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man”. I feel like this is almost saying a similar thing to what is being said in today’s reading Ecclesiastes 1:1-11, except that Heraclitus had a positive spin on his comment.

The teacher is commenting on the brevity of life, how the world doesn’t care that we are here, that time passes and life moves on and that our interaction with the world, our impression on the world, doesn’t seem to make a lasting impact. It is a sobering thought for sure.

I am not going to read everything ever day, but for the sake of setting the tone for this book that we are reading, I am going to read these 11 verses because these really set the tone and the stage for all that is to come - it is kind of a primer for the book as a whole.

Now, one thing that is hugely important for us to remember as we are reading this probably 2000-2500-ish years after it was completed, is that the arrival, life, and resurrection of Jesus adds something to the story that the teacher and this author didn’t have to draw from. So we have to keep this in mind.

That said, I have two thoughts from today’s reading:

Back to the Heraclitus quote - the world moves on, time passes, the sun rises and the sun sets, and we may not be remembered on this earth, but the positive to that is that every day that we wake up and have breath in our lungs, we are experiencing a world that has never been and will be the same. We can choose to see that as a good thing, and we can learn to enjoy the moment, the here-and-now. That is something I have struggled to do for so long and am working hard to do with these 10 minutes of silence and sitting in the a.m., and with my daily 10 minute mindful meditation. Life is too precious just to pass it by.
Jesus changed so much of the seeming hopelessness of this book. Granted, the author will resolve some of this tension of hopelessness in the end by drawing us back to the importance of uniting with God and trusting in God, but Jesus gives us the chance to have a reunion with God. Jesus gives us a promise that what we do here is a part of God’s plan, and that God will use our work and the work of everyone to weave together a story for all of humanity. He alludes to the idea that we’ll one day be able to see how all of that comes together when we are in Heaven with God. That’s a HUGE advantage to us in reading this now, in 2021, with hindsight on our side.

It just makes me, as I often feel when reading the Old Testament, so thankful to live on this side of the resurrection. I am blessed in that way for sure!

Today is really the background and the overview of Ecclesiastes, and then I will dive into it and we’ll just bounce back and forth between them and we’ll get to see how they are both related and different. Should be fun.

Now, looking at Ecclesiastes, the entire writing starts off like this:

“The words of the Preacher, the son of David...”, but preacher is really a translation of Qoheleth (ko-hell-ith), which is a Hebrew word that means ‘one who gathers people’, and in this case the people are gathering to learn. There are various views who this person is exactly, whether it is Solomon, another descendent of David, or just another Israelite teacher who is a lot like Solomon. Whoever it is, a great piece of insight I got from looking at the Bible Project’s video on this is that we need to be sure we differentiate the author (who is anonymous) and the teacher, who is a character IN the story being told. The teacher is IN the writing. Most of the book is written by an author that wants us to form our own conclusions based on what the teacher is saying through the book.

The teacher’s main point throughout this book centers around another Hebrew word, hevel (or hebel), which is used 38 times throughout the writing, and most famously in this phrase that is repeated: hevel, hevel, everything is utterly hevel. In the ESV, it is translated as ‘meaningless’ or as ‘vanity’ most often. But this is a rich word with some context and complexity - it really means temporary and fleeting as well as inferring that something is an enigma or a paradox. If you think of beauty or of goodness or justice like smoke, it is there, it is beautiful, and as soon as you try to grab a little ball of smoke, what happens? Well, it just vanishes. That’s the idea here...wisdom is there, it is real, but just as soon as you think it is tangible and concrete, it is violated and appears to be almost worthless. In the teacher’s words, it is like “chasing after the wind”.

The author, by way of the teacher, wants us to deconstruct the way we derive purpose and value in our lives apart from God.

Themes that the teacher walks us through are the passage of time, death, deriving purpose from working hard (our careers) or through pleasure. It is a roundabout journey through various ideas broached in various ways.

And even wisdom is hevel, it has no guarantees...it is an enigma, you want to employ wisdom in your life, definitely, but even it doesn’t assure of us any kind of outcomes.

So, what’s the point then? If it is all so ‘meaningless’ what is the point that is being made. Well, the teacher wants us to discover that, it is like he is trying to lead us to place where we eventually have reasoned our way to the same conclusion he has, which is that we should enjoy the gifts of God, that life is ultimately out of my control and under God’s control, and that accepting this reality and leaning into this reality is a way better way to live than the opposite. It is almost an apologetic approach to arguing for the existence of God.

He is telling is that the pursuit of wisdom must done with open hands, without a pretense of control, and that we should trust God to take things where He may. It is a different view on the utility of wisdom in our lives compared to Proverbs, but the conclusion is the same - God is ultimately in control.

Housekeeping announcement - I love reading this stuff, but we have been in Proverbs for a month (or longer?) and we are finishing up chapter 18 of 31. What I am going to do is to start a different study tomorrow, not sure what yet, but I will start with pre-reading on that tomorrow and we’ll use Proverbs as our break from that if need it, and we’ll return to Proverbs and keep working our way through to the finish. Just want to keep things fresh as it goes to my reading.

For today, I loved this verse - it really jumped out at me:

14 “A man’s spirit will endure sickness,

but a crushed spirit who can bear?”

I am being drawn to these self-reflective questions a lot, and perhaps it is the fruit of this 10 minutes of sitting with myself, reflecting on the state of my heart and my soul each morning...not sure, but this verse fits right into that theme.

Look, life is hard and we are all going to endure sickness, our spirit will be challenged, and the author is up-front about that in this verse. But I love the second part, the question, “But who can bear a crushed spirit?”...great question. What do you do when you are crushed in your spirit? Well, it is typically destruction mode. In this context, I believe what the author is communicating by the term ‘crushed spirit’ is a spirit without hope. Now, you have to be pretty down to get to that level, but that’s the point I think...since we know that wisdom is a path down which we travel, as is hopelessness, we must look at ourselves, examine ourselves, and we must make sure we notice when we are moving in that direction long before we ever actually get to that place of hopelessness. It is one thing to feel the struggle, to lose some of our hope, but it is another thing entirely to be hope-less.

It is so important that we learn to guard our heart. It is so important that we surround ourselves with people who can both encourage us and challenge us. This verse is just another great reminder of those truths, and of how important it is to stave off hopelessness a long way before we get there, because as the author simply states, who can really bear the weight of that crushed spirit?; no one.

Wow, this first verse is strong, as well as the second:

“Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgement.”

I commented a few weeks ago in these readings that one of the things I am going to do this year is to get back into routine communications and friendship with some guys I know and have traveled through a lot of life with but have lost contact with over the last couple of years. It is an important thing to do, and it is part of my 2021 planning that I’ve been doing. The importance of that is again highlighted here - that fools live in isolation, and that isolation gets us away from judgement, which we may think we want, but it is that judgement and that connection with others that spurs us onward to being the best version of ourselves. It is so important to have those people in our lives to do that for us. And, for me, it is important that I have a couple varieties of those folks. One of the groups of friends I had for years that I’ve been missing because I have been sidelined athletically is my friends from cycling. That just has to be a part of my 2021 - getting plugged back into that community. This Proverb and this verse just really reiterates that to me.

And as soon as I digest that, I look at verse 2, which is equally as potent:

“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.”

When I am listening, I am learning. When I am listening, I am growing. When I am listening, I am becoming wiser. When I am talking, with exceptions, I am meeting my own needs to feel understood and important. As I said, there are exceptions to this, but I would say that this is more often true than not. I need to listen more...just a quick pause before I speak, just a moment to consider the motivation behind speaking, and to consider whose benefit is being met with my words. That one practice can really be a big emotional intelligence booster.

Verse 4 reiterates yesterday’s commitment to the rubber band on the wrist...I have it and will keep it on there for a week or two - it says:

“The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.”

I love the insight from the study Bible, which tells me that comparison with 20:5 suggests that the this term “deep waters” connotes concealment. And, if this is what the author is intending, then here he is contrasting our human reluctance to give ourselves away, with the refreshing candor and clarity of the true wisdom, which is easy to see.

It is a beautiful image. And that goes back to listening more and speaking less for our own benefit, but when it is of benefit to others. What happens is that we often talk to conceal ourselves. One of the easiest ways we do this is with stories. We are late for work, and we tell our boss, “Sorry I am late, when I was leaving, I ran into traffic at the .....(fill in the blank)”. We love stories, they can break the fall, soften the blow, and they can conceal the reality of a poor decision. They also help us to sidestep the embarrassment, which is the punishment for the mistake. That just leads to it being easier and easier to repeat. It is a kind of justification.

On that note, I am adding something to my rubber band wrist-slapping exercise...not only will I pop my wrist when I say something negative, I am going to pop my wrist when I offer up and excuse or a story that I know is really just for my benefit. I am not going to give myself that luxury. I want to grow, and mistakes and the subsequent consequences for those mistakes are just a part of the process.

In reading today, the first thing that really jumped out at me was verse 3:

“The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the Lord tests hearts.”

Wow...that is strong right there. When I am struggling, when I am bleeding, when I am hurting, what is my GUT reaction? Do I seek the Lord, or do I take things into my own hands and blaze my own path? Is seeking God’s counsel the gut reaction that I have?

Just as silver is shaped and challenged by the crucible, and gold by the furnace, we, God’s children, are shaped in times of challenge and struggle...and God is not only testing us to strengthen us, but to see ‘who’s’ we really are...and we are wise to recognize that tendency in ourselves as well. A great sign of spiritual development is when that reflex reaction leans more and more heavily towards relying on God, that we would seek His wisdom, that we would look to His word, and that we would pause and consider the ‘wise’ thing to do. That’s when we know God is really seeping into us and molding us.

Man, that’s good stuff right there!

And then the last 2 verses really struck me, verses 27-28:

“Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”

I would consider myself a positive person, an optimist. I would also consider myself a persistent person. Over time, especially as it relates to my career, I have had various highs and lows and my life, as is the case with everyone, has gone through these ebbs and flows. 2020 was an especially stressful year, as was 2019, and I think it really wore me down. Some of that positivity, some of that optimism was converted into cynicism. In the grand scheme of things, it was stress just converting that optimism to cynicism...that’s what happens. The thing is, I have noticed that my words have followed, and they’ve become more critical, more cynical, and less optimistic. The problem is, our tongues, by way of our words (as Proverbs clearly teaches) essentially have the ability to direct our lives. Spewing negativity can’t have positive effect on my life...that just isn’t going to happen. It can give me a stress relief in the moment, at best. At worst...well, it can be WAY worse, and we know that.

So, I am going to strap on a rubber band today, and keep it on for a few days, and I am going to snap it against my wrist when I catch myself making negative comments. It think it will just take a week or two and I will get back on top of myself in this way, but I think it is a great and important habit as I start 2021...to do as verse 27 suggests, to restrain my words, to maintain a cool spirit. Great reminder on this front this morning.

Here are the two verses that really stuck out to me this morning, for whatever reason:

16 How much better to get wisdom than gold!

To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

17 The highway of the upright turns aside from evil;

whoever guards his way preserves his life.

I really like the combination of these two verses. The first really makes me ask a question I asked a couple weeks back during these readings - do I really value wisdom appropriately? Do I hold it in high enough regard? Do I really value it above all else?

And how do I REALLY know the answer to that question? Well, the second verse, verse 17, says that the highway of the righteous, the person who DOES rightly value wisdom, turns away from evil, from sin, from unwise things...he flees them, he doesn’t play around the edges with them. It says that whoever GUARDS HIS WAY preserves his life. That is clearly pointing to a person being away from danger, trying to steer clear of the risk of danger...being wise and not tempting fate.

I think a great thing to consider would be to think about areas of life where I am making small decisions that aren’t wise, and look at the path those decisions may lead down...because we are always in motion down a path; either towards wise living or towards destruction.

It is January 1...perhaps I can take a few minutes today and think these various domains of my life - my spiritual life, my marital life, my parental life, my work life, my physical (fitness) life, and my avocational life and ask, “Am I moving down the path towards righteous living or not?”. That can be a thought process that is a springboard for moving forward in 2021.

The majority of this chapter is dedicated to the topic of being able to receive discipline and reproof without taking offense to it. It is about being humble enough to be corrected, to be adjusted...it is about accepting the fact that I don’t have it all figured out. Now, this is a thing where I would like to say that I am reasonably well-suited...I am stubborn and I may fight for what I believe in, but apologizing and accepting when I am wrong and changing to a better way is an area where I do fairly well. So, I will only make a brief comment on this - I don’t want to be a finger-pointer! It is very difficult to grow to your potential if you can’t be wrong, and worse than that, if you can’t apologize.

When was the last time you apologized to someone? I mean a REAL apology...not the “I am sorry I forgot the milk”, but something like, “You know, I have to say, you have been right all of these years about this and I just didn’t see it...I realize that I have hurt you...I am sorry.” For some people, apologizing is just something they really struggle with...and, often times, these same people are the people that can’t seem to forgive either, because they don’t want to ‘let the other person off of the hook’ or they don’t want to be perceived as ‘condoning’ something. Our responsibility is to be open to truth...from God, from others, etc...it is our responsibility to live life with open hands in that way, palms up. It is also our responsibility to forgive. It is God’s, and only God’s, responsibility to make things right in the end.

I think the last couple of verses pretty much hit the nail on the head:

“Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.

The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.”

I know I am stubborn and I know I am not a great listener at times...and those are areas where I can certainly grow. The key though, is to be open to the reality that I am not doing something right, that I don’t have it all figured out...in my heart of hearts, am I humble enough to admit that to myself? That’s a great thought.

For today though, the great question for this chapter for me would be this: “To whom do I need to apologize, with a REAL apology, and for what?”

Finishing up with this Proverb from yesterday, focusing in on the last 13 verses, there seems to be a theme of the heart, which we haven’t really seen yet, and that I’ve been looking forward to.

Fear of the Lord -

Slow to anger -

Tranquil heart -

Oppresses a poor man -

Wisdom rests in the heart of a man of understanding -

Righteousness -

...the heart is a big part of wisdom, not just the brain. That’s part of what makes this so hard...we can’t just have the cognitive ‘know how’, but we must be sufficiently motivate, inclined, and humble to submit ourselves to wisdom.

Today, I am asking myself a question that may seems a little odd, but it is this, “How’s your heart?”.

If I pause and think (and I did do my 10 minutes of sitting this morning...very refreshing, day 2 is in the books!), but if I think about it, how IS my heart doing? Am I mad at someone? Am I hurt? What am I feeling? What am I hoping? What’s the temperature of things inside of me ‘emotion-wise’?

It is important and often overlooked, understanding how we are doing in this way. Am I really fearing the Lord in a healthy way? How about anger...do I have any that I am harboring against someone at the moment? Or is my heart tranquil? Am I open and healthy enough, that I am in a place experience both empathy and sympathy, both feeling what others feel understanding what they feel? It takes a healthy heart to be able to do that well. Am I living ‘rightly’? Living in wisdom begets seeing and hearing wisdom...healthy and righteous living position us and sensitize us to God’s will and God’s word in our lives. How am I doing there?

This morning’s reading reminds me of the importance of the heart, and of assessing it. In fact, I think this is a great thing to be thinking about during these 10 minutes of silence each morning...because it is precisely that time of time and setting where I can actually get to the root of my emotional state.

Great reading this morning.

Another longer Proverb today, but as I am reading it, I kind of feel like it is broken into 2 piece - the first 22 verses, and the last 13. Today. I am covering the first 22.

The first ‘section’ seems to have a theme of living an upright, wisdom-driven life...living life intentionally, thinking and THEN doing, not just firing from the hip all of the time.

Verses like:

(1) The wisest women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.

(6) A scoffer seeks wisdom in vein, but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding.

(12) There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of the earth.

...there are plenty more, but I can’t write out the entire Proverb! I hope you are reading before or after listening each day, as it is God’s word that is really so enriching.

At any rate, as I read these verse, I think about intentionality...perhaps because it is the end of the year and that’s what we do at this time of the year, we think about goals for the next year. But, there is something to be said about the person who sits down, thinks about his life, plots a path for the future, and seeks God’s counsel in how to move forward. I think many people take life day-by-day with no big directional orientation. I tend to to go overboard at times on the living directionally vs. living in the moment, but it all comes from the same thing...not taking time to sit and think. When was the last time you just sat still for 10 minutes...5 minutes...or any time, and didn’t do anything but just sit? I used to have a habit of starting my day with 10 minutes of just sitting...and it was awesome. So much so, that I stopped doing it. I used to have a great meditation practice...so much so that I stopped doing it.

Well, here we are, it is the start of a new year...today is the day. I will start today. As a part of my morning routine, I will start my ‘sitting’ practice...10 minutes to just sit, coffee in hand, and taste and enjoy the coffee, smell the air, pet one of our COVID kittens if one hops up in my lap...no phone, no pad to write on...just sit. 10 minutes.

On the way to the office...I will stop in route or I will pause before starting once there or before sitting at my desk and I will meditate. 10 minutes.

Lastly - following up on yesterday so we can spend time really digging into these other few verse that jumped out at me, there are several comments in this Proverb about disciplining our children. The one that stands out to me, largely because of its wording I suppose, is 24:

“Whoever spares the rod hates his son,

but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”

Here is the reality...life is hard, and life spares no one in discipline. Life doesn’t care about hurting your feelings, wounding you, or killing you...it will run you over if let it. Disciplining a child, or a young adult, or even an adult I suppose, is part of the parenting process. It is part of the molding process. Perhaps one of the greatest lessons we can impart on our kids is the ability to treat discipline not as an insult, but as a stepping stone. If your kids can view discipline as a part of life, and as a sort of knife-sharpening exercise rather than being offended and insulted by it, they won’t internalize reproof, but they can use it to grow. That’s the vision I think God give us for discipline.

And just to point out another verse that I think it important, that kind of piggy-backs on yesterday’s financially-focused discussion - this verse 22:

“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,

but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.”

Now, obviously, if a person is good for leaving money to his children’s children, there are only two possibilities...he leaves nothing to his kids and leaves everything to his grandkids (which isn’t what I think the author is driving at here), or he leaves a lot behind (which seems a little more likely as to what he is suggesting). I point this out to make sure we are comfortable with the fact that having money isn’t bad...making money isn’t bad, spending money isn’t bad...what’s bad is having the wrong relationship with money. Money is a tool for living the life we are called to live, it just isn’t the goal in-and-of-itself. And, if riches are your motivation, meaning material possessions are your thing, then you are chasing your tail and will never have enough. As we discussed yesterday, ‘funded contentment’ is the goal...having enough money to live the life we are called to live.

An notice the language of the next verse...the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous...translation, if you can never have enough, you’ll never have enough, which is chasing riches and living in sin, and all you have will eventually land in the hands of the the person who CAN have enough, and those riches for the sinner will becomes wealth to the wise man. That’s pretty powerful stuff right there!

Great words of wisdom this morning!

Today, I can’t help but to pull out a few different things...I love this Proverb!

The first pair of verses that jump out at me are verses 7 and 8:

“One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;

another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

The ransom of a man’s life is his wealth, but a poor man hears no threat.”

...and with these, I love verse 25:

“The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite,

but the belly of the wicked suffers want.”

Wealth is a funny thing. For the sake of today, though it may be semantics, I want to differentiate wealth and riches. In verse 7, notice that the author says ‘riches’...one pretends to be rich, as in has a lot of material possessions, and has nothing. That would be that he drives a car that is not really within his budget, he lives a lifestyle he can’t afford while saving too little, he is working to LOOK like he belongs in a certain group when he really can’t pull it off financially...he is chasing riches and riches are a motivation for him. And, look at the word in verse 25, it is SO important - appetite. The author says that the righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite. It is important to recognize that for many of us, not all of us, but MANY of us, riches are a thing of appetite. The more we have, the more we want. And it is a viscous cycle that never ends. Appetites are satisfied for a season, and then they must be filled again. In order to suppress an appetite, you must starve it. In this context, that means finding ways to learn to say “no” to myself as a matter of routine.

Great question for though - how can I make a habit or a game out of saying “no” to myself regularly?

Look at the contrast with verse 8 - another pretends to be poor (meaning, he doesn’t play the riches game) and what does he get? Not riches, obviously...but wealth? What is wealth then? In the Bible context, wealth is financial contentment - or what author and speaker Brian Portnoy calls, “Funded Contentment”. This is a term that simply means, I have enough.

Now, the author says all throughout Proverbs that we are to work hard...and I don’t think the author thinks money is bad or that earning a lot of it is bad. The thing is, the goal is to have enough...and enough is both a mindset and an amount. The mindset part is what we’ve been talking about...enough is living in a state of controlled appetite and having enough to live a life that gives you a chance to express your visions and your values in how you live. We could spend days on this topic, and I am deep into the study of how to articulate this and to actually build a process of calculating this - but, or our purposes, just recognize that thousands of years ago the author was already onto this; living a life of funded contentment - being ‘wealthy’, not rich.

So good!

Another verse that jumps out at me, and is a favorite of mine for a while now is verse 20:

“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Here is the one quick thing I will point out here...that the company we keep is hugely important. It is true for our kids as well as for us adults...we are a product of the company we keep; it is just that simple. AND, notice that hanging out with foolish people doesn’t guarantee that we’ll become a fool...no, notice that the promise is that it will bring us harm. Meaning, foolish company harms us over time, or it can be all-of-the-sudden, or both...but keeping foolish company brings problems. We can’t just teach our kids this stuff and forget it ourselves!

I have to say, the verse that really jumped out at me this morning is verse 15, and it reads “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”

I am sure we’ve talked about this already, but this hits on this idea that I heard an entire sermon series on by Andy Stanley called “Right In The Eye” (which is one of my favorite series of all time), and it is this idea that we can justify just about anything to ourselves. The world is full of people that, in the moment, did what they thought was right in their own eyes.

Think about this. Guy, who is married, has a girl that he is attracted to at work. Not a sin...totally normal. Guy talks to her when she comes by his office from time to time, nothing major, no issue there. Then, one day the conversation turns away from the weather to something a little more meaningful, and she expresses frustration about her husband the guy, just a passing comment. A few days later, another comment, and guy does what nice people do and consols her a little, offering some encouragement. Again, we aren’t in deep water here. Then they end up eating lunch in the lunch room together...it is a common eating area, no big deal...everyone brings their own lunch and people eat together all of the time. Next thing you know, he is headed out for an afternoon coffee and asks if she wants something...she says yes, and in fact several others do, so she hops in the car to go get everyone’s coffee with him. This happens a few times over a month or so and their rides get filled with more meaningful conversations. Eventually that leads to a drink after work, and you can see where this is going. In fact, we’ve already read a Proverb containing a version of this story, go back and read Proverb 7...of course, this Proverb makes the female the villain in the story, whereas I was trying to be neutral with the cause here...but you get the point.

Wise in our own eyes...see, wisdom is asking that pesky question we’ve posed before, “What’s the WISE thing to do in this moment?”. Wisdom is recognizing that life is a series of paths down which we walk...this guy and this girl weren’t doing anything wrong in their early decisions to communicate...nothing at all. The problem was, they didn’t recognize that they were progressing down a path. They weren’t worried about doing the WISE thing, they were doing what was right in their own eyes. Was it okay to be nice to her when she walked by his office? Yes, of course. Was it reasonable to listen to her struggles against her husband? Maybe, but it certainly wasn’t bad to lend an ear that first time when it happened. Perhaps it was at least in the gray area since he knew he was attracted to her, but still. And bumping into each other at lunch - I mean, what was he going to do, get up and walk out when she sat down next to him? 6 months into this process and their are involved in a relationship, after having done what was right in their own eyes so many times, and now all of their choices are bad. People are going to get hurt no matter what they choose.

Seeking God’s wisdom isn’t about us being stupid, it is just understanding that God can see 10 moves ahead, and we often can’t see past the tip of our nose. Doing what’s right in our own eyes is a fools errand. Wisdom isn’t doing what’s justifiable, it is doing what’s wise. As an extension to that, it is doing what God would call us to do...because our minds and our bodies can and will be routinely hijacked by our sinful nature.

Great reading today...great reminder!

https://www.wrti.org/post/story-behind-beloved-christmas-carol-silent-night

https://vimeo.com/35396597

As I am reading this, it really feels like the author is repeating the same idea numerous times and in various ways, that we might find something that resonates with us individually. Basically, what is being said is that we should do what is right, and we should sow honor and peace in our daily living.

Probably my favor few verses would be the last 5:

27 Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor,

but evil comes to him who searches for it.

It makes me want to think about this - “Do I really value what’s best or what I want in the moment?” That’s a hard question.

28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,

but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

This one hardly needs commentary - but a similar diagnostic question as the last verse comes to mind...that is, “Where do I REALLY place my faith and my trust in my life?” Another hard question.

29 Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind,

and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,

and whoever captures souls is wise.

Taking these two together, we get this idea that a wise person seeks grace and peace in his household, and that a fool is harsh with the tongue and sows discontent. We also see that sowing grace and peace and captures souls is wise, but the way of foolishness basically yields to chance; in other words, we stack the deck in our favor by living in wisdom, in peace in our house.

31 If the righteous is repaid on earth,

how much more the wicked and the sinner.

And this last verse that I picked out really drives home this idea that ultimately wisdom and righteousness is honored. It doesn’t mean that righteousness leads to riches or easy living, but the author attaches a promise of repayment. In reality, even when I thought that I did right and things didn’t go right, I have benefited. My conscious is clear. I felt right with God. I knew I honored my calling. Granted, I didn’t have to weather a beheading like John the Baptist or anything like that, but I could see how this promise holds true.

More great words this morning, more great wisdom. I am going to chalk this up as a “do right” reminder this morning. For today, I am going to actively seek out a moment to do the right thing, when no one is looking, and to use that moment as an act of worship...not seeking anyone’s approval and acknowledgement but God’s. It can be something small, but I want to find an opportunity to do something for an audience of one today, just to thank God for His faithfulness to me, and to acknowledge that I got the message this morning about ‘right living’.

First first 14 verses of this Proverb all fit together fairly tightly...with a theme of righteousness and integrity, and I find it really interesting how well the author expresses the idea that we essentially undo ourselves in this world. We don’t need a devil to ruin things...we have the ability ourselves. One of the subtle themes that is laid out in Genesis is this idea that we are sinners, we are in trouble, until we are saved. God doesn’t relegate us on a daily basis, He doesn’t punish us as much as we just create problems for ourselves. Here, the author writes that we are headed towards trouble, that we are moving that direction already. It is wisdom that calls us off of that path. It is God who is the giver of that wisdom. And, he seems to communicate that it is integrity and righteousness that give us the ability to hear that wisdom calling out. It is when we push to be the people were made to be that we can see and hear most clearly.

That’s a really cool idea.

We also see a little about controlling our tongue mixed into this section today as well.

Really good stuff.

Flipping into these wisdom Proverbs now, we are littered with one-liners and applications. We could literally spend a lifetime in these...and that’s not our goal. haha

What I am going to do is look for themes and look for the one or two ideas that jump out at me each morning. That’s really all we can do unless we want to go line-by-line, day-after-day until we reach the end. But there is so much more of the Bible that I want to get to, so we are just going to get a flavor of what’s in here.

Today though, I see a few different themes pop up...the idea that we should sow seeds for a later harvest when things are going well in our lives, that we should control our tongue, that we should...those and more are all in there today.

For whatever reason, I feel like I should focus on the tongue...the words I speak.

Here are those snippets from today’s reading, combined into one passage:

10 Whoever winks the eye causes trouble,

and a babbling fool will come to ruin.

11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,

but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

12 Hatred stirs up strife,

but love covers all offenses.

13 On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found,

but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense.

18 The one who conceals hatred has lying lips,

and whoever utters slander is a fool.

19 When words are many, transgression is not lacking,

but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;

the heart of the wicked is of little worth.

21 The lips of the righteous feed many,

but fools die for lack of sense.

31 The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,

but the perverse tongue will be cut off.

32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable,

but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse.

Over the last few years, the stress level in my life has really gone up. There are various reasons for that, and those reasons aren’t the point of this...but with that rise in stress has been a rise in the negativity that I harbor. And not only that, I spew that negativity out more than I should. I think most people would characterize me as a happy person still (hopefully), and I wouldn’t say that I am unhappy, generally speaking, it is just that I have noticed that I am not as outwardly positive as I used to be. In other words, I am not the best version of myself. And that is frustrating to me...I want to be better than that. And I think these passages get at one area of life where I can improve. Our words are so important. Psychologists have wised up and learned that we can often act ourselves into feeling a certain way...that our behavior often precedes our emotions. For me, I don’t really have to expand on much of these words, the application is obvious - if I speak positive and uplifting words, if I speak truth and control my tongue, I will be happier, I will be more of a positive influence on those around me, and I will set the tone for more positive life experiences. Today, my goal is going to literally be to say nothing negative for a day. I am putting a rubber band on my wrist right now, and I am going to wear that as a reminder of this commitment and will pop myself if I catch myself going down that road.

Day 1 of the instructional Proverbs...I am already getting beaten up a little. Haha!

This is the last Proverb in this first batch of writings, where we see wisdom lifted up and praised, we see it claimed as being within reach for all of us, something that even calls out to us and yearns to be found.

In reading this morning, the message that I got from this short Proverb is to be open to wisdom when it comes. We see these character-sketches of the typical products of these opposing people, the scoffer and the wise man; the scoffer, with his closed mind, and the wise man, ever teachable and ever progressing. It ties a little with the discussion from we had on having someone in our lives that can speak wisdom into us, that can challenge us and hold us accountable to our highest ideals. It is hard work to do that...it breaks us against ourselves; meaning, it basically assures us that we are going to be falling short repeatedly. It is like practicing the hard riffs on the guitar, knowing you’ll fail repeatedly, or the constantly trying to get those last couple of reps in the workout, even though you know you just aren’t there yet...it is a little discouraging in one sense, because we know there is failure. In another though, it should be EN-couraging...because that’s where growth happens.

The beauty of wisdom is that we can always improve...the struggle with wisdom is that we can’t ever fully arrive. It isn’t a test that we pass...it is stream down which we never cease to flow. It truly is a journey and not a destination, to use a beautiful line that gets quoted too often nowadays!

Today then, my prayer will be that God gives me a humble heart. I pray that God would make me curious enough about life that I would see learning as an adventure and not a struggle, and that I would see wisdom’s discipline (whether from a friend or from life itself) as a way of improvement rather than condemnation. But, I also pray that God would give me the clarity to remember that the struggle in growth is the way forward...that wisdom is earned, not just learned. I pray that He would give me unceasing energy to keep climbing that mountain. It can wear me out...I have experienced that. But one day I know I will look back and realize how high I am, how far I’ve come, and the view will never be the same. That’s the game with wisdom.

Today we are reminded of the eternal nature of wisdom, and that it really is out there waiting for us to take it and use it. God created the world to work a certain way, and wisdom is about tapping into that, and leveraging that in the way we live. The author really drills into that today.

I love how he expresses the eternal nature of wisdom. I think we sometimes read history books, or the Bible, and we look at people that lived in the past as idiots, as simple-mind, or unknowing. The reality is, there is a difference between learned knowledge and wisdom. People that lived 100 years ago certainly had less collected learned knowledge...every generation has more than the one before. But, wisdom...that’s interesting to think about. Given the distracted nature of our world these days, that many people can’t get free for their cell phone and harvest their attention for something relevant and important, I am not sure we are collectively any ‘wiser’. In fact, I think wisdom is so ‘learnable’ that most people that live to the age of probably 65 basically get most of what there is to know in terms of wisdom just from living experience. But, as we’ve discussed, there is a difference between knowing and applying. The irony of that 65 year old having all of the wisdom is that his life is 75% over, and he has very little time left to apply that wisdom, to let it compound in his favor. That’s why reading wisdom, learning it, and applying it daily, starting as young as you possibly can while recognizing it is never too late, is so important.

The promise of wisdom, ironically, is the promise of God - all seek her will find her. Likewise, those who seek God will find Him, as promised by Jesus thousands of years after these words were likely recorded. Great stuff.

Today is another of the adultery-themed writings, hosting a great parable about someone looking out of a window and watching a young man walking down a road, heading in the direction of sin, towards this woman’s house...probably knew that he was headed that way, but was justifying to himself that he is just out for a walk, and this road is like any other, and that being over near this woman’s house isn’t a big deal; playing with fire, as we discussed yesterday. And wouldn’t you know it, the woman sees him and meets him along the way. She entices him to come to her house and that’s that.

What really jumped out at me today though is this person who is the on-looker...the guy in the window; the writer. That person can see this man’s sin clearly. WE, the readers, can see that sin so clearly. It is like watching a crash in slow motion. The writer is using the same kind of style that movies use all of the time, and sitcoms, where we almost know intuitively what is going to happen before it ever does, and that’s where the suspense comes in and builds...now we are just waiting for those events to come to fruition.

So here was my thought as I was reading that...”Who is the person in my life to whom I allow access and from whom I get feedback that would help me to understand when I am walking down a path like that, and who can help to stop me in my tracks?”

I have had 2 great men in my life to serve in that role over the years - a friend named Bart and a friend named Bill. And, they were fantastic to me in that way. But now, for various reasons, there is no one in that role. That’s not good...I need that person in my life. I need that person of wisdom, that person whose lived more life than me and can speak openly to me about their experiences and be honest enough with me to challenge me in mine. Wisdom isn’t just about being wise individually, but collectively...and it is knowing that we are made for community, and that we are stronger in community.

This Proverb this morning reminds me that I need to re-insert that kind of person into my life. That is a goal for me for 2021...to put someone into my life, intentionally, for this reason.

Looking at today’s reading, and at tomorrow’s, we are going to get some more teaching on the topic of adultery for sure. But we can take these teachings and use them beyond the topic of adultery, and that’s where my mind went as I was reading this morning, focusing on these 2 verses specifically:

27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest

and his clothes not be burned?

28 Or can one walk on hot coals

and his feet not be scorched?

You don’t have to be a Bible scholar to get something out of these 2 verses...and it goes back to something we were talking about recently called ‘guard rails’, and setting boundaries so as not to get close to the danger zone. As we learned, there are sins where we can manage and eventually master the issue (more-or-less), and there are sins where we have no hope for mastery and which we must simply choose to flee in our lives. Adultery is one of those sins according to the author. I would say that I have learned that from my life as well...I lost my first wife to adultery. I don’t believe it is because she is a bad person, and I recognize my responsibility as a husband and all of that...but the issue ultimately was that she put herself into a position where something that started small grew and grew and eventually all of the choices were bad choices. Allowing yourself to have lunch with a person to whom you are attracted is a bad idea...it may sound innocent and you may be able to justify it to yourself as “lunch isn’t a bid deal”...but you know that there is a subtle urge for that lunch. That urge isn’t a sin...that’s part of life. The sin is having the urge and not having the wisdom to stop right then. It is a lot easier to stop it then and to honor your spouse then. It is a lot easier to FLEE that situation while there are still GOOD choices. But when lunch leads to another lunch leads to a coffee to a quick drink after work...well, now all of the choices are getting to be bad choices. Now there is something to break off with that person, and now you have a loss either way you turn. That’s the way sin works...and that’s especially the way THIS sin, adultery, works. And you are a fool if you think you are able to play with this fire and not get burned, in the words of our writer today.

Flee...that’s the wisdom here. Just flee. Wisdom isn’t being able to withstand temptation. Wisdom is having both the understand of when to flee AND the courage to do it. This is an place where integrity overlaps wisdom. That’s the takeaway today...just flee this sin and don’t play with this fire at all.

Looking at this short section, there is a theme that jumps out to me. As we read these verses the warnings against giving a pledge for someone, against slothfulness, and against wickedness in general, the theme that jumps out to me is the idea of not taking life seriously enough. Some people live life like it is never going to end, like there is no urgency, and like there is always tomorrow. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s healthy to live life in a hurry or doing what I so often do (and which I want to improve upon) and always be living out in the future, failing to enjoy the moment. So, we must live with a proper balance between being future-focused and present in the here-and-now. But, the author is choosing to offer some encouragement for living with intentionality here; living with a mind on the future. The connecting reason to warn against these issues of taking loans, against being slothful, or against wickedness is that each of these pulls our future potential into the present, just like spending our retirement savings on a car in our 50s. It feels good, it may not be immediately costly to us, and we may forget that we ever did it...until the day that we need those dollars to live comfortably. Borrowing money to spend today is just that...spending future income. The more future income we’ve spent, the more we are working as a slave in the future; a slave to today’s spending. Slothfulness sows seeds of low productivity in the future. Low productivity leads to low income, or lack of marketable skills, or lack of production in another sense. Low production means low means of enjoyment. And with wickedness, we will reap what we sow in this sense as well...live wickedly today, damage our reputation, tarnish our name and our trustworthiness, and we won’t hav any leverage in the future. Without trustworthiness and a good reputation, who is going to help me out in a time of need? Who will give me the opportunity to do something that can beneficially change my life forever if I have crossed them or burned them in the past?

I think a great connection with today’s reading is this question I continue to ask myself daily while we are reading these Proverbs; “Today, have I taken a step forward or a step back in my life?”. I continue asking that each night when I put the phone on the charger before going to bed, and I think this question builds on that. I could amend it to say, “Today, have I taken a step forward or a step back in my life? Have I lived with intentionality?”. And, as I go to bed, I can go to bed thinking about this, “What do I need to do tomorrow to take a step forward, to move towards being the person I want to be and living the life I want to live?”.

That’s a powerful idea. Let’s live intentionally today...a great reminder from Proverbs 6 today.

This Proverbs is very obviously written for a son as a warning against adultry. In reading this, two thoughts come to mind from what is written. Before getting into that though, just a general comment - it seems like adultry is becoming so commonplace now. It almost seems like affairs and divorces are losing their ‘shock factor’ in our society. That is a terrible thing. I am honestly not sure where affairs and adultry are actually more common now, or if this is just something where we are just hearing about it more...I don’t know. Either way though, it is tragic to see the erosion of the marital union like that. And, to be fair, there are far more marriages that are just agreements and relationships, where the relationship is obviously not really there, and the husband and wife are just too proud to actually go through the motions of divorce, or where they are just in it for the kids...and I guess that’s slightly better than divorce, but I don’t know; if it is better, it is by the narrowest of margins. I think the biggest tragedy would be if marital relationships are materially worse than they have been historically, and I don’t know the stats behind that. What families need, what kids need, and what we each need individually is a vibrant husband-wife relationship. There are a myriad of benefits for all associated parties when that is in place. The point isn’t to ‘stay married’, but to have a relationship that is flourishing.

At any rate, looking at this reading, one thing that is clear is that the author would suggest the son FLEE from this sin. There are two types of sins in general terms - those we can manage and those we can master. I would argue that we can just about train ourselves out of certain sinful behaviors by way of habit. For instance, eating terrible food that is bad for my body is a behavior that I (personally) can pretty much master. The way I am wired, when I am engaged in physical activity and exercise, when I am working ahead on meal planning and cooking, when I am involved in grocery shopping...I really don’t find it hard to eat well. That is something I am just about master. But this issue of adultery, especially for men, this is really more of an appetite issue, and it is really not something men can master. We are made by God in a way that precludes us from mastery in this area. This is an area of life we’d be better to simply flee, to run for the hills, to avoid being in a position where we even have to exercise our ability to resist temptation.

The second idea that comes to mind is, assuming there are areas of life where we want to apply this kind of fleeing strategy, we need to build appropriate hedges. The Jewish traditions offer some great examples of this. Jesus was mad at the Jews man times for honoring their own traditions and holding them up as ‘law’ when God clearly gave the REAL Law to Moses. But what the Jews would do is see a Law that God gave and they would set a standard that got them in trouble before they were close enough to actually breaking God’s Law. It was like a guard rail on the highway, an artificial boundary that stops a car from hitting the actual danger, the ditch off of the side of the road. Similarly, in our lives, we can construct guard rails for our behavior that shield us from getting into a place where we even have to face the temptation that we are scared we’ll fall pray to...if you just have a rule that you don’t get alone in an office, a room, a car, or anywhere, any time, with a member of the opposite sex, then you basically preclude yourself from getting into an adulterous situation.

Today is the last few verses of Proverbs 4, where the attention turns to a completely separate idea (in my mind), and that I really wanted to spend a day on, and that is the heart. Right there in verses 20-27 the author gets at an idea that is so powerful, and specifically in verse 23:

Here are a few different translations of this same verse:

ESV: Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

NLT Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

KJV Keep they heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.

HCSB Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.

So, here is why I go into that...looking at various translations is one of the best ways we (as non-language-natives) can understand what is being communicated in these writings. I hear people picking on various translations of the Bible and feeling like one is ‘better’ than another, and I find that to be a comical discussion...each one has an angle it is bringing to the scripture reading process. I am thankful we have them all; it is in comparison that we can often unlock something we can use. Here, I see a couple of words that seem to be used interchangeably; ‘keep’ and ‘guard’, ‘above all else’ and ‘with diligence’, and ‘determines the course of your life’ vs. ‘sources/springs of life’.

Here is what all of that means to me...the condition of our heart in some way directs how our life turns out. I can tell the author really believed that and that he really felt that our hearts should be monitored actively.

So, how is your heart? How are you doing? How are those around you doing? Are you happy? Really? Why or why not? What is keeping you from it? What is the constant source of struggle for you? We are taught that life and wisdom are paths down which we should journey...what is in the way of your path towards happiness that you just haven’t stopped to notice and to remove?

For me, I think a big thing is margin...I have sucked all of the margin out of my life by filling every minute of every day with intentionality and to do items. I haven’t balanced the flow of work and play, the ups and downs of intensity and relaxation. As such, I carry an intensity into every area of life that isn’t equally valuable in each area...I can’t love my family as well as possible with intensity...that’s not the environment for intensity. Today I will pray for wisdom on this topic; as I plan for 2021 this week and next, it will be something important for me to bring to that planning, how to free myself from some of that intense focus and add margin to my life so I can be a better version of me for the people closest to me. I love my wife and my kids so much, and they just aren’t getting the best of me I don’t think...and that’s because I haven’t paid close enough attention to my heart as the writer here in Proverbs guides...and it is time to remedy that for sure!

We are breaking this one into two pieces too...there are two very distinct ideas that I want to really focus on for a full day at a time. The first is this idea of ‘the path’, the idea that both wisdom AND foolishness are paths that we go down. Typically, wisdom is had by a single decision, and neither is foolishness. We can make a wise choice in the moment, or a foolish one, granted, but living in wisdom is making wise choices systematically, repeatedly, and as a course of routine. Foolishness is the same...it is repeatedly making unwise choices as we move through life. It is the ability to weave God into our daily life, making choices in a manner where we routinely pause and as that question we’ve been discussing, “What’s the wise thing to do?”, it is not making every decision on impulse, but instead asking ourselves what we thing God might say to us in this situation. In many ways, wisdom is a skill to cultivated in that it is gained with intentionality and practice.

Why is it so hard then? I think one thing that makes wisdom and living in wisdom illusive is this idea of compounding. As a parallel, think about the way money compounds when saved and invested. Each day’s interest earnings are almost irrelevant and unnoticable, at least at first, but over time the momentum of that compounding builds and eventually big gains are made in short periods of time. But it takes time and consistency to get there. Think about the penny saved example...you heard of this one? If you had a penny on day one, and that penny doubled on day two, and that then again doubled on day 3. Do you know how much you’d have after a week, or 2 weeks, or at the end of a month?

After a week, you’d have $0.64. After 2 weeks, you’d have only $81.92. But, at 30 days, one month in, you’d have an astounding $5,300,000. That’s mind-blowing. Now, in life we don’t see quite that exaggerated of an outcome, but my experience has taught me that wisdom follows a similar kind of path. Things compound. It is the small, repeated, seemingly mundane decisions and actions, repeated over time, that build to create a momentum in life that we all want to have.

For me, today, my question is this, “Where am I NOT experiencing positive compounding in my life?”. I will consider where I can apply the wisdom of this path principle, as pastor Andy Stanley calls it, and I will push myself to initiate a positive action and habit, just one, to which I can build on top of over time.

Today we read the second half of Proverbs 3, which is really like a hymn more than what’s in the first half, which reads more like the classic Proverb literature. This section is littered with ideas that we could latch onto and talk about, as with the rest of Proverbs, but what really sticks out to me are 2 little ideas - this idea that living in wisdom gives us a clear conscious, and that we shouldn’t withhold blessing from others when we can give it.

On this first idea, here are the verses I am referring to:

21 My son, do not lose sight of these—

keep sound wisdom and discretion,

22 and they will be life for your soul

and adornment for your neck.

23 Then you will walk on your way securely,

and your foot will not stumble.

24 If you lie down, you will not be afraid;

when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

25 Do not be afraid of sudden terror

or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,

26 for the Lord will be your confidence

and will keep your foot from being caught.

As I am thinking about this, I love this idea that living in wisdom will create a clear mind of us, a sense of peace. I know from my own experience that when I live according to MY desires and what I can JUSTIFY for myself, I tend to veer of course and I do things I regret, or I buy things I don’t need and experience that buyers remorse...all sorts of stuff like that. But when I live in wisdom, when I live my life asking that question from yesterday, “Right here, right now, what’s the WISE thing to do?”, I tend to live guilt-free. I experience that sweet feeling from v24 when I lie down, I don’t feel that terror when it comes...and it WILL come, I love how the writer says that in v25. This is just a great insight.

27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,

when it is in your power to do it.

28 Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again,

tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.

Here in these 2 little verses are an idea that speaks a little to what really stuck with me yesterday, this idea of being generous with the first fruits of everything I have, including my time, money, energy, etc...all of it. Today, the author stresses that it isn’t just to God that we should give, but that our giving should be to our neighbor; to others. In the New Testament, we see Jesus teach this idea that giving to God IS giving to others, that others are our vessel for showing our appreciation for what God’s done in our lives. This theme goes back 1500 years to Proverbs even. We should act on that nudge that we feel to do for others.

Today, in that vein, I am going to do something I have done before, but I will do it again...I am going to swing through Starbucks for coffee right after lunch (right after I take my daily 15 minute nap after lunch...my recharge power nap), and I am going to ge the tab for the next person in line. Then, as I am drinking my coffee, I am going to take a few minutes and pray for that person/family. It is a small way to get my heart open to serving others.

This Proverb has 2 distinct sections, so I will do each of them separately. The first 12 verses are a classic Proverb-style writing, with the second half of the chapter, verses 13-35 being more of a hymn. For today, in reading the first 12 verses, these lines are just dripping with nuggets of wisdom. I mean, it is rich.

One of the things I notice on a repeated basis in reading Proverbs, especially in these earlier chapters, is the repetition of the plea that we should really treasure wisdom, and that we should seek it like currency, almost like it is oxygen even. It is something we shouldn’t take for granted in other words. And yet, I know that I pass by it on a daily basis, not appreciating how accessible God has made it for me. I love wisdom, but do I really treasure it like that? Perhaps THAT is a key element of wisdom in-and-of-itself, just treasuring it and valuing it appropriately; a subtle point, but probably a highly valuable one. We see this in verses 1-4 today.

Getting into verse 5, we see some of the more quoted verses from Proverbs, and a beautifully written piece of scripture. We see words like “trust” and “lean”, and this idea of a path again...that trusting in the Lord, leaning on His wisdom will put us on a path towards a good life. We will a different way of suggesting that we remain humble, that we shouldn’t be “wise in our own eyes”...a huge element to wisdom. The author goes on to tell us that we shouldn’t dispise correction either; that discipline isn’t a negative, but a positive. As a side note, I think this has a huge lesson buried in it, by way of example to us who are parents. When I am going to discipline my children, it is imperative that I don’t do it in a way that insults them, that stirs them up, or that damages their opinion on themselves. Discipline is a method of bettering someone...and it is important that we remember that. Discipline is something that we give someone we love, as we are told that God does with us here in v11-12; if someone were looking over my shoulder and watching me discipline my children, they should be convinced that I love my children based on the way I discipline them. That’s a big idea.

We also see this idea that we should honor the Lord with our production in v9-10 - that is, our money, our time, our energy...all of it. My nature lends itself naturally to getting up early in the morning, writing this blog, doing my podcast, studying God’s word. For some people, they look at that and think I am super-faithful...but that’s not fair. Some people struggle to get up and put God first, to open God’s Word and to study, but at the same time they are very generous with their time, with their energy, with their money, etc. It isn’t fair to judge me by my strengths only...and, I mustn’t give myself more credit than I am due. The giving of my time, energy, and money is an area where I can grow. It is an area where I used to be more solid if I am being honest. What’s happened is the stress of work and family has caused me to be more inward-focused, almost in a self-preservation kind of mode, and I have lost that outward-minded lifestyle. That is what I am getting from the reading today. That’s the challenge I am feeling today. That’s what I will be praying about and thinking about today.

As a side note, with the amazing wisdom in today’s reading, I find it funny that God really hit my upside the head with these two verses...I almost wish I could ‘unsee’ them...funny how that works.

One of the things I am always looking for with these Proverbs are the subtle ‘if-then’ prompts. In the first few verses of today’s reading, we see the ‘if you do this’ phrasing, as follows in verses 1-5:

My son, if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you,

making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding;

yes, if you call out for insight

and raise your voice for understanding,

if you seek it like silver

and search for it as for hidden treasures,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

And there is more ‘then...’ to come. That appears to be what most of the rest of the chapter is about...the ‘then’.

We are told that it is a path and a shield; that wisdom will come into our hearts, discretion will watch over us, and that our souls will be comforted in that. It will come over us and be available, wisdom, and it will make our paths straight and that it will insulate us from wickedness, from evil.

For us men, it will guard us against the evil woman...a temptation to which men of this world constantly fall pray.

And then today’s chapter ends with a basic statement that living in wisdom is the way to flourish in this world, and that the evil will be cutoff from the world. Again, this isn’t saying that bad things never happen to good people, and I am not going to replay that track over and over again, but as we get started, it is at least important to make sure this is front-and-center in our minds, that God is laying out a general pattern for how the world works for us. And, integrity and living in wisdom are the path most likely to lead to success. And, since we know that planning on winning the lottery isn’t a viable plan for retirement, neither is ignoring the way God made the world and expecting a great outcome. We need to use the tools God gives us.

Apart from that, I know from my own personal experience that when I am living in wisdom, I feel better. It is like I was made with this internal sense of ought and ought not...and I think most people have this as well, unless they’ve ignored it for so long that they can’t hear that voice anymore. That ought and ought not is an imprint of God on me, and on you.

For today, I am going to start asking myself this question throughout the day as I facing decisions, big and small, “What’s the WISE thing to do?”. Not, “What can I get away with right here?”, and not “What can I justify to myself and to others?”, but “What’s the WISE thing to do?”. That is an incredibly powerful question and we’ll talk more about that in the coming weeks, but today is really just the setup for that.

As we discussed in the intro, Proverbs is really broken into 2 major sections, chapters 1-9 about fearing the Lord, and chapters 10-29 filled with wisdom sayings and ideas. As we start reading this morning, there are 3 high-level ideas that really jump out at me.

First, we bump into this main idea of this first section of Proverbs right up front here in verse 7:

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Fear of the Lord...what is that exactly? According to my study Bible, while “fear” can describe terror or dread in our vernacular, the Old Testament use of the word “fear” often indicates awe or reverence. To fear God is to express loyalty to Him and faithfulness to His covenant. Those who fear God exhibit trust in Him and obedience to His commandments. According to the OT, those who fear God obtain God’s protection, wisdom, and blessing. Another way to think about it might be under the term of authority - to fear is to give authority to...if you fear God, you give Him authority over your decisions, your actions; your life.

Another idea, the second one that is introduced here in chapter one, and to which we will refer is this idea of wisdom being like a path. It isn’t just a decision, but a path down which we travel. Living in wisdom is accumulating good decisions that lead in the direction of right living. Two steps forward and one step back is still moving in the right direction - and frankly, that’s about as good as most of us can do! That’s what this is about, building a body of work that ultimately moves us closer to aligning with a life of wisdom.

The last overarching idea that I get from this chapter is this idea that wisdom is calling out to us...it is seeking us, as we should be seeking her. Wisdom isn’t hard to find; it’s cost is simply humility. We must have the humility to feel the NEED for wisdom...that’s the only cost. If we don’t feel as though we need wisdom, we can’t see it. As such, we have to force ourselves to remain humble. We have to remind ourselves that we ARE in need, that we don’t have all of the answers...this really pairs very well with this idea of fearing the Lord; if God has authority over my life, then I can’t help but to be humble, because I am not in charge. This is a skill that we develop and hone over the course of our lives; humility is an integral part of wisdom.

There is so much in chapter one...it is so good, and it is really the framing of what’s to come. For me, in terms of application - when I go to bed tonight, before I put my head down, during this entire study, I am going to ask myself, “On ‘net’, have I taken a step forward in living in wisdom today?” I am going to have a little reminder each night, before I put my phone on the charger, to think about that as we read through Proverbs together.

Proverbs is a fascinating a fun book of the Bible, and I have not done a read-through on it in quite some time. It is definitely one fo my favorites though, so I thought this would be a fun exercise. I may stop at some point to do something fun right around Christmas, something specific to Christmas, but we will see. I am thinking through that now. In the meantime, we can ready through Proverbs and see how God guides us and meets us in that.

Thinking at a high level about Proverbs, it is really a collection of writing with 31 different chapters that is broken into 3 parts - the intro and setup (chapters 1-9), the main wisdom collection (chapters 10-29), and the conclusion (chapters 30-31). This is book is written so that the reader would have the Hebrew word Knokhmah (hook-ma), which means wisdom, but it really carries with it an action element; so, like wisdom applied. It is about what happens when life is lived with wisdom. To be fair, Proverbs is really BEST understood when taken alongside of Ecclesiastes and Job - where Proverbs provides insights about how to rightly live life, Ecclesiastes provides some perspective in being clear that life doesn’t always work out where good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, and Job is like hearing from your grandfather who’s seen it all in his long life. These 3 collections together really provide depth to the topic of wisdom. But Proverbs is the guidance portion...it is a cause-effect portion, where we learn how to world generally works.

While we are on the topic, let’s just be clear on this - good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to good people too. But, if we are all honest, based on everything we’ve read in scripture and that we know about God and Jesus, we are bad people if not for God’s rescue. In other words, there really isn’t anything that can happen in this world that we don’t really deserve in a general sense. So, I think we can mostly dispose of this notion that we get a lot that we don’t deserve - that is completely right, and it cuts both ways. We should be paying the penalty for our sins, and none of us does that in this life. We already have it good. We are already blessed. It is this very fact that we are celebrating in 19 days...the birth of the guy that made that possible!

So, in our reading, we will focus on a set of practice skills that we can apply to live life well, as well as developing a healthy fear of the Lord, which we’ll define.

We should think about Proverbs as Probabilities...we know that doing X in this world doesn’t always guarantee that Y will happen; but we just as easily understand that generally speaking, doing X most likely leads to Y. That’s what Proverbs is about...it is Ecclesiastes and Job where we hear wisdom about the exceptions to the general rule.

In terms of background, there really isn’t a lot known about Proverbs. It is assumed that Solomon was the writer of some of these, but not of all of them. In reality, the author really isn’t super important, because once you’ve lived life longer than about 18 years, you will recognize the reality of these truths and teachings...none of this is off limits to the average person, we all kind of know this stuff intuitively. That’s what so amazing about this - it is almost a book of reminders and nudges. So, our reading of this book will be a lot about application; a lot of daily challenges, applying what we are reading. We can’t apply wisdom without action, so this will be a fun journey of application for us...great for a type A personality like myself!

So, tomorrow, Proverbs chapter 1...here we go!

I have been studying for a year and a half for a test that I am taking this morning. The last few days, I have been so busy studying in the morning that I have neglected my Bible study time. This morning, as close as the test is, I just felt this sense that I needed to open up my Bible and spend this time with God. So here I am...ironically, it is the last chapter of John that is on the table for today. We have been in John for quite some time now, and it has been wonderful. Tomorrow we turn the page and start something new...and I am done with this studying for a bit. Hopefully just one more of these to go and then I can be done! But, I will figure out what to read next tomorrow. Today, John chapter 21.

Jesus is preparing the disciples for their mission...they are now finally ready. John frames up this last chapter with a great scene between Peter and Jesus, where Jesus asks Peter 3 times if he loves Him, and Peter says yes, and Jesus tells him that he should then feed His lambs, and love His sheep. Translation - “Peter, I will know your love for me by the way you love others.” Further translation - “If you want to know how you are doing as a Christian, you should ask yourself if you past one simple test...would other people, watching how you live your life, say that you love your neighbors...that you love Jesus’ sheep?” That’s a simple question, but a VERY big task. It is THE task to which we’ve been called though. There is no doubt about that. That is our calling as believers and followers of Jesus.

So, today my task, your task, is to love those around me as Jesus has loved me. I have admittedly not loved well the last few days...I have been focused on this test. And I think Jesus understands that. But, when I get home today, it will be time to ask Jesus for a little extra strength to love my bride, who’s supported me through this studying and my recent knee surgery. When my gets get home, it will be time to love them. Today, when we get home, it is time to level-set and love those around me. That’s my calling today.

Poor Thomas...he gets picked on all of the time for this episode in today’s reading; for his famous words about not believing until he has seen. What’s funny is that all of the other disciples HAD seen...they had already met with Jesus. So, poor Thomas might not have been alone in his disbelief. And, we can’t tell from the writing here or anywhere else where his reaction was one of this cynical disbeliefs or if it was more of a subtle, “I don’t know...I want to believe you, but I need to see to believe” type things.

Either way, the takeaway for me is that I need to learn to trust what’s been done for my belief. We have mountains of information about all that God has done in my life to demonstrate who He is, and it is really a shame if that isn’t enough. I need to focus on holding to what’s been done for me so far, and I need to not have such a quick-to-forget mind. God has given me thousands of years of works to demonstrate His love for me...clearly it isn’t God’s next miracle that will get me to believe. Belief is something I have to work towards; it is a muscle I have to work at building daily.

Imagine how freaked our you would be if you walked up to that tomb and didn’t see Jesus’ body in the tomb as you were expecting. And, think about their reaction...they didn’t think for second that He was risen from the grave, they assumed His body was stolen or moved. That really speaks to how impossible we are in terms of our faith - Jesus was with these folks for several years and couldn’t convince them of what was to come, and when it actually happened, the resurrection wasn’t even a solution to their problem of a missing body.

Today, I want to remain flexible, I want to remain amenable, I want to remain open to what God has in store. I want to learn to truly open up my life, open my hands, and live the life God has in store for me...obviously, I can’t even imagine how good that can be. I couldn’t have imagined MOST of the amazing things God has done in the past. The future looks awesome based on that logic.

As I was reading this morning, I came into a thought that really isn’t a point John is making anywhere, but that just came to mind as I was reading. Today we see Jesus’ crucifixion, and we see his burial. It SEEMS like a tragic end to the story...and to everyone there, was the end for Jesus; He was gone. There aren’t people standing around waiting on the resurrection to happen...it seemed like it was done. The thing that I found so interesting though was with Jospeh of Arimathea to help in carrying away Jesus’ body so it could be prepared for burial...it is Nicodemus. John even reminds us in the text today that this is the same Nicodemus that came to Jesus in the dark of night to find answers about His identity back in chapter 3. It is the same Nicodemus who poked his head up in chapter 7 with a small plea to spare Jesus from judgement as people were starting to try to figure out who He was..evidently the conversation between he and Jesus had left a mark on him. Now he is even helping to carry Jesus away for burial.

It makes me think. From what we can tell, Nicodemus is still part of the Jewish leadership, a part of the Pharisees. At the same time, here he is providing for the same Jesus that was the butt of the Pharisees’ punishment. Perhaps Nicodemus was what I would call a ‘Sunday Christian’. He believed, but he wasn’t able to summon the courage to act as if he believed. He wasn’t able to hand his life over to God for direction. He believed when it was convenient for him, but was otherwise just an ‘under the radar’ Christian. I don’t this for sure, I am speculating...but it still gets me thinking about that question that comes up often as I am journaling...and that is this, “If I were on trial, charged with being a Christian...could I be convicted on account of evidence?” That’s a big question...that’s a powerful and convicting question.

That’s my prayer and meditation today...that I would look upon myself and not feel the guilt and the regret that I am guessing Nicodemus felt when Jesus was dead and gone. I am guessing Nicodemus was ridden with shame, at least in his own mind, as He knew who Jesus was but didn’t have the courage to follow. Its my guess that THAT is why here was here with Joseph...he was trying to clean up after his failure of courage. I pray that isn’t me...that when I look back on my life, that I would see the my faith in action through courage.

What a powerful few verses this morning, Jesus is called upon by the guards, with the help of Judas, and verse 11 really struck me this morning, it reads:

So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

What really strikes me about this verse is how certain Jesus is about his calling. Jesus has the courage, and the clarity, just like David in the cave when being chased by Saul, to give himself over to the situation, and to allow things to play out in their natural way. David could’ve easily murdered Saul in such a vulnerable position in the cave; similarly, Jesus could’ve taken the situation into his own hands and avoided what was to come. However, both had clarity as it relates to their calling.

It seems to me that sometimes our individual calling may seem crazy to others. It doesn’t make a ton of sense in David’s case, and only in hindsight does it make sense in Jesus’ case, to allow things to play out. In the moment it surely seems crazy to anyone looking on. But that’s the thing, it doesn’t have to make sense to the onlookers, only to the individual that God is called.

For today, for me, the prayer is that I would have the kind of clarity and fortitude around my calling that Jesus has here, that David had in his time, and that the only thing that would matter for me is God‘s directive.

What a great prayer we see from Jesus this morning...a great example of how to pray, that can be used in conjunction with The Lord’s Prayer. As I read this prayer, I notice a few things about it.

First, I don’t see Jesus praying for safety from what He know is coming. Even though Jesus knows He is about to die a terrible death, He doesn’t pray to be saved from that. He has already made it known to God that He would prefer another way, and He lobs up a prayer like that in the middle of all of this, but He doesn’t use His words to pray for safety...He prays, instead, for unity. He prays that these disciples would get a glimpse of how great God really is, just as He has seen.

He prays for their strength, because He knows that they are starting to get it, to understand, and that they are are starting to be ‘hated’ by the world on account of the truth they are professing. He has been hard on them to develop them and to prepare them, but you can see in this prayer that He doesn’t care for them and love them.

Another thing I notice when reading this, that isn’t explicit in what Jesus is saying, but that seems to be true based on what He says, is that Jesus is content with the work He has done. Jesus has been a ‘good and faithful servant’...Jesus knows that. The power of that confidence is, no doubt, wind in His sails as He faces what’s the come. It encourages me that if I can get my faith right, if I can trust God fully, follow Him unconditionally, and live in a way that demonstrates that faith and trust, I can be content. I can be confident. I am rest in the fact that God will smile upon me. That’s a huge encouragement for me.

Today I am thinking about the sense of closeness that Jesus must have, based on this prayer, with God. This is a closeness that I want. This is a unity that I want. And, it is a great reminder that Jesus really did love the disciples and us, and that He prays on our behalf as we do God’s will here on earth...that we aren’t alone in that work.

Just a short reading this morning...I am in the throws of studying for a massive test that is only a couple of weeks away and I trying to get as much studying done as possible, as early as possible, before the family wakes up.

At any rate, this morning is the continuation and finale of the pep talk that Jesus was giving the disciples yesterday. But today’s pep talk has a great ending to it that really commands its own entry...at least in my opinion. Today’s final comment from Jesus is as follows:

John 16:33: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

What a powerful statement. It is a reality that we WILL struggle in this life at times...we have already done that! But this final proclamation to take heart, because Jesus has overcome the world; what a fantastic reminder of another reality. If Jesus died and rose from the grave as we profess to believe, then is there anything else in scripture that is unbelievable? Think about that...if this happened, then nothing else that is in here scripture should be questionable in terms of whether or not not God COULD do it. We can have a separate conversation about various writings and manuscripts that should or shouldn’t be in the Bible itself, and that’s fine and good, but in terms of these fantastic Old Testament stories that doubters will sometimes pick on, with questions like, “Do you really think Jonah lived in the belly of a whale for several days?”, or “Do you really think God literally parted the Red Sea?”, etc...those types of questions don’t have to put us on our heals with regard to our faith. If Jesus got out of the grave, if He was dead and then came back to life, is any of this other stuff really that hard to believe? No! Or course not!

One of our jobs as believers is to focus on what’s undeniable, and to worry less about what’s unexplainable. Another way to say that is that we should major on the majors, and not major on the minors. The resurrection is THE thing.

Today is a great reminder of the confidence we can have as Jesus-followers!

I grouped these 2 chapters together because they are essentially one long message from Jesus that all pretty well fits together. And as I am reading this, right in the middle is the part that jumps out at me, right there in chapter 15. In chapter 15, we see Jesus use the word abide 8 different times if I have counted correctly. He is creating a very clear message for the disciples. Now, we are still in this setting where Jesus has washed their feet and is now sitting with them at the table, presumably eating, and they are discussing what’s to come. Judas has been revealed and has already fled the scene...now Jesus gets into some of the ‘mushy’ stuff where He is talking about how He and God are one, He is using a lot of figurative language and this was probably all very confusing to the disciples at the time because Jesus was alluding to His death and the disciples really didn’t get what was coming. Looking back, what Jesus is saying makes sense...in the moment, it probably sounded a little fanatical. Nonetheless, He is teaching them that they need to abide in His teaching and rest in the truth of His words. This is the same ‘abide’ word that He used in chapter 8 when He said that they needed to abide in His teaching in order to be His disciples, and that in doing so they would see the truth...one of my favorite teachings.

For me, the context of this teaching is what is so important. He is really pressing in on this point hard for them, that they need to trust in Him, abide in Him, rest in the reality of what He has taught, because Jesus knows that things are about to get crazy. Jesus knows that they need to really lean into what has been taught because everything that they had grown comfortable with as a group of Jesus-followers was about the change...everything EXCEPT the words He had given them. I think we could almost view this as a pep talk before the main event.

The reason this sticks out to me is because I know from personal experience that the moments I really find challenging in life are the moments when I really find out who is in charge of my life. When things get hard, I can either look up or look in...look up for God’s Grace and guidance, or look inward and try to cling to my own sense of control. I also know that the times when I have looked up have been more fruitful than the times I have looked in...but because of my sinful nature, looking in is often my natural inclination.

So, today God reminds me to let go and let God, to be thankful that He is in control, and to be thankful that He has invited me to let Him drive the train. Today I am reminded that life is better when God is in the driver’s seat, and I will look to rest in that truth today.

Today’s reading ends with one of those passages that looks like part of an idea that John just wanted to slide in there...Jesus has told the disciples that where he is going they cannot go, and then we see Peter press Him on this a little, saying that he wants to go too. John writes that Jesus tells Peter, in verse 38, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times.”

Of course, we know what happens, after Jesus’ death, Peter and the disciples are scrambling and trying to make sense of the situation, and Peter is pointed out on several instances and people are asking if this is the same guy that was seen with Jesus routinely, and of course Peter denies it...3 times, at which point a rooster immediately crows. It is the parlor trick Jesus...a small little sign that Jesus set up as another point of proof as to His identity, and John didn’t miss a chance to capture it here.

But what really stands out to me is the section immediately preceding that, verses 34-35...I am going to read them, as these are 2 of the most important verses in all of the New Testament in my opinion.

Now, remember the context, Jesus has JUST washed the disciples’ feet, which we know from yesterday is something really only a slave would do in this time. He has now called out Judas as being the betrayer, and Judas has now fled the scene...with freshly cleaned feet. Jesus is about to be carried off for His torturous death. AND, we have already studied another of the key passes from John, back in chapter 8, verses 31-32: “...If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” - meaning, we know Jesus values following over believing, and that in following, believing can happen. So, with that context, Jesus drops these two verses on them:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is a HUGE command from Jesus. The take away is this...living as a Christian, living as a Jesus follower in today’s culture, in all cultures, for all time, is about one primary thing...love. If I were judged ONLY on that metric by God, right here and now, is that an assessment that would put me in a favorable light? Hmmm...that’s rough. And notice what Jesus didn’t say, He didn’t say, “Love the people that are easy to love”, and He didn’t say, “Love the people who haven’t yet offended you”, and He didn’t say, “Love the people who love you back”...what He did say is, “Love as I have loved”, which is really convicting because He loved Judas who handed Him over to be strung up on a cross until He died...that’s way worse than my friend who won’t call me back, or won’t respond to my text messages, or that ticked me off with what he did and so I wrote him off...Jesus tells us to love as He loved. AND, from yesterday, we get a key piece of wisdom to help with this, or at least it helps me sometimes; it is this idea that loving that friend is really an act of worship.

Today, I am going to love...I am not exactly sure what that will look like, but I am going to try for that. I am going to TELL people that I love them explicitly, for one thing...beyond that, hopefully God will move me and guide me. And, as I do that, I will lob up little prayers to remind myself that this is my worship, that I loving THEM because God loved ME first.

John really goes out of his way to make sure know that Jesus knows that Judas is going to betray Him...because knowing that makes what Jesus does so much more powerful. Today we see Jesus serving the disciples by washing their feet - this is an act that pretty much only slaves performed. When the master of a wealthy household returned from a journey or a day of work, a slave would wash his feet. And, people wore open-toed sandals in the first century, which would have made this an unpleasant task. So Jesus was really doing something here that had an obvious symbolic meaning, and that’s why Peter reacted the way He did by trying to deny Jesus the chore...it wasn’t Jesus’ place. But Jesus was really giving us a picture of what servanthood is about.

In reality, servanthood cost Jesus. It wasn’t like Jesus was just giving from His abundance when it was convenient. Servanthood was part of the act of denying Himself in some way. And that’s the example for me this morning in reading this. Where am I doing this? Where have I done this recently? Where have I said no to me in order to say yes to someone close to me, in order that I might trade my comfort, my autonomy, my desire, for theirs? That’s a great example.

And there is another important lesson here...Jesus didn’t just serve people in this scene, He served THE person who was about to hand Him over to be strung up on a cross and tortured to death. This is a great lesson to those of us who have a tendency to write people off when they’ve wronged us, or when we’ve tried to go along with them time and time again, but they just won’t come around. Jesus is reminding us in this act of servanthood to Judas that we need to keep going back...Jesus didn’t serve Judas for Judas’ sake, He served Judas as an act of worshipping God. Likewise, I am to serve those around me as an act of worship to God...as nice as it is when they recognize and appreciate my service to them, it isn’t about that...my service to you is my worship to God. That’s what Jesus is showing us this morning, and it is a powerful idea!

I love these last verses of this chapter...they are a fantastic big-picture reminder of what Jesus came to do in the first place. It is a reminder that His presence isn’t about judgement, though it seems like that’s what we FEEL. Jesus came to SHOW us that we ARE sinful, and that we can’t escape that truth, but that there is hope and freedom FROM that sin in Him. Jesus gives us freedom...he doesn’t burden us with judgement.

Sometimes we can feel like we are getting beaten up by the scriptures because we see the standard set by Jesus, and we realize that we can’t live up to that bar...but that isn’t the point of the standard, and that feeling of judgement is really our internal admission that we can’t...the feeling of judgement is a feeling of admission. In reality, our feeling SHOULD be of thankfulness, of gratefulness, of relief...because that is the reason Jesus came down to us.

As we move into the last section of this letter from John, where we’ll see his death and resurrection, I think this is a great reminder that what’s to come for Jesus is a reminder that we are free from the same...and that guilt and judgement in our lives are emotions of admission rather than emotions that are intended from God; Jesus came to set us free.

One thing thats easy to do for us is to look at these writings as if they are simply journal entries as I am doing here. I have even often referred to some of these writings as almost sounding as if John is journaling to himself. However, these are not casual writings and there’s so much that went into this kind of “letter” that John wrote, and I just want to elaborate on one of those this morning.

The number seven has significance for John, as does the Greek phrase, Εγω ειμι (E-Go, E-Me), or “I am”.

So, first off - why “7”? What’s with that particular number? And what’s with the phrase “I am”?

Volumes have been written on this magic number 7, but apparently numbers in Biblical times were often symbolic of a deeper meaning - maybe the only parallel I can think of for us is the infamous meaning of the “lucky” number 13. But, a the number seven is especially prominent in Scripture, appearing over 700 times. From the seven days of Creation to the many “sevens” in Revelation, the number seven connotes such concepts as completion and perfection, exoneration and healing, and the fulfillment of promises and oaths. So it carries significance in these writings.

I am is the covenant name given to God back in Exodus chapter 3, through Moses, and it is also used in Isaiah 43 and 46. So John is clearly making a statement about Jesus’ identity.

John strategically places seven “I am“ statements within his writings.

… The bread of life, 6:35
… The light of the world, 8:12
… The gate for the sheep, 10:7
… The good shepherd, 10:11
… The resurrection, 11:25
… The Way, the truth, and the life, 14:6
… The true vine, 15:1

He also as designed at seven other stories that contain key moments where John uses this phrase, “I am“:

4:26
6:2
8:24
8:28
8:58
13:19
18:5

He also lays out 7 “signs” that Jesus performs during his ministry.

Turning water into wine, chapter 2
Healing a sick boy, chapter 9
Healing and paralyzed man, chapter 5
Feeding the 5000, chapter 6
Healing a blind man, chapter 9
Raising Lazarus, chapter 11
Raising Himself, chapter 20

So why do I bring this up and get into this? The thing that this exercise really stresses for me is that John was very intentional about this letter. Again, this isn’t just his “journal“, we are talking about someone who spent a significant amount of time pulling together information and packaging it in a way that would be impactful and useful to the people of the time. The complexity of many of these writings is lost on us because most of us take for granted reading and writing, and we don’t appreciate the artistic nature of these skills in this time.

These ideas just really give rise to thankfulness in my heart, and appreciation for the fact that we can even hold in our hands a bound copy of all of these writings; 66 books from over 40 different people, most of who have never met, written over a period of about 1500 years. It is a miracle we take for granted every day.

In the reading this morning we see 3 events that really have some interesting implications for us.

The first is this scene where Mary pours out an expensive ointment on Jesus’ feet, symbolically blessing Him and praising Him, and Judas (who is the one to betray Him soon) points out that this is a waste and that this ointment could have been sold and the money placed into the moneybag. Here is the twist though - that moneybag is for giving to the poor, it was under Judas’ care, and he was a regular thief from that bag apparently. So, this was really a hypocritical comment, and of course Jesus knows this. We don’t know if all of the disciples know it or not, but John knew this about Judas. But this is just another great example of hypocrisy, and this wasn’t from the Jews, but from Jesus’ inner circle. To me, it just illustrates that we ALL are prone to be blind to our own issues and we have to be open to this reality if we want to grow through it.

The second scene is really just a moment where these Pharisees see that everyone is following Jesus, and that they’ve lost their influence, and they make this comment like they are just kind of throwing their hands up in the air...it is v19: “So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”” I think that is just great...it’s like they have thrown in the towel. It reinforces this idea that God is going to do what God is going to do...you can either jump on the train and be a part of what He is doing and going to do in the world, or watch it pass you by...it is an open invitation. They’ve chosen to watch it pass them by.

And then the third scene, the moment when the story of Jesus takes a turn and Jesus opens the door to the eventuality that He is going to be crucified. Now the ‘Greek’ people, not the Jews, are really wanting to hear from Jesus...they’ve been on the sidelines and Jesus’ teachings have been for the Jewish people mostly; Jesus knows now is the moment when that message needs to get out to the rest of the world. He goes into a beautiful analogy about a grain of wheat going into the earth to die, to become part of the earth, and to bear fruit ultimately...and he expands on this saying that we, each and every one of us, bust do the same in our own lives...die to ourselves, to our own desires, and transformed into a vessel for God...we become part of God’s plan, part of God’s story. To do this, we must choose what is most important - God’s will or ours. This is a hard truth. Ultimately, each of us gets to decide who is God in our lives...us, our desires, our autonomy, our free will, or God. Jesus laid His life down for us, as an example to us...and we get to daily decide whether or not we will lay down ours.

Today I am praying for an opportunity to lay down my life...to spot a chance to make that decision in a small but deliberate way...to follow selflessly.

What moves Jesus? What is so compelling that he is emotional about it; what really inspires God? It’s our faith. The only times that we see God moved by humankind is when we display heroic faith. We see grand versions of this, like from Elijah, and we see less grand but equally striking versions of this, like from the centurion that calls on Jesus. Here we see Mary and Martha displaying their faith, trusting and believing, and we see Jesus respond with weeping… and an awesome miracle.

Now, this isn’t “prosperity gospel“, it isn’t that every time we display faith we can get God to do our bidding for us; God is not our puppet. So let’s not go there. The point that is being made is that grace faith gives way to great response. When we display our faith like Mary and Martha, we give God space to act. In the end, God gets to decide what to do with that space. He raise Lazarus from the dead, but he left John the Baptist in prison. One day, when we get to heaven, we can ask him why - but for now though, the one thing that is clear is that we need to create space for God to move in our lives if we ever want him to do so.

Also in the reading today, we see the Jews make their final decision to pursue Jesus to kill him. It is clear that their motivation is to maintain control and not necessarily to find the truth. We’ve talked about it before, so I’m just gonna leave this idea alone - other than to say that this illustrates how being a control-seeker and a truth-seeker can become mutually exclusive; we must decide to be more interested in the truth than in being right or being in control if we want to grow in our faith.

Some great lessons today!

I have broken this story into two pieces for ‘dramatic’ effect...haha, not sure how much drama I can muster up in a 4 minute podcast and a set of Bible journaling notes, but I think there is an important idea embedded in this first reading.

In these first 27 chapters of chapter 11, we see 2 devout sisters in Mary and Martha who’s brother Lazarus has gotten ill, and we find out that he actually dies. Mary and Martha send for Jesus to come because they believe He can heal Lazarus, and we know Jesus had an affinity for Lazarus because he is called ‘the one whom you love’; this is a title not frequently given to Jesus. So, we have 2 sisters and a brother all truly intertwined with Jesus, true followers - they call for Jesus to come and to save Lazarus and Jesus does what...He hangs around for two days before going. He apparently loved Lazarus so much that He watched football over the weekend before going to save him (hopefully you catch the humor in that!).

But think about that...that seems a little insensitive...doesn’t it? Why wouldn’t He go immediately? Well, He tells us that it is so we could see God’s glory on display. But what I want you to notice is that Jesus tells the disciples this...not Mary or Martha...Jesus essentially tells them, “Hang tight, chill out, I let Him pass away so I could do something amazing and raise Him from the dead...don’t worry, I got this.” But, meanwhile, these two sisters Mary and Martha don’t know this. And that is what I find so awesome about what happens next.

Just as an ironic side-note...notice that Thomas, the same Thomas who hands Jesus over to the Jewish authorities for the crucifixion, is the one that speaks up enthusiastic about getting over there to raise Lazarus; just kind of funny, in a sad way I guess.

Picking back up with our story, Jesus shows up and now Lazarus has been dead for 4 days. And Martha runs out to Jesus as He comes strolling up, Mary is distraught and stays inside, and then we see the thing that just really impresses me...Jesus reminds Martha that whoever believes in Him shall be saved, and that He is the in control, and He asks her if she believes Him without her knowing what is coming...and she says ‘yes’. She was confused because she assumed when Jesus told her that her brother would rise again that He was talking about rising in heaven; we can see that in her response. And if that was all that there was to the story, she said ‘yes’, that she trusts Jesus. In other words, she wasn’t happy that her brother had died and that Jesus didn’t save him, but she was content in Jesus. Now, that’s awesome. We see a bold trust in Jesus right here, and I think THAT is part of what really moved Jesus, as we’ll read tomorrow. It reminds me of when Jesus’ mother Mary was asked to trust in God, by the angel Gabriel, when she was told what was going to happen to her and we are told ‘she believed’...she trusted. Martha trusted Jesus without knowing the rest of the story...without knowing what Jesus was going to do. That’s a great, great lesson for us today. When we really trust, when we really place our faith in God, that’s what it looks like...bold, unknowing, and open-handed trust. That’s what moves God.

Today’s passage has Jesus talking to the Jews during the feast of Hanukkah, during the Feast of Lights specifically, and they are questioning Him about His works and miracles. And Jesus takes a really interesting approach to answering their charge, and I don’t know that I have noticed it before. The Jews seems really interested in personal assaults on Jesus; they are trying to get Him removed to their lives. But, as we’ve discussed, what we never really see them doing is denying what He has done. In other words, they never claim that His miracles are just illusions, or that He isn’t healing people, feeding thousands, or any of that...they are always attacking His claims to be God’s Son. They are making personal attacks, not attacks on the facts that are plain to see. And today, Jesus calls them out on that. He does this directly in v37-38. Interestingly, prior to this, they are about to stone Him, and then they shift to just wanting to arrest Him. It is so telling, and so subtle, how they change in these stories. You stone someone who is a disgrace, for whom you have no respect, for whom you have an opinion of being a trashy person...but you arrest someone when you don’t know what to do with Him and just want Him out of your hair. That subtle shift, I think, is a little telling.

And we do the same thing...many people today attack Jesus, the Bible, with a line of logic that this can’t be true, and that philosophically we imagine a God because we are relational beings and we are just filling a psychological void; there are lots of reasonable-sounding explanations about why we might create religion and create God in our minds, when in fact He may not exist. The thing is, what WE argue as Christians is that something happened...we aren’t making a philosophical point to support our faith, but an historical point. We believe the EVENTS of the New Testament are true. And, but extension, IF those claims that Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected are true, if we agree on that, THEN we can talk about the rest of what’s in the Bible. But if we can’t agree on that, then there isn’t a discussion to be had.

Here the Jews are making the philosophical argument and are avoiding the facts that Jesus has done these things, right in front of their eyes...and they aren’t denying it. It just reminds me of one of my favorite mantras as it relates to spirituality: when I focus on what’s undeniable, my faith soars, but when I focus on what’s unexplainable, it fades. There are plenty of “unexplainables”, and it is fun to play in the realm of trying to solve some of those...but, we have to be grounded in the “undeniables”...that’s where our faith is rooted, and we must not sidestep those in our faith journey.

Flashback

I love the imagery and analogy presented here in this chapter...it is really poetic. And, it would have been much more impactful to those present than to us...I have never met or even seen an actual shepherd in my life; I am guessing the same is true for you as well. But, in contrast to a thief, who must jump over the wall, a true shepherd uses the door to enter the fold. Each night, the shepherd guards the door. When he calls, his sheep respond because they know him, trust him, and follow him. In Jesus’ day, many shepherds shared the same pasture and even drove their flocks together into a sheepfold at night. In the morning, each shepherd would stand at the open gate and call for his sheep. The flock would recognize his voice and follow him out. That is the beauty of this analogy.

In our lives, or at least in MY life, I lived for about 23-24 years without knowing Jesus personally. I had this inclination to search for answers though, to seek out the truth; I had something in me that just wanted to know if there really was a God and if He had a place for me. I had a nagging sense that there was something for me to know and to find. Like a sheep, I was looking for my shepherd, I was seeking out that voice to call me home. I think most people have that in them. When things get crazy in life, at some point, most people look up for answers. It could be, as many psychologists suggest, that we have been conditioned because of our ability to reason and communicate that some kind of a god-being is universally communicated and so we know that is an option to consider, but it could also be true that we look up because God put that inclination inside of us. At this point in life, having seen what I’ve seen and experienced what I’ve experienced, I just choose to believe the latter rather than the former. I think God is in me in that way; I think He is in all of us in that subtle way. This analogy from Jesus today is just a reminder that when God calls, He can get the attention of His children, His sheep. I pray that I will live my life in a way where I can hear Him call...and not just in the emergencies, but in the daily living, as He guides me from one place to another. That’s what relationship with God is all about.

This story from today’s reading is pretty funny. It is a story of a man getting healed of blindness, looking for people with which to celebrate, and finding only judgement...in the end I am sure he was in a confused state. How can a man that was healed from blindness not be celebrating at the end of the story? How can the parents not be elated for him?

Well, this is a chapter that you really need to read or listen to - it is really straight forward. Maybe the only thing that might be confusing is the fact that, at this time, people thought physical afflictions like blindness, leprosy, deformity, etc. were the result of a person’s sin, or their parents’ sin. Jesus twisted that idea and told this man directly in the story that his blindness was put there by God so the Jesus could heal him and demonstrate who he is.

What this story really illustrates is the link to which we will go to justify our beliefs, to maintain our narrative, and to be “right“. I think most of us looking at this story would think the Pharisees are crazy at this point. However, in the areas of our lives where we are acting similarly, and hypocritically, we are just as blind to our ridiculousness as were they.

I feel like this idea keeps coming back to me, each time I read and journal on one of these miracles that John shares with us. I feel like I need to spend a little extra time thinking through what God might have for me in this vein; where am I missing something obvious because I’m hanging onto what I want to be true rather than what is true?

Today we see Jesus fighting with the Pharisees in his classic fashion - he is essentially calling them out as not being as virtuous as they want to tell themselves that they are. They are telling him that they are Abrahams children, but he is pointing out that they are not living up to Abrahams standards and instruction. Therefore, they can’t possibly be his children and, by extension, cannot be God’s either. The thing that really stands out to me, which Jesus is pointing out, is that they are not interested in “the truth“. Yesterday we dissected three verses that talk about truth and how truth is realized in God‘s world; that we act as God asks, we then come to understand his wisdom, and then we will understand the truth. The problem with these Pharisees is that they ultimately are not acting the way God had asked. The law they are most concerned with is their own law not God’s. God‘s law helped them originally form they are beliefs and their rituals, but now they are cleaning to a vision of a Messiah and a God that doesn’t exist, and they are not open to the truth. Interestingly, some of them evidently recognize the hypocrisy under which they are living, that’s probably why someone like Nicodemus became a “convert“; he noticed the inconsistency and was humble enough to step back, step out, and consider a different direction. as we have talked about though, it costs us to do that; it takes a lot of humility and courage to do this because there was a lot of power, and a lot of money, involved in being a leader.

Yesterday’s passage is really a prelude to today’s; the Pharisees were the keepers of the truth, they knew God‘s word better than anyone, yet the truth eluded them. It eluded them because they didn’t implement it. Now, it is easy for us to point fingers at them, but actually implementing the law that got handed down through Moses was an impossible feat anyways. So, they didn’t fail because they couldn’t execute it, the failed because they changed the rules of the game and made themselves and their traditions their own gods.

The take away for me today is that I need to abide in God‘s word as it has been given and need to waste no energy I’m trying to find loopholes or other “outs”. Just do the work, that should be my mantra. If I’ll do as God says, I’ll see as God sees… If I abide in his word, I’ll become a disciple of his and I will know the truth, and the truth will set me free. It’s that same hard/easy idea from yesterday that Jesus is teasing out today in front of these Pharisees and myself.

Today we run into one of the most popular and often quoted versus in all of scripture, usually quoted in a paraphrase, as “the truth will set you free”.

Has it so often the case, the quote is mis-used, and he’s completely out of context as we can clearly see today.

Here’s the full sentence from which that phrase is plucked:

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to realize that most of us have miss used what Jesus was saying. There are clearly three parts to this.

First, he begins with the word “if”. If white? If you abide in my word. That is to say if you hold fast to what I’m saying, you practice what I’m preaching, or you apply the wisdom that I am giving you. If you do that, then…

Second, ...THEN, having abided in my word, you will be my disciples and you will know the truth. In other words, it is by doing that we will be knowing. Jesus isn’t asking us to understand, he is asking us to act, to apply his teaching. When we do this, the promise is that we will understand more deeply; action begets wisdom.

Third, so once we have abided, we will be in a position to understand the truth, and then we will be set free. it isn’t the truth that sets sets us free...it is in applying Jesus’ teaching.

And, it’s important to reiterate that I’m not talking about salvation here… Jesus is not teaching us that we have to apply is teaching in order to be saved into “go to heaven”; this is about wisdom showing up and being leveraged in our lives.

The most frequently quoted verse in all of scripture leaves out the most important part of the verse; ironically, not surprisingly, it’s the hard part, the doing.

I know I have spoken about this before, but there is a principal I heard of years ago called hard/easy. It says it if we do the easy things, make the easy choice, can we do that first, life will be hard later. But if we make the hard choice, the wise choice, now, it will be easier later. We don’t get to choose whether something is hard or easy, We just get to choose went to experience each of those. The one that we defer is amplified by time. Living life committed to making the wise choice, sometimes viewed as the harder choice, first and foremost, leads to greater life satisfaction later.

Today, I want to look for an opportunity to apply hard/easy, to abide in God‘s word in a moment when I would prefer not to; applying the wisdom that in doing so life will be better later. .

It is interesting to me how direct Jesus is with these guys. I mean, He is telling them repeatedly what the deal is, and they just don’t understand...and largely because they don’t WANT to understand. Jesus is actually giving them the ‘gospel’ message right here in this text. This is a passage that I just know John is writing about and reflecting on and thinking, “Oh, NOW I get it...NOW I understand what He was saying!”. John got it (at least in hindsight), but many of these Pharisees didn’t. But one thing I picked up on this morning was the last sentence of this passage: “As he was saying these things, many believed in him.”

Jesus is here talking to a group who has been verbally abusing Him, has maybe had a little physical abuse dealt to Him, and that He knows will ultimately be responsible for His unthinkable torture and death. He is continuing to go back to them and to try to reach those that are open to His message. There may have been just a few in this group that even had a shot at ‘receiving’ what He was teaching and saying, but He went anyways. He was resolute in His faith and in His mission and it didn’t matter how many times someone gave up on Him or pushed back, He kept coming.

I think that’s an encouraging word this morning...this reminder that we should be resolute, that we should persist, and that if only one person were to be saved by our faith, that would be a victory for God. That could be my mission...I don’t know. So that’s my challenge today...to illustrate my faith in a clear and visible way to someone, not as an ‘in your face’ type of a thing, but a subtle and obvious act of faith that clearly discloses what I believe in a manner that is also inviting to another. I don’t know what that looks like, but that’s my calling today.

A word about our country and this election...

Before getting into this story, I will recognize that this story isn’t in the earliest manuscripts of John’s Gospel. Now, that DOES mean that it was later added. That DOESN’T mean that it isn’t a true story. Since I believe that Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected as substitute for the punishment that I deserved, I also believe and trust that God orchestrated the gathering of these readings and materials and that this was all part of a bigger miracle He was doing in giving us the Bible. In that context, I believe that this story probably belongs here. And, in the sense that it really does illustrate things about Jesus that we already know from other parts of scripture, it seems completely logical that this is a true story that people later recalled and decided to include into this text. Frankly, it doesn’t matter all that much to me how or why it is here...it is just fun to speculate and it is interesting.

As for the reading itself, this is the famous story of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus positions himself, just as in the story of the woman at the well, to be encountered by a group of scribes and Pharisees. And they pose a challenge to him, almost a riddle, and we don’t know if they literally brought a woman to Him or if they and Jesus are acting metaphorically...we don’t even know that this actually happened. But I am going to read this really quickly and then comment.

Here is the takeaway for me - though we don’t know if this episode happens, it certainly reinforces ideas authentic to the gospels. I am thinking of Luke’s gospel, in Luke 6:37, or in Romans 12:17-19. A big part of our faith journey is learning to own our part of our sin. Sure, bad things happen to good people. Bad things happen to all people. But, we all point to that to make ourselves feel better really. More often, bad things happen because of sin...sometimes it is our sin, sometimes it is the sin of others. But, most often it is our sin that leads to our hurt and our pain. And I think Jesus is trying to make sure we focus our energy and our attention on the one thing that we CAN control...what we choose to do in our daily lives. Look how He ends this passage...by telling this woman that she’s forgiven, now go and do right.

It is so simple. Today, my takeaway is also going to be so simple...today I really want to focus on doing right with each decision. With each decision today I will simply ask, “God, is this what you would have me to do in this moment?” Simple and straight forward.

I love that John records that not everyone was immediately swept off their feet and followed Jesus...that’ the stuff of fairy tales, and that’s not what this is. John tells us that some people believed Jesus, and others didn’t. That’s what we would expect to have happened.

My favorite part of this though is the officers...the Pharisees had sent officers to capture and bring Jesus back to them so they could interrogate Him (I don’t think they were trying to kill him yet...not positive though). But the offices returned empty-handed. They were convinced, having drawn closer to Jesus personally, that Jesus was whom He said He was. And Nicodemus, who spent one-on-one time with Jesus as well, was also certainly a little more skeptical of the whole process the Jewish Pharisees were employing...and they got onto Nicodemus about that.

The important takeaway today though, for me, comes from these couple of verses 41 and 42. What jumps out at me is that these Pharisees were right, that the Messiah was to come from the line of David...and Jesus WAS from the line of David. Further, Jesus WAS from Bethlehem, not Galiliee. The Jews were so hungry to make their point and to seize their power and control that they missed a clear sign. Jesus was exactly the person they were seeking. Of course, they never investigated that...they weren’t really interested in the truth; only the status quo.

So, as I have taken away before, the reminder here is to be a truth-seeker, not a point-maker. The idea is to remain curious, not hell-bent on making a point. Today, my prayer is that God would reveal to me an area of my life that needs a little attention in this way, an area where I have been less open to having Him intervene. I pray that He would reveal that to me and then help to soften me in this area.

Short reading today, as I have to get into a few other things early this morning. But there is a huge lesson and a great reminder in these few verses this morning.

In the first section, v25-31, we see the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, watching as the locals are trying to figure out if this Jesus is in fact the long-awaited Messiah. They seem to be on the fence about it, but the consensus ends up being that this can’t be because they know where Jesus came from and they won’t know that about the Messiah, and they are wondering if He has done enough miracles to really be Jesus.

Think about that for a minute...isn’t that a little funny, in a sad way? I mean, how much ego do you have to have to take that position? And yet, we all do this all of the time. We all presume to know what God would or wouldn’t do, and we try to make judgements about God based on what we see in the world around us. That is just ridiculous. God would never use a human man to save the world, and God would never let that man be tortured and hung on a cross to die...He would never do that, until He did.

And then the next short section, 32-36, shows us that the Jews were piling onto this and they were really not interested in the truth...they wanted their influence and their order restored. I mean, they “know” that Jesus isn’t the Messiah, they don’t need to investigate it any further...no matter what happens, they aren’t interested in hearing, they are only interested in teaching people what they want people to know. And we are the same in this way too. How often do we fail to be curious, and instead look for justification? How often are our minds made up, our eyes shut, and mouths open to declare what we ‘know’? I have lived long enough to know that I talk too much and listen too little, and that I don’t carry enough curiosity around in life with me. I hold my opinions too firmly.

God is God...and I am not. I believe God can and does do what He wills. There is no reason to hold firmly to all of the things I think I know in the world, or about this world. I can live in curiosity. I can enjoy what comes to me. Heck, that sounds WAY more fun that constantly trying to confirm and re-affirm what I think I already know anyways. Today I pray that God helps me fully embrace a curiosity about life and faith...that I would see, hear, and appreciate twice as much as I judge, speak, and justify.

Now that Jesus has called everyone to the mat, that is time for things to ‘real’, we see a shift occur. Now the Jews are in a mode of seeking to kill Him, and Jesus starts the process of actually sending His disciples out to do some of the heavy lifting...it is time for them to get into the game and to get personally invested. This is a cool chapter and there is a lot happening, but as always, I want to focus on something that caught my attention as I was reading this. Looking down at verses 15-24, we see Jesus in an interaction with the Jews, and we see Him making an argument about working on the Sabbath, which is something the Jews loved to attach him on. Jesus addressed them about the Jewish practice requiring circumcising newborn boys on the eighth day, regardless of whether that day was a Sabbath...this was a widely-accepted Jewish practice. Here we see Jesus is arguing from the “lesser to the greater”, a common rhetorical style in Jewish tradition and in modern logic as well. His point is that if breaking the Sabbath was allowed for circumcision (involving part of the body), how much more should healing on the Sabbath be allowed when it involves the entire body? He is making a great point...and a fantastic argument, and there really isn’t anything you can say about this if you are a Jew. Jesus, in a way, trapped them in their own logic and rules. Keep in mind, these are Jewish rules, not God’s...so, Jesus is also illuminating the fact that they have extended their reach beyond what God handed down through Moses and have leveraged their own rules to the benefit of their own power and influence. So, they were obviously not excited about being called out like this, but they were definitely exposed.

For what it is worth, in doing some research, Jesus also uses this method in 10:34–36, and the writer of Hebrews uses it extensively (see Heb 1:4; 2:2–3), and later rabbinic tradition (e.g., the Talmud) also relied heavily on this form of reasoning to apply legal precedents. In fact, we do this a lot even today. One of my favorite lines of reasoning in Christian apologetics uses this in relation to the resurrection - if the resurrection didn’t happen, the rest of the Bible doesn’t matter. In that light, we should focus our attention on the resurrection until we agree as to whether or not THAT is true, because if we don’t agree on THAT, the rest of our discussion is a waste of time.

At any rate, thinking through Jesus’ logic...I feel my own life is called into question in this way - “Where am I adopting God’s principles and ideals into my life, and leveraging them for my own benefit?”. And, the more important question, “Where am I ignoring them, where am I looking for loopholes and justifications for behavior that God would condemn, and how can I take a step in the direction of getting those aligned today?”. That’s a hard question and thought. But, I guess that’s the point, right? So that’s the thought today...the prayer is that God would show my one place where my obedience as created momentum in my life, that I would be encouraged in that way. And, I also ask that He would show me an area where I am yet to leverage His teaching and instruction, that I would see an opportunity to grow in that way.

I really love this section of John’s letter, and one question specifically. But before we get to that question, there is something almost a little funny to me. There are records from historical writings about the Jesus followers being vampires, blood-suckers, and cannibals almost. It is a section of scripture like this, taken without context, that really leads to that misunderstanding. I say I find it a little funny because I KNOW when I am reading it that Jesus isn’t talking about any of that kind of stuff, that He is using that language in an illusory way.

To my favorite question though...Jesus has just gone through this long diatribe against these guys, accusing them of free-loading on his miracles essentially, and now He is ready to hold their feet to the fire, to make sure they know that following Him is great and is beneficial and is the plan, but that it also should be expected to cost something. Connecting back to what He said when He called several of the disciples, He told them that He would make them “fishers of men”. When we read that, we said that we all followed Jesus, in all likelihood, for personal reasons, for personal gain, for what’s in it for us...not to actually become fishers of men. Well, Jesus was telling them that now it is time to grow up. It is time to become spiritual men.

And I love that...I love that because even though I have been a Jesus follower for probably 17-18 years now, I have a lot of these same tendencies in me. I tend to follow when it is easiest and when the blessings are flowing, and then I still tend to retreat a little when times get hard. That’s part of the development process. Today serves as a little shot in the arm, reminding me that I need to continue towards growing up. And the question that I love - Jesus asks then, “Do YOU want to go away as well?”...probably annunciating it similarly, and Peter responds with the only appropriate response: “Lord, to whom shall we go?”...or, in other words, “Jesus, we have seen what you’ve done and are starting to understand who you are...and we can’t unsee that.” Today we have people turning from the faith, and is always for the same reasons and never for the right reasons (or at least I haven’t had anyone I know leave for the right reason. They leave because of the church, the people in the church, how they were treated, or how they felt, or in an act of self-preservation and attempt to reclaim autonomy (which isn’t the church’s fault); I don’t ever hear someone say, “I just don’t believe in the resurrection anymore”. They leave, then they work to justify it in their minds...and if you look around for reasons NOT to believe, you can find them. There are plenty of reasons to doubt if that’s what you want to find. You can find reasons to support terrible things, unthinkable things in the world. But, you can’t unsee things. And, I believe, probably in an almost romantic fashion, that once you understand the resurrection and that you place your faith in Christ, that there is something in you that never goes away...just like seeing something that can’t be unseen.

Today we are reading the famous “Jesus Feeds Five Thousand” story, and we also get a quick mention of the walking on water incident from John. Knowing what is ahead in tomorrow’s reading, I feel that I clearly see a point that John is trying to make in this section...Jesus is really setting the disciples up for a test. He isn’t baiting them into anything in a negative way, but He is giving them every reason He can to get them to really buy into what He is teaching, and Who He is. I won’t spoil it, but for the sake of the discussion today, tomorrow’s reading is where Jesus teaches the truth of what His identity means, and that following Him means sacrifice and change...it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows and miracles that help you with your day...in other words, Jesus isn’t a “prosperity God”. Jesus is about the drop the hammer on them, so He is trying to get them ready.

It makes me think...I wonder if God does this with me? I wonder if God provides and blesses and does miracles in my life partly because He knows that there will be times where He needs to let me work through something a little more ‘by myself’? Of course, He never ‘leaves me’, it is just that there are seasons of life where God is a little less tangible, and those are the seasons where my faith is stretched, challenged, and subsequently grown. It seems like this is kind of a microcosm of that kind of interaction, with Jesus doing the same thing with the disciples.

For today, I am going to take some time and reflect on how blessed I am; on how God has shown up in my life; on how I am certainly not alone and without God. I am going to finish my journal entry and go into 10 minutes of silence, with a cup of coffee, and just sit and list blessings in my life. I want this to be a time when God becomes really evident to me, really obvious, and where I can be sure I am truly prepared and aware of His presence and blessing. I never know when another season of testing might come, but I want to be prepared, and I also know it is always a great idea to reflect on how wonderful God is anyways!

Today we are getting to peek into a conversation Jesus is basically having with the Jews who have challenged what he has just done with this man from yesterday’s reading; healing him on the Sabbath.

What is interesting about this, at least to me, in reading this morning is the way both Jesus responds and the way these Jews actually challenged him. Remember from yesterday, what they DIDN’T claim was that Jesus didn’t heal this man. In fact, they don’t ever claim that Jesus’ miracles or actions weren’t true, or at least I can’t recall any times when they do this. They never attack anything Jesus has actually done, but they attack his methods, his timing, his claims. That is actually very interesting...let’s think about that for a moment. Here is a group that is highly motivated, perhaps more than anyone else in history, to discredit Jesus. If people were alive to recount the stories of Jesus 15-20 years after his death, and to record these events that we are reading almost 2000 years later, why weren’t there some equally as influential writings to discredit these claims? There was ample motivation, evidently, to produce those writings...where are they? We have no shortage of other writings that popped up that history has shown to be only partially true and that lack some of the corroborative support that the gospels mustered, but we don’t have anything that I am aware of that truly attacks these claims. There aren’t famous writings that are historically supported that discredit these miracles from eyewitness accounts that would say, “No, that water was never turned into wine”, and “No, that man didn’t get up and run out of the temple after Jesus healed him...I saw him laying there the next day”, and “Wait, that’s not true, I was there and Lazarus wasn’t ever dead, that was a trick”. We don’t see these claims. There was plenty of motivation from the Jews to discredit Jesus, obviously...why don’t we see them?

And then, looking at how Jesus responds to the Jews in the reading today...Jesus is going right at them. He is making very clear claims as to His identity, and He is holding nothing back. And they had to be furious...Jesus is making claims that clearly place Him in a context that the Jews were very uncomfortable with, and Jesus did with several times throughout His ministry. His identity, or at least His claimed identity, was so clear to them that they finally figured that they couldn’t do anything but just get rid of him.

Today reminds me that it is so important to think critically about the attacks our faith gets. We can feel like our faith is undermined by science with a simple statement that we hear on the news like, “Scientists discover a bone that is 10,000,000 years old, placing us one step closer to understanding the human history and the process of our evolution”; and I feel that way sometimes too! So, I am not declaring victory over doubt! But, we have history on our side. I can’t tell you anything about that bone, but I can tell you that there have been plenty of motivated people that could and would have produced something over the last 2000 years to refute the clear claims of scripture as to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. There were plenty of motivated people to refute what Jesus did in terms of miracles and signs...and for some reason they have nothing. We should be confident that history is on our side. We should be confident that God will reveal a story, in time, that somehow ties all of this science and history together in a nice, neat, fashion. Until then, we can just live in awe of what we know, what we don’t, and what’s to come. Curious Christianity...that’s a healthy place to be in our faith.

Well, I was out of a commission for a couple of days...sick...yuck. I had a stomach bug I think, but I can’t be sure because everyone automatically assumes every sickness these days is COVID. At any rate, on the mend now and ready to go...glad to be doing this again. I listened to a message from our home church yesterday about being passionate for God, and for His Word. I really did miss this morning time of digging in...I just sets me up for a good day and has, over the years, become that first thing I do to level-set and prepare for the day.

In the reading this morning, we see Jesus showing up at this pool where there is a man who has been paralyzed and unable to walk for basically his entire life...he is identified as an invalid. Jesus sees him there and goes up to him, and after an exchange with him, He heals the man and the man picks up his bed (which would have been a mat of some sort) and walks out of there. He had been waiting to try to get into one of these pools to seek healing, and apparently no one would help him. At any rate, he walks out carrying his mat and the Jews confront him...and this is what really sticks out to me, not that he is healed, but that the Jews confront him about his carrying his mat on the Sabbath. See, the Law that was handed down to Moses had a lot in it, but there isn’t anything in it that would have forbid an activity like carrying is bed roll or bed mat. What had happened was that the Jews had constructed their own laws and customs that were designed to make sure people didn’t even get close to breaking the Law of Moses...and this crossed THEIR line. So, and here is the key for me this morning, this man broke THEIR rules and THEIR customs, and so they freaked out. They missed the forest for trees here. Here they were in the midst of a miracle, in the midst of an undeniable moment where a man that they had no doubt watched trying to get into this pool probably for years, who they had stepped over on countless occasions, was now healed. And instead of looking into that and looking for God in that moment, they were looking to condemn this man. Here he is, never having walked before, stumbling around and walking, and they can’t see the miracle because they are so focused on the customs they had put into place. And this is what we sometimes do as well.

We turn our religious lives into a series of religious practices and we go through the motions and miss the moments. We do our routines and we never encounter God because we are always checking the boxes...Sunday church, check; morning Bible reading, check; said my prayers at the dinner table and at bed, check. If that’s the story of our faith and the depth of our spiritual lives, then we are missing something; we are these Jewish guys. Routine is good...don’t get me wrong. But, the routine, like the laws and customs of these Jews, isn’t the point. The point is to be poised and ready to experience God. We have to learn to maintain an expectant heart. And that’s my prayer today...that I would experience God today, as a reminder, that relationship and presence is more important than rules and rituals.

Not feeling well...taking a couple of days off. Be back soon!

Today we see the end of the story from yesterday, the woman at the well, and she spreads that news throughout town about Jesus. And, of course, it makes a ruckus and people come to see Jesus and others come to believe in Him as well. And then we get a funny instance of where Jesus is teaching the disciples and they apparently don’t understand Him...I can almost sense John writing this as a comedic insert. Here, let’s read this little bit (4:31-35). I find this to be kind of funny...again, this shows me that John is writing and reflecting at the same time. And he had the humility to be honest about how he and his compadres were seeing things in the moment...that they were often missing the point on things Jesus was teaching. Its a great lesson for us too...we miss the point quite often as well.

And then we get to the main portion of today’s passage, this story about Jesus coming back to Galilee, where He’d turned the water into wine, and now an official, probably a centurion in service to Herod Antipas, comes up to Him and asks for help in healing his son who was on his death bed. Jesus announces to this man and to those around that He understands that they need signs, they need some ‘proof’ of who He is...and so He does something for this man’s benefit. But don’t miss this...as is often the case, there is something the man did as well, and I think we miss this so often...Jesus healed the boy, but the text also slips this little snippet in there, in v50, “...The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” Is it possible that Jesus knew that this man believed before He even lifted a finger? Well, we are talking about God, so of course He did. But it is obvious that this guy believed Jesus could do what He wanted...and I think that belief impressed Jesus. I think that belief compelled Jesus. I don’t want to delve into prosperity gospel here, but I think it is fair, considering the entire text of the New Testament, that belief is impressive to God. Jesus, several times, is recorded as being moved by a person’s belief. I think this is one of those times. This man asked and believed in concert, and I think that moved Jesus; it compelled Him to action.

And that’s a great lesson for us. Not that we would ask for things from Jesus, but that we would ask at the same time believing in Jesus’ ability and willingness to respond. That we would ask and move forward “as if”...as if we trusted God’s decision with the outcome, and we were single-minded in our determination to do what we know we ought to do, leaving the outcome to God. I think that is an awesome place to be. That’s the way God wants it...that’s giving our hearts over to God. Today I will look for a small opportunity to do that...to trust, ask, trust some more, and to move “as if”.

Today we see another display of Jesus’ power through the story of the woman at the well. It is a story that we’ve all heard many times probably...and I am not sure I have a lot to add to the telling of the story itself. But when I think about the story, it really gets me thinking about this question, “What would Jesus call out in me?”

Think about this story...Jesus sees this woman at the well. He breaks social norms by engaging with her. They have a conversation and He brings her to a point where He is going to demonstrate that there is something unique about Him because He is teaching her things that are a little confusing until she realizes that Jesus is not just a dude sitting there at the well talking to her. So, He calls out her sin about her sleeping around and bouncing from one live-in partner to another, being remarried on several occasions, and He uses that black spot in her life to reveal Himself. Then He blows past it in forgiveness. In other words, His calling her out served a purpose...for her benefit, not His own. So that question again is, “If Jesus were to show up in my life and demonstrate who He is in a similar way, what would He call out in MY life?”.

That’s a challenging question. That’s a scary question. But I think it is the question that is being prompted from the reading this morning. As scary as it is though, it isn’t that Jesus condemns her or scolds her...He is using that sin in her life to help her to understand that He is there, He understands her, and He is the only person who can actually save her from that. That is so refreshing. It is refreshing to know that God wants to do that, that God wants to be invited into our lives, to meet us at the well so-to-speak, and to be able to call us out in love. And, to know that it is for our own benefit, not His...that’s so different than how many of us are treated, where calling someone out on something is done really to make the other person feel better about their self, or to make a point. God never does that...He calls me out for myself...for my benefit. That is also a fantastic concept to draw from this.

Today’s passage is such a great example of humility, and of purpose...John the Baptist was the ‘big deal’ for a while; people were coming from all around to see him and to hear from him. He was the person with the influence. Then Jesus shows up...and that all changed. John immediately knew who Jesus was and immediately did what he teaches in today’s passage...he decreased so Jesus could increase. What an incredible example John gives us. It is hard to really appreciate what John models for us here.

John is probably the BEST model that we have of what a great life of discipleship looks like in some ways. He shows up knowing his purpose. He executes his purpose. Jesus shows us and takes away all of the power and influence he had accumulated and John takes it in stride, as a part of his mission. John is put in prison for no good reason and seemingly isn’t even rescued by Jesus for no good reason. He has one moment in prison where he asks the disciples just to confirm that Jesus is who he says he is for him because he is in prison over a silly bet between a king and a crooked woman’s daughter...we presume John wanted this confirmation because he was sitting there thinking, “Why am I here...after all I have done, am I not going to be saved? Is this the way it really ends?”. Of course, we know that it was. But John’s statement here in today’s text really epitomizes his entire life that we know about:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

In literal terms, this is is saying that it is necessary that Jesus must increase, and that I must decrease. And this is true of us all. This is true of me...as I decrease, I make room for Jesus to increase in my life. This doesn’t mean to play life small, it doesn’t mean to live life less than fully, and it doesn’t mean to be weak and dispassionate. It simply means that we must recognize AND we must emulate in our lives how John positioned himself...as a tool to do God’s work. When we see ourselves as God’s vessels vs. vessels for our own happiness, we are decreasing so God can increase. What an awesome example.

How do we do that today? How do we emulate John in our lives today? Well, that’s my prayer...that God would show me a way to do that. That God would help me see an opportunity to decrease so I can let Jesus increase. It could be a little thing or a big thing. Either way though, if I carry this around with me today, desiring for an opportunity, I would be shocked if God doesn’t show up and help me spot an opportunity. That’s my goal today.

There are only 5 verses in the reading today, so I will read this. This verse, 3:16, is the most famous verse in the Bible, and this section is probably the most succinct presentation of the message of Jesus, the Gospel, anywhere in the Bible.

Diving into these 5 verses - we see the word “For” at the beginning, which ties this story to the preceding verses; this is answering Nicodemus’ question about how to receive eternal life. And a big word in this initial statement is the word “world”...God so loved the world, not God so loved Israel, which had been the story to this point in time. God so loved the entire world...and not that He just loved us, but He did something for us. God sent His Son. God gave Him as the sacrifice that Jesus was so bent out of shape over in the temple when He was flipping over the table when these rulers were selling sacrifices to people so they could be made whole with God - Jesus was taking the place of that sacrifice. Another important word is “believe”, meaning, we don’t earn it by acting right or following the rules, we aren’t graded on a curve...we simply believe and we receive. What do we receive? We receive grace in that, according to verse 18, we are not condemned…meaning, our sin doesn’t put us into a state of owing God. We are released from that burden simply through our belief. What if we don’t believe? Well, we are already condemned because we have sinned and our sin is taking us down a road towards isolation, towards regret, towards life apart from God. That’s the direction we are already headed. God doesn’t have to ‘send’ us to hell, we are already headed that direction. That is, unless we are released from that destiny by our belief in God. And I find it so interesting the way Jesus says it - that this is our judgement, in verse 19, “that light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil”...is that not 100% true? Don’t we freely choose evil, to follow our temptations, to give in to pressure, to take what seems like the easy road only to find out it was the hard road later on, to choose autonomy over God’s will for our lives? We do it all of the time. And He goes on saying that when we do evil things we hate the light...in other words, we can tell whose we are by what we do. In other words, while we are saved through belief, it is our actions that demonstrate what our hearts really think. That doesn’t in any way give us permission to make judgements on whether or not someone else is saved - that’s none of our business. It does give us a peek into how we can understand whether or not we still have work to do IN OUR OWN LIVES though.

So, these 5 verses are just LOADED with content. In the end though, it boils down to these 4 words though - loved, sent, believe, receive. God loved the world so much that He sent His own Son to be sacrificed in order to save it. And all we have to do is to believe in that work, and in doing so, we receive eternal life with God. And it is better than that...we experience God here on this earth, in this life, if we pursue Him in that way. That’s pretty awesome.

Have you ever walked into a movie theatre and watched a movie in the middle of a sunny day, and at the end of the movie, instead of walking back out the normal theatre entrance, people exited right out the side door, the Exit door, that dumped you right out into the parking lot? I don’t know if security protocols really allow that anymore, but you can imagine if with me for a second. You’ve been in this dark room for a couple of hours, and all of the sudden the light is bright and is shining right down in your face. What do you do? Well, some people might turn right around and come back into the theatre. Some people will just stand right by the door and let their eyes adjust before going out into the sunlight, and some people just barrel out into the light, squinting, holding their hands up to block the direct light, and they are on their way. But think about this for a second...you are essentially blinded by that light for a moment. Your choices are to let your eyes adjust and move forward or to retreat into the darkness.

I heard that analogy years ago and it has stuck with me - it is a great representation of what is happening here in today’s reading in John chapter 3, in this story with Nicodemus. He came at night so as to be secret and not to tip off his fellow Jewish leaders, he came because there was a sense in him that Jesus might actually be the person He says He was, and he came because he wanted to know the truth. So, Jesus gives him the truth. Jesus tells him that he must be born again, and that he has been doing it wrong...his faith. Jesus doesn’t chastise Nicodemus, He doesn’t beat him up, just answers the questions and tells the truth. And it was a lot for Nicodemus to handle...after all, he was rich, he was powerful, he was revered...if Jesus was right, Nicodemus was going to have to essentially trade that all in for his salvation. That’s a tough pill to swallow. That’s like stepping into the light after 2 hours in a dark movie theatre...he can retreat back into the darkness and pretend everything he needs is in there with him, or he can stand there in the light and wait for his eyes to adjust. It may take a bit...but they will, and once they do, he’ll see everything he has been missing. That’s what Jesus essentially offers all of us. He had the choice between the life he knew, which was comfortable, which had him in a level of power, where he felt somewhat in control, and where he was pretty sure he knew the outcome, and the life that included God, which was new, unknown, which cost him that control and that autonomy and that power. This is a choice we all have to make...and that we have to make repeatedly.

And Jesus knew this...so, He doesn’t stop there. He explains further, as we will read tomorrow. Jesus tries to take the edge off of that news just a little, and to clarify to Nicodemus, this rich young ruler, what He is all about. It some of the most famous Biblical text, and it is fun to read in this proper context.

So now we see Jesus’ official ministry start. And He definitely starts with a bang...walking into the temple and confronting the traditions of the times. You probably know this, but in this time sacrifice was a big part of the culture, and a big part of the religious practice. People would sin, and then they would sacrifice according to the Old Testament Law and largely because of the Jewish customs that were stacked on top of the Law in order to be made clean. The problem is, not everyone had these animals to sacrifice. Further, animals weren’t really convenient to carry around with you, so some people saw an opportunity to set up shop at the temple and sell sacrificial animals right there on the spot...it is actually a clever idea. The problem is that this precludes the poor from being able to sacrifice, and it was a further way for these Jewish leaders to profit because they obviously were the ones that needed to run this because they obviously knew what was pure and what wasn’t. After all, it wasn’t a genuine sacrifice unless it was approved by the leaders. Of course, I am being a little facetious here, but I don’t really think that is far off from what was going on. And it ticked Jesus off because it was taking advantage of the situation. This is a little like a church taking the Sunday offering and using it to send the Pastor and his family on a vacation to Hawaii. It isn’t that it is bad for the church to do something for the pastor, but it is not right to do it in that way.

With this episode, Jesus challenges the norm. It makes me think a little, where am I settled into a norm that Jesus might walk in and challenge? It makes me think, who’s life do I have an opportunity to speak into and be the norm challenger? And, who has the ability in my own life? These are important relationships for us all to have in our lives. This really leverages the power of community.

But that is the thought for today...where in your life, if Jesus showed up and became human today, would be turn the proverbial tables over and challenge you? That will be my meditation and prayer today...that God would show me what that looks like in my own life.

Before the big picture stuff, there are a few contextual things I want to touch on for today’s reading.

First, in this culture, the host was responsible for providing wine throughout the wedding feast, which typically lasted seven days. Running out of wine at the wedding could have had a devastating social and financial impact for the hosts. The wedding celebration had an element of reciprocity that was supported by the law. One could take legal action against a guest who failed to provide an appropriate gift. That is obviously very foreign to us today...maybe not quite as much of a stretch in the south, haha, but still not our typical standard. So, this was important - not running out of wine.

Secondly, the volume of water and wine here is amazing to me. All six jars would have held 120–180 gallons because large quantities of water were needed for ritual purification. Think about that for a second. All of that water was turned into wine - and we are told the water was filled to the brim so there was not way to trick people, they could see it as water one second and wine the next. That’s awesome.

The third thing I wanted to mention - this term “woman”, to which Jesus addressed His mother, this usage is not disrespectful, but a simple, informal form of address. In our vernacular this could sound a little short, slightly disrespectful, and certainly not polite, but that is not an issue here...this is really just the same as addressing her as “mom” in this culture. So, Jesus isn’t flexing or anything here.

For me today, the idea that jumps out at me is that Mary asked Jesus to help, to intervene, and Jesus clearly didn’t have plans to do so based on His response. But, ultimately, He did. It shows that Jesus has a mission and a purpose, but that He also was a person and responded to the situation, and to requests...especially if the requests didn’t hinder the mission. There seems to be a similar tone with respect to God. If I look at how prayer is taught in the New Testament, and what is said about prayer generally, I come away thinking that yes God has a plan and yes God has a purpose for me but that God also isn’t robotic in His application of those ideals, He is responsive. God can and does respond to prayer. Not all prayers. But yes, some prayers.

Today we see Jesus calling his first disciples. Interestingly, we see the story of Simon Peter and his brother Andrew from a different angel than that which we were presented in Matthew and Luke. With Matthew and Luke’s narratives, we see Jesus encounter Peter and Andrew while they are fishing, and it is a dramatic story that I have always really loved reading. Now, we don’t know exactly where John’s narrative fits in terms of timeline, but I could easily see something like this - John the Baptist had told Simon and Andrew about Jesus and had brought them along to see Him speak at one point. They were aware of who Jesus was, and they probably already had some inclinations about who He might be. That’s basically what John is presenting. Then John leaves out the next part, which Matthew and Luke recount, which is that they were out fishing one day and Jesus shows up and does a dramatic thing by helping them pull in more fish than they could handle on a morning where they had come up empty, as professional fisherman. Why would the two of them allow Jesus to talk them into throwing their nets, which they’d just spent probably a couple of hours cleaning, back out into the sea? Well, because they’d seen Him, they were familiar with Him, they already had inclinations about who He might be. Then, after catching all of the fish, Simon and Andrew follow Jesus without much of a pause. Why would a rational person do that? Well, because as John tells us, they had already encountered Jesus and knew a little and now they REALLY knew that Jesus was something special. john is probably telling us about their first encounter where as Matthew and Luke are telling us about their moment o conversion from Jesus observers to Jesus followers.

And Jesus then calls Philip and Nathanael. Philip, being from the same place as Simon and Andrew was now probably fully aware that they had encountered Jesus and were now following Him...we aren’t talking about New York city here. Galilee had, based on some estimates, probably 13-15k people in it, and I am guessing it is like most towns, that there are clicks within the town, so I am guessing all of these guys were kind of running in similar circles. So, Philip jumps in and he tells Nathanael about Jesus, and Nathanael was a doubter. So Jesus does a little mental move on him and tells Nathanael where he had been when Philip came to get him, which he couldn’t have known apart from being omnipresent, and Nathanael is converted into a believer. And then Jesus drops this statement onto him in verse 51.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

And I love that...Jesus knows that the disciples are following Him in the beginning for the same reason I followed at first, and the same reason you followed - there was something in it for me. There was a clear and present benefit for you. I mean, who doesn’t want eternal life? Who doesn’t want healing, forgiveness, and grace? And those are free? Sign me up! But as Jesus told them in Luke, He had something else in mind for them, and He has something else in mind for us...He will make us fishers of men. Jesus’ mission is to win us over, to get into our lives, and to change us and to shape us and to mold us into what God made us for...and a part of God’s plan for ALL of our lives is that we’d become fishers of men. These 4 have now been called into service, as have we.

John the Baptist...talk about a guy that everyone knows of today, at least everyone who has been around the Christian church at least a little, and someone who we might say is a little like the guy holding up a sign about Jesus on the street corner in his own time. I mean, John was offensive to many, he sounds like he would be a little quirky and strange, and he was a very unique character in the story of Jesus.

In thinking about John the Baptist, I guess I am realizing that the story that God told, the events and the episodes, the people He used...not all of it makes sense to me even now, let alone then, because it is rare that things are more clear in the moment rather than in hindsight. Yet, when I look at the story God has been weaving and telling across the nearly 1500 years that the Bible spans, and the 2000 years since Jesus, there are some clearly seen themes and plot lines. It humbles me to think about this...to think how many people have played an important part in the story, and to think about the different types of people that played those parts, and to realize that most of the people were just ordinary people answering and extraordinary call from God. It reminds me of something I am sure I have said in my journaling a thousand times, and that I remind myself often, that I heard from a pastor named Andy Stanley years ago, that you never know what hangs in the balance as it relates to your faithfulness to God. I will never know how impactful my faithfulness might be in someone else’s life. You will never know about that person that came to faith because he saw the way you acted, or something you did, in the right moment, at the right place, that caused them to pause and think, and eventually accept Jesus into their life. We will never know. And, we all have a part to play; God’s story includes all who are willing to go where He leads. Tomorrow we will read about Jesus calling the first disciples and they didn’t know either. And, you know, perhaps the guy on the side of the road that I judge every time I see him, perhaps that guy really is answering a calling that God has issued to him. Who am I to say otherwise?

This is referred to as the “Prologue”, kind of a summary and introduction to John’s letter. It sets the tone for what’s to come.

The first impression on this is that it is very ethereal, very spiritual, and not very concrete. John is telling us what he is going to tell us, which is definitely different from the other gospel writings. But not only that, John is, right up front, telling us just what he personally believes about Jesus, and he makes it clear that this is what he wants to convince the reader as well.

The verses that I really love in here are at the end of this section, verses, 14-18. Two things stand out to me this morning. First is this statement that Jesus is full of BOTH grace and truth. Jesus isn’t the judge who beats you up for doing wrong, who drags you through the mud for mistakes, who looks to punish you and relishes in the fact that you didn’t quite make it this time, and that now He can come down on you. No, Jesus is full of Grace. At the same time though, we see through the gospels that He doesn’t shy away from the truth...He raises the bar in terms of standards to a place where no one can pull it off. But it is this combination of the two that is so compelling...probably best illustrated in chapter 8 with the woman who comes to Jesus in the temple, and he makes this statement: “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” It is the grace He gives that makes His truth so palatable.

The second thing that really jumped out at me is just the bigger idea that God came down to us, He sent Himself as His Son to be on this earth with us, to suffer with us, to experience life with us, to know us intimately, and to demonstrate who He is. We live in a ‘show me’ world today, and most of us think that if we got to see God it would be easier to believe; that if we got to experience God first hand, that we’d be ‘all in’. You know, I think we get that wrong. First off, when we think that, I can almost picture God sitting up in heaven thinking, “Well, I have already done that, I have already come down and spent years on the earth with people, and they didn’t believe Me until I was gone.” And then we might say, “Well, that wasn’t me.” Or we might say, “No, well, I mean, show up as God and I will believe, not at Jesus, not as a man.” And to that I am sure God is probably thinking, “Have you read about when Moses saw me, how his face was turned to ash and he couldn’t hardly be in my presence without being overwhelmed?”. See, I think we fail to recognize the magnitude of God. We can only use the context of our life to imagine things about God; I think we just lack the ability to imagine what God is really like.

So, this morning, it is thankfulness that is in my mind from these verses...thankful that God came down and proved Himself to us. The fact that we sometimes don’t think that proof goes far enough is on us...if His physical presence wasn’t enough to ‘prove’ He is who He says He is, then we have an unquenchable desire for proof. I am thankful that He came with the balance of both Grace and Truth, and not just Truth as was His MO in the /old Testament. I am thankful to live in the post-resurrection world, that I can have Jesus upon which to reflect, and the Holy Spirit as a companion. I am just very thankful this morning.

This last section of John, which really isn’t a section but just an arbitrary group of chapters based on the reading pattern I have chosen, really illuminates the length to which Jesus went to demonstrate who He was. John, probably more than the other gospel writers, really connects Jesus’ identity with Jesus’ actions leading up to and after the crucifixion and resurrection. John is trying to emphasize that the disciples didn’t get it, but that Jesus was very explicit in demonstrating who He was. It is with humility that John writes this...being one of the disciples himself. Further, the fact that John was the so called ‘beloved one’ and that he didn’t really get it or really buy into who Jesus was until He returned further makes the point. You know, I can’t blame these guys though...I have never seen a guy hung on a cross and then had him come back and join me for dinner a few days later, so that would be difficult to accept and anticipate regardless of what that person did to convince me that it was going to happen. Thomas’ reaction that we see today is really most everyone’s reaction at some level, the reaction of “I’ll believe it when I see it”.

And I guess that’s the big take away from all of this for me today...it is the reminder that hindsight is 20/20, and that with regard to the resurrection, I can’t experience it, read about it, or learn about it without this hindsight. It is easy to see the pieces coming together from where I sit. But in my own life, on a day-to-day basis, I need to understand that these disciples were in Jesus’ midst and they didn’t get it; I am not in Jesus’ midst, though I do have the Holy Spirit as a substitute, and I can easily miss what God has for me. I MUST learn to humble myself, to seek out and listen to God’s guidance, and I must be attentive to what He is telling me in the world around me, or I will miss whatever He has for me as well. I can look back on my life now and easily see times when God was moving and I didn’t see it...and I must learn to trust that God continues in that way in my life now. A big part of our spiritual journey is learning to live WITH God in the moment vs. always looking back and realizing that He was actually there and that I didn’t realize it. It is hard...it is weird in some ways, because God is the only friend I have that I can’t see or touch...but that is the way it is for now.

With the telling of the story of Lazarus in today’s reading, and going forward, again, we see the tone change in John’s letter. We have seen a lot of inference from Jesus so far...a lot of allusion to who He is, what He is doing, and what’s to come. Now Jesus gets more direct, He gets more hard-lined...it is crunch time. We are making our way into the time when Jesus will really meet His own resistance as the disciples have experienced. It is neat to see things presented in the manner John presents them, because we see the disciples struggle to lean into their faith when they were challenged, and now we’ll get to see how Jesus reacts...spoiler alert, Jesus maintains His faith, and Jesus gives us a great example.

Somehow, Jesus is able to keep His focus on His calling. Jesus knows that He is headed for death at this point; He knows where all of these events are leading. Yet, He faithfully pushes forward with His calling and His mission. He gives us a fantastic example of leadership and faith.

There is so much that happens in these chapters from the reading today...but that is really the big takeaway for me. It is this vision that Jesus gives us - this is what a person who is faith-filled, Spirit-led, and mission-conscious can be like...and it is really compelling.

In looking at the chapters for today, we see another couple of chapters that align with the discussion from yesterday, where we see John reflecting on an episode with Jesus and the lessons weened from them. But then we see the letter shift a bit...John moves into a phase where you can see that he and the disciples, and all of the Jesus followers for that matter, start to wrestle with their faith; that is, things start to get harder, they have to act in a manner that feels like they are risking something, and their faith begins to be tested. It is the journey that every believer eventually has to take - it is the time when it isn’t convenient to be a Christian. What do they do when challenged? Well, they do what we do...they try to find a loophole, a way out of doing what they know they should do, but that they don’t WANT to do. Then we see a couple of wonderful examples of how we can respond when our faith is tested like this, in chapter 6 with a comment by Peter and in chapter 7 with a comment by Nicodemus - these will be fun to discuss.

And we know that no New Testament letter would be complete without some tension with the religious leaders of the day, so we see that in the reading today as well, starting in chapter 8.

For me, in reading through these 5 chapter today, I am reminded that each of us has a unique journey as it relates to our faith, but we all will encounter some of the same challenges; in fact, the disciples themselves encountered them. And no one seems to always get it right...it is one disciple here, another one there. And it reminds me of the power of community, that when we surround ourselves with others that are on the same journey, someone is likely going to have their head on straight at any given point in time, and that’s of huge value to me. The group is stronger than the one. It is a great reminder this morning.

Reading through this, having talked about it and having recently read a couple of Gospels, it was really cool to see the difference in styles between Matthew and Luke and now John. John’s writing is much more of a group of stories woven together through reflections and teachings than it is a history lesson. It is like John tells us something that happens and then he takes that a runs with it, illuminating ideas and thoughts that spring from his sharing of the story, and letting his thoughts wonder a bit, before coming back to another story and doing that on repeat.

In the first 5 chapters, we get a little of John the Baptist, we get the calling of the disciples, we get Nicodemus, the Woman at the well, and the healing of a man at the pool. And, instead of history, we are getting narrative and ideas. With John the Baptist, Jesus is showing us that John was telling us about Jesus...and that he had it right, that Jesus fulfilled his predictions. With the calling of the disciples, John is showing us how obvious Jesus was to those who weren’t resisting Him; He had authority, He had influence, and He clearly was a unique person. With Nicodemus John is teaching us what Jesus taught about salvation, about Grace, and about how wealth can be a formidable obstacle to a person accepting that Grace. With the woman at the well, John shows us how Jesus was even forgiving the unforgivable, and how we are not in a place to judge others. Then, last on this for the first 5 chapters, the man at the pool - we are taught that the sins of our past can even be wiped clean by Grace, that we are not prisoners to sin, that God can heal, does heal, and will heal, according to His plan and His timing.

And it is really cool the way John presents these, because feel like I can almost hear John hinting that these are little ah-ha moments he is sharing, almost like he is connecting the dots as he is writing, or that he is writing these words reflecting on the moments when it happened. It feels like maybe he even had a journal he had kept to have these moments cataloged in real time. It all definitely feels like he is sharing a much more personal experience though.

So that’s the first 5 chapters, we will pick up from there tomorrow and keep moving on in this initial read-through.

We are diving into John’s gospel and I am going to pull some information and background from 3 sources, which are my typical stomping grounds for information - the videos put out by The Bible Project, my ESV Study Bible, and Logos Bible Study Software.

To start, it appears there has been a little debate over which John is specifically the author here, whether it is John the Elder or John Son of Zebedee. Evidence seems to be much more in favor of John Son of Zebedee, so that’s what we will assume. This John was one of the 12 disciples, which is important to remember because that places him in Jesus’ midst...right there in the middle of the daily action with Jesus.

Even a casual reader will notice the differences between Matthew, Luke, and John - with John being much more of a theological presentation, Luke an historical presentation, and Matthew a little of both. Whereas Luke clearly identified his audience in his opening verse, we can figure Matthew’s was mostly Jewish Christians from his writing, and we can see that John is trying to present the story and the ethos of Jesus to everyone and then go on to prove his point. As we start John’s Gospel, we will see its divergence from Matthew and Luke immediately, where John sets Jesus up as a the Word, the Son of God...he doesn’t bury the lead. He is telling us who the main character is and then he goes on in his letter the describe why he feels that is the case, and more importantly, why you should agree with him.

Let’s talk about John really quickly though...who was he? John is traditionally regarded as the author of five books of the Bible: the Gospel of John, the epistles 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John, and the Book of Revelation, although some Bible scholars dispute which of these he actually wrote. He is also believed to be the only disciple who died of old age (the others were allegedly martyred). He is generally thought to have been referred to as several other names including John of Patmos (because he was banished to the island of Patmos), John the Evangelist, John the Elder, John the Presbyter, and the Beloved Disciple; to be clear though, it is unclear if all of these names do in fact refer to this John. It’s also worth noting: John the disciple of Jesus is not the same person as John the Baptist, who was Jesus’ cousin.

So, tomorrow we will dive in, and the way John starts is much the same as the way the entire Bible starts...in the beginning. It is pretty cool.

Proverbs 28 - one more replay as I prepare background on John

A replay as I prepare some background for our study in John's Gospel.

So, we are closing out James...wow. It actually came quickly...I didn’t even realize it. So, we will dive into John next, and I will start that John study that I had gotten all set up for before getting this sense that I wanted to dive into James for a bit. So, we will start that tomorrow. And, we are going to have a few days of background on John, setting it up as a little deeper and more contextual study vs. just a verse by verse read-through...I think. We’ll just see where it takes us.

For today though, we get a great closing message from James - a reminder of the power of prayer. Now, we need to remember James’ words from way back in chapter one:

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Here in today’s reading, he tells us that, in the midst of suffering, we should pray. If we are cheerful, we should pray. Essentially, we should just make prayer a part of our life. Which makes sense, because he has been messaging to us that we should find our sufficiency in Jesus, that we should be reliant on God as the farmer is reliant on the rain, and that we should rely on our riches to bring us what we need...we need God. But notice the human element James includes in this - yes, we should pray to God, but look at v16:

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

We see this idea in other New Testament writings as well...this idea that we should not just look vertically to growth our faith with God, but that there is a part of our faith journey that must included the horizontal integration of others into our lives. James mentioned Elijah, who truly demonstrated a faith and trust in his prayer that is something to emulate, but he turns back to this idea of community in v19 when he says:

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

I am reminded this morning, as we close James, that we are called to be doers of the word, and that we are called to act in a way that demonstrates our faith, but also knowing that action sometimes proceeds belief...this idea that we can act ourselves into believing. But I am also reminded that a part of our action plan is to include others in our journey. We are called to live in community with others, and in a kind of community where we can confess our sins, pray together, growth together, serve and minister to others together. I have traditionally enjoyed such a community, but having switched churches in the middle of a pandemic, and then attending only one group get-together before going remote, and now having watched that group get-together move to a time that isn’t doable for me - I find myself without that community. So, today James reminds me to prioritize that. That is my goal for this week - to find that community, and to create an environment where I can enjoy spiritual community.

There are few literary tools as powerful as an analogy, or an example. Today. James is talking about patience. And we know what that is, patience; we know what that means. But there is a type of laborer that has a unique insight into the real meaning of patience, and that is a farmer. And James uses a farmer as an illustration for us today, as an example of how our faith might look. Look at v7-8.

What is patience in the context of faith then? Well, thinking about this farmer example, it isn’t just doing nothing, it is sowing seed. It is preparing the field. It is working that field, fertilizing, watering, spurring on the growth, and doing everything you can. It is doing all of that while recognizing that there is something that only God can deliver - rain. God is the ultimate arbiter in the world of farming...but He isn’t the only contributor. It takes the farmer’s work and preparation, along with God’s part, to make the harvest good. And sometimes God doesn’t deliver. Does that mean God isn’t there? No, not at all. It just means that God didn’t reward that set of preparation. Does it mean that the work the farmer did wasn’t right? No, it just means that God didn’t reward that set of preparation. Does it mean that God doesn’t care about the farmer? Again, no...it isn’t about the harvest. The farmer’s joy is in the preparation...the farmer’s development is in the preparation...the farmer’s growth and learning and life is in the preparation. And, the farmer is keenly aware, at all times, that the ultimate harvest is outside of his control...and that is the reminder that we get today from James. James has been talking about the rich and how they tend to cling to self-sufficiency because of the fact that they have money, and James us showing us that, like the farmer, we have to learn to live life in full recognition that God delivers the rain...God is responsible for our sufficiency. And, while God may not always bring the farmer the rain, or the rich the next business deal, or you or me what we want, He can be relied upon for certain things, without fail. Primary among these is His presence...God promises to be there if we remain faithful...as James says back in chapter one, faithful without wavering...that is our goal. It is a hard goal, but he is encouraging our growth in that direction.

So, today, I pray that I would see opportunities to lay seed in my life...that I would see my work and my duties as just that, a farmer preparing the field. And, then I pray that I would release the burden of feeling like I am responsible for outcomes, and that I would be content in my work and with God’s ability to do what He will with it. That’s a great way to live life, and that’s the real key to contentment...doing the work, letting go, and letting God.

This is a tough section because it really denounces the rich. However, we must really take this as a piece of what James is saying, not as a whole thought. James, in chapter 1, was saying that a common practice was for the people of the church to give the ‘rich’ people the greatest access to God...the best seats in church, preferential treatment from the leaders of the church, etc. And, in this time, as probably has always been the case, riches were a status symbol and the rich had a different set of rules and laws and opportunity. This was infuriating to Jesus, and it is something James wants to take on. But any time we talk about money, we have to remember that it isn’t money that’s the issue, it is our hearts. The always have been and there always will be people of great means that have God and people with great means who don’t, just as there are plenty of people with nothing materially who have God and many who don’t. Money isn’t the issue. But, money and resources DO create a different problem that people WITH these resources must learn to take...and that is self-sufficiency. And, to be clear, I am one of the ‘haves’ by virtue of the fact that I am typing my journal entry on a computer in an air-conditioned home and I am recording the accompanying podcast on a microphone through that computer, using the Internet to post and share these things - I am a have. If you are reading this, you are right there with me.

What’s James’ point then? Well, I believe his point is that he wants us to know that the folks who are rich and who lean on their own resources and their own sufficiency, without relying on God and leaning on Him as if He could take it all away in a moment’s notice (because He can), those people stand to face judgement. God wants us to trust Him, to lean on Him, to rely on Him, and to look to Him for our provision. That provision includes money, but it includes so much more. So, even in light of the fact that I live as a ‘have’, as do you, in this world, I must cultivate that ability to desire God’s presence and to lean on God’s provision and plan for my life. Money is a ‘tangible’ resource, we can see it and touch it and experience it directly, so it is just the easiest thing for us to point to in speaking of God’s provision...but God offers so much more.

Today I pray that God would show me all of the ways He is providing for me, that He would help me see all of the ways that I am blessed apart from money and material things...I pray God would help me to appreciate how thoroughly He has ingrained Himself into my life, so that I might be more trusting, and more reliant on Him going forward.

It is likely that today’s reading is addressed to a group of well-to-do folks inside of the Christian community who are kind of living their own lives and living kind of a “Sunday Christian” kind of lifestyle. James is addressing their tendency to assume they control their own destiny, that they live their lives in a way that reflects a sense of sufficiency apart from God.

For most of us, I think that in many ways describes how we live. I know it is often true of me and of my life. When things get hard, I definitely turn to God. When things are great, I am a little more hit-or-miss. I would definitely say that in my spiritual development over the last few years, I have learned to praise God and to count my blessings and to lean into His Grace in both good and bad times, but there is always that tendency towards autonomy when things are going great. I think that is a remnant of sin that lives in me that I will always have to battle; similar to yesterday’s tendency to lean into the passions of this world, and away from God’s plan for my life. I think that’s the linking idea between the first 12 verses in this chapter and the these last 5 - our tendency to drift from God because of the sin living inside of us.

James gives us a hint at a part of the solution though. As we’ve discussed before, we know James is a believer in salvation by faith, so we know he believes we can’t save ourselves; but we also can clearly see from his text that he is a believer in action as well. He would tell us that God saves, but we have a job to respond. Here, the very last verse offers a subtle hint as to how to combat these sinful tendencies. James says we are to do what is right. That’s it. Very scientific. But, think about it for a second, and we talked about this yesterday, and I think James hit this idea from multiple angles - the more times we do what is right, the more times we step up to the plate and make the good decision over the sinful one, the more we train ourselves to do so. The more we do this, the more momentum we experience in our lives, and the easier the next right step gets. We are going to deviate at times, for sure, but 5 steps forward and 2 steps back is still 3 steps forward...and that’s the point. Today, let’s end the day up a step - that’s the goal. Let’s focus on both making steps forward, and let’s focus on counting our current blessings, not taking for granted what God has done, is doing, and will certainly do in our lives. Let’s make today a momentum-builder.

I feel like these verses this morning are really an extension of what we were discussing yesterday, that these verses key off of James 3:16.

Today James takes this idea further, that this jealousy and selfish ambition end up causing ‘war’ inside of us...that we end up with urges and desires that push us in a direction we shouldn’t go, and that we end up becoming like the rest of the world, that is, without the Holy Spirit. So, as we give into world temptations, as we follow our unchecked passions, as we yearn to have more and more, we drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit, and thus, we can’t sense God and experience God in the same ways we otherwise would. It is almost like he is saying that we become numb to that sense of one-ness with God when we pursue worldly things that are not part of God’s plan for our lives...this is definitely something I can attest to experiencing. When we get so hung up in chasing down a goal, or a certain outcome, we lose the ability to maintain perspective. We get so lazar-focused on that thing that we can’t hear others’ advise, and we certainly can’t hear God.

His solution? Resist temptation, resist following your desires until you’ve vetted them, prayed over them, considered them, and humble ourselves before God...meaning, come to terms with who we are, that we’ve fallen short, and renew that connection with God so we can hear His voice again in our lives. This isn’t a one-and-done deal...this is a lifelong journey. This IS what some would call, “the good fight”, the constant struggle to maintain focus on what matters most.

This is a great reminder today...a great reminder that we should be constantly fighting to maintain the perspective of God’s purpose in our lives, and God’s agenda, and that we should probably get comfortable with the idea that this is a battle we’ll always have to wage. James did at least say that if we resist the devil he will flee us...I don’t think he means completely, but at least there IS hope that as we journey down this road in the RIGHT direction, each progressive step can get easier than the last.

Talk about a few verses that read like they are straight from Proverbs! Today, James hits us with some ideas related to wisdom, and how wisdom actually looks in our lives. There are only 5 verses, but there is a ton here to unpack.

So, James starts off with a challenge - as if he is saying, “Are YOU a wise person? You want to know how to tell?” James is suggesting that bitter jealousy and selfish ambition are the antithesis of wisdom, that their existence in our hearts is a telling sign that wisdom is lacking. Think about that for a second though, as that is a pretty big idea.

I have often thought of wisdom has having 2 components, knowing what to do AND having the integrity, the courage, and the fortitude to actually act in accordance with that knowledge. Another way to say it might be that wisdom is knowledge in action; not just knowledge, but knowledge that is applied into real life. James may be suggesting that a root cause of failing to either know what to do or to having the integrity to actually apply that knowledge is a deep-rooted issue - jealousy, selfish ambition. As I think about that though, that makes a ton of sense. If not for comparing myself to others, rather than to the person God has designed me to be, I am sure there are a TON of mistakes, both willfully committed mistakes and unknowing, that I would have avoided. The drive that comes from competition can be a healthy drive, but it is definitely a two-edged sword, and it is absolutely true that I can push myself to the edge of what’s wise in the name of trying to conquer, trying to succeed against others, trying to be the best. If you just think about it for a second, is there really anything more evil than that little internal moment of celebration that we have all had at some point or another when another person has failed; when their failure meant we had success, or we were a leg up? Celebrating another’s failure isn’t loving in any way...it is selfish. Yuck! That’s human nature at its worst.

Today, I am going to be looking for that inclination to value myself over others; to value my own needs and desires above others. I am going to look to spot moments of selfishness. Today, incidentally, my family is back in town again, so today is the day where I really get to apply yesterday’s challenge in conjunction with today’s; to be courageously complementary, and perhaps even pay a complement to a competitor whom I admire, to actively push back on jealousy. I will have to be looking for a way to do that today.

It is great to be back...man, no more breaks for a while! Today we are digging into James chapter 3, and we’ll just read the first section, verses 1-12.

The big idea from this section is really just that our worlds matter...a lot. There are a few great analogies illustrating this, perhaps my favorite being the one about the fact that large ships are steered by small little rudders, and that we are in the same way guided by our words.

We talked about this a week or two ago, how important our words are, and how impactful they can be on those around us. Not only that, but our words can really direct and guide our own lives. We can very much speak ourselves into feeling, speak ourselves into acting, and speak ourselves into being. I think about 2 big takeaways pretty much right out of the gate as I am writing this - thinking about my words to others, and thinking about how I talk to myself.

I have already thought about this one recently, so I will just reiterate that I think we pretty much universally undersell how impactful our words are on others. I am very stingy with complements and praise, and that is something I really must get better at...just genuine praise of others and to others. This is just a habit, so it can be cultivated. My family is starving for this from me...I am sure of that. And James hits me over the head with this on this morning.

The other end of that is how I speak to myself. I am really hard on myself, and it wears me down over time. I mean, there really isn’t any reason for it either. And I love what I heard someone say one time, “Would you say those words to another person?” To which I would answer, “Well, no.” Then they said, “Well then, why would you say them to yourself?”. It really is a great question...so true. Why would I? That isn’t productive, it isn’t helpful, and it isn’t loving myself as I am called to do.

Today is all about my words. I am going to grant 3 complements by the end of the day, and I am going to wear a rubber band on my right arm to snap it on myself when I catch myself speaking negatively or thinking negatively about myself or my performance in a certain area...I am going to catch myself and I am going to snap it on my arm to force myself to become conscious of this more regularly.

out of town announcement and thought

Alright, we are back on the topic of works and works being the evidence of faith in our lives again today. Now, based on who James is, based on the company he kept, and based on the whole of the New Testament teaching, we have to make assumptions about what James is really trying to say here in this text, because it really appears, on the surface, that he is saying something contradictory to what the Gospels and Paul teach about faith by belief vs. faith by works. I am going to go ahead and read the text so we can all be on the same page with this, and then we’ll discuss it. James 2:14-26.

James is using this idea to reinforce what he has taught us about not judging people by their appearance, and not favoring people based on the advantage they can provide to us. Today he is stressing that we should not only withhold judgement, but that we should act on behalf of those who are most in need. And we have to recognize the difference between salvation, which isn’t what he is talking about when he is saying Abraham and Rehab are saved by their faith, and redemption in this life. Abraham and Rehab aren’t in Heaven with God for all eternity because of what they did. We don’t receive salvation with God, eternity in Heaven, because of anything other than faith. But, our lives are redeemed, meaning God works in us and through us and on us when we act in faith. Faith in action is how we invite God into our lives. Faith in action is how we get to experience God. This is what I refer to as redemption; it is God coming into our lives on a personal level. Essentially, I think James is telling us this, “You want to go to Heaven, then faith is your ticket. But if you want to experience God in this life, taking action is the key. We must DO in order to SEE - action is our invitation to God to show up in our lives.

So, for today, I am going to do as I did in the last reading - challenge myself to action. I didn’t get the “pay it forward” done, so that’s my challenge today - to pay it forward in some way. And not only that, but that action will be my reminder to look for an even deeeper more meaningful opportunity to act out my faith; I will be on the lookout for what God brings my way today.

Today’s main idea, at least for me, is so good...I mean, this idea that James paints for us such a great point.

I am not going to read this 13 verses because that is a little longer than what I want to read while also keeping this journal entry shorter. But, as always, I would encourage you, when you see the passage in the title, flip open your Bible and do a quick survey of these verses, or open the Bible app and listen to them...it takes 30 seconds, but it really helps to tie the passage with the idea that I am presenting.

The passage starts with James condemning the practice of judging people by how they are dressed when they come into a worship setting...meaning, don’t give people who have the trappings of wealth better seats in service than others, and don’t judge people’s faith based on their outward appearance. He reminds us that God has quite often used a person’s more lowly standing in society as a leverage point to make a bigger point. James is telling us not to judge a book by its cover essentially. There is more to it than that, but it is really this second idea that he camps out on that I want to talk about.

In verses 8-13 he lays out an idea that I am really drawn to...I am going to read these few verses: read James 2:8-13.

What I see James showing us is that we get a choice...we can set ourselves up to be judged BY the law or by Grace. James calls it the law of liberty here, and he did the same back in the 1st chapter in verse 25. This is a huge idea. Do you want to be judged according to how well you execute on the Old Testament Law; the Law for which Jews were accountable for something like 1500 years and that no one, meaning NOT ONE, was able to pull off? Is that the Law against which you want to be judged for purposes of your salvation and Grace? No! Of course you don’t! Of course I don’t! I want to be judged by the standard Jesus set...Grace. I want God to see me as a saint that messes up on occasion, not a sinner who is trying to get back into how good graces. James is telling us that we should apply that same idea in our own lives, to live by grace, to give grace to others. He says that the law we apply to others is the law that will be applied to us personally. Wow, that’s strong. And what an awesome idea!

Do you give up on people? Do you just emotionally check-out and leave people hanging after a while? Do you throw your hands up and declare someone worthless in your mind? Do you judge some people to be worthy of grace and others not? These are all applications of this idea...the last, judging some worthy of grace and others not, usually because there is a benefit to me or because I want something from them, is exactly where James started the chapter. That’s what we must stand against. If we want Grace to be our standard, we must apply Grace to others routinely in our own lives. Today, I pray that God would show me an opportunity to do that...to give Grace where there is no opportunity to benefit myself. Today, I will pay it forward in some way as a physical representation of this idea, and to keep me looking for a deeper opportunity to apply this principle of giving Grace even when I don’t want to, even when it isn’t convenient, and even when it costs me.

As a reminder, we read these verses yesterday, which I do again this morning, and we honed in on the first 3 verses for yesterday’s discussion, while we’ll focus on the last 5 this morning. So, here is the text and then we’ll dive into the discussion: (James 1:19-27).

Yesterday was all about becoming a doer, taking action. And, remember, action isn’t how we gain salvation, and James isn’t telling us that we should use others’ actions to judge them...no, this is meant to be mirror, as a self-assessment...we are to examine whether or not there is evidence in our own lives that would lead us to believe God is working in us and on us. That was the first of the ideas from this section.

The second idea is a little more concrete - it is the idea that we should control our tongue. This could be a direct application of the first idea...it could be, and probably will be for most of us, that a part of our growth is learning to control our words. Two days ago, back up in verse 19 we are told to be quick to HEAR, slow to SPEAK...I think this just hops on the back of that. Our words are SO important...not only the negative things we say, but the positive. For me, I know I don’t leverage my words well enough in my house. My family doesn’t get enough affirmation from me. They don’t hear all of the positive things I think about them, what I love about them, and what I cherish about them enough. Controlling my tongue isn’t JUST not saying what shouldn’t be said, and listening, but it is also saying what SHOULD be said...which can be equally important. To that end, and piggy-backing on yesterday even more, sometimes what needs to be said isn’t a statement, but a question...questions help us understand, and understanding is required to love. Let’s be sensitive to this idea of controlling our tongue.

And, lastly, another very concrete idea - that religion that is pure and undefiled is visiting orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. I believe the essence of what James is speaking about here is the idea that we should love and care for and do for those who have nothing to give back to us, that we should love them because God first loved us, which in the context of James’ day was really the widows and orphans because of how society was set up. Today’s society is different, and marginalization varies from culture to culture and geography to geography, but the idea is to go to the need, to serve those who can’t serve us back, and to give of the abundance God has given us. And he layers on this second idea, which is that we should pursue moral purity, and we should derive our sense of value through God’s eyes, not the world’s.

So today, in all of that, here is my challenge to myself, to leverage my words in a positive fashion. I am committing to finding a setting where I can speak into the lives of those closes to me and directly tell them what I think about them, why I love them, why they are awesome, and why I admire them. I am going to leverage my words for good in a very deliberate and direct fashion. I will be a doer of James’ teaching.

As I read today’s verses and we get into this discussion, I want reiterate that we are talking here about growth, and we are talking about accountability to ourselves, not to others. The reading today isn’t something to be taken in the context of a church using this an excuse to judge its people, and their merits as Christians, or whether or not someone is ‘really saved’...this is about examining ourselves, asking if we really are leaning into God’s teaching, and growing individually. Salvation isn’t earned in doing as James is teaching; James is just trying to provide some motivation to us. So here is today’s text and then we’ll talk about it: (James 1:22-27).

Reading this, I kind of see 3 ideas jumping out, 3 thoughts. I will tackle one today, and then we’ll keep with this line of thought and these verse and dig into the second and third tomorrow.

The first is in verses 22-25, that we are to be doers of the Word...meaning, we are to be changed, we are to be challenged, and we are to grow as we adopt God’s teaching. When was the last time you were challenged by God’s word? Or, how about this...when was the last time you were inconvenienced by it? When was a time when you wanted to do x, but you had that moment of pause, and you felt a kind of nudge and knew you should do y, and you really didn’t want to and you really didn’t want to, to the point of just thinking, “Crap, okay God, I hear you...”, and you did y? When was the last time that happened to you? That should be something that happens not all that seldom if you are growing. I can recall an incident from last week, but that is really only because I had committed through these journal entries to follow where God leads me in trying to serve others, which was cool, but that should be something that is welcomed, is frequent, and it a reminder that God is with us and is guiding us. When was the last time your faith inconvenienced you or put you in a position where you had to make a decision you didn’t really want simply because of what you profess to believe. That’s a great metric to track over time. That is the essence of growth.

For today and tomorrow, I want to really challenge myself on this idea of being a doer of the Word and not just a hearer. A step in that direction is a prayer I heard someone teach once, and it simply goes like this: “God, help me to want what you want, and to recognize when I don’t, that I may see an opportunity to be more like you.” That is it - very simple. In reality, this should be a part of every daily prayer. I am going to be praying that and hoping for that today. And that will get me ready for a really direct application that we will see tomorrow.

Another short section today...I told you, this text is just loaded with stuff we can talk about! Here are today’s verses:

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

In reading this, the theme of this text seems to be anger, or pushing against having anger in your heart. It is almost like James is telling us that anger and love can’t coexist in a person’s heart; where there is anger there is a struggle to love.

Why quick to hear; why does James start there? I have to put things into the text that aren’t there, but I can speculate. Let’s assume that most people are decent people, and most people are reasonable. Then, most people act the way they act because of what they have seen and heard, just as is the case for me. Then, it is a good starting point to assume that if I saw and heard and experienced everything they have, I might come to a similar conclusion, a similar opinion, or a similar place. This idea of assuming the best in people is central to having a loving, understanding, compassionate, heart...and it all starts with listening. It is predicated on the fact that we understand another person’s viewpoint. Perhaps James is leaning into this truth...that understanding starts with listening, and that anger is born out of a lack of understanding more times than not. Quick to listen, slow to speak...meaning, listen until we think we understand, then listen some more, the a little more; and all of that before I ever wade into the conversation with MY opinion. Because, as he goes on to say, anger can’t be in the heart of someone who is producing righteousness...meaning, we can love our neighbor, we can’t come along side him, if we are harboring anger.

So, how do we do this? How do we lower our guard, listen, and appreciate what another person is saying instead of becoming angry? We humble ourselves to receive God’s word...which is to say, we humble ourselves, we become ‘meek’ to use James’ word in this verse, and we let God work on us. We have been talking about leaning into God’s promises, and this is a great example of that...we are to love our neighbor and ask God to fill our hearts with love. You see the order there? We are to DO, then we will feel like it. In fact, tomorrow’s verses start right there, by commanding us to be DOERS of the word. Sometimes we have to act ourselves into feeling.

So, today I am reminded that anger is an enemy I must combat. Listening is the key to that. This week, I am going to subject myself to a challenge, and that is to be conscious to ask one follow-up question whenever possible and appropriate, to seek just a bit more confirmation in conversations that I understand, before I speak. Before I offer an opinion or a thought, I must ask one more question or must restate what the other person is saying, in my own words, and confirm that I have it right. This is a great relationship and conversational tool, but it is also a way to engrain a habit of being quick to hear and slow to speak as James commands here in his letter this morning.

The first couple of verses today turn away from the ideas preceding, talking about the rich man and how his riches are fleeting, and then James gets back to addressing this idea of ‘good suffering’, or enduring through faith in the face of trials. Perhaps James was eluding to the idea that some people think that having money means you don’t have trials, I don’t know...but he definitely is stressing that we should stay faithful during trying times. I think these verses are really poetic, so I am going to read them real quickly (v12-18).

I love that James uses that word promised; as we discussed yesterday, God doesn’t really give many real ‘promises’; this is one though. James would say that God has promised to meet us in our time of need if we remain faithful. He will redeem our struggle, or use it in some way that is for good. That’s a promise. And James stresses something we talked about yesterday, that struggle and evil are not from God, but from that only good comes from Him. WE are the reason for sin, God is the reason for goodness, the the rescuer. This is an important concept to really understand, that sin is a result of our decisions, and of decisions of others past, not God’s desire. God didn’t put evil in the world to mess with us. Evil is the result of our using our free will in a way it wasn’t intended...to be our own god. When we rebelled God in the Garden of Eden, God judged that sin; which is what every good parent would do, judge a wrong doing. But God has been going about rescuing us from ourselves ever since. It is a beautiful story, and it seems odd and it sounds a little weird until you really spend time thinking about it...it makes sense.

For today though, the takeaway for me kind of falls in line with yesterday a little, but it is just recognizing how blessed I really am, and in so many ways that I don’t even realize. I have to leverage that when I struggle, and remember that, and hold to the fact that God has promised to use my struggles for good if I can remain faithful. That’s a promise I can test, and that’s also a promise that, looking back, I can honestly say He has always kept.

As I said yesterday, James’ letter is a little more disjointed than some of the other writings in the New Testament...it bounces around a little, like Proverbs. We see that today...today I am going to focus on the first 7 verses of James. So, here they are, and then I will make a few comments.

In reading this, I see 2 distinct ideas here. The first is about enduring struggle, and see that in verses 2-4. And we all know this...life is hard. And it is hard because of sin...it is hard because WE sin, and because of sin in human history. It isn’t hard because God makes it that way; but, James is reminding us that God, in his mercy, redeems the difficulties of life, and He can use them for good. Looking at the subscripts that are referenced in these verse in my text, we can see these ideas echoed in Romans 5:3 and 1 Peter 1:6, and there are plenty of others. In fact, there aren’t a lot of straight out promises from God, but one that is implied pretty heavily, and to which I can attest from my own journey with faith is that God will use our struggles, He will redeem our struggles, for some purpose of His, if we’ll remain faithful during those times. It am awesome thing to see...and this is a reason that tracking prayers is so powerful; it helps us to capture our pain and our hurt and our struggles in-the-moment, so we can catalog them and remember them, because once God heals us and makes us whole, we have a tendency to forget them. Tracking prayers is such a fantastic spiritual discipline.

And the second section is verses 5-7, where we see James talking about going to God for wisdom. I can see this idea as being at least tangentially related to the first, perhaps he is suggesting that when we struggle we should endure but also go to God for wisdom...but I don’t see the two ideas neatly tied together, so I don’t know for sure if that’s what he is suggesting. Either way though, I love this idea that we should lean into God and that we should do so with an expectation that God will answer our request. This reminds me of the analogy of the three-legged stool, where you can picture yourself sitting on the stool; then think about one leg being removed, or of leaning up onto 2 of the 3 legs...that is how a lot of us live out our faith. We keep one of our own legs on the ground as the third leg, maintaining control, maintaining our sense of autonomy, and thereby robbing God of what He truly wants, which is for us to sit back on all 3 legs, supported by Him alone. That’s when faith soars and God really tends to want to move in our lives. But we have to let go and let God...we have to take our foot off of the ground. James is telling us here in these verses that God grants wisdom to He who asks, but He really responds only when we ask in expectation that He is going to answer; when we ask and we move forward assuming God’s going to show up. It is asking God for the wisdom on how to talk about something with your spouse, a difficult topic that you sense in the moment needs to be brought out, tossing up that prayer in your mind really quickly, and then being courageous enough to start the discussion. It is asking God for the strength to forgive a friend in a moment when you’ve been offended, and then opening your mouth and speaking that forgiveness while trusting God will soften your heart. That’s faith in action; that’s picking your feet up off of the ground and leaving the results to God. That’s what James is talking about.

This letter or manuscript from the New Testament is pretty well accepted as being written by James, the brother (or half-brother) of Jesus. Interestingly, the name James is really a little bit of a stretch as his name in Greek is Iakōbos, or in Hebrew Ya’akov, or more appropriately Jacob...our name James is apparently of more of an Italian version of the name.

Jacob, or James, was the first leader of the first church - the church there in Jerusalem as the disciples went out to begin spreading the gospel after Jesus’ death. This church went through some hard times in the roughly 20 years after his death and as much of what we know from Acts was taking place...there was a famine and there was rampant poverty and persecution of the church. But James was known as a true pillar in the church. His writing is loaded with references to Proverbs and Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount...and that brings me to the main idea I want to focus on for a moment; think about this...we are reading a letter from a guy who is teaching us based on Proverbs and from the Sermon on the Mount, from a guy who literally grew up with Jesus. This letter was likely penned in the mid-40s, 12-15 years after Jesus’ death, and probably before many (or all) of Paul’s letters. This is as probably as close as we can get to Jesus.

So, here is the question...what would your brother/sister have to do in order to convince you that he/she is the Son/Daughter of God? Think about that, seriously, for second. I heard this question posed by a pastor named Andy Stanley years ago and have thought about it often since. This is a big question. James is perhaps one of the best pieces of evidence as to the identity of Jesus. Think about all of those moments growing up where your sibling does something to pick at you, or to annoy you, or to set you up for something you didn’t do...think about all the little moments of weakness and vulnerability, when you got in trouble and your sibling got to see you being punished...in all of that, after all of that, and after years of living in close proximity to Jesus, James is convinced that He is actually God’s Son...the Messiah. James is either certifiably insane or he is just who he says he is...and it seems most likely to me that the latter is true rather than the former.

In terms of the letter, it is really more of a collection of wisdom thoughts and ideas organized around an introductory section. We have these marked as ‘chapters’, with 2-5 being the broader sections of ideas and with chapter 1 setting things up. There is a lot of density to this book - there are few wasted words. So, even though it is just 5 chapters, it will take a bit to work through it if we are going to allow passages to work on us and to challenge us.

Today, I pray that God would continue to show me opportunities to love those around me, and in a similar fashion, I pray that He would begin to open me up to challenge and to self-exploration...James is sure to lead us in that direction and I don’t want my pride and my own agenda to get in the way of that!

So, I hinted at possibly doing this, and so it is...I am going to read James next, instead of John. James will be in keeping with a lot of the wisdom stuff that has been challenging me lately, so I want to lean into that a little. I feel like God is nudging me in the direction of some applied wisdom in my life. So, today I will read through James, and then tomorrow do a little background reading, then we’ll start the chapter-by-chapter reading; which will probably be cut up into much smaller pieces because of the richness of this content. We will take that as we go though. For today though, the read-through.

For me, in reading these 5 chapters of James, which really read a lot more like Proverbs than the Gospels, I had one big thought that came to mind that I think is SO important, and I that I can’t recall really landing on before - it is the idea that James is really written to the individual, not the church. And, here is what I mean by that...I have often heard the question asked, “Is a person really saved if they don’t act, at least in some ways, like a Christian is supposed to act...like as we are taught in the NT?” And here is the deal...I think James would tell us that the way YOU act is your business, it is between you and God; I have no need to enter into that discussion. My faith, in the same way, is my own journey. I think James is writing to us INDIVIDUALLY to encourage us, to challenge us, to push us, and to guide us...but I think his writing is to be used by ME for ME and as a mirror, not as a whip. James’ words aren’t intended for me to be used to whip you, or to beat you up about your faith...James is a mirror; it is meant for me to look at me, and you to look at you. It is a personal book.

It is also important to note that James, to a large extent, isn’t discussing salvation in his letter, but he is focused on application...he is answering the question of how to live as a believer; in other words, doing everything James says isn’t a ticket to salvation, because we can’t ‘act’ our way into Heaven. We have to trust our way there by faith in Christ, as Paul taught us. It is important to remember that James was there in the Jerusalem Counsel when Paul came to push for lowering the bars on ‘getting into the church’, and James was the outspoken person who said that we should place anything in the way of the person coming to faith so as not to hinder them. James is a fervent believer in salvation by faith, but he is also one who appears to have a real passion for challenging us to hold ourselves accountable to our faith, and to what we say we believe.

So, as we read James, we are going to be challenged. We are going to feel, at times, like we are getting kicked in the teeth. It is important to remember that salvation is settled for us (assuming you are listening are saved by faith), this is about getting better, and it about looking at ourselves, individually, and using James’ writing as a mirror to create moments of confession where we express openly to God where we’ve fallen short, and where we can trust God will meet us and renew us and prepare us to move forward and to grow. That’s the best use of this writing in my opinion.

Following on yesterday’s thoughts, I am hovering on this idea of leaning into wisdom a little. It actually makes me think that the next place I may go is actually James, before getting over to John. James is so pointed and direct, it mixes well with this theme of leaning into wisdom, which is something I am really getting a lot out of at the moment.

This first Psalm is short and is really, really solid, I am going to read the entire thing here:

1 Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

4 The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

It is this ‘on his law he meditates day and night’ phrase that I am really focusing; this is something I have been trying to do more of lately. It isn’t as much that I have been memorizing scripture, which is something I should focus on doing more, but that I am trying to have more little moments with God throughout the day, recognizing him in small blessings, or asking for guidance in even the small decisions, or just thanking him more often. These little moments set the broader tone for me - small moments lead to bigger recognition of what’s going on. As I have been working on recognizing the needs of those around me these last few days, and leaning in to try and meet those needs better, I have found that these moments of recognition of God’s presence really give me some momentum...it is almost like getting a nudge and a small snippet of encouragement along the way. Meditating on God’s law and God’s presence and plan in little moments really helps me to maintain perspective of what all of this is about anyways.

So, today, I will continue on this path towards meeting the needs of those around me, concerning myself with understanding those needs, and going to God continually throughout the day to remind me that He is there, He cares, and He is behind me on this journey. I will remember that living in wisdom is really the only good choice...and that wisdom is hard in the short term, but much easier in the long-run.

Today, reading through this, I had a little bit different thought that came to mind...instead of keying in on a particular verse, I got to thinking about the chapter as a whole, and it prompted this question for me, “Where in my life am I ignoring wisdom currently?” In other words, I am essentially asking about where I might have a blindspot. This chapter is littered with fantastic little one-liner ideas and verses, and I could go on for days picking one out at a time, but this bigger idea is really what has me thinking...where am I ignoring wisdom?

It is true that sometimes people get lucky and end up with all of the right things happening without doing the work for prepare for those...actually, there is a verse in here about that. But, people do win the lottery in life. However, it isn’t reasonable, or wise, to make that my PLAN. Meaning, I have to get myself headed in the right direction if I want to give myself the best chance of succeeding in ANY area of my life...the wisdom literature clearly teaches that incrementalism is the path forward.

For me, in thinking through the journaling I have been doing over the last couple of days, coming out of Romans and thinking about the needs of those around me, and in thinking about this idea of incrementalism applied to the relationships with those closest to me, I know the spot where God would have me go to work...in those relationships. I feel a nudge to really lean in here. I have been stressed with work, I have been recovering from years of knee issues that kept me from exercising and I felt like I was being strangled not being able to do anything athletically, and I have been frustrated by the challenges of raising 2 children in a blended family, one from a prior marriage and one from my current. In the midst of all of that, I have pulled away, and I am tended toward keeping more to myself. It is my safe place, and it is where I find peace and...wait for it, control.

So this morning, I am reminded that the best path forward is always on the path of wisdom. It doesn’t promise or guarantee success, but it DOES align with God’s will for my life, it WILL be the most JOY-filled path, and as I think about this for me, it is asking me to open up and to be wise with my attention. So, I will be praying for clarity on how to do this, for moments in my life to recognize and lean into this calling to really enrich these relationships with those closest relationships; for the courage to say the things that come to mind, and to act upon those little impulses for action that God places on me. That’s my calling today.

Well, we are here...we have finished Romans. This last chapter is a lot of greetings and fair-wells, except that Paul provides one more encouragement to avoid the divisive talk that stands as a great reminder for us as well today. He states that the root of this divisive of teaching is really self edification rather than that of God. And I think that prompts a great diagnostic question to keep in mind, a question of whether or not what I doing is for my own benefit or for the greater purposes of God.

Romans is a little tougher to read than a lot of New Testament manuscripts...it is a little weightier, meatier, ...deep. But, I think we’ve made our way through it catching the big ideas. Paul started by guiding us through a lot of theological thoughts, explaining the gospel message, breaking down some common objections, addressing some common pitfalls in the church and that many of us face individually. Then, as he often does, he turned to some practical application ideas in the back half of the letter.

The big impression I get from Romans is the interconnected nature of Jesus’ work and life and message with that of God’s entire plan...reading through here, I just get the sense that things really have been woven together amazingly well. And, I love how Paul addresses common objections to faith, as I am one that loves a lot of the evangelical/apologetic type material anyways. But, I think my biggest takeaway from Romans really comes back to what Paul is teaching in the last few chapters we read together, that pretty much all of the teaching and instruction could be summed up simply as - love God and love your neighbor. That’s it. It really is that simple...that isn’t EASY, but that certainly is SIMPLE to understand. It is amazing how we can see this message repeated throughout the New Testament scriptures, by various authors, and in various forms...it is the common theme for sure. This weekend, I am going to continue in that exercise I started yesterday, journaling about each family member and close friend, and asking what they are needing right now, and going about trying to be there for them...that is the essence of loving my neighbor.

The first seven verses of this chapter contain the last of what I would call teaching here in Romans. And, as is fitting, we see Paul’s instruction delivered under the ideal of loving our neighbor, putting their needs ahead of hours in the way we live our lives. The reality is, loving our neighbor is simply being aware of their needs and orienting ourselves to serve those needs.

Just reading this helps me to realize, in retrospect, that I tend to be happiest when I am thinking about someone other than myself. I get my deepest feelings of contentment when I am serving others. Ironically, when times get hard and in times of stress, I tend towards fending for myself and away from serving others. I don’t do the things I know I should do, and the downward spiral begins. That is what Paul taught us back in chapter 7 as well; this is just sin working inside of me.

This morning, in thinking of how to apply this idea, an idea is simply to (similar to yesterday) be looking to understand the current needs of those around me. I am going to take that a step further today though, I am going to actually take a few minutes to journal about what I think are the most pressing issues, the biggest concerns of those around me. I will take time to think about them individually and directly. Then, if I feel a nudge that I should actually reach out to them, or engage them in a discussion to hear from them and comfort them directly, then I will do that over the course of today and this weekend. I will take action. That’s my big idea for today.

In today’s reading, there are 2 key statements, and they can be found at the end of each of the two sections of this chapter:

14:12: So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
14: 23(b): For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

The topics for today are judgement (trying to assess how another person is doing with regards to living out his faith) and really what I would call an extension of the love your neighbor idea, which is being sensitive to another’s journey so as not to cause them to stumble. I think the most important we can keep in mind in reading this chapter today is the personal nature of faith - that the journey is unique for each of us.

In the first section, Paul is stressing this idea that we should judge others...and he is being specific to the idea that we shouldn’t attempt to judge how another person is doing as it relates to faith. It isn’t up to us to assess another’s performance as it relates to living out their faith. This is one of the natural by-products of organized faith that really undermines the church as a whole, trying to assess how well others are doing. We constantly want to find ways to label things, and people, and to figure out who are the good Christians and who are the people that are REALLY saved, etc. Paul is reminding us that each of our journeys is unique, and what is true of your journey, and how God calls you to move through life is likely different than how He calls me. Therefore, we can’t get involved in this line of thinking where we are trying to assess others. We are only responsible for equipping others with the message of the gospel and the tools for growth; as they say, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.

Then Paul turns to this idea of not being a cause for another to stumble, which I view as an extension of both the love ideal from yesterday, as well as this judgement idea from today - we should be aware of the needs of others, we should seek to understand them, and we should them make our best efforts not to cause them struggles in their faith journey, but to facilitate their growth and development. He uses the practice of a constrained diet, from the Torah, Jewish Law, to make the point...if controlling my diet is a part of my faith journey, then you should not cause me difficulty in that. If you like fasting on Sundays, then I shouldn’t cause you trouble in that. The point is that each of our journeys is unique to us, and that if we are pursuing God out of desire of our hearts, if it is coming from a heart of faith, then it is good.

For me, the big idea today is personalization - God takes us each on a personalized journey. There are likely to be some shared struggles and some shared victories in terms of our spiritual development, but God’s calling on your life is unique to you, and mine to me...I should in no way be a hindrance to your journey, nor should I be trying to assess to your success of failure as a Christian...that’s between you and God. I should be additive to the lives of those around me...and if I am not doing that, I should consider how to become that way. That’s my takeaway today.

Diving into the back half of Romans chapter 13 today, we see a couple of well-spoken ideas clearly laid out by Paul. In the first couple of verses this morning, Paul gives us a great summary of essentially why the law from the Old Testament isn’t needed anymore...all of that can be summed up in two parts - love your God with all of your heart and your mind and your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Now, Paul is only keying-in on the second part, loving your neighbor as yourself, here, but it is just really well said. I am going to read it:

9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Paul is just making the point that the OT Law isn’t gone, or abolished, it is merely a part of a bigger ideal now...love. This was an important idea to the Jewish Christians who all grew up with this Law as the dominating concept to their faith.

And then Paul gives us a reminder that time is fleeting, that we must get a move on in our practicing our faith, in verses 11-14 he says this:

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

In other words, we must fight back against ourselves...against our tendencies to get lazy with our lives, against our tendency towards what’s easy and comfortable, and we must push forward towards growth, towards development; we must resist much of the things of this world that can distract us from God’s will...that we love others as ourselves. When we desire comfort over growth, what’s easy over what’s right, or what’s right in front of us instead of what’s to come, we end up missing what God has for us. Paul is giving us a nudge, a little bit of a pep talk. We have to stay in the fight and battling the sin that is within us.

Today I am reminded that the most important step in my faith journey is the one right here, right now...this next decision. It is the next decision to pray, or to think on God’s Word, or to love someone when I sense I should but don’t really FEEL like it...the next step is always the most important. And, I shouldn’t focus on steps missed, but only what’s in front of me. One little step here, one little step there...and in a short time, I will end up a long way from where I started, and a lot closer to God. Incrementalism is the word of the day for me.

This section is one that can easily be misused and even abused it we aren’t careful, so this is a good area to make sure we’ve read and considered. So, let’s talk about what Paul isn’t saying. Is Paul saying that all authority is placed into being by God, and therefore we should just follow our leaders without consideration? No...I mean, Paul was arrested and ‘tried’ for not doing exactly that...not following the governing power’s rulings around spreading faith. So that can’t be what he means here. This doesn’t mean we should do what an abusive spouse tells us to do, or stay in ridiculous job settings under a boss that is terrible...this isn’t any of that. I think we have to understand these words in a broader context. First off, Paul teaches us this idea of being in the world but not of the world - the idea that we need to try to operate peacefully inside of the culture in which we find ourselves, trusting that God will be and always has been in charge of the ultimate outcome. We do this because this is how we demonstrate faith...with peace. Our default setting should be to follow our authorities...that should be the setting from which we are generally assuming to start. We aren’t rebels, that isn’t our reputation; we are Jesus-followers. If we are known as rebels, then we are distracting from our original purpose and message.

Further, it is also important to bear in mind that this passage is likely tied to a common question of the time fro Jesus-followers, which was the question “Should be we pay taxes to Caesar?”. You can see how Paul answers this question in the way this is written...there is some context and then he finally directly answers that question.

So, today, the important thing for me is that we should have a default setting of peace. We should carry a default setting of submission to authority. We should default to looking for ways to follows follow the rules vs. ways to break the rules. I am definitely guilty, at times, of being a rebel looking for a cause...I think Paul is trying to level-set us here. Again, that is not to say that Christians shouldn’t ever rebel, because we also know that isn’t true. This is really more about our default setting for me today.

The first section of today’s reading, Romans 12:3-21, is about spiritual gifts and it really prompted me to think about this question as I was reading it, “When am I at my happiest state? Or is it ‘most happy’? I don’t know...but when is that? I will tell you when that is...when I am feeling content and I am not comparing myself to others. When I feel good enough as I am, I tend to relax a little more. That’s when the weight comes off of my shoulders; that’s when I tend to be more present with the ones I love...when I feel like I am good enough.

Here Paul is pressing into this idea that God gave us all gifts, and He ordained us with a purpose in mind. and he tells us that we should lean into those gifts and we should focus on being the best version of ourselves, living out that purpose. And, further, he connects our purpose with others in that he teaches us that God created everyone as pieces of the puzzle, as parts of the whole. So, not only are we happiest when we are being our best selves, but that’s when the world is a better place as well. As poetic and romantic as that idea is, it is actually very easy to accept and to confirm when I think about it. 40 years of living on this earth and I can say that those worlds really seem to be true based on my experience.

...and then it starts...we get a laundry list of stuff from Paul in v9-21. Now, I am going to read this section really quickly, but here is what I want us to remember this morning. This list of stuff has 2 purposes - it is both a prescription and a description. Meaning, we are to effort ourselves to live this way, but we do so knowing that we aren’t going to pull this off. Jesus was the only one that was about to do that, ever. BUT, that still doesn’t release us from the prescriptive nature here, we are to make the effort...that’s part of the growth process. But we should also remember that doing these things doesn’t make us a Christian...these are cumulatively a description of the fruits you and I will start to notice in our lives as we follow Jesus. To the extent that you or I start to recognize these things happening in lives, our behavior, we can know that God is working in us.

So, yesterday I prayed to God a few extra times trying to create a better connection and a more open line of communication, today I am going to continue doing that, but I will add in a request that God would help me to spot moments to intentionally be more loving in these ways. Today I want to act like I am loving and am loved by God.

Alright, here we are...the application section of Romans; a playground of action steps. Now, it is key to remember, this is NOT the theological segment where Paul is explaining how to be saved...non of this is that. What follows is mostly about the 5th word in today’s passage - the word “therefore”. Today, I am only working with 2 verses, because there are some important ideas in these 2 verses and I am more interested in getting a lot of out of these readings vs. just reading a lot. So, here are those two verses:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

As I said, the first word that I really think is key to understanding this chapter and what’s the follow is this word THEREFORE. Paul is essentially saying, ‘given everything I have just said’, or ‘in light of the teaching I have just given on saving Grace’...therefore; and therefore what? Well, in light of all of that, what should a person do? What should a person do who has received that message of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection? What’s the response?

Well, first off, I should present my body as a living sacrifice. That is different from the 1500 years of animal sacrifices that had been prescribed by the Torah, the Jewish Law...not I am the sacrifice, just as Jesus was the sacrifice, because the proper response to the message of the Gospel is to try to emulate Jesus. That isn’t to save us...Jesus already did that. No, it is just the fitting response of someone who understands what’s been done on his behalf. That’s why he follows with “which is your spiritual worship”. In other words, that living sacrifice that we offer IS our worship. In fact, the word that is translated to mean spiritual in this verse could also mean reasonable...this is the reasonable thing to do given what’s been done for us...to worship.

That is a really strong opening verse! And he goes on in verse 2 to say that we shouldn’t be conformed to this world...now, this is something we have to take in context. Paul is definitely telling us that we shouldn’t fall pray to the traps of this world, and that we should be different, or marked by our faith. Paul isn’t saying that we should be distant from non-believers...you only have to look at his example and how he lived his life to know that isn’t what he is saying. I think a good way to think about this is a diagnostic question I asked myself a few days ago - “Could someone, looking at my life, convict me of being a Jesus follower? Could I be convicted of being a Christian in a court of law?” We should be marked by the Gospel in some way.

And we should be transformed by it as well...that is to say, it should move us, change us; and anything that does that is uncomfortable and challenging at times...that’s part of the deal. That’s why Paul gives us famous verses in Philippians about enduring, ‭‭because it is hard to growth. But he gives us a key here...it isn’t about just gritting our teeth and acting right, doing right, but it is about having our minds transformed to see as God sees, in time, as we grow in relationship with Him. As our minds are shaped by God’s Grace and teaching, our bodies will follow. Yes, we should try to act right too, but time should make the acting right easier and easier as our minds are renewed. And that renewal means that we are slowing learning to see as God sees...we can’t get all of the way there in this goal, but we can get close than where we are today, and then a little more tomorrow, and the next day...it is a process.

Today we see Paul’s last really theological writing, before getting into more of the application portion of Romans. He is taking on the question, “Why then all of the suffering of Israel? Why the law; did God hate Israel, or want to punish her? Was he making a mockery of the Jews?”

Paul’s answer to that question was definitely a “No…not at all!” The Jews were part of the message…it was through their faithful attempts to live out the law that we get evidence that it isn’t possible to pull it off. The Jews were the most well-behaved, God-fearing, and God-supported people…and they still couldn’t pull it off. That isn’t an indictment on them…it is evidence that people aren’t able to do it…we aren’t capable of fully living like Jesus. Further, it was through their sacrifice and their toil that the rest of the world can now be saved; the Jewish people paved the way for the rest of us Gentiles.

God wasn’t hating on anyone…He was helping us to understand. Think about how you raise your kids…sometimes you know the best thing you can do is to let them figure something out on their own. If it isn’t something that is life-threatening, this is actually, usually, a decent strategy. We let them fumble around and eventually figure certain things out. In doing that, they not only learn how to do something, but they learn that they don’t know everything. It is in fumbling around that we gain appreciation for someone having the answer. That’s part of the reason that most people, as they get older, start to be more and more open to the wisdom of others…because we know we don’t have time to figure everything out! The Jews were fumbling around for 1500 years so the rest of us can just accept the fact that we aren’t going to be good enough to EARN God’s Grace…Jesus is really our best and ONLY shot at it!

We pick on the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Jews of the Old Testament a lot as we read the Bible and try to understand our faith…because we see a lot of examples of how NOT to do it. But, in reality, there are MANY stories of faithful Jews who were doing their best and who eventually turned to Jesus that we don’t know about. They were patiently waiting, and their Messiah came. Today I am reminded how fortunate I am to be on THIS side of Jesus’ life…that I don’t have to endure what many of those Jews had to endure. Today, I am hard on myself because I don’t live up to God’s standards, but at least I know deep down that God isn’t also doing the same thing…He isn’t judging me based on those standards. At least I know, as hard as I am on myself, that God sees me in a different light. I am so thankful for that, and for the years and years of sacrifice of the Jews that came before me.

Yesterday we discussed the first half of Romans 10, looking at the clear message of how a person is saved...by faith in the message of Jesus; His life, death, and resurrection. Paul was very clear on that. He has built up to this point in the first 9 chapters, now he’s given this message clearly, and now he is about to start moving towards some of the more practical applications of God’s message through Jesus - we have just a little more to go before there yet, though.

Today, we are tackling the second half of Romans 10, and with it a question that generally plagues believers at some point in their journey. That is this question: “If the gospel, the good news of Jesus, is the message that must be heard and received in order to be accepted as God’s child, and adopted into God’s kingdom...what about all of those people who never get to hear this message?”

So, let’s start with the ‘fairness’ angle on this. People will rightly say, “Well, that isn’t fair...how could God not give everyone an equal chance to be saved?” And that’s a reasonable position to take, I suppose. And I don’t have a great response for that. How about this, if I said , “Well, if your house were burning down and you have 3 kids and your spouse inside the house, and you were going to run in and grab the first one and then go back for a second, etc...who would you grab first? And, once you got that person out safely, if you turned around to go back for the next one and the house collapsed and exploded, would you be an unfair person for choosing one person over another?”...I think that’s a good line of thought. However, that gives rise to another question, which is a good one too, “Why couldn’t God just save everyone?”. To that question, at least we are more into the spiritual realm and I think a satisfactory answer is “He can, and He could have, but for whatever reason, He didn’t.” And then we circle back to “Well, how could a good God do that?”. The point I am making is this - we don’t know. Remember, we can tell a lot about a painter by looking at the painting, but we can’t know everything about Him; and we certainly lack a lot of information about God. He is what I CAN say though, I would guess that these passages aren’t meant to answer that question, but rather, they are meant to motivate us. IF this is the only way everyone would be saved...by the sharing of the gospel, shouldn’t that motivate us to get our butts in gear? Shouldn’t get that get our minds spinning and get us strategizing on how to display the gospel message to our children in a way that would cause it to be attractive to them, and relatable, and understandable?

There ARE parts of the Bible where God alludes to the fact that, perhaps, there is a sort of universalism in the message of Jesus in one way or another, you can look at Psalm 19:4 and Colossians 1:5-6 and in v23 as well...but there is much less clarity about this than would be needed to truly satisfy this question.

This is a great chapter, Paul is going to clearly state the message of salvation that he has been really driving to for quite a while now. When we look at verses 8 through 13, we clearly see this:

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”, (quoting from Duet.); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

So, Paul is done beating around the bush on this and he really, clearly states hell saving grace is granted. Now, it is potentially important to clear up a nuance with this that I have heard mentioned before. I have heard people ask the question, or make the point, that if we are to confess Jesus and believe in Jesus in order to be saved, then we are technically being called upon to do something to save ourselves. Based on everything Paul has said, I don’t think we can really interpret what he saying quite so literally. It would be silly to say that Paul was literally making the point that a the physical act of stating one’s belief and act believing in one’s heart is the actual moment of being saved. Sometimes people will look at passages like this in the Bible and try to draw literal conclusions from it. I don’t think that’s fair to the text. Paul is simply telling us that trusting in the message of Jesus, that he came and lived life that we could not live and died the death we should have died, and was raised from the dead…placing our faith in that sacrifice on our behalf is the act of being saved.

The outward expression, they mentioning it or speaking it or declaring it out loud is really serving the same purpose as baptism, and that is to tell the world what you believe, to make a public declaration.

This sets up an interesting question though, one that is raised by skeptics frequently, and that is this question, “What about all those people who never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus, and to receive this message and thereby be saved?”

That question, in someways, should hunt us. And, that’s the question that is addressed first thing when we resume tomorrow. Paul anticipated and he goes ahead and addresses it in the remainder of this chapter of Romans.

So the question I will be thinking about today is this, since I have declared my faith, and I trust in Jesus, do I really live a life that proves this belief? Could I be convicted of being a Christian if someone tried me on that charge in a court of law? It is an interesting question.

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Well, it is day 21...unfortunately, I find that the devotional and the passage selected are unrelated. Haha. So, in the end, there were some really good days in this devotional, Lead Like Jesus, and there were some definitely ideas the author was wanting to convey and was reaching for scripture to support. No big deal. Tomorrow we will dive back into Romans, and I will start with a summary of where we have been and then we’ll dive right back into it...I am excited.

For today though, reading the devotional, I thought about a song called “You Say” by Lauren Daigle. It is a really good song, and has a fantastic set of lyrics - which are below.

This song really speaks to this topic of leadership though...at least to me.

As a leader, I need reminding that God has commissioned me. I need a reminder that God is leading me, that I am only a good leader when I am a good follower, and that I my direction and my intention is from God. In other words, I am entrusted with what I have, with whom is under my care; I am responsible and accountable for all I am given.

Further, as a leader, we are beaten up in this world. Life is hard. Leadership is hard. God gives me one message, the world gives me another. This song is about choosing to listen to God’s message. I think that’s an opportunity for many people, especially my fellow type A personalities, as we can be unrelentingly hard on ourselves. I say things to myself that I would never say to anyone else...and that’s not fair. God has the proper perspective, the words I need...I just have to seek them. That’s me reminder for today.

Song on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIaT8Jl2zpI

Lyrics - You Say, by Lauren Daigle

I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I'm not enough

Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up

Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low?

Remind me once again just who I am, because I need to know, ooh oh

You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing

You say I am strong when I think I am weak

And You say I am held when I am falling short

And when I don't belong, oh, You say I am Yours

And I believe (I), oh, I believe (I)

What You say of me (I)

I believe

The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me

In You I find my worth, in You I find my identity, ooh oh

You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing

You say I am strong when I think I am weak

And You say I am held when I am falling short

When I don't belong, oh, You say I am Yours

And I believe (I), oh, I believe (I)

What You say of me (I)

Oh, I believe

Taking all I have and now I'm layin' it at Your feet

You'll have every failure God, You'll have every victory, ooh oh

You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing

You say I am strong when I think I am weak

You say I am held when I am falling short

When I don't belong, oh, You say I am Yours

And I believe (I), oh, I believe (I)

What You say of me (I)

I believe

Oh, I believe (I), yes, I believe (I)

What You say of me (I)

I believe (oh)

Alright, well, we were on a great streak there for a few days, this devotional and me...but today took a left turn. In reality, the gist of what is being communicated is great, it is just the nuance associated with this idea that gets under my skin a touch. So, let’s talk about it.

Here is the passage being cited:

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

Alright, so, here is the rub for me...the Bible seems to be framed up by so many people as this super sacred thing, called God’s Word, and honored and revered as God-breathed, inerrant and without error or omission. I understand all of that, but we have to keep in mind that WE, people, not God, came up with all of that. We have to humbly accept the fact that people wrote the stories that are in it...yes, I believe God led these people, and yes I believe God helped to direct the putting of all of this together, and yes I believe that the Bible contains everything God intended and nothing He didn’t; my issue is how we act like ‘the Bible’ is the center of our faith. It isn’t...and I truly believe God didn’t intend it that way either. The Bible is A tool that God gave us. He also gave us the Holy Spirit. He gave us Jesus. He gave us a whole host of tools.

Besides that, here in this passage, when it starts with ‘the word of God’, it isn’t talking about the Bible...the Bible didn’t exist that the time this was written. Heck, the Bible didn’t exist for a few hundred years after this was written.

As for this passage, I DO believe God’s word is amazingly powerful, and I DO believe the Bible contains some of those words...but that isn’t what the Bible is...the Bible is a story about God’s love for His people, about His plan of redemption. I think God’s word is much bigger than that. It is the answer to a prayer. It is a nudge I feel when I asked God to help me and I get a sense, in the moment, that He is there. God’s word is that moment of clarity in the midst of chaos, the sense of peace...God’s word is way bigger than the Bible. Or, at least that is my sense of the matter. I know I am picking on some of the words here, and perhaps I am in the minutia with this, but some of these ideas that pervade the Christian church bug me because I think outsiders to our faith look at some of these ideas, without the veil of our faith, and they see some of THESE ideas as being a turn-off to faith, and I don’t want that. It is always true that groups of people, whether Christians, cyclists, runners, comic book readers, classmates at school, fraternity brothers, etc., get kind of an inside language that becomes invisible to them, it is just a part of how they operate, and they become blind to some of the silliness that can become a part of that language...they sometimes can’t see it for what it is. That’s really all I am getting at.

God’s word does everything this Hebrews passage says, and way more. God’s word has certainly shaped me over time. I am a different person, headed in a different direction than when I submitted my life to Jesus roughly 18 years ago. I am better for it, no doubt.

Today we see one of the few genuine promises of God. There aren’t many things that God truly promises to us - not to keep us from harm, to make life full of happiness, etc...those aren’t in scripture anywhere. But God does promise His presence, and here, today, we get another explicit promise...it is found here in John 14:27, buried and a very wordy and almost ‘touchy-feely’ kind of chapter:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 14:27

We see this promise implied in plenty of other places in scripture too...the promise of peace.

What is peace? And, what isn’t it? Peace is NOT a promise to avoid trouble. It isn’t a promise of happiness. It is a promise that we’ll be able to rest in the moment, to breath a sigh of relief WHEN the struggle comes. It is really the symptom of God’s major promise - the promise of His presence. When we know that God is with us, when we sense it...peace is what happens.

So, continuing on the theme of the last couple of days, the theme of really slowing down, enjoying the moment, enjoying and sensing God’s presence...today we turn to looking for that symptom of those ideas...the symptom of slowing down, the symptom of God’s presence...peace. Today I am going to look for it...I am going to try to sense it. I am going to look for those moments where I feel that peace, because I have slowed down to enjoy life just a little more.

Yeah, I have given this series a hard time, but the last few days have cut to the heart of me...haha. Today is another of those...today is talking about balancing living in the future and living in the now. I am definitely a futurist. I am always thinking about what is ahead, and I daily struggle with living in the moment. It is exhausting, if I am being honest. I think about the next thing, the next day, the next opportunity...it is always our in front of me. Here is the passsage for today, one of the most famous and one of my personal famous lines from scripture:

Psalm 90:12

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

I feel like I am always in a rush; like I am always headed somewhere other than where I am in a moment; like I can’t really enjoy this moment because it is fleeting. When I am here, I am actually thinking about being there.

Jesus was a great example of someone who was headed somewhere, who had a mission He was fulfilling, but who also had the ability to ‘stop and smell the roses’; meaning, He would constantly turn His attention to the moment, to the current need, to the person in front of Him. He was able to balance the now and the then.

For me, for today, I am going to try something...for today, I am going walk slower, talk slower, eat slower, listen to podcasts at less than 2x speed...I am going to slow down and try to see if I can make time slow down around me. I want to see if my mental facilities will follow the lead of the my physical. It is the old “act yourself into feeling” idea. Living with numbered days isn’t just about being sure you are moving towards your ultimate destination, but that you are squeezing all of the perversion juice for the lemon of life. I am so blessed in so many way...it is time to not only recognize those blessings, but to enjoy them. That’s why God gave them to me.

The thing about faith is that it is often most visible to others in our response to times of great difficulty. And, luckily, God isn’t asking us to live in perfection, clearly, because many of these folks from this chapter had struggles and sin issues of their own. But, in the end, they are remember as having been faithful. Here was the key verse from the chapter, and it is right at the end of it:

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.

Hebrews 11:39

The biggest difference between all of these folks and us is that we live on this side of the cross...meaning, we have the messages and the promises of Jesus to lean into, and these folks didn’t. That is a big advantage. If they were able to hang onto their faith without Jesus, it seems like I should be able to live in faith...I have the Bible, the Holy Spirit, organized church, history full of support for my faith...I mean, I have it easy by comparison!

God wants us to live by faith, leaning into and trusting in Him, assuming He’s going to do what He says He will do. Practically speaking, I think that really just means trying to live the life to which we are called, living as Jesus modeled for us, and looking for those moments when we feel like we just can’t do it - because we are tired, or weak, or scared, or have lost motivation, etc. - and then doing anyway, with the expectation that He will give us what we need to take each subsequent step. I think that is the most practical application of this idea of living by faith.

So, that’s my goal for today...to lean into what God is teaching me, where He is leading me, and to trust that even when I can’t or don’t want to, He is equip me. I didn’t get my lunch scheduled with an old friend from yesterday’s challenge, yet, so that is on the docket for today as well!

Today’s devotional touches on probably the second ‘weakest’ area of my personal spiritual life - close personal friendships. If prayer is my weakest area, this is a close second. I am a person who enjoys alone time by my nature, but I also have a level of connection that I need and actually crave, but it is typically easy for me to ignore it. And, it is easy for me to treat my time of connection with others as a time for my own development, which is true, but it is also me giving to others...which means I am being selfish with my time, in a way.

The passage for today comes from the introductory section of Romans, where Paul is getting the letter to the church in Rome kicked off, and it reads:

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.—Romans 1:11-12

As strong as Paul was in his faith, and as well-versed as he was in Jewish Law and in the teachings of Jesus, he was equally as well-centered on personal relationships. He valued them, as is evidenced by his writings. He leveraged them to make himself better, but also to sharpen others, and to use what he had to serve others.

Today, I am going to schedule some time with a couple of old friends that I haven’t seen in a while, to reconnect, and to re-establish some friendships that are important to me, that are developmental to me, and that I actually do crave deep down. Today is a great reminder that we are made for community...and I can’t go on cutting myself short in this area of my spiritual development.

Today’s devotional is about this idea that it can be uncomfortable to follow Jesus. The Thessalonians passage is Paul speaking to church in Thessalonica, offering encouragement, and it reads:

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Reading this passage though, I am reminded of a passage from John chapter 6, where Jesus offers up some hard teaching about His real identity and purpose, and He is challenging the disciples’ minds to get them to understand the REAL reality of what’s to come. He did this on occasion, but the disciples struggled to understand until action Jesus had died and returned...it was then that they really started to understand what he was saying before.

And this passage from John is another one of the foundational passages, which encapsulates a foundational idea that I think it really important to faith; because there will be times when maintaining faith is hard. Paul is offering comfort to the church for this very reason. Jesus knew it too, and John captures this moment so well, and the response from Peter, as is often the case, is so powerful:

67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

You see that? To whom shall we go? Once you accept the fact that Jesus died, was buried, raised from the dead and appeared to hundreds of people, all for the sake saving you from your sin...what are you going to do, NOT believe that? Just we discussed yesterday, very rarely have I heard anyone deny Jesus because they have real evidence against the resurrection...and rarely do people leave Jesus for that reason. We leave because we are worn out...worn out by trying to do better, by trying to be better, by trying to be more like Jesus. But Paul is offering up encouragement to this church, reminding them that God will hold us and carry us and encourage us and keep us...but we have to pursue that just as we pursue the ‘getting better behavior stuff’. After all, God doesn’t want to behavior, he wants our hearts. When he really gets hold of our hearts, the behavior will happen anyways. Today I am reminded by Peter that when it is hard, I need to remember his words, “...to whom [or to what, or to where] shall we go?”. There is no better life than the life lived for God, under God’s care, and in pursuit of God’s purposes. I shouldn’t get weary...and if I start to feel that way, I need to pursue God for the motivation to carry on that only He can provide.

Read Acts chapter 3 and 4, and then come back.

So, from Acts 4:17, here we go with our text for today: 17 “But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” 18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

What I really want to emphasize in this is how Peter and John answered this demand for silence...not that they said no, but the thing on which their claim rested…from verse 20, “...for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”. You see that? Their faith rests NOT on belief, not on spirituality, not on something that can be argued and debated philosophically (at least not as a starting point)...their faith is based on something that happened.

The word Gospel is a word that literally means “good news”...and news is something that passed from one person to another, not something that is figured out through meditation and silence and prayer. You can’t sit under a tree pontificating about the meaning of life and arrive at the conclusion that God saved the world by sending His own son to be a sacrifice for our own sins...that either happened or it didn’t.

For me, this passage reminds me of 2 things.

First, we must tell people about Jesus in order for people to be saved. The message of Jesus won’t spread itself....it requires our assistance. We are part of the mission. We have to be intentional about how we are living our lives in pursuit of this mission. If you are a talker, an influencer, a speaker, then how are you leveraging your inclinations to spread the message? If you are a person who is more reserved, then your gift may be creating environments where people feel safe and welcomed, and in which you can put in influencer and let them do their work. How are you, how am I leveraging what I have, in some way, to spread this message?

And two, I heard this from a great pastor and communicator Andy Stanley years ago and it has stuck with me - when we focus on what we know, our faith soars, but when we focus on what we don’t know, it tends to languish. Peter and John show us the key to holding strong to our faith here - focusing on what we know...the resurrection. I have heard a lot about how science it up-ending the Christian thesis of creation, or about how maybe this artifact that’s been found in some corner of the world might debunk the idea that this person from the Bible was where he was said to be, or that it is impossible to explain the parting of the Red Sea, etc. That’s all fine and good - but if you want to debate me, come at me with credible evidence related to the resurrection. If that happened the way the Bible says it did, the rest is commentary on that, and we can play with those details on that basis. If it didn’t, the rest doesn’t matter anyways. I have talked to a lot of people about faith and spirituality (I am one of those that likes to pry that door open with people) and I am yet to have a skeptic want to debate the resurrection...they always focus on the most fantastic random detail they can find from the Bible, with the idea that if they can tear down one detail here or there, then all of the Bible must not be true.

Sometimes we see things in scripture that are just challenging...things we almost wish we couldn’t see. Today is one of those days for me. Today we are introduced, to my recollection, the only real ‘standard’ that God gives us in the New Testament. People often misconstrue a lot of the talk about the fruit of the spirit in various sections of NT writings are commands to be good...but that isn’t what is being taught. What is being taught with all of these behavioral characteristics in the NT is that these are the things that come from the Holy Spirit when it is living inside of us...these are the result, not the command.

Today we ARE given some kind of a metric...it is the only real command in the NT. There are other parts of the NT where this command is given in two parts, but today we are introduced to just half of it. Here it is:

John 15:13-14 says: 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

The full ‘command’ with which we are all aware can be found in both Luke and Mark, and here it is from Mark 12:

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

So here is my thought for today, based on these passages. Looking at Mark’s words for a moment, what if the way to do the former is really the latter? What if this is really just ONE command that John is actually encapsulating as one command, but that Mark and Luke have broken out into two parts per Jesus’ audience at the time? John was very keyed in on Love as a theme in his writings. He teaches us that God IS love. And what IS love then? Well, love is laying down our life for the sake of another’s. Loving God, for whom we can do anything in this life, is really just directing our action towards the people God loves. God wants us not to do anything for Him, but to do for Him what He did for us...to lay down His life. We are commanded to take all of the appreciation that we have, for all that God has done in our lives, and for all of the Grace He has given us, and we are commanded to give that to others in the form or love...but laying down our lives. That’s the only method of given back to God that God really wants. That’s an amazing idea.

So, loving others IS loving God. Loving others IS thanking God. Loving others is our primary purpose.

That’s a huge idea. That’s a weighty idea. Practically speaking, that looks like this though...what can I do today to love those people closest to me? My wife, my kids, those at my work, whoever is around me...what can I do to love them today; and in a way that is like Jesus loved me?

The passage today is about how to cope with with discouragement. That being said, there really isn’t a recommendation as to what to do as much as to ‘trust’ in the Lord. But how do you do that, practically speaking?

This is a beautiful Psalm, Psalms 26-28 kind of all go together...but this one that is wedged in the middle is about resting in the presence of the Lord. It describes a peace that I would love to be able to embody in the midst of chaos.

But how do we do that? This is something I have been wrestling with for quite some time and that I need to finally and fully resolve in my own life...and that is, tracking answered prayers. When you need God’s help, and you go to Him in prayer, what do you then do with that prayer? And what happens once many of these prayers get answered? Where do they go? For most of us, those prayers are prayed, often forgotten then, but definitely forgotten later. I am sure I have forgotten more answered prayers than I could even imagine. But, what it every time I had a current prayer request, I could look at the years of answers that God has already provided...what would happen to my faith? What if a family had that power? Or an organization?

I think we should be in the habit of chronicling answered prayers, and we would be best to do it in a way that is visually accessible...that sits in plain site. At a minimum, we should maintain a prayer log or journal where we can record these things, but I would suggest that what takes it to the next level is some visualization - like an answered prayer jar that sits on the mantle, or something like that.

That’s my take-away for today - I want to build this visualization this week or my family. I want to lead us in remembering and memorializing all of the answered prayers that we’d been blessed by, and thereby equip our faith to reach deeper levels as we are emboldened by God’s graciousness to us.

This chapter is really rich with examples of Jesus serving others, and putting their needs ahead of His own. We see Him washing the disciples feet while pointing out that one of them is going to betray Him...talk about humility! And He knows that moment is approaching where He is going to hang on the cross for the sins of the world, not His own. Think about that...how much humility would that take? Are you able to say, “I’m sorry” easily? Are you able to say, “I was wrong”? Think about the trouble with have with those two simple statements, and yet this guy is washing the feet of the people who’ll cut their ties with Him, who’ll betray Him, and who will abandon everything He is teaching them when the going gets tough.

The phrase ‘servant leadership’ is one of those phrases that is thrown around so much these days that I think it has lost of some its meaning. What Jesus shows us isn’t just that a leaders serves the people for which he is entrusted, but that a leader loves them where they are, he is empathetic to their needs and meets them where they are and brings them alongside himself in the vision. A leader’s job is not only to get the bus to where it is going, but to make sure the seats are full.

Today prompts a great question for me - what can I do today to serve those around me? What one thing can I do to leverage what I have for their benefit? That’s the mission today as a husband, a father, and as a Christian...to serve.

I love this topic today - it is the idea that leaders are transformational people; that they themselves are people who are transformed. I love this idea, because it is also completely true of leaders who are followers of Jesus...we are definitely taken on a journey, and transformed. And this passage that is sighted is so great, because the context behind this verse is just so great...here it is:

Matthew 4:19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

What Matthew doesn’t tell us is what happened right before this...let me ready Matthew’s version in its entirety, and then I will narrate Luke’s version, from Luke 5.

Luke shows us that the brothers Simon, later Peter, and John had actually been out on the lake fishing, probably most of the night, and they were professionals. They were cleaning their nets, which is what you do at the end of the outing, and this takes some time and it isn’t something you want to turn right around and do again...so, they probably halfway begrudgingly follow Jesus’ request...they probably had heard some of His teaching and preaching at this point, and probably had some level of understanding that there was something special about Him...so they comply with His request. And, of course, when they draw their nets in, they are full of fish, so much so that they are just about breaking the nets and pulling over the boats.

So, needless to say, Peter and John were ‘in’...they were with Jesus at this point. Matthew makes it sound like they just dropped everything at the first sight of Jesus, Luke shows us that they were ‘woo’d’ in a sense...and I am guessing Peter and John’s father was like, “Boys, you follow that guy...he’s got it going on!”.

So that brings us to our verse, which Luke also echos, where Jesus tells these guys, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” That language makes sense now.

I am guessing here, but I bet it wasn’t until Matthew and Luke and Mark were penning their gospels that they finally remembered Jesus had said this, that this had actually come true. I am guessing that the disciples did what most of us do...they followed Jesus selfishly, mostly for their own benefit. I mean, I know I did. Over time though, that changed. Over time, it stopped being that I followed Jesus for my own benefit as much as I follow Jesus because I understand that is the purpose for which I was made. I AM a more joyous person when I follow Jesus, true. But there is a bigger mission that creeps into play over time. As that happens, I have woken up to myself being changed little by little over time, day by day, month by month, year by year, and I am a changed man from the man I was when I was 22-23 and accepted Jesus into my life. Jesus did change me. Jesus is changing me. Jesus changed Peter and John and all of these disciples, and DID make them fishers of men...but they probably blew right past this until Jesus was gone and they were writing their accounts of His life and teaching and I bet they wrote these words and stopped and thought, “Oh wow, I remember when He said this… I’ll-be, He sure did.”

Today I am praying that God continues the work in me. I pray that I would be a partner in that change rather than a hindrance. I pray that I would see the ways in which God is shaping me and changing me that I might be grateful, and that I might make an effort to join in with His work in me.

One of the things I often hear about the Bible is that people will refer to it as an instruction manual for life. People sometimes see it in that vein, and I I can understand that for sure - it is rich with content about right living, about doing life well, about avoiding the bad things and with all sorts of distillations of wisdom. So, they are right in seeing it as a source of that kind of information. However, there is a real downside to viewing the Bible that way...it takes away from the point of this collection of 66 books from over 40 authors that was written over the period of about 1500 years. It cheapens it, in my opinion.

What is it then? How are we to view it? Well, it isn’t really a history book either...though it certainly contains history as well. Then what? In reading the Bible and studying God’s word over the course of about the last 15 years or so, I think the best way to view the Bible is as a story. Not just that...a true story. And more...a love story. The Bible is a story about how God has gone about winning us back to Himself. That’s really what it is about. It chronicles that journey from our departure from the Garden of Eden and God’s relationship with us all the way from the ancients and into a more modern setting, and it sets up a future encounter, a future expansion of the story. It has all of those wisdom and instruction elements, along with history and classic literature and about every other genre we can come up with...it is all there. But, at its core, it is all about everything God has done to pursue us.

Today’s devotional is called ‘The One Thing’...and it is about this idea that we are to place, right at the center of our lives, the pursuit of God. We should live our lives on mission, in pursuit, and centered on God’s calling for our lives. Knowing what I know now, experiencing everything that I have experienced, I can definitely say that not only is this what God calls us to do, but this is also what I believe we are made to do. For me, it is definitely the case that when I am closest to God, when I am seeking and pursuing His will for me life, when I am aligning my life with God’s plan, I am happiest...or better, I experience the great joy. Life according to God’s plan really is our greatest and best calling. Sometimes that can make us feel restricted, or like we are ‘missing out’; sometimes it goes against what we want in the moment; it definitely pushes against our sense of autonomy. But, I can’t ever say that I have regretted life lived in this way...in pursuit of God’s purpose.

Today is a great reminder...that’s the one thing for which I was created...that’s what the Bible was given to me for...that’s the road to the greatest fulfillment in life - the pursuit of God’s will for my life, God’s love in my life, and God’s plan.

I don't see any connection between the verse cited in today's reading and the context of the devotional, so I am not going to read into the text. The passage, 2 Corinthians 9:8, is rich in meaning about the combination of Grace and provision from God, and it is worth reading and studying, but I did really like the question posed in the devotional, so I am going to focus on that for today's time.

The question is this: "How would Jesus do my job differently?".

That's a great question - that's a question worth some prayer and consideration.

One thing that I think Jesus would do is to focus more in the people, and he would seek ministry opportunities within the job. He would seek deeper relationships, and he would truly seek more connection with people with the end game in mind of making sure everyone got not only what they needed from a financial advisory standpoint, but from an emotional standpoint as well (to the extent that is possible in my role).

Another thing I think Jesus might consider is impact - he would think about how to leverage what I am doing for a bigger impact for the kingdom. Whether that’s giving of time, resources, energy, etc...how can we leverage what we are doing for the greater good?

In fact, that last idea has sparked something in me. I am going to be praying every Sunday for a little while about what that could look like - how can my financial advisory practice execute on some kind of an outreach that has a ministry intent? How can I do more in this way. This was a great question this morning. More to come on this as I get some clarity.

Today’s passage is just this: John 14:16 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another to be with you forever,...”, but reading the chapter as a whole, there is SO much more.

The purpose of the devotional today is to reassure us that leaders don’t have to rely only on their own intuition about vision and direction - they have a Helper. In reality though, as is the case when we pluck a verse out of the Bible without proper context, we miss the bigger point that is being made. Jesus is teaching us that God will be with us, true. He is also teaching that we will hear God the best when we position ourselves to hear God...when we are ready to listen.

Looking at the verse immediately preceding the highlighted verse, we see a verse that says this: John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knowns him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

Then, again in John 14:21 “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Now, it is important to differentiate between salvation and the presence of the Holy Spirit. This isn’t a salvation discussion - salvation comes by placing our faith in the work of Jesus, that He died on the cross as a punishment for our sin and thereby becomes our own sacrifice in place of ourselves...that’s salvation, and this has nothing to do with that. This is a separate issue - this is whether or not we are able to receive the Holy Spirit, to have God really living in us and through us. What does Jesus tell us it takes to have that happen? Well, we must act right? What is acting right? The more I read about this, the more I am convinced that God is about direction, not intention, and not destination...direction. When we are growing, pursuing God (like we talked about yesterday), and actively confronting sin in our lives, we are positioning ourselves to hear from the Holy Spirit. If we are fighting in that way, there isn’t any need for the Holy Spirit - it is God’s gift to us to help us become more like Jesus.

Today I am reminded that God IS interested in our behavior, but it isn’t for the sake of salvation - it is for the purpose of His Helper...when we position ourselves correctly, in growth, in development, in pursuit of living more like Jesus, we can expect that God will send this Helper to give us a vision for our future, and to guide us where He is calling us. That’s an exciting promise. And, I can definitely say that the times when I have felt the closest to God in my life are when I have run the hardest in terms of living like Jesus...and it feels really good.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—...”

The devotional this morning is getting at the idea that our walk with Jesus, our relationship with Him, is personal, individualized, unique to us...it is like any other relationship. It asks that we consider our own relationship with Jesus - how is my relationship with Him? Do I give Him enough of my time? Do I think on Him enough? Do I act on His advice?

One thing that it often is difficult for newer believers to appreciate is this nuance about Jesus - that He is personal to them. It is hard, and I get it, because when else have we had a relationship with someone we can’t see or touch? A few people have probably tried this a little with a parent they’ve lost, or a friend, but for most of us this is a completely foreign idea. It isn’t a very transferrable process either, meaning, how you even go about getting started is unique for most of us. That being said, there ARE a few things that seem to be true for most of us who would say that we DO have a relationship with Jesus.

(1) We read our Bibles. It isn’t just that we read commentary on the Bible, or that we just study the Bible deeply, or that we seek to learn about the history of the Bible, etc...it is all of that. But, it is also that we do this regularly. Spaced repetition helps with learning. It is also a part of a good relationship - time together, day after day, year over year...it adds up. 15 minutes a day for 10 years is a total of over 900 hours of reading and studying!

(2) We pray. This is the area where I am weakest in my ‘spiritual game’. This requires time alone, in quiet, with a clear mind, listening. That’s right, LISTENING. I am not talking about time when we throw up the ‘please help me with x’ prayers, but the times when we get the words out and we are able to hear God. Prayer and sitting still, quietly.

(3) We fast. Fasting isn’t just going without food for extended periods of time. That’s usually the Bible context, granted. In reality though, fasting is just a period of time of abstention...you can pick the terms. The point is, it is an intentional time of applying discipline to our lives to get better and to listen to God. Fasting for the sake of fasting can be productive, but fasting and using it as a time to convene with God, to put prayer or Bible reading or stillness into the place of that thing being quit is a great use of fasting, and a great way boost our relationship with God.

(4) We live in community. We are accountable to a community of believers, like us, who are messed up, have crazy lives, and are trying to grow and to get better. This can take all sorts of different shapes, but community is always a part of the equation.

Today I am reminded that our relationship with God is personal. It is unique. It requires intentionality. We must prioritize it in our daily lives. And we must continue to push ourselves to maintain that priority.

When was the last time you took a complete day off from your electronic devices? For me, it has been a while. I tend to have decent boundaries with my technology generally speaking, but I tend to struggle with getting my mind to rest...and I tend to constantly go where my mind leads me rather than letting my mind wonder and play and bounce here and there and eventually just get to a point where it lands on something for a while.

Today, this morning...in fact, right now, I am going to set a timer for 10 minutes, and I am going to sit with my cup of coffee in silence for 10 minutes. Nothing to write with, nothing to search the Internet with...just me and my thoughts. At the end, I will pray. For the next week, I will add this to my morning routine.

Where can you insert a few minutes to silence? Leaders are not just doers. Leaders are thinkers...thinking requires time and space. Let’s let our doing be the creating of that time and space where we can think.

Continuing our series on leading like Jesus, looking at Paul as an example, and in reading through chapter 2 of 2 Timothy, the word that comes to mind for me is 'focus'. Paul is trying to focus Timothy on the mission, and urging him to push other ideas and thoughts and distractions out of his mind. A great trait of a leader is the ability to hold onto the mission, to see it through the clouds and the chaos and the distractions, and to keep moving forward in spite of the fact that he/she may not have a clue what to do. Paul tells Timothy to focus on righteousness, faith, love and peace - when all else fails, when we don't know what to do, a great question that a great leader asks is "What does love require of me right now?".

It makes me think a little about right now, when we don't know necessarily what to do as a church. Well, if each of us would ask that question, and would follow Paul's request of Timothy, then we would be positioning ourselves well to have God work in and through us...sometimes the only thing we can see to do is to put one foot in front of the other, acting in love (and righteousness, faith, and peace) in this moment, as we await clarity about the bigger plan.

I guess, in summary, we could say that leaders typically strive to maintain a vision for the future...but when they can't see as far out, for whatever reason, they keep moving forward regardless. That's our calling as well.

So, we are in this series called “Lead Like Jesus”, and today we get a fabulous example of leadership.

It’s interesting to see where this verse falls in relationship to the chapter in which it sits, and actually, it is the end of about two chapters of miracles that Jesus is doing. It is only a few verses after Jesus invites Matthew into his inner circle. When I think about the verse, which reads: Matt 9:36 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd”, I think the take away is that Jesus, and we as leaders, should be training ourselves to spot need, and especially those needs to which we can minister. It’s one thing to have influence, and it’s another to constantly look for ways to use my influence in a way that benefits those around me. If you think about how Jesus used his power and his influence, it’s hard to find an example of a time he used it for himself. That makes me think about myself, and it reminds me how selfish I can be with my own power and influence.

Today, my prayer is that I would seek and find and leverage an opportunity to use my influence. I’m going to make an intentional effort to use it in my family specifically, because that’s where I have the greatest direct impact.

I really hate to do this, but I am going to change gears right in the middle of reading Romans. I am in a men’s group with my church and we have just started a reading plan together, so I want to spend my time focused on that. For the next three weeks, I’m going to work through that plan as my morning devotional and we will follow that in this podcast. This is a daily devotional available through the Bible app, and I am posting a link to that application as well as this study in these show notes.

The devotional scripture for today is Lamentations 3:22-23. For contacts, this devotional series is titled “Lead Like Jesus”.

Full disclosure, I am not typically a fan of topical readings like this, I generally prefer reading through an entire book of the Bible and enjoying reading the background, understanding the author, and all of that, but I don’t want that to stop me from reading and enjoying God‘s word in various ways, so here we go!

For today, here are our verses:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

The verses that are set up for this devotional really mark a turning point in this chapter, this lament. There is pain and suffering and frustration and then we get to what I think this devotional is really getting it, we see the heart of this author come out.

In times of struggle, frustration, challenge, what is that rock that I lean on? The author exposes himself right here in verse 22: and it’s a good picture for us, a great example. The Lord‘s love never ceases, nor his mercies, and they are new every morning; he is always faithful.

There is a great reminder, and if that’s the default position that I have, surely I am then beginning to lead in a manner similar to Jesus.

The Bible App: https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/

Series Link: https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/

I read this section in 3 parts. First is v18-25 where I am reminded of Genesis, and of the idea that when God had the world just the way HE wanted it, it was just the way WE wanted it too. Then we messed it up when we introduced sin. And, since then, we have been ‘groaning’, in Paul’s words, to get it back. We know, intuitively, that things aren’t the way they ought to be...we don’t have to be taught that, it is just a sense that most of us have. I think that is a little of God in us, that sense that the world just isn’t quite right.

Then I see v26-30 as a section that reminds me that I really don’t know what I don’t know...I pray for things, I ask for things, and I long for things...but quite often, I just don’t know what I am asking for, what I truly need, or even what I truly want. The Holy Spirit actually stands between me and God and intercedes to help me in that way...helping my prayers be heard, but also helping my prayers to be relevant. It reminds me that there are tons and tons of prayers that are being answered on a daily basis in my life for which I am just, basically, unaware. God is praying to God for me. That’s pretty awesome!

And then the last section...v31-39, which is probably some of the most quoted New Testament text. It is an inspiring section for sure...and it encourages us that God’s got this...God is in control...and that He has His hand in everything at all times. Our job is to position ourselves to be use by God, to allow ourselves to follow. And Paul inserts one of my lines of logic from an evangelical perspective - if God raised Jesus from the dead, let’s be honest, what reason would we have to doubt anything else that He says is can do, has done, or will do? I mean, really...conquering death means that Jonah and the Whale, Parting the Red Sea, miraculous healings, etc...is all that actually hard to believe IF He raised a man from the dead? It is all about Jesus and the resurrection, and that’s the point.

Today just reminds me of the many ways that God has put his fingerprints on us and on this earth. Not seeing God in the world is really just an error of not looking. I pray that, today, I would see Him in my daily life, and that I would feel that refreshing sense when it happens, just to remind me that He is with me and that He is always in charge.

Short reading today, but a big idea, the idea that we are in debt as a part of our being saved. However, it’s not a debt that we could ever fully repay. It’s also not a debt that God is holding over us for repayment either. It is simply a debt that serves to inform how we live our lives daily.

Here is another way to think about it. Imagine someone gives you an incredible gift; something beyond what you would’ve imagined or ever really deserved from them. I can remember when my parents gave me my first acoustic guitar. I don’t take credit for earning that guitar. In fact, the only thing I get when I think about that guitar is a sense of gratitude. It was a gift to me. I think our debt to Christ should give us a similar feeling; gratitude.

Gratitude is the sign of recognition related to the receipt of a gift. Gratitude is a marker that there is an imbalance tilted in my favor.

I don’t know my parents the money for the guitar, nor God anything for his sons death…not technically.

But, a good son to his parents and a good son to God would respond by living in recognition of that gift and harnessing that gratitude.

How do we do that? These verses make mention of living a spirit-led life again, just as we discussed yesterday, so that’s how we thank God. It’s not how we repay God, but how we think God. God wants our thanks, not our repayment.

Today, I am praying that I would feel that gratitude, that I would FEEL thankful and that it would encourage an extra act of grace or love. I pray that as I do as God says, I will begin to see as God sees, and the gratitude that is rising up in me will lead me to more naturally do as God says even more.

I have focused a lot on the clarity of Paul’s statements, that we ARE free from the judgement of God based on our own sin...that our judgement is based on Christ’s sacrifice once we place our faith in Him. And Paul hasn’t gotten to the real application section of this manuscript yet, so he is still laying the groundwork for what’s to come. Today, though, he gives us a little bit of application...a little nugget.

v5: For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on things of the spirit.

So, we should set our minds on the things of the spirit. But what are those things? Well, Paul doesn’t give us that list here, but he certainly gives it to us elsewhere...one of the best examples is Galatians:

5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

So, we can go ahead and adopt these behaviors intentionally now. In doing so, here is what ‘living in the spirit’ seems to mean to me, based on my experience. As I do as God says, I tend to see as God sees. As I begin to see as God sees, I more and more do as God says, but it becomes less deliberative. In other words, doing intentionally begets seeings which begets doing inadvertently.

Another way to think about it is with an analogy stool that I once heard. If your stool has 3 legs, and you tilt it so you have one off of the ground and you are then leaning on 2 legs plus yours, then you aren’t fully ‘trusting’ the stool. You are maintaining your own control, to some extent. But really giving it all to the stool would be picking your leg up off of the ground and letting the stool fully support your weight. Many times, that’s a picture our walk with God...we keep a foot on the ground. Living in the spirit means picking that last leg up, letting God carry us, doing as He says and trusting that He will carry us when we don’t feel like we can do it any longer.

My prayer today is that I would sense, in the moment, an opportunity to ‘let go and let God’; that I would see the opportunity and that I would take it. In doing so, I hope to experience God more intimately.

I really appreciate how Paul frames up sin in this chapter...not just as a temptation, or not just a poor choice, but as an enemy. Sin is an active adversary in our lives. And it lurks right there at the point of decision - ready to pounce when we are about to make the RIGHT decision.

I typically hone in on verses 15-20 in this chapter, but today something else jumped out at my - the verses right after those.

Look at v21 - “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.” Isn’t that always the case? This sounds like a romanticized version of the good angel on one shoulder and bad on the other. And that’s life.

I am glad that God comes to us through the Holy Spirit, to help in waging war against sin, and against evil. I am so thankful that God sees me as a saint who occasionally sins rather than a sinner who has to make my way back to Him...I couldn’t make it.

The other thing that I think about when reading this, which is a little less ‘chipper’, is the finality of this relationship with sin...it doesn’t stop. This is life - working to get through sin. We can conquer one battle against sin, only to find another. It just isn’t going to change on this side of Heaven. So, I should consider that a reminder, and should consider the fact that humility had better become a close friend...I am not going to graduate from needing it anytime soon.

That’s my prayer today...that I would embrace this relationship with sin, that I would see it as a road to God, as a struggle that helps me grow in my relationship with Him, and that I would continue to grow more and more humble as I recognize this never-ending need for God’s grace.

Here we see a beautiful description of what most evangelical churches use as a model for baptism. In many churches, as a person being baptized is lowered into the water and raised back out, the person conducting the baptism with say, “Buried with Christ, and raised to walk in the newness of life”...this is a root for that. This chapter describes the true essence of this kind of baptism. Now, I recognize that stands in contrast to the type of baptism where a baby is sprinkled with water, or something like that...but I am not going to get into the different methods and thoughts on baptism here. I am just pointing out that this chapter really illustrates the imagery associated with the type of baptism that is typically referred to as ‘immersion’. And this gives us a real sense of what it looks like to accept Christ as our Savior, as our ‘stand-in’ for the punishment we deserve but won’t have to serve. We become dead to the ULTIMATE effect of sin - which is death. But, we aren’t immune from the effects of sin in life, which is still ‘death’, but it is death of relationships, death of our body in that we can’t live forever...sin causes death and destruction. That’s why we are taught, by Jesus, that when we sin, we are to go to THE PERSON to see restoration. Yes we should pray to God, but we should always seek restoration to the people who our sin affects...because there are always (in some fashion) other people being hurt. We are already good with God. We don’t need to sacrifice to Him anymore...we need to sacrifice to each other, which calls for humility, grace, patience, kindness, unconditional love...you know, the hard stuff.

Paul then goes on to teach us the same idea, but from a different angle. here that we aren’t slaves to righteousness...meaning, we don’t have to rely on our own goodness to be right with God. And thank God for that! That is what the Law was all about, in the Old Testament...we mess up, and then we do things to get right with God - sacrifices, rituals, etc. Well, not anymore. Now we are right with God simply by faith...faith in the fact that Jesus was the sacrifice, Jesus takes place of the rituals.

And, the last thing I will say for today is that right at the beginning of the chapter today, Paul points out the flaw in one of the most typical responses we all have thought or that we think of at some point, which is, “Well, why behave then?!?”. And we’ve talked about this - but ‘behaving’ is really not at issue...the question is really whether or not any particular behavior is helpful or not. And how do we determine if it is helpful or not? Well, does it make us better? Does it further our influence with others? Does it help us in achieving the mission for which we were created by God? If the answer is ‘no’, then it shouldn’t be a part of our life. It’s that simple. But we don’t like that, because there are some of us that really just like to play at the boundaries...but that goes back to control, and being willing to submit to God’s will rather than our own will for our lives. ...and, as you can see, we can go in circles with all of this, which is why there are 27 manuscripts in the New Testament; this needs a lot of thought! HAHA

For today though, my prayer is that I would lean into that baptism idea, that I would feel the freedom of choice, and that I would have the courage to take the steps that God puts before me, to understand and to grow into my purpose.

One of the key teachings that Paul puts forward, and that we’ve discussed here several times, and that the church STILL struggles with, to-this-day, is found right in today’s reading in verse 20:

“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ...”

Why did God give us the Law? Why the 10 Commandments? Do they still apply today? The teaching is crystal clear on this, but we Christian traditions have mucked this up a little. The 10 Commandments aren’t for you and for me - they aren’t given to us to follow as Law. They are no more applicable to us than the rest of the law. They weren’t written for us, they weren’t meant for us, and they don’t apply to us directly. That is the bottom line.

If you are someone who’s had the law lorded over you, as if it is a law meant for you and that you are supposed to follow, then I am sorry. That’s not correct theology. That’s Christian leaders using the Bible as a whip rather than as an invitation. If it happened to you during your youth, I especially apologize because you had no way to investigate and rebut that kind of treatment. That has been going on for years and it is one of them major detractors from the flourishing of the church.

That being said, just because the Law wasn’t written for you and for me, it doesn’t mean that the law isn’t helpful. Read it...no the law that the Jews put in place with 600+ rituals and steps and all of that, but the 10 Commandments. There is good stuff in there. For instance, the Sabbath...that is something I don’t always follow that I SHOULD always follow. I have lived long enough to recognize the wisdom in that command.

Paul teaches in other places, and we’ll get to this, that though the law doesn’t directly apply to him, it doesn’t mean he should live apart from it completely. He says that things in this world aren’t technically ‘off limits’, but that his determination as to whether or not to engage with them isn’t on that basis, it is under the basis of whether or not they are helpful. Are they helpful to his mission and his purpose, which God has given him...that’s the better question. Frankly, that’s a harder question to answer; it is personal, it is customized for each person, and (imagine this) it requires a personal connection with God in order to really know the truth that applies to each of us.

Today I am reminded that we really are free from the Law and from the 10 Commandments. And, because of that truth, we can turn to them and we can appreciate the wisdom that is contained in these ancient teachings, and we can adopt them willingly, because we know they were given to the Israel for her benefit, and given to me for mine - they aren’t meant to be a means of coercion from the church.

This chapter is loaded this things to discuss and to study, so we will take it in a few pieces; today, verses 1 through 11.

Think about the depth of these verses:

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings (our struggles, our constantly working to make ourselves better, to conquer sin, to be the person God calls us to be), knowing that suffering produces endurance (in sticking with that struggle, we develop muscles of endurance physically, mentally, spiritually, and we can go longer, fight harder, engage more deeply with God), and endurance produces character (that set of traits that makes us more like Jesus...we move closer and closer to being a reflection of Jesus in the world and to the world), and character produces hope (the faith and the trust that God is who He says He is and will do what He says He’ll do), and hope does not put us to shame (meaning, hope doesn’t leave us wanting...why?...2 reasons:), because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (1 - meaning God will be with us and gives us strength and help). (and, 2 -...) For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (...that’s me, that’s you, that’s all of us, the ‘ungodly’...God not only gave us the Holy Spirit, but He gave us the resurrection...an actual event, which to this day is very hard to historically dispute, which is why attacks against our faith tend NOT to be focused on this event).

Then Paul makes the logical argument that it doesn’t make sense for a person to die for sinners, it doesn’t make sense to die for people who’ve rejected you, beaten you, ignored you...why would a person do that? Only one of two reasons - they are insane or, perhaps, because there is a purpose for it...and the only reasonable purpose we can assume is the purpose that is stated - that this sacrifice by a dude who didn’t deserve it is a stand-in for us, for what we actually deserve. That’s awesome.

For today, I am just reminded of that process that Paul gives us - that suffering brings endurance and endurance character, and character hope...that this is the process through which we develop. I wish it could be suffering straight to hope, but it takes time to learn to trust God. It takes reps. My spiritual journey definitely demonstrates that...time has certainly help me go deeper, to peel back the layers to my faith, and to develop a stronger hope. I pray that I remember that when it is hard, and that I remain committed to that journey.

Paul really camps out on the story of Abraham, to make the point about grace being given or granted vs. grace being earned. Abraham God and it was credited to him as righteousness. It isn’t complex, and it doesn’t REALLY require a lot of explanation. In fact, to non-believers, I think this is pretty straight-forward and clear, that grace is given not earned. Again though, half of Paul’s suspected audience were Jews who’d been working all of their lives to EARN their grace; that chapter is really for them. There is plenty in Romans that is more directed at the gentiles, but I think this chapter is for the Jews.

And I understand their plight - that they don’t feel like grace being given is fair, especially in light of their sacrifice and their work to earn it.

Like we talked about yesterday though, ultimately, it isn’t ‘fair’ the many of us REALLY want, but it is that we want to be the judge. Remember the pray bottle analogy from yesterday? We want to hold the bottle...that’s what it is. But that option is not on the table. Besides, the only thing that really is fair is that everyone gets it the same way, and that it is free.

Another little literary idea, or really, a language thing, that we often miss is the idea behind the ‘it was credited to him as righteousness’. In reality, God doesn’t let people off of the hook for sin - not in the New Testament or the Old Testament. A just God wouldn’t do that - He would judge sin. What happens is that our faith in Jesus, based on the New Testament teaching of Jesus, allows Jesus’ sacrifice to ‘stand in’ for ours. In other words, if the punishment for sin is death in the Old Testament, so it is in the New Testament; but Jesus is that sacrifice, in our place, IF we choose it. When we choose faith in Christ, righteousness is credited to us, as it was Abraham.

That truth brings to lie an interesting idea though. For 1500 years the Jews thought that God had given them the Law as the method through which they could gain God’s love, and their salvation. Kind of like when I send my son out into the yard (well, I will do this...he is 3, so I can’t yet!) to mow the grass. He thinks it is about the grass, and it is a little, but it is mostly about teaching him the value of hard work, and a work ethic. The Jews thought it was about gaining God’s love, but it was really about God pointing out that we can’t pull off the Law, we can’t execute on His standards, apart from Jesus. It was always about Jesus.

This is one of the most important teachings in all of Paul’s writings, today in chapter 3, at it really clearly states the reality of what Paul believes about God’s Grace, which is this.

Paul’s hope, before he became a Christian, which is shared by many people in their hearts still today, was that, by way of his perseverance in observing the law of God, or religious practices prescribed by the Bible in general for many people today, that he might be pronounced righteous (or, in our terms, ‘saved’) by God when he stood before his judgment-seat. That is to say, he wanted God to let him in based on the merits of his efforts. But - Jesus teaches a way of righteousness APART from the law - not somewhat apart from the law, not “believe Jesus and grades on a curve”, but completely apart from the law, and the procedure is reversed: God pronounces believers righteous at the beginning of their course, not at the end of it. If he pronounces them righteous at the beginning of their course, it cannot be on the basis of works which they have not yet done.

This means that your behavior, Paul’s behavior, my behavior - they are NOT a part of God’s decision to save us. Heaven is not reserved for the ‘behavors’. God’s Grace and love during this life is not reserve for the ‘behavors’. You ARE, presently; I am, presently, loved by God. All we have to do is accept it.

It is easiest to understand this when we have kids. In fact, I think that’s a huge advantage to having kids...it helps us to understand how God sees and relates to us. But, I love my kids. I loved them the moment I knew they existed - in the womb. There is nothing, not-a-thing, that they could do to make me stop loving them. There are definitely things that they can do to make me stop LIKING them, but I think that’s a human condition, not a God condition. They ARE loved. All they have to do is recognize it. Or not. It is their choice. But, they won’t really have a great relationship with me unless they recognize it.

It is this way because it was that way with God first. And, if you are a ‘bahavor’, you have to come to the point where you are comfortable with the fact that God loved you before you started behaving. Your behaving is for your benefit. Someone who is a hellion acts that way to their own detriment...but that is separate from their salvation.

For some people, this requires prayer and consideration...this just HAS to been 100% accepted if you are going to flourish as a Christian. If you struggle with this, this is an invitation to struggle more with it...you must, because if you don’t get past this, then you are destined to push people away from our faith because you’ll use your Bible as a whipping tool rather than as an invitation. You are called to more than that...we all are...our faith should feel like an invitation, not a pair of handcuffs!

This is a wonderfully constructed chapter by Paul. It addresses an issue that I think many people hold up as being ‘the issue’ when they try to make the argument against faith. It addresses this issue at several angles.

So here it is in 2 forms:

Does God really call himself fair and send people who have never heard of him to hell, just because they don’t believe in the whole resurrection thing? I mean, what if they’ve never heard of Jesus...that doesn’t seem right.
I can’t get on-board with a God that treats everyone according to Grace...some people are better than others.

Both of these arguments come from a place that seems well-intentioned, and they are, at first glance, reasonable positions to take. But, Paul addresses them bluntly and simply. Later in Romans, Paul actually circles back to this same idea and addresses this in a more empathetic fashion, expressing a level of understanding in why someone would make this argument. Here though, the blunt reality is that if you and I get to make a decision. God gave us over to sin in chapter 1, allowing us to decide to love the moment and indulge in unproductive behavior or love ourselves and our neighbors and Him and discipline ourselves to find and follow our real purpose. We get the choice. And, similarly, we can choose, here in chapter 2, whether we want to be judged by the law or by grace. If we use the law to judge others, seeing other’s sins against the backdrop of the law rather than against the backdrop of God’s grace, so be it to us. Now, in reality, we aren’t really a judge of anything, because we have no say over where people will spend their eternity, and whether or not they will have relationship with God, so we aren’t really judging anything...we are simply putting on goggles through which we see the world...and if we choose to see the world through lense of the law, Paul is telling us that God will choose to see our lives and our sin through the same set of goggles. BUT, if we choose grace, if we choose Jesus, if we choose to be forgiven in God’s eyes, we dawn the goggles of Grace and we see ourselves as saved by faith, saved by Grace, and we see others in the same vein - then God will look upon us likewise. It is up to us.

I have heard it said that most of us tend to want to view Grace like we view an air-freshener. It is something we hold in our hands and that we spray in the direction of the things we don’t want to have to deal with. Something smells over there - spray, solved. Over there, spray, solved. The thing is, WE are holding the air-freshener in this analogy...not God. Once we take the air-freshener out of our hands and we ask the question, do you want God to spray you to clean you, or do you want Him to erase you when you create some stink, it becomes a little easier to get at the right mindset. And some will say, “Well, I know I stink a little...but those people over there REALLY stink.” “To which God would respond...I am not talking about those people, I am talking about you. Stink is stink...you are either erased or sprayed...you choose.”

That’s one of the main areas of struggle, comparison. God didn’t send Jesus as a ruler, in terms of a measure stick. Jesus wasn’t here to help us all figure out how we stack up...he was here to show us that we don’t, that we can’t, and that we need to play a different game. We need to accept Grace, forget the comparison game, and we need to follow where God is leading. It’s just that simple.

Today we get into Romans, and Paul gets right into the heart of the matter. He starts with a longer introduction, then mentions that he’s been held up from physically coming to Rome, and then he starts into his theology later in the chapter. And it is the verses from 18 on that really caught my attention this morning. Paul really is describing a situation that is so common to us, and that I think is essentially a root cause of a lot of the troubles we face societally today. Paul says that the issue, the primary issue in his estimation, is when we worship created things rather than the creator God. When we pursue creation as an idol rather than God...that’s when the trouble starts. In our terms, when we pursue happiness rather than purpose, there is a problem. When we pursue security over surrender, there is a problem. When we pursue desire over discipline.

When we place happiness at the center of our attention, it creates some perverse incentives. This is because happiness is relative. Further, happiness is about ME, whereas ‘love your neighbor’ is about...obviously, your neighbor.

Imagine if we got that right as a church. Imagine if we had a reputation of being all about our neighbor like that. Imagine how attractive Jesus would be. Imagine how magnetic that would be.

Not only it is better for us individually to live a life that is centered on God and focused on pursuing God’s purpose for us, but it is the most compelling way to influence others to do the same. The problem is, it is often hard to say no to ourselves, and it seems so attractive to simply adopt a mindset that, “Life is about being happy and pursuing what I want”. That feels a lot easier. Eventually though, if you have lived longer than 30-35 years, you start to figure out that you were aiming at the wrong thing and you wish you’d gotten this right from the beginning...because that happiness agenda was the center of the biggest regrets in life.

Today, I pray that God would give me the wisdom to see His will for me life, and the courage to take steps in that direction out of discipline, trusting and knowing that His agenda for my life is the best agenda long-term.

If you were looking for application of God’s word and Paul’s teaching - you don’t have to use your imagination. Paul lays out very clearly and very explicitly how his theology works itself out through physical actions and how we live our lives in today’s reading. This is a laundry list of items that Paul lay our for us. It’s simple - not easy to live in this fashion.

At the root of it is love. And not just love, it is loving others while at the same time maintaining the perspective and the recognition of just how blessed we are...I think it is the combination of these two elements that truly is heart-shaping and life-changing.

Have you ever had something really lucky happen to you? In my world, and in my work specifically, I have had a few times in my career where a truly year-making deal fell into my lap. And, when this has happened, I can definitely say that attitude, my perspective, my generosity, my energy...everything...changes, and for the better. For a short season, typically a few days, I feel like things are just ‘better’ in general. And then, what happens? Well, nothing really changes, it is just that the little high I got off of feeling blessed goes away and I am back into the struggle. I think that our faith is like that, or at least mine is, in that I get these highs and lows and I struggle to maintain the moment throughout life. That moment when the deal falls into my lap is a lot like God’s Grace - it is a blessing that I don’t deserve. And when I feel that blessing, I worry about dumb stuff far less. I live life in the present, I enjoy life, and I am far more free to distractions. I think that’s how we can ultimately be with God. In time, through our spiritual development, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I think we can move towards living in a state of recognition and response - recognition of how blessed we are, every single day, without losing the newness of that feeling, and response in that we live in response to recognizing how blessed we are, naturally being more generous, naturally being more others-focused, naturally maintaining more margin and peace in our lives. I think that is a tough standard to really reach, but I envision that as the goal. I think that, in a sense, is what Paul is communicating. He isn’t communicating a list of dos and don’ts that we are to just execute, he is listing the fruits of the life of a person living in response to the Grace he’s been given.

That’s my prayer today, that I would live in recognition of how blessed I really am, right now, in this day, and in each moment, and that I would be motivated to respond with love as Paul calls me to here in Romans 8-16.

Today we get through the more theological content during our read-through, hitting chapters 7 through 11, and tomorrow we will roll through the application of all of this content. In terms of big ideas that stood out to me today were as follows.

I have heard it said that we can’t know the painter fully by looking at his painting. We can often times figure a lot out about him. We can often get a sense of who he is and what he thinks...but we can’t judge the painter or know the painter by his painting. Paul makes a similar point, though his example is with a potter, about God. It is a GREAT point. In this life, our view of God is pretty much that of a person looking at a painting...we can only see what God’s done in us and around us. We can’t know God like we get to know each other. Now, we have a blessing of having the Holy Spirit to help us, but we must recognize and embrace the idea that there is some amount of ‘being the dark’ that is always going to be true. And we have to be okay with that.

Another idea that Paul argues has to do with the issue of fairness. Think about that, what could be more fair - everyone gets in with God in the same way, and everyone gets the same reward for entering? It couldn’t be more fair than that! Really, if you think about it, that’s true. The only thing that is potentially NOT fair would be that some people haven’t heard about the gospel. Remember, the gospel, or ‘good news’ isn’t anything that someone would come up with apart from being told about it. We won’t get into this here, but it seems like Paul actually addresses this, in a way, as well. But, the point is, the only reason it doesn’t seem fair is because we feel like we are more deserving than others, or that they got an easier road...and this reveals the real motivation that is in our hearts...that it is all about US. That’s the journey we have in front of us, rooting that motivation out!

The biggest idea for me today is this - that Paul isn’t giving “instruction”, he is working out how our bodies and our sin are related and how the Holy Spirit works in and through us. Paul is tying together theological ideas to make a coherent argument about how faith and works are related. I have heard people take these passages and use them as if Paul is providing instruction to the church, as if this is a second verse of ‘the law’. This is why it is important to do these read-throughs before diving into the weeds. Paul is not doing that. Paul is not giving instruction on various topics, he is using various topics to illustrate his point. I think one big mis-use of a lot of Paul’s teaching is to take the theology and try to impute instruction into it when, contextually, Paul is just trying to illustrate ideas. The instruction, in Romans, comes in chapters 12 and forward. These are not instructions. We will definitely spend some time on this idea when we get here.

For today, I am just praying that God would continue to open my mind to the big ideas that Paul is trying to communicate, and that I would have both the wisdom to hear what God is teaching me, and the courage to apply it in my own life. I have certainly lived long enough to realize that it is these two dynamics, in combination, that are truly key to my spiritual growth and development!

For today, I got through chapter 6...man, it is heavy slogging trying to blitz through Romans! This is some deep stuff, and I am fired up about opening this up and really getting into it! This is going to be great. As far as these 6 chapters go, I kind of got 3 over-arching themes out of the reading this morning, and as we go on a more chapter-by-chapter basis, it will be interesting to see if these are the prevailing themes that capture the conversation, or if we get into some different topics as we slow down and dive deeper.

The first theme is the idea of recognizing that there IS a benefit to being Jewish, it just isn’t related to God’s grace and our salvation. One of the tensions in this church in Rome (and, as we said during the introductions to Romans, it is a tension that still exists in the church today) is this tension between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews grew up under the Law, working on their behaviors, trying to EARN God’s love and attention. It is ingrained in them that they must earn Grace. Now they are being told it is free. Further, these folks who have been out partying last night while they were in studying their scriptures are going to spend eternity in heaven with them - that doesn’t seem fair. In reality, there is an element of relatability to that - it kind of isn’t fair. But, Paul actually explains that (a) it IS fair when you understand Jesus fully, and (b) there IS a benefit to being Jewish and growing up under the law; that benefit isn’t related to the receipt of salvation though. So, you can go to heaven without being a Jew, but that doesn’t make being a Jew a worthless endeavor.

Another big idea that Paul teases out is this dichotomy of whether we are sinners who are saved vs. saints who sin. If I were to ask you, “As a Christian, in God’s eyes, are you a sinner who does good at times or are you saint who occasionally sins?”, what would you say? Paul has a clear opinion on this...and we should too. I will never forget when a good friend of mine asked me that question several years ago...it has stuck with me. Though it is an almost quippy question, it is very profound in its implications. God’s opinion of us, once we’ve accepted Jesus as our Savior, is that we are saints. We are made righteous in God’s eyes. It’s not that God has amnesia and forgets our sins. It is that God imputes Jesus’ goodness on us, and we are saints who sin on occasion.

The last theme that Paul seems to really address is this idea of abusing grace. There is certainly some relatability to the idea that if grace is free, then grace can be abused. I mean, why not accept Jesus into our lives, understanding that grace is now ours and that we will spend eternity in heaven, and then turn around and do what we want in this life - sinning away!?! Well, that kind of seems reasonable at first glance. But, there is a cost to that...not a cost in terms of God’s love, but in terms of our experience in this life. Paul unpacks this one theologically, but I think the BEST argument against this comes when we read the entire New Testament as a whole, and if we throw in some of the wisdom literature from the Old Testament. In short, we are made by God for a purpose, and we will always find our greatest joy in life when we are living into that purpose. We can find bouts of happiness or fun, which stands in contrast to true joy in life, by doing what we want, when we want, with whom we want; but joy comes when we lean into what God has for us, when we actually start to experience God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit, and when are inner most desires are actually starting to match up with God’s will for our lives. That’s where real joy comes. That’s what we should be reaching for...that day when what we want is what God wants for us.

2020, 7.17 Romans Overview

This is a letter written by Paul to a church (or group of churches) in Rome, probably sometime around 57AD and during his third missionary journey (around Acts 19 in terms of timeline, since we just read that together). Paul probably wrote this from Corinth. And, in terms of a simple summary - the first 4 chapters of Romans, which form the foundation of the entire letter, essentially lay out the following high-level ideas:

We are sinful and broken
Living life under the law won’t save us
Justification is in Jesus

Paul explains these concepts in depth, and Romans certainly isn’t to be classified as “light reading”. It is Paul’s longest and most reasoned account of his faith. That being said, it isn’t a full outline of what Paul believes necessarily, as there are certainly elements we get from other letters of his that are not present here...but he is addressing a church in Rome that seems to have been wrestling with a lot of what we saw in our reading of Acts, and that is the Jewish-Christians and the Gentile-Christians co-existing within the church, trying to work out the tensions between a works-based theology and an theology based on grace alone. This is such a powerful book largely for that reason - because that same tension exists even today within the church.

So, tomorrow we will start the read-through on this. Because of the length and the intensity of this letter, the read-through really is a major contributor to the understanding of this book. In a book where it is easy to get drawn into the weeds, this high level pass-over will be a big help in creating context and a bigger understand of what’s going on; so much so that we MAY actually pull back and do a second read-through part-way through the more in-depth studying.

This morning, I would pray that God would prepare my mind for some intense study. I pray that God would open my mind and my heart to hearing truth that may not be convenient, but that is certainly needed. I pray that God would help me to hear from Him during this process.

As I am preparing to read Romans, I will spend a couple of days doing reading on this manuscript in terms of its background and origin, it’s author, and in getting a high-level sense of its purpose.

Before diving into Romans specifically though, it’s important to understand and maintain context around the epistles in general. These letters make up 21 of the 27 books in the New Testament, and Paul probably wrote 13 of them. Most of the letters, especially Paul’s, follow a similar pattern with an opening, a body, and a closing. Typically, Paul’s letters are more technical and precise in explaining some theological ideas, then he turns to more practical application in the latter half of the writing. Typically letters have a few theological ideas that are worked out throughout the letter using that transition from the technical to the application. As such, it is really important that we look at a specific text in the greater context of the overall letter as we seek to understand it, and that’s why reading through each letter before studying it in depth is important.

Another idea that is important to keep in mind is that the Gospels were written before the ascension, and mostly prior to the resurrection. The epistles are written on the other side of the cross and resurrection, on our side of them. Another way to think about this is to view the gospels as being mostly about the story of Jesus, and the epistles are mostly about how we are to respond to that story. The epistles, in a sense, help us understand how to work out that faith in our lives.

It is important to understand that, generally speaking, the epistles were written to a specific group of people, in a specific context, to address some specific issues. It’s important to understand the author, the audience, and the issues before we try to take what’s being said and apply it to ourselves.

Some scholars have argued that the practice of writing a letter in someone else’s name, a practice called pseudonymity, was an accepted practice at this time. Evidence supporting this claim has been proven lacking though, so this should not be a general concern; for the most part, the authors have been excepted as stated in these various letters. There may be small passages or sections that were inserted or touched up here in there, but it’s nothing significant that should detract from the authenticity of these letters or that should distract us in our studying them.

I won’t spend much time on this here, it is probably worth a season of study and journaling and podcasting, so I will put it on my to do list, but it’s important to remind ourselves how the Bible was assembled. Critics of the Christian Bible will sometimes point out that there was a group of people that put together the Bible originally. This is true, but, stated in this way, it is a little misleading. there wasn’t a group of people that randomly selected from a whole bunch of manuscripts the group that we would put together to call “the Bible“. Instead, there were a whole bunch of manuscripts floating around that were agreed to be authoritative, so this group of people simply placed them in a collection. There is a subtle difference between those two, but the subtle difference is a huge difference in terms of what it is suggesting.

For today, I am reminded of the fact that the Bible, itself, is perhaps one of the biggest and most overlooked miracles that we have. It contains the work of over 40 authors collectively written over a period of time of about 1500 years, most of which never knew each other, all telling the same story, and all linked together by a common theme - God. How in the world did all of that come together apart from God’s orchestration? Maybe I am just a cynic, but I think we aren’t smart enough to pull that off without our Creator!

Now that we are done with Acts, I am taking a day or two to read some Proverbs and to read a couple of things to change up the pace a little. I think I am next going to dive into Romans, which will be another intense and probably really awesome read. So, in the coming days, I will do my background studies and my read throughs and then we will dive into the text.

For today, I am reading Proverbs 14, and here are the lines that really jumped out at me this morning:

6 A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain,

but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding.

7 Leave the presence of a fool,

for there you do not meet words of knowledge.

8 The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way,

but the folly of fools is deceiving.

9 Fools mock at the guilt offering,

but the upright enjoy acceptance.

What really speaks to me is that you can see the interaction between the heart and wisdom in this text. I think we sometimes have a tendency to treat wisdom as a commodity, like it is something we can have and toss around and leverage for our own benefit, devoid of its connection to our faith and to our Creator. In reality, wisdom is meant to be leveraged as a connection between God and the world around us. God gives us wisdom so we can understand Him, not just the world. Sure, we can leverage wisdom to live life better, but this gets at why I get annoyed when people call the Bible ‘life’s instruction manual’. It isn’t that. The Bible is God’s love story for humanity. The instruction manual I am getting here soon that will come with my wife’s new exercise bike doesn’t care about me. It doesn’t care about what I believe. It is simply meant to instruct me on how to put the bike together. The Bible is meant to draw me into relationship with God...not to tell me how to live a just life, or how to earn God’s trust - it is meant to demonstrate that God has already loved me and accepted me.

Looking at this passage, we can get the sense that fools not only reject wisdom, which we know intuitively, but we can see that wisdom is repelled by their way of living. It is very similar to the way salvation eludes people. It is there...God has sacrificed for you just like He sacrificed for me and for everyone else. Wisdom is in the world for the taking. However, you must be open to it. You must be interested in it. You must value it more than you value what’s in ‘the moment’; you must discipline yourself to see it. Similarly, God’s love is there for the taking...He offers it freely. But, you have to allow it into your life. You must pursue a relationship with Him, just like you must pursue wisdom. It requires discipline and self-sacrifice. It is in the seeking where we meet God. People ask, “How do I have a relationship with someone I can’t see or touch?”, and I would say, “If you get serious about pursuing God and seeking relationship with God, you’ll find that a key element to that is learning to live in wisdom...which is hard to do. And, when it gets hard, that’s when you will understand the relationship with God thing - when you ‘need’ it, you’ll find it.”

Today I am reminded that wisdom is as much about knowing as it is about trusting. It as much about relationship with God as it is about information about the world. When my heart is opened to God, by default, my mind is opened to wisdom. They are two-in-the-same. And, I must pursue them simultaneously in my daily life.

Well, here we are, at the end of Acts. Reading it through this way, it is pretty easy to see the point that many authors make, that this writing must have been halted while Paul was under house arrest and before Nero runs the Christians out of Rome. It just wouldn’t make any sense not to mention that in these writings, unless those events had NOT taken place yet. Further, and more immediate to this moment in chapter 28, we never get anything on Paul’s appeal to Caesar as to his innocence. That places all of this into a time context that is at the latest in the early 60s AD.

Looking back at Acts, as a whole, I think that the biggest idea that I come away with, given my nature as a believer who came to faith later in life and who rebelled much of the ‘systematic’ Christian living (ie, all of the traditions without the relationship elements), is how the early church fought hard against the church becoming a system of a rules and practices. The early church fought against the notion that the church, as an institution, should be a place where people rejected and pushed away for their sin. To the contrary, the church was all about reaching those people who lived in recognition that they aren’t perfect, that they need a Savior, and that had been rejected or marginalized by society.

Acts teaches us that our greatest offering as Christians is our influence and our relationship. Paul states it in other texts, but he clearly teaches it in Acts, along with James, that essentially all things are fine and acceptable as Christians, but not all things are useful. All things are ‘fine’ in that it isn’t our actions but our heart that determine our relationship with God. I love that. God clearly wants a relationship with us. Jesus came to restore that. Everything that we do that makes relationship with God harder is an undue burden. Everything we do that makes relationship with God more difficult for others is an undue burden. This is a huge idea. It is a personal idea. The only way to get to the exact application of this idea in my own life is to enter into relationship with God personally. ...and I think that is the point.

In the reading this morning we see Paul setting sail from Palestine to Italy. It was a heck of a journey!

Further, today is another one of those days where I think there isn’t a ton in the text, and where I find that the study Bible may be missing something that seems obvious to me. There is a lot of discussion in my notes about why Paul was able to exert some kind of leadership authority, and how this would have worked between the Centurion and Paul and everyone else. It seems obvious to me - when things get dicey and scary, and when peoples’ lives hang in the balance, the real leaders are thrust into a position of influence by default. I think these people were scared, and they were confused, and Paul has the authority that wasn’t really his by design because Paul was the real leader in the group. The way Luke writes this, which is in keeping with what we know Paul has experienced to this point, Paul was ready for the crazy. Paul had anticipated it. And think about this - how do you feel when you see someone move through a crazy and scary situation in life with confidence and with grace? You feel a little inspired...I know I do. I feel like that person knows something. I tell you what else happens, that person gains some influence with me.

Sometimes it is the subtle things in life where we signal big things. Paul’s handling of this situation was a ministry opportunity. We aren’t told that Paul leverages it that way, and I am guessing Luke details this journey for a particular reason in this particular way, but I am going to guess based on Paul’s personality that there were some ministry conversations had.

In short, today reminds me that it is often who we are being that speaks louder than what we are saying. And, who we are being can gain us the influence that people will listen to what we are saying. Today, I pray that I am being someone who is worthy of influence, who is worthy of attention, that I might gain an opportunity to further God’s kingdom in that way, as Paul does in the reading today.

Today, as yesterday, is really nothing major in my mind. It just continues Paul’s sudo-trial before king Agrippa before Paul moves on to see the emperor of Rome, to whom he has appealed. Agrippa says that Paul really has not reason to be imprisoned and held against his will based on the testimony that he’s seen, which we all kind of knew already.

In the grand scheme of things, there are one of two things, or both, that Paul is likely trying to work out here. The first is the idea that the further he gets from the local authority making the decision about his guilt against these Jewish accusations, the more simple Paul knew that this case was going to get. At the local level, the civil leaders would have had in mind to curry favor with the Jews in order to keep peace and control, and to maintain their status as rule by keeping taxes flowing. The further we get from the local level, the further away from that tainted desire and the closer we get to a decision based on the merits of the case...and the reality that we can easily see is that Paul is not guilty of anything legally-speaking. So, Paul may be simply playing the game of getting into a setting where the case is tried on the merits of the arguments and not the motivations of the accusers. On the other hand, secondly, perhaps Paul has in mind something more grand. Perhaps Paul is working his way towards Rome in a similar way that some people work their way up to the Supreme Court in the US, to create law. If Paul can be tried in Rome, in front of Caesar, perhaps Paul can essentially acquit Christians in general of any crime against Rome, which would render most of the attempts of the Jews to twist the local legal rule to work against them. This would render the Jews’ defense of the Christians to a purely religious defense, which would mean the Jews could only argue against the spread of Christianity based on the merits of their faith. This would be the end of the Jews oppressing Christians via the legal system if it were to work out. Perhaps Paul was shooting for something more grand, like that.

In that same vein, today my prayer is that I would be more courageous for my faith, as Paul clearly illustrates and demonstrates in his life. I don’t have the same scale in terms of a stage on which I am presenting my faith, but I can certainly be courageous in how I conduct my life, in how I present myself, in how I work to push myself to grow and combat sin in my life, and in how I speak of my faith. Though I am not Paul and am not being tried for my faith as Paul, and I thank Jesus for that!, I can certainly be courageous.

Today we see Paul’s ‘case’, which had done nothing for 2 years as Felix was succeeded by Festus, taken to King Agrippa of Rome. Paul has obviously done nothing deserving of death, or any kind of punishment, and the case for that is so clear when this new ‘trial’ is put on display for us here in this chapter. Now, tomorrow we will hear from Paul and we’ll see where this trial goes, but for today, just a thought that comes to mind as I am reading this.

Have you ever had that moment where you thought, right in the middle of what you were doing, “This is kind of stupid.” Or, “This doesn’t really make any sense.”...ever had that thought? I surely have. And, when we have that thought, there are typically 2 ways in which we can respond. One is with humility and with the realization that I had gotten swept up in what was going on, I had lost control to some extent, and now I need to step back and clear this thing up. The other is to dig my heels in. Usually, when I get the urge to dig my heels in, the motivation for that is to ‘be right’ or to ‘win’ ...which is an emotion that is intoxicating, exciting, and also very dangerous.

Luke isn’t presenting this case to us to make this point, but this illustrates this idea, nonetheless. When we find ourselves working against God in a matter, as did these Jews, and when we sense that the course of action we are taking is against God’s will, or simply against the ‘right’ course of action, I just pray that I would have the maturity, the clarity, and the courage to pause and consider the alternatives. These Jews were smart people. They were some of the most well-spoken and well-educated folks. They knew where this was going...no where. They were taking a Hail Mary shot at trying to get rid of Paul. I am guessing many realized that there was some to what Paul was teaching and preaching. I am guessing that many were just fearful of being pushed out of the social circle, the ring of influence, and the wealth that was a part of their lives. I pray that I don’t illustrate that same fault in my own life. That’s my prayer for today.

There really isn’t anything major that jumps out at me in this chapter, right until the end. Right at the end, after Felix has heard the case and essentially has decided that he can’t justify killing Paul or the Jews, and can’t even seem to justify convicting Paul of any sort of crime, he leave Paul is a sort of sudo-prison; seemingly like a house-arrest type of thing. But here is what I really honed in on this morning. Felix comes to see Paul and to get more information from Paul about what he is teaching. Paul gives him an account of his Christian testimony. This puts Felix into an interesting position. It is presumed that Felix actually came to see Paul because he has a sense that Paul was a well-to-do man, which we believe is true, and to see if he could extract a bride of some sort from him. Instead, he got an invitation to faith. Felix is staring into the face of a big decision.

We have talked about this idea that we never know what hangs in the balance of a decision regarding our faith...that God uses those decisions and those moments of faithfulness in ways that we would probably never have imagined. Well, here is Felix, staring at the opportunity to try to extract a bride and some money from Paul, or he could actually accept Paul’s testimony. The way this is written, it seems like Luke might be telling us that Felix at least paused in the face of this decision to consider both options. Let’s just imagine he did for a moment, putting aside whether or not Luke actually eludes to that.

Imagine how different history might be if Felix had placed his faith in Christ right then and there, and freed Paul. How different would history be? This was a big moment. The greatest evangelist in the history of the Christian faith is sitting there, a decision away from being sent back out into the world to continue teaching. That’s amazing. Of course, Felix decided not to decide...he didn’t want to put Paul back out on the streets for fear that there would be a real public uproar, for fear that the Jews would really turn against him, and he didn’t want to place his faith in Jesus and follow Paul’s teaching because it would cost him an opportunity at that bride money, along with all of the same issues relating to the Jews, and yet he knew he couldn’t kill Paul because there was no crime. So he just left him there, and that’s how the chapter ends.

Today I am reminded of how much impact a single decision of faith can have on me, on the people around me, and on the world around me. Felix had a choice, he had a chance to write himself into history on a positive note, and to have a HUGE impact on the world, for good. He passed it by. Today I pray that I would spot opportunities that come across my life, and that I would see them as opportunities since they are often felt as challenges. I pray that I would have the faith to think bigger and to remember that my decisions of faith are often not nearly as private and personal as they feel in the moment.

Today we see Paul standing before the Sadducees and the Pharisees before being put away so they can decide his fate. About 40 of the Pharisees (if I am reading this right) came together as a group and made a vow not to eat or drink until Paul is killed. Then Paul is taken to Rome to be processed through the Roman system and is delivered the Felix, the governor at the time.

Looking at this chapter, 2 things kind of jump out at me. First is the vow adopted by these Pharisees. Talk about being hypocritical, for which the head Priest is called out by Paul. Where in scripture was murder a reasonable punishment for a man like Paul? How was murder the correct punishment for Stephen, whom Paul oversaw being stoned to death? The answer is, “Nowhere, it isn’t condoned.” Here is an idea that is being reinforced here, though I don’t think it is intentionally being made my Luke; that once we set our minds on something, we often become fixed to it. We become intoxicated by ‘winning’, by getting our way. We get so focused on the outcome, so set on the strategy by which we’ll get there, that we completely shut ourselves off from reality. These Pharisees knew better. In fact, it is clear from Luke’s phrasing that not all of the Pharisees had this blood lust for Paul - many didn’t agree. But we are all prone to this kind of foolishness, where we get fixed on an idea and we won’t let it go. In our faith, we often see this come up as something like this,; “God, I waiting for you to do X, and if you don’t do X, then I know you aren’t with me on this.” In reality though, It isn’t up to us how God is going to do what He is going to do. We must stay devoted to Him and trust that He has a plan. His track record is so good, it really shouldn’t be so hard to maintain that state of mind.

Then, second, my study guide tries really hard in today’s reading to understand the number of troops that were used to transport Paul to Rome; Luke says it was upwards of 470 personnel. The authors point out that this is complete overkill, even given the circumstances. But, perhaps I am just dumb enough that it doesn’t seem that hard to understand to me. Looking at verse 11, here is what we read, the only words directly FROM GOD in this chapter:

11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”

What if God was going out of his way to make the point to Paul, “I am with you. I have your back brother!”. To me, that’s more of a plausible explanation than trying to navigate exactly how Luke got to 470, and figure out who was counted or double counted or any of that nonsense. The simple explanation may be the best in this case. God just wanted to make a point to Paul.

Sometimes God does that - He just wants to make a point to you, or to me. I think that illustrates His compassion, in that He wanted to make sure Paul knew, even when staring into the face of death, that He was with him. That’s good enough for me.

Today is a fascinating bit of reading!

This is my favorite part - probably because I am a bit of a nerd on this stuff. Paul is arrested under charges of stirring up trouble by the Jews, same story, different day, and then he is brought in front of this tribune to be charged. What’s funny is that none of these officers who were holding him really knew anything about who he was. When we hear someone try to identify him, the tribune wondered whether he was an Egyptian brigand who had recently stirred up a revolt in the desert. According to Josephus, per my study Bible, there had been an Egyptian false prophet who had led 30,000 men to the Mount of Olives in order to take Jerusalem; he promised that they would see the walls of the city fall down. The governor, Felix, killed or captured his followers, while the prophet himself managed to escape. They wondered if Paul was this guy. That’s funny! AND, I love that this is just another corroborating piece of evidence that places this narrative in a time and place that could easily be identified and discredited IF there were reason to do so.

Then we see Paul request to speak to the people as he is being hauled off to be beaten, and he tells them the story of his conversion, illuminating the fact that he was just like them until he met Jesus - he points out that he was there over-looking the beating of Stephen. But, again we see what is so common in these New Testament narratives, and what is unfortunately so true in our lives as well - that these people aren’t seeking truth, they are seeking to maintain their power, their order, the status quo. Paul was a threat to them in this way.

And, in a dramatic fashion, we see Paul wrangle out of the beating, at least for now, by throwing in the fact that he is a Roman citizen, which stops the tribune in its tracks, because is means that there my be Roman legal process to take place before one of her citizens can be beaten like this. So, Paul is safe, for now.

Today, I am reminded again of how important it is for us to remain truth-centered. Even as Christians we can lose our curiosity and begin to ignore truth. We fall pray to what is known as confirmation bias. This occurs when, everywhere we look, we notice the things that confirm our opinions on a matter and we reject (consciously or subconsciously) everything that interferes with our opinion on that matter. Here is the deal - as Christians, if we truly believe that God is Who He says He is, and that Jesus is our Savior, then we have nothing to fear. We can be better than that - our faith is stronger than that. We don’t have to fear science. We don’t have to fear philosophy. My favorite phrase, when I hear something that is a new discovery or a new idea, is simply, “Oh, so that’s how God did that.”. At any rate, for today, I am going to pray that God would ground my faith in curiosity, that I would be assured of Jesus and comfortable enough with my faith to be open to ideas, and to learning. In the end, God will ultimately connect the dots, and when that day comes, and all of our questions are answered, I am sure we’ll be very happy to have been on the side of faith rather than not.

In this short section today, we see a really important teaching, and I made me want to stop and reflect on it this morning. This is a key teaching that is reiterated in several places throughout scripture, and in several places in this writing as well (in Acts). We see Paul and Luke, who is writing, talking to James (the brother of Jesus, and a major player and leader in the church at this point) discussing all of the people who’ve come to know Jesus through Paul’s and his associates ministry. It is a celebratory moment for God, for sure. Then, notice the dilemma that they pose to James - they are trying to figure out how to handle this situation where there is a clash between Jews who are following the Law and Gentiles who don’t live by the law, both of whom are coming to Jesus , and they are trying to figure out how to live together in harmony while seeing their commitments to the church in a different light. It was common for the Jews coming to Jesus to have been practicing the Law of Moses, or at least they were trying, and so they lived under a strict code of conduct and often felt, in some ways, ‘deserving’ of Jesus. After all, they had lived a certain way, depriving themselves of certain bodily pleasures, in order that they may one day receive this promised Messiah. So, once Jesus came, for those who believed that He was the one for which they were waiting, it was a moment of “Well, here you are...great, we’ve been expecting you, and we’ve been preparing for you.”

For the Gentiles, they weren’t waiting for Jesus. They weren’t preparing for Jesus. They were just living their lives, and then Jesus showed up. Their mindset was a little more of the “Oh, man, I didn’t even know about any of this...of course I need saving, now that I understand just how lost I was, I definitely welcome a savior!”.

These 2 groups were coming to Jesus from completely different places. One group put in all of the work and endured years of the Law and the other showed up in the last second. I think this is precisely the point of God’s including the story about the criminal on the cross next to Jesus the day Jesus died, who was saved and promised an eternity in heaven as he was about to breathe his last breath, having nothing to give to God other than his trust...it was the drive this point home. None of us can earn our salvation. All of us are broken.

All of that said...today reminds us that we should constantly monitor how we practice our faith outwardly, as the purpose of our outward actions should be focused on gaining influence with others. James (and the elders) are reminding Paul that these folks interacting in the Jewish world should act Jewish, adopting their customs to maintain influence with them, while the folks interacting with the Gentiles should avoid the customs of the Jewish law; after all, now we know the customs aren’t requirements for salvation, so don’t muddy the water with the Gentiles, keep the message on-point and focused on Jesus. That’s a great reminder!

Paul is about to enter into Jerusalem, where we know he is going to have a rough time (to put it lightly). It certainly appears that Paul is aware of this as well - he is essentially telling his disciples that he knows what’s coming. Here is what jumped out at me this morning though - Luke (who is writing this for us to read) and the other disciples are said to have felt led by God to pray for Paul, that he would not go. Paul is clearly called by God to go. And I think this sets up an interesting idea that is worth camping out on for a moment this morning. And that is this - “How can God be calling Paul to go and the disciples to beg him NOT to go at the same time?”.

I think we sometimes get confused on trivial things like this...I think ideas like this can potentially trip people up in their faith. Is God going crazy here? What’s the deal - He is seemingly telling two sets of people 2 different things at the same time.

As I am reading this, I can’t help but to think about the personal nature of our relationship with God. I can’t help but think about the fact that God is playing more of a 3-dimensional game of chess than what we often can appreciate. God isn’t crazy at all - God is equipping everyone for his own calling. Think about how encouraging it would be to a head-strong, stubborn, God-fearing man like Paul to hear the pleas of these disciples, to have them weeping for him. I am almost certain that this gave Paul courage. I am almost certain that this gave Paul a sense of purpose. I am almost certain that this gave Paul something to focus on, their comfort and well-being, and kept him distracted in a small way from what was coming; what he knew was coming. The disciples were setting Paul up for success while they were doing exactly what they were being asked to do by God...even when they probably felt unsuccessful. Their success wasn’t related to the result that they’d envisioned, which was calling Paul off of this trip, but in simply doing what God had asked.

On the other hand, Paul was going to Jerusalem. He knew that was his calling. He was resolute in that. He certainly wasn’t going to be called off, and in the midst of the cries of these disciples, I am sure Paul would have had moments where he knelt down and asked God, “God, am I getting this right? These men, whom I know you know and know you, are telling me NOT to go. God, what am I to do?” You know that Paul had to have this internal battle. In the end though, he got enough re-assurance to press on as God had called him to do.

So, again, it is the personal nature of the calling that we each receive from God that jumps out at me. The fact that sometimes we are the only ones who understand our calling. The idea that we should be MOST confident in what God is telling us, and that we should lean into that, and trust that, above all else. That’s my take away from today’s reading.

In today’s reading we see, in v. 7, the first allusion to the church meeting regularly on the first day of the week, which was probably a Saturday evening - so, if you have ever wondered where that came from, here you go. Then we see what I think is really a hilarious scene - this young guy, Eutychus, who is probably somewhere between 8 and 14, who is in a packed room with other Christians, leaning into what Paul has to say, after listening to him speak for hours (which wasn’t uncommon at this time - which is shocking, because most Christians I know complain when service goes past an hour!), is overcome by the heat and the oil from the lamps and actually falls asleep. The problem is, he is next to a window and falls out the second floor window. Upon seeing this, Paul goes down and picks him up and revives him. For whatever reason, this just looks like a scene out of a slapstick comedy movie to me!

Then we see the chapter take a turn - Paul is speaking to this church in Ephesus, and he is awaiting his trip to Jerusalem, and he is imparting 2 thoughts on these people. First is a plea to cling to God’s word. He has taught for them, he has fought for them, and he has worked himself ragged to bring the message of Jesus to this church, and to plant a church that can thrive. He knows what will happen when he leave this time, which is his last time - he knows that false teachers will rise up, he knows that turmoil will pop up, he knows that there will be a twisting of God’s word and his teaching...he knows all of these things, but he begs them to remember the truth, and to cling to the truth. He pleads that they will remember. As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but think about my kids, and their eventual journey out of the house, and out from under my veil of protection. This has to be a glimpse of what that feels like. And yet, it is part of the journey. That has to be what God feels like with us. He wants to let us get out and spread out wings, and chaos and turmoil are just part of that journey. I can feel Paul’s emotion here...I can relate to it.

Then he turns to the pending trip to Jerusalem...where he knows what is going to happen; he is going to be imprisoned, or worse, probably killed. So, he begins begging them in a similar manner to remember the teaching, but instead of just for the sake of the church in Ephesus, he wants them to remember the bigger story; the bigger picture. He sums up is entire ministry in quoting from Jesus himself, from Matthew 10:8, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Those are profound words coming from a man who is marching right into his own imprisonment...doing so because he knows it is his calling, and because he knows that there are people there that need the message of Jesus.

What a great example for us this morning. Today, even just for the day, I am reminded and encouraged to look for an opportunity to live out that mantra, to find an opportunity to give of myself in even just a small way. It is a great way to live life in general, but it is hard to really embody that way of living for most of us if we are being honest. So, just for the day...I am looking for an opportunity to do my part.

Today shows us a great truth about faith as a Christian, and about the journey we tall take in our spiritual development. Paul is preaching and teaching these folks and everything is going well, and then this silversmith realizes that this is going to change everything for him - the majority of his income is derived from making idols for worship, idols for their god Artemis. And upon realizing this, he starts to create an up-roar to try to save his way of life. Everyone follows, and Luke records in several instances that the people were in a state of confusion. Why were they confused? It seems apparent that their confusion comes from a tension that they feel, and that I think we all feel at some point in our spiritual journey - it is a tension between a feeling of safety and a feeling of calling. It is a tension between comfort and growth.

Here is the thing, sometimes we are going to be called out of our comfort, of our own free will, to follow where God wants to lead us. Sometimes God forces us into a mode of growth, whether it is by way of a positive or a negative life event, a season of struggle or a season of success; but sometimes (at least in my experience) we feel more of a subtle tug from God, an invitation to willingly take a step in His direction. Sometimes I think He wants to see how faith-filled we are by lobbing something out there and testing whether or not we’ll respond. In my experience, that is the time that we find out ‘whose’ we really are...when we find out whose agenda we really value.

I know I have failed that test many times. I know I have fallen on my face many times. I also know, from experience, that positive responses to those nudges leads to a heightened sensitivity to God’s calling; said another way, when I respond to the most obvious opportunities, my spiritual muscles develop, my ability to recognize God’s presence grows, and I tend to see more if His work in my life. I tend to start to notice His nudges a little better.

Today’s reading reminds me how NOT to respond - Demetrius goes on offense against God. That is the worst choice. I am a simple person, so I kind of picture this like a multiple-choice deal, where we have (A) as ‘reject God’s calling and go on offense against Him, (B) as pause, listen, and look for some more clarifying signals, and (C) just go all-in. I would say that, at a minimum, we should be working to move from (A) to (B) in our lives...that when we feel a nudge, we need to start by trying to catch ourselves before we react from our gut and just pause, pray, and sit with that nudge for a bit - waiting to see if God will give us some clarity.

And that’s my prayer today...that I would have the presence of mind to stop, to wait, to take a deep breath when I feel a little nudge in the back of my mind about a decision I am about to make, and to invite God into that decision, allowing a little time to see if/how God might speak into my life. In doing so, I hope to train myself to do THAT reflexively, and that I would really God’s presence deepening in my life.

In today’s reading, Luke is sort of cleaning up some loose ends and connecting some dots for us before we move on to Paul’s work in his return to Ephesus in the next chapter. What struck me this morning was the little information about this disciple Apollos at the end of the chapter, who was working in Ephesus between Paul’s visits. And, it really isn’t as much Luke’s narrative that jumped out at me as it was the scholarship in the study Bible. Apparently there are people that are really struggling to explain how someone like Apollos could have received the Holy Spirit, as Luke is suggesting, yet only have heard John’s message - which Luke states in in verse 25.

Maybe I am thinking too simply on this, but this doesn’t really bother me. We know that Apollos is from Alexandria, which is a center for education and philosophy, and was actually a place where a Jewish philosopher named Philo lived and worked. As a Jew, Apollos was well-versed in the scriptures, no doubt. Being from Alexandria, it is certainly possible (and likely) that he would have had some kind of training, whether formal or informal, from Philo as well. So, we are talking about a competent religious person. In fact, Apollos could kind of be compared to Paul in that regard.

And, we are told that Priscilla and Aquila take him aside and fill in the blanks of his faith for him, giving him the information about Jesus - His death, resurrection, and ascension. At this point is when we are typically going to grant the assumption that he can receive the Holy Spirit, after he’s understood to have believed this information; meaning, he has to have received this information. If he hasn’t gotten the information, these writers are hung up on how Luke says he can have the Holy Spirit with him. Luke doesn’t fill in that blank for us.

I think we have to be careful here - this is where I think the church can start to get itself into a little trouble if it isn’t careful. First off, we can’t and don’t know everything about this situation, obviously. So, however we go about filling in the blanks, we are guessing - we have to recognize that. Secondly, if God is the creator of the world and of communication and of this manuscript, and we don’t have a piece of information, we can assume it isn’t an error of omission (in my opinion); it is likely that God just didn’t give us this information because it isn’t important to the point He is making. Thirdly, given the contextual detail we have been provided in so many places, and given the way these narratives are all inter-woven with historical findings so intricately, I think we must start with the assumption that there are just pieces of information that we don’t have, that should we have them, we’d have no problems answering unknowns questions. Lastly - we must remember to not “miss the forest for the trees” here; Luke is (I think) just trying to communicate that God has been working in Ephesus even when Paul has been away - God was building the church, His church, and was furthering the cause to which Paul has been called, even while Paul was away.

Today’s reading reminds me that we can take scripture study down a rabbit hole, and sometimes that’s fine. But, when we do, we must be humble enough to throw our hands up in the end, and to admit that we are speculating. We much assume God has given us everything that we need to find Him, to know Him, and to experience Him. And we must be careful as we read NOT to miss the bigger picture - God’s church, the movement called ‘the way’, was spreading at an unstoppable pace, and it was gathering momentum that was overcoming all sorts of formidable challenges. God was doing what God wanted to do...and it is still that way today; thank you God!

This is another one of the big parts of the story in Luke’s Acts...this is a fantastic scene. Paul places himself in center of a philosophical debate with some local philosophers, different from the local religious leaders. This is an important distinction because these philosophers were seeking truth, and they didn’t have anything to protect...they just wanted to learn and to grow. That’s a great frame of mind in which to exist, especially when juxtaposed against the religious leaders who didn’t want the truth, they just wanted to protect their power. And so Paul is teaching things around the community and he shows up where these men are meeting and they realize that he is the one teaching these things so they ask him to tell them what he’s telling everyone else around the community. And here is how he starts:

22 “So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything...” and Paul goes on; but the thing that has always stood out to me is this alter to the unknown god. This sounds a lot like the prayer that we’ve all prayed at some point, before we became a Christian, and that many non-Christians pray in moments of great distress, “God, if you are out there, if you are real, I hope you can hear this...”.

These philosophers were just like us. They are just like me. They are just like you. They want to know that there is some kind of a grand order in this crazy world. They believe, deep down, that there is some kind of a plan unfolding in this world. They want to believe there is a purpose in their pain, a reason for their life, and just in case they got it wrong and hadn’t identified the right god, they put an extra alter in place where they could say, should they figure out who that god is, “Oop, there you go, we knew you were there all along, but we didn’t know your name...that’s your spot right there!”.

There is a little of that in all of us. We want to believe God is weaving a story to redeems our struggles and our victories, we want to believe our lives have a purpose. Paul is leveraging that curiosity as a way to invite these folks to examine his claims. And then, he shifts and instead of giving them a bunch of philosophical content, he drops the resurrection on them. He cuts straight to the crux of the matter.

I love this because it reminds me that, as Christians, and as a part of our quest to be in the world in the sense that we should be using our influence and our gifts as a means to further God’s kingdom, we should continue to develop our tools for evangelism. Paul clearly has a gift to meet people where they are, to read the situation and to speak into that situation powerfully. We should all develop some of those skills. In the same way, some people have a lot deeper talent in other areas of ministry, and they should develop those skills as well. But we all can learn to be more like a chameleon from Paul, even if we know we won’t ever has his depth of skill in it.

Verses 16 through 24, which started the reading today, are pretty funny to me. I read them as i they are almost a classic comedy movie with someone like Chevy Chase in it. This first is a fortune tell as a source of income to this family, and she is a slave to them apparently. Her ability is described as a “spirit of divination”, which literally meant ‘a spirit, a Python’, which can actually also be translated into what we call a ‘ventriloquist’. To me, that’s a little funny...and Luke tells us that she annoys Paul because she keeps drawing attention to he and his ministry group, of which Luke is a member, and so Paul realizes that she actually does have an evil spirit of some sort in her and he just calls this demon our of her when it gets to a point when he doesn’t want to put up with it any longer. Then this slave girl’s utility to this family is gone...so the family gets mad and gets the leaders of the community to come in and arrest Paul and his posse. Just classic.

After being arrest, this group gets put in jail and God sets up their rescue, but instead of leaving when the opportunity came, Paul seizes the moment and witnesses to the jailer. Then Paul even has the presence of mind to realize that he is a Roman citizen and is being held illegally, so he stays in jail to force these leaders to come apologize and let him out - turning out down not only the invitation to leave in the cover of night from God, but turning down an invitation to leave quietly and un-noticed by these leaders...but Paul wanted it to be a more public scene for the release; he wanted to clear the his name and, based on what we know about Paul, to clear the name of the church. Paul didn’t want the reputational damage that this could potentially impose on the early church.

For me, as am reading this, I am struck by the poise of Paul. He not only trusts God, but he is able to get a sense as to where God is trying to take him and to leverage his understanding of philosophy, Judaism, and the law for God’s work. He had the presence of mind, in the midst of a jail cell, the continue God’s work, and to resist the easy way out when he realized that there was more at stake than his comfort. That’s awesome. That’s a great example. It reminds me to think about this question and prayer, “God your will, not my will, be done - please help me see what that looks like in my life today.” That’s a great prayer to ask today.

This chapter starts off by immediately illustrating what we discussed in our last reading, and what the Jewish Council taught - that our lives should be purposed to gain influence for God’s sake. Here, Paul has Timothy circumcised, and he tells us that it is for the reason that the Jews in these places they were going were circumcised, and we would presume that there were other practices that Paul and Timothy adopted in order to not lose influence with them. Timothy’s example shouldn’t be seen as an example in terms of the circumcision, but in terms of the example of how to position yourself for maximum influence.

A subtle thing that happens in verse 10 in today’s reading is the word ‘we’ pops up. This is the first time we see this, and then we see it for the remainder of Acts; this should indicate to us that the author, Luke, presumably was personally with this ministry group from this point forward and is writing about events he personally witnessed. Then, we see Paul converting this female merchant, who was presumably a reasonably wealthy women is she was selling purple goods, to a faith in Jesus.

The big takeaway for me, and the thing that sticks out to me this morning, is how responsive Paul is to how he is being led by the Holy Spirit. A couple of times we see a push and pull from the Holy Spirit, telling him to go here, and not to go there. And we see Paul responding to this and following God’s lead.

It is a great reminder for me today to listen, to create space and margin in my life where I CAN listen, and to be courageous enough to follow where God leads me. In Paul’s case, given the influence and the reputation he was no doubt building, it would have been very easy to start to listen less and guide himself more. It would have been easy to start minimizing God’s voice and God’s influence as Paul was getting more and more powerful. I think that’s the trap that we often fall into; or at least I know that’s true for me. As I get some success, I feel less and less dependent on God. Paul gives us a great example that leaning on God should be a constant. In fact, in tomorrow’s reading, we will see the fruit of Paul’s faithfulness in action.

That’s my prayer today though - that would be dependent on God today; and that I would hear Him today, as a create just a little extra time and space to pray this morning specifically for that purpose.

The Council accepts James’ and Paul’s advice and removes the requirement of circumcision and adherence to the entire Mosaic Law from the requirements for joining the church. And that a marker in history...the moment the church ‘got it’. Faith was officially by Grace alone, adopted as part of the church’s operating system. This really was a huge moment.

This idea penetrates the rest of Paul’s letters, and it is all over James’ letter as well. It is this idea that the way we live is a response to the Grace we’ve received. It is a monumental shift from the faith that preceded it. Instead of living according to God’s Law in order that God would extend us His Grace, the church has now been taught by Jesus that the new deal, the New Testament, is that we would receive Grace and that we would live according to God’s will in response to that Grace. We are to abstain from sacrificing to idols because that kind of sacrifice points people away from God. We are to avoid eating from what the Old Testament calls unclean animals, not necessarily because this will keep God from accepting you, but because there are plenty that hold to this practice still and our goal is to gain influence over them and to bring them into relationship with God, and eating unclean animals takes that possibility off of the table. We are to remain sexually pure not because God can’t forgive it, but because sexual sin has a direct physical impact on another person, it is a sin of two. It also breaks our ability to experience desire for the right person, our spouse (or future spouse). It hinders our ability to feel loved as well. Sexual sin is a particularly insidious sin.

From this point on, when we are taught about how to behave as Christians, it isn’t about the relationship with God as much as it is about our relationship with others. Now, for sure, sin typically hurts our ability to feel worthy of God’s love, and it hinders our ability to experience God’s Grace. But, the real focus of the majority of the teaching from here on out in scripture relates to how sin breaks relationship, and most often it is relationship with others.

Let me say it this way - before this point in time, the purpose of our spiritual discipline was to gain God’s favor. From this point forward, the point of our spiritual discipline is to experience a deeper relationship with God and with the people in our lives.

This is a very exciting moment for the church. Today I am praying that I would be motivated by this idea, that I would be encouraged to love as a response to being truly set free. For me, since I am typically harder on myself than I ever am on others, I really pray that I would begin to learn to see myself as God sees me; that I would forgive myself as God forgives me; that I would love myself as God loves me.

Look at what James says at the end of yesterday’s reading:

19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.

It is ‘his judgement’ that we shouldn’t make it hard for people to come to Jesus. At the same time, we should encourage people to abstain from some of these things like idols, sexual immorality, unclean foods, and from blood. Now, what we lose in this is something that Paul comes back to over and over again, and that James gets at in his own writing, and that is that these are encouragements, not ultimatums. These aren’t a way to measure people for judgement by the church. The reason these are suggested is for the benefit of those around the believer...we want the people around the believer, you and me, to not feel hindered as they come to Jesus. We want them to be drawn to Jesus. A person guilted into faith is a person that creates a spiritual foundation on sand...because guilt is a by-product of realizing you don’t measure up...and God isn’t measuring anything.

How inviting is my life? Do people look at my life and see a joy that is desirable? In the midst of pain, is there an element of peace that they look at and want to emulate? When I suffer, do I suffer well? When I win, do I do it well? My life should be a reflection of what’s going on in my heart, and that’s what God is after in me. That’s way more compelling than rules. That’s way more inviting than shame. That is clearly what is being taught through Jesus’ ministry.

These few words from James are at the heart of why our Christian faith, the Jesus movement was so successful in spreading - it was seen as an invitation into something better. It is also the greatest opportunity of our generation - that we could begin to change that narrative again, and that we could begin to brand our faith as such, an invitation to something better. In a word that is torn apart by racial injustice, poverty, inequality in so many different ways, the one thing we can all do is to heed James’ advice and to make it easy for those around us to come to Jesus. It takes intentionality, it takes forgiveness, and it requires our leaning on God’s Grace and guidance...but that is exactly the position God wants us in as His followers. It’s funny how that works. Today, I pray that I would see opportunities to make my life more invitational for His kingdom.

This is one of the most important teachings, in my opinion, in all of the New Testament. And I will tell you who this really should hit home with the most - those of us that grew up in the church. For most Christians who grew up in church, at least down in the Southern region of the United States where I am from - the Bible was described to us a manual for life, as a measuring stick, and as an order of conduct. We were taught to act right, to do right, and that behavior is what is most important. The Bible was regarded as the super-Holy object, it was mysterious, and it was God’s Sacred Word, God-breathed, God-inspired, and it teaches us how to live.

In reality, there is an element of truth to all of that. But, also in reality is the fact that a lot of that misses the point that God was clearly making brining Jesus into the world. God was introducing Grace to the world with Jesus. God was redeeming the sins of the world. God was cutting the ties to the 10 Commandments, God was severing the relationship between behavior and salvation, and God was giving us absolute freedom to abuse His Grace and receive His Savior Jesus.

Now, if you are a church leader, or you are a parent, or you are just a person who wants to be treated fairly (we are all at least one of those things, just FYI), how reasonable does that sound? How reasonable is it that a cold-blooded, calculating serial killer and murderer, could stand right next to you in Heaven one day? Is that fair? What about the people who shamed you in school? Or what about the people who stole your promotion at work? How is that fair?

There is a tension that we all feel between what we think is right and with what God gives us through Jesus, which is Grace. Deep down, pretty much all of us at some level have to deal with the issue of what is ‘fair’. And, in reality, God never lays that out for us. So, when we adhere to a fairness standard, we are essentially giving ourselves authority that we don’t have - the authority of being a judge.

These counsel members that were pushing for circumcision were doing just that - they had to endure it, they had to trade things out in their lifestyles in order to be followers of God before Jesus, they had to suffer (in their minds) - it wasn’t fair that people could now walk right up and enjoy the fruits of faith without suffering. Paul understood it because Paul had to get past that himself. Fair isn’t in God’s vocabulary. Grace is free...and it is free for everyone.

Now, ironically...think about fair for a moment. What could REALLY be more fair than something that is free for everyone, as is Grace? That is really the ONLY fair thing anyways. The only thing that isn’t fair, in reality, is that many of us were wrongly taught, or it was wrongly implied to us, that we have to earn our way into God’s favor. That’s not what Jesus taught, and that’s not what scripture teaches us. We see this counsel wrestling with this this morning.

Today is a simple chapter in that it doesn’t take a lot to follow what’s going on, and there isn’t a lot of deep text into which we can dive and get lost in the weeds. We see Paul and Barnabas complete their first missionary journey before returning to Antioch. Tomorrow we will read about one of the most important church meetings of all time. In today’s reading, though, there were 4 words that really made an impression on me...from verse 20:

“...on the next day...”

The full verse reads:

20 “But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.”

What had happened right before that was the Paul had been stoned by these conspiring Jews from Antioch and Iconium, trying to run Paul off...so that went so far as to stone Paul, and they left him for dead. Paul was just able to keep breathing evidently...these weren’t the type of people who never saw death either, so Paul was likely just barely hanging onto life. And, THE NEXT DAY he was off to Derbe with Barnabas, preaching and teaching. Now, I am sure he was struggling for a while, he was surely in some sort of a recovery process. Considering it was a stoning, I can’t believe be didn’t bear the scars from that kind of a beating for a while afterwards. Yet, THE NEXT DAY he was on his way, and he was back to preaching and teaching.

For me, nothing fancy today...just a little old fashioned motivation. And, I want to take that a little further, just to talk to myself for a moment. We ‘aggrandize’ these events, we make them out into this big stories, which they are, and we ask big questions like, “Would I have the faith to do what Paul did in that moment?” And, you know, that took a lot of faith. But, most of life doesn’t exist in the extremes like this. Most of life is lived in the in between - in between the extreme moments of euphoria and the extreme moments of despair. In my experience, it is in the middle where we can become a little numb...we stop noticing the small things, because the small things become so commonplace. If life were lived on a continuum between 1 (despair) and 10 (euphoria), we tend to live between about 3 and 7 most of the time. And, in doing so, we tend to lose appreciation for that range...we rarely understand where we are in that range...we become numb to our emotional state if we aren’t careful. I am reminded today, via Paul’s motivation, that I should be encouraged in the in between, that it is in the typical, often mundane day-to-day life where we can be ordinarily extraordinary. This is because it takes intentionality by way of time in prayer, time reading God’s Word, thinking about God’s word, looking around and nudging ourselves to enter into opportunities to do God’s work...it takes a level of intentionality to create momentum in our spiritual development. Motivation typically follows action, and action builds momentum, and then we feel the motivation. Today, though it has nothing to do with Paul’s experience, I feel an encouragement from God to pay attention to the small things, take inventory of where I am on that scale of 1 to 10, and to get on with it. Paul arose from a stoning and went on his merry way...I can arise from my slumber on this day and look for an opportunity to do God’s work today.

Just to take a pause in the reading of Acts for a day, I flipped over to Proverbs and landed in chapter 20. And, in reading this...I landed on verse 10:

10 Unequal weights and unequal measures

are both alike an abomination to the Lord.

The reason I paused here, and the thought that came to mind really relates back to what we’ve been reading about in Acts. In Acts, Paul and Peter (and all of the apostles, obviously) are teaching that we are free from the burden of the Law, the Law handed down by God through Moses. God laid out the way in which we are to earn His approval with this Law, and 1500 years of human history from the time of Moses to the time of Jesus essentially proved that none of us could pull it off. None of us could earn God’s approval. That means ALL of us, by definition, fell short, and would fall short today. All of us. The reason I think it is important to pause on that, and to reflect on that, is because it is our human nature that tends to want to draw us into a mode of comparison. We look around and we get our sense of ‘okay-ness’ from those around us...by comparison. And, we often take that comparison into our spiritual lives...when we feel like we’ve been good, we feel comfortable approaching God in prayer. When we feel like we’ve been bad, we don’t. All-the-while, we are missing two very important facts: (1) we are always bad and never good when compared to the only standard that God has ever given us, and (2) God wants us to look at Him for our sense of ‘okay-ness’, not others.

And here is the thing that is so insidious about comparison. I find that most Christians can be broadly placed into 2 categories - those that lean on Grace (which is most of us rebellious types) and those who rely on fairness/Law (which are those people who were (and are) the rule-followers). Those of us that rely on Grace typically abuse that Grace in how we live our lives - I will freely admit that, being in this category. But, those of us who are the rule-followers...there is an insidious trap that they fall into. I am generalizing here, but I have noticed that these folks tend to try to adopt God’s Grace by way of the Gospel, but then also try to mix in God’s law. It is what we see with the Jerusalem Counsel in Acts. In reality though, you can’t have it both ways. God doesn’t grade on a curve, nor does He grade us at all - that was the Law. And, if you live with that kind of fairness mentality, this verse is for you - because God has never given us a scale on which to judge ourselves, or to know how we stand with Him. This verse reminds us that God is just, and it is against His nature to judge us if we aren’t given a scale.

Today, even though I am more of the rebellious type by nature, I (as all of us do) have some of the fairness thing in me too...and I am praying that God would help me spot it, root it out, and let go of that. In my case, the biggest impact that has is on my prayer life - when I am most behaving, I feel closest to God; and the opposite is also true. But, that’s a me thing, not a God thing. God hasn’t moved...and my faith should be more stable than that as well!

Today we read through the rest of chapter 13, where we see Paul teaching in a synagogue that was likely full of Jews and God-fearing Gentiles. Almost like Stephen, for whom Paul oversaw his stoning, Paul recounts the Jewish history in a summary format, to point to the fact that there has always been an expectation for a Messiah, and that he has come in the form of a man named Jesus, and that there are many witnesses to this that are alive and well as Paul is talking through this. Paul is asked to come back and teach the following week and he does, and we are told that many people begin to follow his teaching, to place their faith in what Paul is saying, and to no one’s surprise, we see that the Jewish leaders start to get jealous and to feel threatened, and so they put together an effort to push Paul and Barnabas out of the city; so Paul and Barnabas depart and head on to the next stop in their missionary journey.

What I focused in on today is a little less spiritual and a little more human...it’s Paul’s approach to these people in this synagogue. One thing about Paul that is truly fantastic is that he tends to be a little of a chameleon in terms of his evangelical approach. We will later see that when Paul meets with philosophers, he leverages reason to reach them. When he speaks here, to Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, he leverages a shared history of God’s story and relationship with Israel, and we also see him reaching people who have no real relationship with God later one, who are uneducated and with whom he really has nothing in common, and he meet them where they are in order to bring them to faith, and to deliver the message of Jesus. Paul, in a subtle way, is showing us one of the real keys to evangelism - meeting people where they are. A second, and almost more subtle, takeaway would be that Paul isn’t so worried about how they come to faith, about the method, he is just worried THAT they come to faith in Jesus. Paul is the one that really emphasizes the importance of being in the world as evangelists, and not positioning ourselves in society in a way that keeps people away from us, but in a way that invites people it.

Today, we see Paul’s skill on display. We are going to see many more examples of this as we move forward in reading Acts, but it really struck me today, and it gives me pause and prompts me to consider this question, “Am I invitational in how I live my life? Do I seek to meet people where they are in terms of evangelical efforts? Do I spend adequate time sharpening my skills in evangelism, working to understand how people’s thoughts and opinions are changing and growing to make sure I am equipped to meet them where they are?” I am not suggesting that we are all called to be seminary-level theologians, but I think it is incumbent upon us be prepared, as Peter teaches us in 1st and 2nd Peter to make the case for our faith, for what we believe. And Paul demonstrates how powerful that opportunity can be if we have at least some level of understanding of how people are thinking in our times.

I am breaking this chapter into two pieces, and today we see Paul and Barnabas being sent off by the church there in Antioch, to go out on their first (of 3) missionary journeys. We also see here that John Mark, the same Mark of the Gospel of Mark, was with them - this is part of the reason Mark’s testimony is great, because he was front-and-center to the action with Paul, which is a unique claim for his version of the Gospel. We also see Paul actually named Paul instead of Saul. Saul was his Hebrew name, and now that he is going out among the Gentiles, he will go by his Roman name Paul. As they get going with their ministry, their first encounter is with this false prophet named Bar-Jesus, also called Elymas in this section.

In today’s reading - two main ideas jumped out at me.

The first is just a subtle thing that I tend to notice periodically, and that is the amount of people, place, and time references that are found in the text. If you read these 12 verses and you have an Atlas and a history book (apart from the Bible), it is very easy to place these events onto the map and onto the timeline of history. I point this out because it just provides more evidence that this stuff isn’t just being made up for the sake of stories. This isn’t Luke sitting down writing a fairy tale that starts with ‘Once upon a time’. If this was a fairy tale, this would have been called out as such WAY before we got our hands on this material.

The second thing that I got to thinking about while reading this relates to our motivations and our intentions as we approach our faith and our spirituality. The Jewish Leaders, from everything we read between the first pages of Matthew’s Gospel to here in chapter 13 of Acts, really didn’t ever give themselves a chance to hear the Gospel. They couldn’t hear it because they weren’t really looking for the truth, they were just looking to maintain their power. That is readily apparent when reading the New Testament. It wasn’t an intelligence issue. It wasn’t that they were inherently bad people. It wasn’t that God was keeping them from hearing it (or, at least I don’t believe that). It was just that they couldn’t hear it because they had an agenda. Here, we see Bar-Jesus suffering from the same issue - he is up close with the Proconsul, which was like the top guy in this Roman province, and he didn’t want his power or his counsel to be diminished by Paul’s teaching and preaching. He stood in opposition to Paul because he had something to lose, and he saw that something to lose as more important than examining whether or not there might be something to gain in Paul’s teaching.

I do the same thing sometimes. Sometimes I feel like God is calling me to do something, and all I can think about is what I will/might lose; I fail to think about what I might gain. I fail to recognize that God doesn’t have a track record in my life of calling me into loss, but a track record of calling me towards gain...and often times, I don’t see or understand the gain until later. I have to be careful here to say clarify that I am NOT preaching a prosperity Gospel here, that if, for example, I give 10% of my income to the church that God will increase my income as a result. What I am saying is that in doing as God says, I will begin to see as God sees, and I will start to realize that God is asking me to do things for my own benefit, whether it is a direct or indirect benefit. God has my best interest in mind. So, today, I would pray that I would see how God is calling me, and that I would respond in courage as well as be blessed enough to get a sense as to why I am being called in that way. I guess this is the old Irish Proverbial Prayer - “God, please grant me the wisdom to know what to do, and the courage to do it.”

Today we see a leader, Herod, killing and attempting to kill to gain favor with the Jews and the quell the spread of what we know were now being called the “Christians”. He kills James, which is James the brother of John and not James the brother of Jesus and author of the book of James, and then he puts Peter in prison to kill him. But, as Peter is laid up in prison, and angel of the Lord appears to him and rescues him, and this completely infuriates Herod, so Herod orders his guards, these sentries, killed. Then we see Herod’s death as we close the chapter - which was interesting. Herod has consolidated his power and gained peace over these few neighboring countries, and everyone is essentially praising him and he takes the credit as his own, as opposed to giving glory to God, and we are told that he is immediately struck down by God and that he was eaten by worms. What I find interesting though, is that the Jewish historian Josephus records how Herod celebrated games in Caesarea in honor of the Emperor, which were attended by the leading men of the kingdom. When Herod entered the theatre, clad in a glittering silver garment, his flatterers addressed him as a god: ‘May you be propitious to us, and if we have hitherto feared you as a man, yet henceforth we agree that you are more than mortal in your being.’ The king accepted their flattery. Then looking upward he saw an owl perched on a rope and took it as a symbol of ill fortune. At the same time he was seized by violent internal pains and was carried into his palace where he died after five days of illness (Jos., Ant. 19:343–350). It is clearly the same story which Luke tells us here. That is just really cool to me, how non-Biblical writings like this are so often found that substantiate what’s being said in the scriptures that we read...it places things in the right historical timeframe and it really validates so much of what we have in our hands in the Bible.

The thing that MOST stuck out to me this morning though was really in the study notes from this chapter. The author makes a huge effort to explain how historians have varying opinions about how Peter could have possibly escaped, and some go so far as to way that some of the story could have become a little more fantastic in time, and that some of the angel of the Lord appearance stuff could have eventually been written into the story. In a sense, they are discounting the fact that the story could have really had this miracle in it.

Here’s my thing...all we have is what is written here by Luke, and that’s fine. And I am a fan of historians working to understand the text. What I tend to find most interesting though is how people will accept the resurrection and the reject this miracle, or Jonah and the whale, or Noah’s Ark, or the Parting of the Red Sea. Think about it...if God raised a man from the dead, and if God created the universe, what real problem could we have logically with God performing a miracle to get Peter out of jail? I mean, come on!

So, for me, today, I am just reminded that I have to avoid the temptation of placing my logical limits on God. I have to suspend trying to put God in a human box, subject to the reasoning that I understand, because He is way bigger than that. God rescued Peter, and God made a point out of Herod - I don’t need more explanation than that!

Peter is one of my favorite characters in the Bible because you can always tell what he is thinking, and he (like Paul) is a doer. And Peter tends to go through these ups and downs where he gets it and then he seems to struggle to get it...and I just love the vulnerability he displays in this way. His story is so much like mine in that way...there is a vulnerability I have to life’s ups and downs.

In today’s reading, Peter is called to account for the fact that he had ministered to this centurion from yesterday in chapter 10, and we see Peter demonstrate through his experience with the dream and with this centurion that this is the new calling for the church, to get outside of the circumcision party, the Jewish Christians who were in support of Jesus but also clinging to the Old Testament law. Peter is basically announcing to this group that it is time for this movement to go global.

And we also see that for the first time this group of Jesus followers are officially named Christians. It was more of a slang term than anything specific, and it was something the locals probably came up with that just stuck. It is kind of funny actually - this name has stuck for 2000 years!

I love how we see the church wrestling with what to do. I love how the path forward isn’t know. It reminds me how dependent we really are on God - we are just feeling around in the dark with this stuff. And I love how we see these guys looking back in time and putting the pieces together and realizing that God was actually there all along, orchestrating things on their behalf. That, for me, is one of the biggest recurring themes I see when reading Acts - the reminder that God has been working a plan all along. I can look back at my life and connect the dots as well...and that’s my prayer for today. I pray that God would help me to do that, to connect the dots, to be like Peter and to reflect on this and to be emboldened by it.

Today we read mostly about Peter’s dream, where God tells him to wake and eat after he’s fallen into what I assume was a God-induced trance, and Peter responds reflexively with a “No, I don’t eat that” (it was an unclean animal that he was being called to eat).

As is often the case with dreams and visions reported in the Bible, the scholars from my study Bible go to great lengths (which I enjoy and appreciate) to try to explain and reconcile all of what is said in a very scientific manner. For me though, it seems pretty obvious that God was communicating with Peter in a way to instruct him to change his paradigm, and to stop seeing the world through all of the classifications the Jews had for it; to see that God calls him to love everyone, and that there is a new order set forth by Jesus that frees him from the bondage of the law. We gets these reminders based on Peter’s actions and words and thoughts at various times that he was trying to move in the direction of this new covenant, but that the traditions of the old were still front-of-mind and occupying his conscience.

This story illustrates in a beautiful way how God can personalize His interaction to deal with our own situation. It also shows how God can orchestrate things of which we would otherwise be completely unaware. A few chapters ago, God arranged a meeting between Phillip and the eunuch, and here God does the same thing between the Centurion and Peter. And, in Peter’s dream and prayer, God was preparing his heart for what was to come. I can pick on Peter about struggling to get past the Jewish law and push on towards being a Jesus-follower, but Peter responds here, he does as God had commanded, and he leaned into what God said. So, in this instance, we could say that Peter passed the test. He did as he was called to do by God. As a result, his ministry (as we will see happening with Paul’s) begins to expand outside the bounds of the Jewish Christians and to the rest of the world. This was a bit of a ‘coming out’ for Peter’s ministry - or at least the start of it, as we’ll read tomorrow.

This story reminds me how personal prayers can be. It reminds me how God can and does customize His response to me. It reminds me that I, as Peter, have a calling in God’s story. Peter found his. Paul found his. Most of us are not actually called into vocational ministry like them, so our mission is to find God’s calling in a non-vocational manner. This can sometimes be harder to do I think, because we are still called to be Jesus-followers, and to influence others by the way we live our lives to follow Jesus. But, without making ministry our professional life, we must be intentional about making it a part of our identity. When people say, “What do you do”, I will likely never respond with “I am a minister”. But, really, that is still one of my titles. It is still one of my roles. I must find a way to weave that into my identity in the marketplace, in the home, among friends, and everywhere else. And then, like Peter, I must respond to prompts from God to leverage my opportunities to further His kingdom, for His glory.

In the remainder of this chapter we see the story of Paul’s integrating with the apostles, and we see an honest reaction of doubt from them, as well as a predictable reaction from the Jews of attempted assault on Paul.

I can’t imagine what must be going on in Paul’s heart and mind at this point, and the shame he must be feeling. I mean, he was killing Christians with a level of personal vengeance and now he is preaching God’s good news to people. That is an amazing about-face. What in the world could explain this transformation apart from either (1) he went completely crazy, which doesn’t seem like it is reasonable given all that he did after this point in time or (2) he was actually transformed from the inside out as prescribed by Luke’s account. Sometimes when people are assaulting the Bible’s historicity, they are solely focused on things written in the scriptures and they miss the amazingly strong circumstantial evidence like this - how do you explain Paul without accepting Luke’s (and Paul’s!) testimony? How do you explain James’ conversion...a guy who grew up with Jesus eventually confessed that He is his Lord and Savior - that’s incredible. What about the hundreds of eye witnesses to the risen Jesus...there were plenty of people who would have refuted this if it weren’t true. And, you can’t say that there wasn’t a motivation to refute these stories about Jesus, just look at the lengths to which the Jewish leaders went to stop the spread of the Gospel. They were HIGHLY motivated...they just didn’t have anything to record to refute what was being reported! Paul reminds me of that this morning...that big idea that it is actually a bigger leap to NOT believe the bigger message of the Bible, especially the New Testament, than it is to accept it. That really makes me a confident Christian.

And, coming back to the text and the chapter, we now see the stage is set for the spread of Christianity to the world outside of Palestine. Paul will be launching his ministry, and we are about to see Peter’s ministry really explode too. This is the point in time where momentum really took over and the Christian movement really started to go global.

Today I am praying that God would help me to see how I can grab hold of the momentum of the church by being an influencer to those around me, and by plugging into they things my local church is doing as these Christians did here in Acts; I want to play my part.

In the first 19 verses of Acts chapter 9, we see the dramatic conversion of Saul or Tarsus, whom we will see renamed as Paul here soon. This story is a great story to read, and it illuminates 2 big ideas as I am reading it.

First, it is hard to overstate this, but this story is proof that God is going to do what God is going to do. There are some things in life where I think God may be a little more malleable in how things go - I think God does answer and respond to prayer based on my experience and my point of view, and I don’t want to get into the question of whether God is really responding or whether God orchestrated the prayer that He could answer it and all of that...but I think God responds. That being said, there are some major things that God puts in place to guide and direct the course of time, and Paul is a great example. Paul was going to become a part of history as a Christian evangelist, and there wasn’t anything Paul could do to get around that. Sometimes God just makes things happen...what a great example!

Second, looking at Ananias’ role in this story, it kind of goes back to what we drew from the reading yesterday about Philip, and us never really knowing what hangs in the balance of our faithfulness. Ananias, almost in comedic fashion, questions God about this “Saul of Tarsus” that he’s heard about, and that’s been killing Christians, and God reassures him that he should go and do what God’s asked, to go meet Paul. I mean, talk about an act of faith! 2 chapters ago Paul was stoning Stephen in the streets. Ananias wouldn’t have known about this dramatic conversion of Paul at this point, he probably didn’t hear about that until he started talking to Paul and Paul started telling him the story of his conversion. Ananias is just another example of what faithfulness to a request from God can bring.

Today, I pray that I would have the vision to see those areas of my life where God is forcing His way, so that I might just go ahead and relinquish control and not waste my time and energy pushing back. And , like yesterday, I pray that I would recognize those moments when I have a choice as to whether or not to lean into a decision where God is prompting me one way vs. another, and that I would be courageous enough to go where I am led. This often requires that I carve out time to pray, to relax, and to create margin in my life...which are things that I typically have to be intentional about, because none of that comes naturally to me!

This is a short reading this morning, because I had a very specific thought as I was reading this passage. Here we see Philip going along and feeling a tug at his heart to go South. Now, the text says an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, but imagine for a moment that it is written in a less dramatic fashion; imagine that Philip just kind of had that sense that we all have, that goes something like this, “I just feel like this is something I should do...”. We have all had that. And Philip follows this feeling. And we see that he bumps into this guy who is sitting there reading the book of Isaiah. Now, reading the story it seems obvious what is going on - God is orchestrating something here. But, think about it from each of these two guys’ point of view.

Philip had felt a nudge, he followed it, and as he is just going along his way he bumps into this guy reading Isaiah. Philip, I am sure, kind of thought, “Oh wow, that’s cool...let me go talk to this guy.”

This guy whom Philip runs into in this story is just doing his thing, minding his own business, reading his scriptures, and a random dude walks up and starts talking to him about it.

At this point in this story, no one is probably thinking God has had anything to do with this. It probably feels like a normal day with just a random event happening.

Then Philip connects the dots for this guys, showing him how Isaiah’s prophecy has actually come to fruition, that Jesus was the character in that story, and that Philip is actually a part of a movement that is spreading the word of this event. Then they baptize this guy, and Philip gets on his way. Meanwhile, this guy goes back to his home and starts preaching and teaching this news to others.

As I am reading this, I can’t help but just think about the little decisions that each of these two gentlemen made that ultimately led to this incredible outcome. Philip followed a nudge. Philip probably had some doubts along the way, but he went along with it anyways. This eunuch opened up his Bible to read, just being faithful to his routine, faithful to opening God’s Word. And fate would have it (or, as we know, God orchestrated), these two dudes’ paths collide; and there are many people who’s lives were positively effected by these small acts of faithfulness.

It is a great reminder to me - I never know what hangs in the balance of my faithfulness. I don’t know what a positive word, an encouragement, a prayer, or any other small act of faithfulness could lead to...there is really no way for me to trace the impact of these moments. Philip probably, and I am speculating here, didn’t even realize that this guy went off and started preaching and teaching the word like this. Luke was investigating everything to compose this manuscript and could have put two and two together on this, and Philip may never have known the impact of his faithfulness. This eunuch changed the lives of who knows how many people simply because he sat down and opened God’s word and a random dude walked up on him while he was studying. We never know what hangs in the balance of our small acts of faithfulness...what a GREAT reminder this morning!

I am taking a quick break from Acts and doing a reading of Proverbs 11. I take these breaks from time to time just to avoid burnout on a longer reading like Acts will be. I also love reading Proverbs, so it gives me an opportunity to do that.

At any rate, in reading this Proverb this morning, what really stands out to me is Proverbs 11:27, which reads:

“Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it.”

This entire chapter is one of the favorites for me in Proverbs, and there are several recurring themes in this one including humility, controlling our tongue, and the futility of desiring/pursuing riches. But for whatever reason, this verse stuck out to me this morning.

It seems to be saying, in a way, that we’ll find what we are looking for. It also subtly suggests that seeking good requires a little bit of effort, and diligence, whereas evil tends to find us if we are simply open to finding it. In my life, I find that to be true for sure - good requires discipline, self-control, and work. Evil seems to come naturally, and easily. Evil almost comes as a default.

About 10 years ago I heard of a principle called “hard/easy”. This principle really is a fantastic principle, and it goes like this. In life, we are constantly faced with decisions that have what seems to be the hard choice, and what feels like the easy choice. Often times, the hard choice is known to be the better choice, but it is...hard. And, it is hard despite the fact that we are fairly certain that it is the right choice. So, this hard/easy principle says that when we make the hard choice now, things actually get easier in the future. But, when we make the easy choice now, things get harder in the future. In other words, we don’t have the choice to never deal with the hard part...it is either hard now or hard later. For instance, forgiving someone who’s offended you is the hard choice right now. It requires humility. It requires patience. It requires effort on our part. Holding a grudge is much easier right now. But, 10 years from now, when that relationship is missed, when we don’t have that friend, when we find ourselves alone, it will be hard. We have a choice - do the hard thing right now and go to that person and offer forgiveness and experience the enjoyment of the relationship going forward (the easy part), or let ourselves off the hook now, hold the grudge, and suffer the hard consequences later.

Life is full of these situations - this principle is genius. And, it is one of those things that simple having some language around it often makes it incredibly easy to spot this choice during your life...it certainly has for me.

So, this morning I am reminded by Solomon’s wisdom of this hard/easy principle...for today, I will choose to do the hard thing now to enjoy the easy thing later. Great reminder!

So now we are introduced to Paul, still named Saul at the moment, and we see that he was instrumental in the persecution of the Christians of the early church. The way Luke records it, “entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committing them to prison” makes it sound personal, not just as a part of his role as a devout Jew. We then see Philip emerge from Stephen’s legacy and begin his ministry by preaching to the Samaritans. As a side note, the Samaritans were mixed group of partly Jewish and partly Gentile ancestry that was disliked by both Jews and non-Jews in the region (this was a very fractious society and world at the time - lots of in-crowds). They were Greek-speaking, and they believed in Israel’s God but they had their own expectations of a Messiah to come named “Teheb”. I just find that interesting. At any rate, we then see the first larger section for this chapter, which is where I wanted to camp out this morning - the story about Simon the Magician.

So Simon was this guy who was doing all sorts of magic, which we can’t really relate to but apparently was more common at this time (or perhaps there were people that were trained in the art of deception, not exactly sure on that). But people apparently could clearly differentiate between Philip’s teaching and miracles vs. Simon’s. There was something clearly divine about Philip’s teaching - so much so that Simon himself was baptized. I think that, in a subtle way, this illustrates a difference between having power or magic that is for your own gain and having power that is leveraged for God’s gain. We can see this different illustrated when Peter and John actually come down to visit Philip as the chapter continues because we get a peak into what Simon was apparently really after in being baptized...he wanted to get in on the power. Simon, in some way, could see the power of the Holy Spirit falling upon these people who’d been baptized and he offered to PAY the disciples for some of this power. I love this interchange because it gets to the heart of an issue that I think we all struggle with in one way or another - we want to leverage God for our own benefit.

Sometimes this is really overt - like in Simon’s case. Sometimes it is much more subtle - for instance, the person who behaves according to God’s will and expects God to give them extra protection, or the person who tithes because they believe that they will receive more blessing from God, or really just the ‘fairness’ doctrine in general - these all fall along the same lines. If we pursue God for anything other than the relationship itself, we are committing the same sin as Simon.

Today, I am reminded that relationship is the reason - it is the reason for engaging God. The relationship will reward me, sure, but if I want to get the most out of my relationship, it should be viewed similarly to how a healthy relationship works with anyone else on this earth - time together, enjoying each other, understanding each other, and pursuing each other > the journey will reveal things about me, it will shape me, and it will grow me. That’s the reward in-and-of-itself. What a great reminder from Simon today!

This chapter is a beautiful recitation of Israel’s history, and summary of God’s relationship with her through time. Stephen is attesting to the fact that God has always been there, providing through various forms of persecution, and opposing those who’d try to crush His plan. In doing so, he demonstrates something I point out often, but which I also fail to consistently follow - and that is a specific prayer sequence. I have said before that prayer is the weakest part of my ‘spiritual game’; it is the part which I must apply with discipline because my natural inclination is to do more of this - studying God’s word, pulling out application, leveraging and applying wisdom...but prayer is where the rubber meets the road in my life - when I am praying more, I am growing more.

Stephen provides a great model here, which is actually akin to the Lord’s Prayer, which starts, “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as in Heaven.” Those words are saying what Stephen is saying here - “God, you have been and always will be in charge. Looking back at the history of your relationship with your people, I can’t help but recognize that you’ve always been there, crafting your story, directing history in a way that executes on your will and your plan.” And here is where I think this prayer can get personal. “And God, I can see in my own life, that you’ve been working through various circumstances such as (insert my own list of events and answered prayers, as Stephen inserts Israel’s here in chapter 7). You have been faithful to me...even when I haven’t been faithful to you. You have been there consistently, even when I forget that fact. And, just as you’ve been there for Israel for thousands of years, I trust that you’ll continue to be there or me. This is really just an application of the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus gave us. Stephen is doing the same thing here - he is just using it as a way to remind these Jewish leaders.

And then we see Stephen is stoned out on the city streets. And, to say that this was part of God’s plan, that a man would be stoned to death, sounds terrible in one sense. At the same time though, in this same event, we are introduced to the greatest evangelist that has ever lived. The person in charge of this stoning is a person who was one of the staunchest, more devout Jews of the time. He was a resolute persecutor of Christians, and leader in that regard - Saul. And we all know, and we will read, that Saul becomes Paul. And millions upon millions of people have been affected by Paul’s conversion. And Paul carried this event in his mind forevermore, as a reminder of God’s forgiveness. This event, the stoning of Stephen, is probably one of the most impactful and important events in Christian history, behind Jesus’ death, because it took the spread of the Christian faith to a whole new level by a twist of events that only God could write.

Chapter 7 reminds me - God has a plan, God is working that plan, and I can join in or sit on the sidelines...and Stephen gives us a remarkable example to follow in terms of how to think about God and pray to God.

Here in chapter 6, the guys who are the preachers and teachers of the word really aren’t gifted at serving the needs of the followers, and at administering the church. So they elect people to do this so everyone can be serving in the area of their giftedness. That makes sense. And then we see a group that is complaining about how things are being done and then instigating an issue to get rid of a gentlemen named Stephen. Based on everything that is said about Stephen in the text, it seems most likely that these folks didn’t get something they wanted, and they did what most of us do...the pouted. Except, they pouted in a way that brought Stephen in front of counsel in a sort of trial. I am going to guess, and this is conjecture, that at about the time things are heating up, over the next couple of chapters, between Stephen and the counsel, these guys felt about as sorry as did Judas after the guards showed up to seize Jesus.

At any rate, this is a product of a human church - in-fighting. Last night, I was watching another documentary on Disney+; it was about the supposed Tomb of Christ. It was fascinating. The thing that I can’t see past though are the groups of people that have designated themselves as protectors of this tomb. And I don’t want to tread on the faith of others, I just can’t help but look at these groups and wonder, “Would this has pleased Jesus?”. These groups are very elite, very educated, very repellent of others, not diverse (it is all old white guys), and some of the stuff they do seems a little fanatical. Again, I don’t want to step on their faith; I was just disappointed at this group being represented as “Christians” by National Geographic. It appeared to be nothing like what’s been described in Acts 1-5, and much more like the extreme versions of what we see starting to happen here in Acts 6.

I would fully grant that the church should have boundaries, and edges. There does need to be a way to mark someone as ‘in’ or ‘out’ in some way or another. As Jesus-followers, we are to hold each other to a standard to which the rest of the world doesn’t answer, so there has to be a clear line marking that commitment. At the same time though, Paul and clearly teaches us that we are to be in world, though not of the world, and I am not sure that much of what is in today’s churches really serves any purpose other than to scratch the emotional itch of those inside the church, and to creatively shield them from that which they’ve truly been called while helping them FEEL good about the way they are living their lives. The reality is, this is so hard to get right. This is all so personal. God has a calling for me, and for which I am the only person who can truly step into that calling. Perhaps one of the big ‘ah-ha’ realizations that we can glean from church is that we still need our savior to return.

Bottom line for me today - people aren’t perfect and churches aren’t perfect; we are called to love others in spite of that imperfection. We are called to a perfect imperfection...to keep moving forward in following Jesus even though we can’t really ever get there...remembering that there really isn’t a destination though; it is in the journey that we meet and experience God.

In reading this morning, this text seemed pretty straight forward to me...but there is apparently some theological debate about several elements of the text.

In the first 11 verses, we see Ananias and Sapphira break with the customs of the group, in sharing all that they have as they sold a piece of land, and then we are told that they are essentially put to death by the Holy Spirit. There is all sorts of mental jujitsu going on in my commentary to explain why it may be okay that they might have passed without a chance for repentance, and whether or not Peter was ultimately responsible, and all of that. Look, I am fine with really trying to figure this stuff out, but God can do whatever God wants to do, and as naive as this may be, when I look at something like this, I tend to think that there is probably some element of the story that I don’t understand or know, not that God acted in a way that is inconsistent with His character throughout the rest of scripture.

Then we see a short segment about the signs and wonders being done as the number of people following the apostles, and joining them, greatly increases. In other words - this was not a small group of people moving in a controlled manner...this was a movement. This was growing quickly, and this was becoming an unstoppable force.

Then we see the greater part of this chapter is spent describing another run-in between the Jewish leaders who thought they had controlled this movement back in chapter 4 and the apostles, of which we know Peter is one, but we aren’t really revealed the list of participants. And, again we see the tension and the struggle of these Jewish leaders...again, they don’t see interested in figuring out whether or not any of what the apostles are saying is true, they just want to control the situation, and they want to make sure THEY remain the leaders. Luke actually says that they were jealous.

Then we get to the verse that I think is just fantastic - and it comes from a man in the Jewish counsel named Gamaliel, in verses 38-39

Gamaliel says, “So (talking to to the Jewish leaders), in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!”.

I think that pretty much sums it up...this is why all of what is recorded in Acts and in the New Testament happened...it was OF God, and BY God, and there wasn’t anything that anyone was going to do to stop it.

It reminds me that I should take stock of myself, and the things of which I have interest and in which I spend time; are these ‘of God’? If not, I am pushing a rock up a proverbial hill in the way I am living. Great words essentially from the opposition this morning, and a great reminder to take the path of least resistance in life, and to go where God is leading me.

The second have of Acts 4 has 2 distinct parts - a prayer by Peter and John, and those who were the ‘believers’ at this point in time, and a description of how this community lived in harmony, and essentially shared everything they had as one.

This prayer in verses 23 through 31 is just awesome. So, Peter and John were just in prison, just answering for their faith in front of these folks who were obviously in power, and were power hungry. And Peter and John no doubt knew that these events were likely to repeat if they continued to carry on in this fashion, spreading the gospel, out in the open, and fanning the flame of this Jesus movement. They had to be a little scared. And look what they prayed, v 24-31.

Notice - they didn’t pray for rescue. They didn’t pray for peace. They didn’t ask for saving. They confessed to God that they were finally putting the pieces to together, that they were starting to understand that all along, God was actually sewing together this story that is now recent history, and they had missed it when it was happening, but that they could see it now. I imagine they were still a little in shock as to how they missed it. And so, what did they pray? They asked for boldness. They asked that God would simply give them the strength, the courage, and the will to continue in their calling, to continue their contribution in God’s story. I just love that!

That’s a prayer worth repeating. And, it is worth remembering in less glamorous times. In that moment where I am at my whit’s end with a friend who is struggling with a particular issue, and I know I need to be a friend but I am tired of forgiving and I am exhausted from caring…perhaps I can pray that God would give me boldness to declare His word and to do as I know He would have me do. When I am burnt out and broken down because I can’t get on the same page with my wife about an issue...perhaps I can pray for boldness, and the will to continue in God’s will. It doesn’t have to be a life or death issue. This prayer is a great example of asking God for something for which I think God essentially always responds. If I humble myself and ask for the will and the courage and the energy to follow God’s will...that’s a prayer that I have experience having answered without fail.

And closing out the chapter, we see an awesome example of community, the sharing of resources and life between all of these believers. It begs the question, “What if this was really what being a Christian felt like, this kind of community - who WOULDN’T want to be a part of that?”. Our faith should be inviting.

Today, the big away from me is that prayer though...what an awesome prayer, and what an awesome reminder that I need to rely on God for the strength to do his will in my life.

As a refresher, yesterday we saw Peter and John heal a lame man, who in turn ran into the temple and ran around showing everyone that he can walk...he had been lame for 40 years and now is walking...running. There was no denying what everyone could clearly see. Then we saw Peter do a sermon when everyone placed their attention on he and John, and he leveraged the attention to shine the light on God. Today we see the next part of the story.

The religious leaders (the Sadducees) saw what was happening, and they immediately reacted to quell the spread of this teaching that Peter was dolling out.

As a side note, there are various mentions of ‘religious leaders’ in the New Testament, and at various times it means the Sadducees, at other it is the Pharisees, and then there’s also the Essenes. Via wikipedia, according to Josephus, whereas the Sadducees believed that people have total free will and the Essenes believed that all of a person's life is predestined, the Pharisees believed that people have free will but that God also has foreknowledge of human destiny. And, the ONE thing that we continually find these groups agreeing on is that they want to get rid of this Jesus story...they were all interested in power, not truth. Think about that for a second. Think about what that says in terms of a life lesson for us...and what that says about the validity of the stories of Jesus.

Some of the most intelligent people, who were the rare individuals who could both read and write, are no where in history on record refuting what we believe happened...and they had all sorts of motivation to do so. Why didn’t they? If something fantastic like a man raising from the dead didn’t happen, it would be incredibly easy to shut this whole thing down.

Instead of that, what did they do? They decided NOT to pursue truth - they pursued control. These religious leaders arrested Peter and John. And Luke gives us a roster of the leaders that were present...we know a little about a couple of them, but this list would have been a whose who of the time in terms of religious leaders.

And when they acted Peter and John about this, Peter and John didn’t pull any punches...they went straight at them and told them that it was God that healed this man. They didn’t come at them with anything religious...these are the most religious people on the planet! They told them that they Jesus they had killed was in fact alive and that they saw him and talked to him. Again, the leaders didn’t refute them; in fact, the text tells us that they were impressed by them, because they were just ordinary dudes.

So, the religious leaders, with all of their power and control on the line, had a decision to make - get to the bottom of this, or shut it down and maintain their control. And here we see the motivation that was driving all of the tension between the religious leaders of the day and the disciples, apostles, and various Jesus-following groups of the day...it was power and control.

Today I am reminded that I don’t have to be scared of truth as a Christian. I don’t have to worry about what science is going to come up with. I don’t have to have a complex message about what I believe. It is simple...and it is episodes like this that illuminate this reality. It also reminds me how powerful and how blinding the motivations of power and control can be...and it serves as a warning that I need to always be monitoring myself, remaining aware of my internal motivations.

This truly is one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible - this and the next.

This guy that can’t walk is laying around outside the temple, a lame man, and Peter & John walk by and tell him that they don’t have any money or possessions to give him, but that they did have something. I am sure this guy was thinking, “Yeah, advice...thanks.”! But, they healed him. Then this guy is seen running around inside and outside the temple by everyone, and recognized as the guy that was laying outside and lame. Everyone is astonished. And with this opportunity, Peter stands up and does an impromptu sermon to explain and connect the dots between Jesus, whom most of these people would know about, and himself, along with John, and this man. Peter leverages the moment to point the Jesus.

Now, tomorrow will be the real meat of this story...and I am resisting the urge to move on to that now. But, there is plenty here; patience! Haha (that’s me talking to myself).

2 things come to mind today.

First off - Notice how Peter has figured it out, he has connected the dots, and he has evolved into much more spiritually rich person; in a moment when it would be really easy to let the light shine on himself for doing something miraculous, he points that light right back at God. He doesn’t appear to hesitate in doing so. When I think about myself, I think I would have to admit that I might fall into the trap of taking some of the glory myself. That’s my track record at least. I am quick to absorb benefit and credit for the good things, and quick to shirk the blame on bad things. When I get the spotlight, can I say that I really give God the glory that he is due? I can’t say that. That’s an area where I can grow and develop.

Just last night, I was watching a documentary on National Geographic by this guy who was using scientific tools to try to understand more deeply the story of Moses parting the Red Sea. It was fascinating, and there are some twists in the story that really were very interesting; and it really got me interested in Biblical archeology, as there is so much learning and discovery taking place right now that really corroborates what we see in the Bible. But, at the end of the show, being a secular show, the host reveals that he has found a couple of reasonable explanations for this story, and none of them include a miracle performed by God. And that tends to be what science does...it always looks for an explanation that excludes God. I understand the approach of trying to explain things and searching for a natural explanation, but when science comes up short, it dubs the event “unexplainable” rather than accepting that perhaps it explained in one word: “God”. It appears that the people, even the religious people in the next chapter, who have seen this man are looking for an explanation as to how he is running around all of the sudden, after being lame minutes before. Peter and John are thinking, “Ah, it was God...the same God who raised a dude from the dead...so a lame man walking isn’t that miraculous!”.

Perhaps the BEST explanation for all of the amazing things we see from scripture, a collection of 66 books from over 40 writers over a period of about 1500 years is not completely explainable and understandable...perhaps the best idea that we have is just that one word explanation: God. Maybe it is all true.

This chapter outlines the first actions these followers of Jesus were taking, from speaking to each other across various languages, able to understand each other because of a miracle God was doing right there in front of them, to a wonderful sermon by Peter that was laying the foundation of what the church would stand for, and then a picture of what community looked like for these early believers.

Just a small thing that I noticed this morning - I noticed how the people that were there in Jerusalem saw these people speaking in tongues, and instantly they began to reason that these people must be drunk. It reminds me that sometimes, when we are seeking explanations for things that happen, we tend to give ourselves options that don’t include God. In fact, I think this is probably one of the reasons I don’t experience God as fully as I could...I typically just ascribe explainable, mundane things as coming from chance and or natural causes, without putting God in the equation. Yeah, it is possible that I made all of the lights on the way to work yesterday out of luck. But, it is equally possible that God was intervening in some way. My logical and natural inclination is to think to myself, “God wouldn’t bother himself with that, there are far more important things going on that the lights headed to work. But there is where the logical fallacy takes place...is my God limited in His resources to where if he interacts with me on a small detail in my life like that, that he can’t be saving a kid from drowning in a pool somewhere in France at the exact same time? Well, no...he isn’t. ...that’s just a tangent though.

Certainly the bulk of this chapter is dedicated to Peter’s sermon. And, though this isn’t a ‘deep’ thought, I am always reminded of it as I read through this chapter of acts, and this sermon of Peter’s. It wasn’t but a few chapters back, flipping back through the first chapter of Acts and back into Luke 18 that Peter was denying Jesus, questioned by a little teenage girl - and then the disciples (including Peter) disappeared, presumably hiding out and waiting to figure out what to do since their leader had died, before Jesus showed back up and helped them to connect the dots, now getting to a place where they could begin to understand that everything Jesus had been predicting and describing was actually taking place all along the way...they were blind to what was happening right in front of them. That same Peter now steps into the role of spokesman for the church; that same Peter who was scarred with confusion and spiritual blindness, is now awakened. Peter gives me hope. Peter, and later Paul, reminds me that God always redeems the heart and the mind and the life of the person who stays in there, trying to understand, leaning in for God’s word...and, sometimes God even redeems those people who weren’t doing any of that, just because they are part of His plan. In contrast, thinking of Paul - God really just snatched him up and inserted him into Christian history, almost out of the blue. But, Peter’s story encourages me to continue to grow, to continue to pray, to continue to read...it reminds me of the recent study of Daniel, that our faith is grown progressively, over time, through time...and often by way of a path that is far from straight!

As we dive into this first chapter of Acts, we really see 3 things happening - an introduction, Jesus’ ascension, and then the selection of a replacement for Judas. The thing that really jumps out at me in this short introductory chapter this morning is how we see the coming of the Holy Spirit.

I think it is hard to understand the world without the Holy Spirit, the world or the Old Testament. It is hard because it is pretty hard to really define the impact of the Holy Spirit. It is one of those things that is a ‘mushy’ topic. When a non Christian asks about the resurrection, I have a concrete event that we are talking about. If the topic is baptism, again, there is an idea or a definition that we can discuss with boundaries, and with a definition. But how do you define the Holy Spirit, and when a person might feel it, or when he has felt it, or what it does in our daily lives? It is a difficult thing to pin down. It is one of the elements of our faith that I typically don’t discuss right out of the gate with a new believer, because it as a bit of that mystical element to it that almost is akin to some kooky Middle East religion or something. But, the Holy Spirit is a big deal...it marks the biggest difference between an Old Testament God-fearer and a New Testament Jesus-follower.

The easiest way to get a sense of what the Holy Spirit’s role is for a Christian is just to understand that it is often referred to simply as our ‘helper’. It affects our lives both directly and indirectly. It is God’s presence in our lives, and it is given to us when we submit our lives to God by placing our faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. For me, it wasn’t a wave of emotion or feeling that washed over me that was really obvious and that had a dramatic noticeable effect on my life; instead, I find subtle reminds that God is with me at various moments in time, through various channels - be it a friend saying something that I had actually prayed about that morning, or a strong sense or feeling that I should do a particular thing or make a particular decision, or a moment of perspective or clarity about an issue. Everyone has these moments at different points in his life, but once we make a decision to follow Jesus, God actually puts His hands into these elements of life and we are, in effect, being guided by God in that way.

In the Old Testament, we see all sorts of crazy miracles and things that seem so dramatic that they seem like they must be fictitious...perhaps, since they didn’t have the Holy Spirit, we could think of the Old Testament as a time when God communicated through miracles, and the New Testament (after Jesus’ ascension) as a time when God began to rely on the Holy Spirit. Granted, from time to time we hear stories about miracles happening these days, but more times than not, it is the Holy Spirit that is means of communication and influence from God. To me, that is an idea that really helps to put a lot of what I read from the Old Testament stories into perspective. And, as much as I say that I would love to see God do a major miracle that happened right in front of me, I have come to understand that I most likely have exactly what I most likely need - the Holy Spirit.

Today, we see the launch of a new phase in the spread of our faith. I also want to be sure to note that this phase was launched when the Jerusalem council, here in chapter 15, made a great decision, which was the culmination of the discussion and debate that was started in yesterday’s reading about what it takes to become a Christian church member - remember, we are differentiating between being a church member and a recipient of God’s Grace. God is clear - accept that Jesus lived the life we couldn’t live, a sinless life, and then died the death that we should have died, as a punishment for our sin, and then He rose from the grave, hung out with and taught hundreds of people some final things, and then went up into heaven to be with God again. That’s all it takes to be saved by God. In the church’s terms, they are wrestling with what they want that ‘marker’ to be, what’s the initiation element that separates those inside the faith from those outside the faith for the sake of joining the church. And, they made a great choice in chapter 15 - and I love the person who finally steps up to push this through for this early church - James.

Think about James for a second...one of my favorite pastors, Andy Stanley, harps on this idea constantly, and I love it - James, a brother of Jesus, comes to believe that his brother is the savior of the world. I mean, what would it take for someone you know, let alone a sibling, to convince you that He is the savior of the world? That, in-and-of-itself is a huge plug for the validity of these gospels and these manuscripts that make up the New Testament. But, we’ll talk about that more when we get there.

The major thing that is happening as we turn to chapter 15 and then carry the book of Acts forward to its close is that we see Paul launching this faith movement way out beyond the bounds of Jerusalem, and he carries it out into the rest of the world. And I want to touch on 2 things that he does that I think are so important, that are repeatedly referenced throughout the last half Acts.

First - Paul reason leans into this idea that logic and reason actually are supportive of our faith. Paul is the first person that really see demonstrating that science and faith don’t have to clash. Even today, most people allow themselves to adopt this false dichotomy that we either have to believe in God or believe in science - not so! It is amazing what you can find it you take a little time to look for science that supports what we believe as Christians. There are smart people, scientists, philosophers, astrologers, etc. that have come to the conclusion that our faith is supported by science and reason. We can be reassured that we can approach science with a curiosity, and with a genuine desire for truth...we don’t have to be on the defense all of the time.

Second - Paul demonstrates that the purpose of our behaving, or our ‘goodness’, isn’t to win God’s Grace, it is to gain influence in this world. Paul shows us that our behavior is our outward-facing evidence of our faith. We should leverage the way we are, the person we become, and our behavior in general to gain influence on those around us - influence we can then use to expose them to the message of our faith. People outside of the faith typically come into the faith because of the influence of someone they know...Paul knows this, and he teaches us to use this to our advantage. If our behavior is perceived as anything other than an invitation, as condemnation, then we are doing it wrong.

I love these reminders this morning - such powerful ideas!

I love the contrast between the way the message of Jesus is met between the Jews and the Gentiles, which is really easily seen once Paul launches out into his ministry here in Acts. And then, further, it is great to see how the early church wrestled with how this issue of what is really ‘required’ of a person to be adopted into the church. It is always important to remember that what an institution adopts as an outward symbol of faith is different than what God instructs as a means of salvation - believe in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as a substitute for our own death, for which we are deserving because of our sin, so that we can be restored in relationship with God - that is all that God instructs that we believe as a means to His saving Grace. But, a church has to have some level of outward symbol that can be adopted that its members can all have in common, some kind of a unity or a bond, and that’s the thing the church was wrestling with in chapter 15 of Acts. And it is carries a lot of similarity with the contract between way the message of Jesus was met by the Jews and the Christians. And this same issue lives in many Christians’ hearts today. It is this question, “Should we all have to earn our way into the church, in some way?”

It is a natural question, and it is a question that really is rooted in pride if we are being honest. But, it is a flawed logic, and here is why.

First off, your reward for abiding to God’s law is really supposed to be (in a post-Jesus world) unity with God. And, we know this, because that was the consequence of the original sin - separation from God. If you are abiding so God will do your favors, or you are abiding so you can get anything other than unity with God, you missed the point. God gave us the Law to show us how to draw close to Him in relationship - not as a way to ‘win’ at life somehow. Think about this...if we could control God through right-living, then how sovereign, how omniscient is God? He wouldn’t be! God can’t be controlled or manipulated by our actions...He is WAY bigger than that.

Secondly, fairness is not a principle that is taught anywhere in the Bible or life, and we should just drop that from our vocabulary. Fairness is a ridiculous idea. God can do with his stuff what God wants to do. You can give your money to the causes you choose, and if you decide you want to give $1,000 to the Goodwill and $100 to the Boys & Girls Club, then the Boys & Girls Club can’t sue you because you weren’t fair - that’s ridiculous. It is your money, and you can do with it what you want. As Christians, we just take a it a step further, and we adopt a mindset that we are God’s people, we are God’s resources, and God is free to use us as He pleases. The beauty of our faith comes in understanding and appreciating the fact that God created us for a purpose, and that He only uses us for that purpose, and that in living out that purpose, ironically, we are actually able to experience the maximum joy possible in our lives. We experience life at its best when we let go and let God.

I am reminded of this lesson as I am reading this morning, that we are due nothing, and we can earn nothing, and that we should never use our experiences as a measuring stick or point of comparison to judge whether or not someone is or isn’t a Christian, nor should be use it to judge whether or not they are a good person. God is that judge.

I love doing these multi-chapter read throughs, where I put on my Bible App so it can read to me while I follow along in my physical Bible - there is something about the tactile nature of the Bible in my hand, where I can see it and touch it, along with the listening, that really engages me. And reading quickly like this, in multiple chapters, draws out different things because I am not pausing to read into things as much - and there is a benefit to mixing it up between the deeper reading and the more surface level reading like this.

Today though, in reading chapters 1-7, I noticed how the messages that the disciples were preaching and teaching were basically had one theme - here is what we saw and heard is what we heard. I don’t see them teaching the stories of the Old Testament, and The Law; I don’t see them trying to convince people to behave to receive their salvation. The message was simply about an event that took place...that Jesus was hung on a cross, died, and then rose from the grave; then, these guys spoke with him and dined with him and saw him depart the earth and rise into heaven. That’s the whole message. It just reminds me that I think we make our faith and our message more complicated that it needs to be far too often. And, I think we (as ‘the church’) can end up being very unclear about we it means to be a Christian. Really, the answer to that question is just what the disciples said...being a Christian is believing that Jesus was hung on a cross, died, and then rose from the grave; then he appears to a whole bunch of people and interacted with those people before he ended up going back up into heaven. And, the reason for all of this is because sin requires punishment - and since we have proven, since the start of the world, that we can’t really act right, we keep sinning, God decided to send Jesus to live the life we couldn’t, and die a death that was really meant for us. All of that was so we can have our sin justified, which is just a fancy word for ‘accounted for’...by placing our faith in Jesus, we can have our relationship with God restored. Just like we have to get right with each other before our relationships between ourselves can be made whole again. That is what we believe. And, likewise, it is that information that would have to be proven to be invalid in order to shake our faith. Whether Jonah and Whale, or Noah and the Ark, or any of these other stories are all 100% factually true is a secondary issue. I am not saying anything about what I do or don’t believe personally, all I am saying is that our faith hinges on the resurrection, so if someone wants to give you a hard time about ‘the Bible’, you should direct that conversation to the resurrection...and if you do that more than once or twice, it is interesting how confident you’ll feel about your faith. There is no good evidence from science, or history, or anywhere to hurt that position...which is interesting.

Lastly, turning to Stephen, instead of having a message of what he’d seen and heard, Stephen gives more of a reasoned approach, going through a wonderful articulation of the God’s historic relationship with His people, a history of Israel. His message is more akin to modern apologetics...where he shows that history really points towards, not randomness; that there is a God bringing order and purpose from what, in the moment, often feels like chaos. I just love reading this passage from him from chapters 6 and 7.

Today, I am reminded to keep it simple...and to make sure my faith is rooted on THE thing, the resurrection story, rather than to letting myself be drawn into a position of trying to defend the Bible as a whole.

This morning, I am finishing up my 2nd day of reading in preparation for studying through Acts. This study will continue with a read through where I will do about a third each day over three days, and then I will dive into the text in more of a chapter-by-chapter pattern, unless I find an idea that makes me want to break it into smaller pieces here and there.

Yesterday I noted that Acts outlines the spread of the early Christian church that took place without a Bible...meaning, churches and teaching about Jesus were flourishing and spreading throughout the entire world without any “Bible” to use as a teaching tool. Think about that, what was ‘church’ like for them? It is refreshing to think how raw and fresh our faith could be, how it was for them...it wasn’t about memorizing scripture and becoming a Bible scholar; it was about learning to invite the Holy Spirit into your life.

That being said, what really jumped out at me this morning goes back to something I thought about during the Daniel story, this idea that God really was setting the world up for Jesus’ ministry to come, even when we couldn’t see it.

I am going to be paying attention to all of the times where God uses chaos to create opportunity. I will be looking for all of the times when chaos is actually the stage upon which God creates change, creates impact, and brings purpose to people’s lives. It is a reminder to me that in the moments when I am struggling, when I feel like things are maybe spiraling a bit out of control, those are the very moments to cling to God the most, because those moments are often the birthplace of God’s greatest moments of impact.

Tomorrow, I will dive into Acts...today though, I found that to be a really encouraging reminder!

I am going to be reading Acts next. It may not be chapter by chapter this time though, I am going to pause and spend time chasing things down a rabbit hole if/as they come, and I am going to pause on ideas that speak to me. As always, I am going to take a day to read some introduction material (today), and then I will do a read-through over the course of probably 2 days in this case, since it is a longer book.

As I was reading these introductions to Acts, I couldn’t help but dwell on as I read these comments from a couple of different introductions this morning:

First of all - at this point, Jesus has died on the cross and has been raised to life, appeared to hundreds of people, and then ascended into Heaven. These are all extraordinary events, and would no doubt have created a lot of hoopla and stirred up quite a lot of conversation and rumors among people. The best arguments as to the dating of when this book was actually written get it to about 62 AD (the latest is only about 8 years later at 70 AD). So, let’s assume the 62 date for a moment; and, we’ll go with the most widely accepted date for Jesus’ death, which is 33 AD. Now, we are only 29 years later in time. Here is why I am pointing this point...one of the most common, and weak, criticisms of the Bible, which is given by people who are actually the least informed, because a well-informed reader wouldn’t make this argument...but I digress...is this argument, “Well, these events were all written so long after Jesus died that these stories had time to get embellished and to become almost mythological in nature before they were ever recorded”...something along those lines. Well, think about this for a moment...29 years from now, will you remember some of what you’ve been doing and experiencing in the midst of this COVID-19? Will there be certain things that are etched into your memory, never to go away? Further, imagine that you lived in a culture where there was no reading, and no writing, and stories relied on telling and re-telling in order to be passed along...won’t it be true that you’ll never forget about this? Don’t you remember 9/11? Did the planes hit buildings in Seattle, Washington? No, you remember that they hit the Twin Towers in NYC. Likewise, the MOST important thing about Jesus’ life that we hold to as Christians is that Jesus rose from the grave, on the 3rd day, and was seen by hundreds of people before He eventually ascended into Heaven. Now, how likely is it that people ‘mis-saw’ an event like this? Wouldn’t that be at least as impressive as September 11th? Come on, 29 years later, people didn’t have any trouble remembering seeing a dead dude walking around again...it is already just about 20 years since Sept 11 happened, and I can still remember where I was standing, what I was doing, where I was going, and what I was thinking when I heard the news.

The second thing, which I was only mention here, and then we’ll circle back to it is this...as we read, notice how the church was flourishing and spreading WITHOUT the existence of ‘the Bible’. The reason I point this out, as actually mentioned during my last reading in Daniel, is because so many people place their faith on ‘the Bible’, and it’s infallibility, and it’s historical accuracy. We’ll talk about this I am sure, but don’t let that be you...your faith doesn’t depend on ‘the Bible’...it depends on the events of the resurrection. And, fortunately, there is just very weak evidence (and not really any) that argues well that they are false...that’s where our faith should really reside.

For today, I am just leaving with this renewed sense of faith...I am so thankful that our God thought to provide a way for us to know what happened, and to remind us of whose we are...we are His children.

These 2 chapters really go together, so I am not going to break them into 2 different readings. Now, at the onset, I am going to go ahead and say that this is a very controversial chapter. Scholars have wrestled with this material for a while now, trying to figure out the dates and events and timelines. Most Christians are taught that the Bible is ‘the infallible Word of God’, and that there can’t be any mistakes in it. I don’t want to trample on that idea, so we can only really say that this chapter has challenged scholars in that they haven’t been able to put the timelines and events into place yet. That being said, it seems that time has tended to synchronize the seeming randomness and our understanding, so it wouldn’t shock me if this occurred one day as it related to this text as well.

A word on that infallibility principle - I think it is important, as followers of Jesus, that our faith doesn’t hinge on the infallibility of the Bible. The Bible isn’t really even necessary for our faith...it is a helpful resource, and it is certainly a God-given resource, but the church as we know it, the followers of Jesus, were well-established and flourishing long before the Bible was ever assembled as a book. It is the events of the resurrection on which our faith should hinge, and the Bible should be viewed as a prop, not the main element of faith. I think that is lost in many cases today, and we end up concerned with defending the Bible rather than exploring it, living it, and using it as a way to experience God.

At any rate, I digress...back to today’s reading, the conclusion of Daniel. Instead of plowing deep into these events and timelines (which you will notice I have mostly avoided already), I want to point out the dates at the end of the chapter. I don’t really know what Daniel is specifically getting at with these numbers of days, but I can say this...there is a pattern of long-term timelines all throughout his writings. As I was reading this, the thought that coming to mind is just how long God’s timeline is compared to mine. It is so hard to maintain the perspective of eternity in my daily life. For me, the older I get, the shorter life seems to get, and the more I tend to appreciate these longer stretches of time God sees our lives through, but I still can’t fathom God’s work spanning over thousands of years. It is a time horizon for which I have no real frame of reference. I am reminded once more, as Daniel has done repeatedly, that I have to live my life with my wagon hitched to God’s, otherwise, there is just no way to create meaning in my life. I have heard it called ‘significant insignificance’, this idea that our only hope for finding hope, is placing our hope in the One who is orchestrating eternity.

So, to close our time in Daniel, the big themes I am taking away from these readings are the ideas that faithfulness in the small things adds up, and that through continued faithfulness we will experience greater levels of understanding as to what God is doing in the world around us, and we’ll experience a stronger relationship with Him. I also have come to appreciate on a higher level that God really is in the driver’s seat; that He has a plan that spans generations, and that He is going to work that plan out with or without me, and my best life, my greatest fulfillment, will come in partnering with Him. In that partnering, I can have the most significant life possible, all while realizing that I am just incapable of truly understand how big and how great our God is.

As I sometimes do, I am pausing on my reading of Daniel to just change the pace a little, from heavy vision-reading and to dig into a little of the timeless wisdom of Proverbs. Today I chose Proverbs 24, and what really jumped out at me this morning were verses 17 and 18:

17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,

and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,

18 lest the Lord see it and be displeased,

and turn away his anger from him.

I am reminded that God is in the ‘heart’ business. Meaning, what I do is important, but the reason it is important is two-fold - (1) what I do directs what I feel ultimately, and (2) what I do is also typically a great cue as to what I feel.

Unpacking this a little...most of tend, by default, to allow our emotions to guide our actions. We do something because we feel like doing it. We say something because we feel like saying it. A wise person understands though, that often, we have to do something in order to ‘feel it’. Sometimes we have to ‘fake it til we make it’. You don’t feel the love for your spouse at the moment? Well, you aren’t excused, you still have to ACT the right way. You don’t feel like doing the work that needs to get done...tough, you still have to do it. And, what is such a great twist of irony is the fact that we typically start to FEEL it once we are actually doing it. It is a great life lesson.

Here, we see a reminder related to the second of those insights, that our actions can be a great mirror for our hearts. Do you silently celebrate when a rival fails? Do you silently do a fist pump when a you can tell that your spouse figured out that you were actually right about something, and has to suffer a feeling of defeat? Ouch! In the moment when you sense someone else’s defeat, or failure, whether at your hands or not, if I feel anything other than compassion in that moment, I have a heart issue.

Today, I am reminded to pay attention to what my heart is revealing to me. What do I feel in the little moments of my day? Because, what I feel is really indicative of whose I am, who I am serving, and where I need some work. My gut feelings are a mirror for my heart.

Daniel 10 is a shorter chapter than the previous few, and it also has a lot less explanation with it. In this chapter, Daniel sees a vision for which he again sees a messenger, and angel, to help with the interpretation. But, right as it draws to a close, we get a glimpse into what I believe is the real purpose of this chapter, we read these words:

18 Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. 19 And he said, “O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” 20 Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. 21 But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.”

The part of this I keyed in on is right there at the beginning, in verse 19, where Daniel is simply encouraged, and then that is tied to verse 21, when he is reminded that there is a bigger plan and purpose that is transpiring. It reminds me in the same way this morning. It is a reminder that even though I don’t see Him and even when I don’t necessarily ‘feel’ Him, God IS there. We have been taught in the preceding chapters that God will show up when we pray from a place of humility, and when we have a pure heart, in the right context. But, what happens if we don’t FEEL God’s presence? Well, we can be reminded through these words, in more of a ‘reasoned’ way, that God is with us, because if we look back at God’s word, we can see evidence that He has always been there. I mean, really, how can we honestly look at the scriptures and not come away with the impression that God is in control, that God is working a plan, and that He is with us? We really can’t.

So, today, I am reminded that if the emotional side of my spiritual life feels a little empty, if I am just not feeling it that day, and if I am not feeling connected with God, then it is okay and even encouraged to reflect on God’s presence through reason...sometimes maybe I just open the Bible to the table of contents and flip through it, reminding myself of the evidence that God has given me to know that He is who He says He is...sometimes it is just good to meet my emotional need with a logical solution, and in that way I can ‘be strong and of good courage’ the angel charged Daniel.

In reading this chapter, which is really a prayer and response session between Daniel and God via Gabriel, I can’t help but appreciate the pattern Daniel uses in his prayer.

Declaration - God is great, and God is in control of His creation

Confession - We have sinned...and here are our specific confessions

Request - Following an honest confession, you can’t help but be completely humble in your requests, because you’ve just declared how undeserving you are of grace, and that’s the perfect state from which to make requests

This is the same pattern we see in The Lord’s Prayer, and really any other prayer sequence in scripture - it is a great reminder for us. Our hearts have to be in the right place, and our requests in the right context, if we are going to pray effectively. This sequence is for OUR benefit, so that when we ask, we are ready to hear from God.

As a side note - it is readings like this where we find some of the best evidence for supporting the idea that there were already books/manuscripts that were considered sacred. Daniel is quoting various parts of our Bible in this prayer, as do many other prophets, and that really establishes that there were books that were already adopted into our faith way before we ever created and bound ‘the Bible’ that we carry around today. In other words, most of what is in the Bible is in the Bible not because people put it there - but because it was already widely accepted that those were the legitimate manuscripts and teachings that actually happened and had wide acceptance. That’s a big idea to grasp.

In reading this morning, I also found a mind-numbing amount of information and narrative around trying to reconstruct timelines based on Daniel’s numbers in here. It is amazing the lengths to which people have gone to try to decipher these numbers. After thumbing through the commentaries, what I find MOST fascinating is that, regardless of the commentary, there seems to be amazing predictive power in these words. There are several plausible interpretations, but they are all accurate in describing events to come in the future from Daniel. That’s amazing.

For today though, the big idea that I am left with really is this idea that Daniel gives us around prayer, around getting into the proper frame of reference when we pray. And, once we are in the right frame of mind, we are in a place where we can hear from God. It seems to me that there are few absolutes in terms of ‘if I do this, God will do that’; but when we pray, not with the right words, but with the right heart and mind, God always seems to show up in one way or another. It may be a whisper that we hear, it may be a thought we coincidentally get in that moment, it may be a person we are reminded of, it may be a feeling of contentment, or it may be a feeling that we sense we are being called to some action...but, I really can’t recall a time I earnestly prayed like Daniel shows us and I didn’t get some kind of a response from God. That’s encouraging.

This chapter outlines another vision of Daniel’s, but as I was reading it this morning, I really go a strong reminder that while it may look like oppressive leaders are taking over the world at times, or that political forces are wrecking our lives, or that certain events are destroying our hopes and dreams, we can know that God is in the backgrounding using the events to do His work. We may not like the circumstances, but God will redeem them as a part of His plan for our lives and for our world.

We see that idea start to take shape here in verses 3-4, where the writer is passing judgement on this ram who is doing what he wants, taking what he wants; magnifying himself. This king is later succeeded by ‘the great horn’, who does the same...living for his own vision and glory. This one is believed to be Alexander the Great based on lots of historical work on these texts.

In verse 19 we see the reminder that there is an appointed time when this ‘trampling of God’s sanctuary’ will end. God has a plan, which is reassuring in the midst of the madness here. And, I didn’t see specific mention of this idea, but we see here that Alexander the Great is believed to be ‘the great horn’ in this story. Alexander the Great’s power was broken at the height of his success in/around 323 BC, and as is predicted in this vision, 200 years prior, his kingdom is broken into 4 parts, one of which we know as Antioch, which we know from the New Testament writings is ground-zero for the spread of Christianity after Jesus ascended into Heaven.

What I find most interesting is this though. Alexander the Great dies, and there is about a 400 year period of time where we don’t hear from God. Alexander laid into place 3 things that are really noteworthy in my mind - a common language (Koine Greek), a transportation system, and peace for the developed world. These are THE very elements that set up the world for the spread of the message of Jesus - the gospel. See, gospel means ‘good news’. And, news isn’t something that arrive at through meditation and prayer; it is shared. The fact that Jesus died on a Roman cross, in our place, for our sins and not His, and that he rose from the dead 3 days later and was seen again by hundreds of people is NOT spiritual news or a fairy tale. It is the series of events that our faith rests on. There are a lot of elements to our faith as Christians that are a little more etherial and personal, but this isn’t...this is just news. Daniel was being told in this vision a story about how God would set up the series of events that would redeem all of mankind. And, right here in verse 23, Daniel gets the timeline, which is admittedly not emotionally satisfying, because it isn’t clear to us: “And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit,...”. So, we don’t get a date, but a framework...this is more literally translated as ‘when their sin is at its height’. God came when our world was so broken that is was the only thing left to do. How awesome is that?!?

What a reading today...deep stuff; heavy material, and we have to put our thinking caps on to draw from it. But, what a great reminder we get - we are reminded that God is working in the background at all times; that’s my takeaway today.

Have you ever heard someone say, “I wish I could just hear God speak to me directly”? I have...heck, I have thought that myself. After a while though, in reading through scripture, it becomes evident that this may not be all it is cracked up to be...most of the time, when people interact with God, they end up scared out of their minds.

Likewise, there seems to be a ‘cost’ to receiving revelations when we look at the Old Testament. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel here in chapter 7 all report some kind of anxiety and/psychological distress when receiving an understanding of the future course of events in human history. This would be another area in which we should be careful what we ask for...I am not sure we truly WANT to know what’s coming! Haha

One thing that I will point out in reading chapter 7 is the similarity it bears to chapter 2. In chapter 2 we see Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream; here in chapter 7, it is Daniel’s dream.

For me, when I cut through all of the imagery and the allusions, and when we set aside the attempts to connect ideas from various sources as to what all of these complex images are trying to convey in a subtle manner...I tend to come back to this 2-pronged idea that God has a plan, and that, try as I may, I am not likely to fully understand it. That’s not a cop out on some of the rich content in this chapter, because there certainly is a lot of that, but it is an attempt not to miss the forest for the trees. If we believe God is the Creator, then He also created communication and language, and I have to think that any desired meaning that we are suppose to derive from this text (or any other from scripture) should be reasonably ‘approachable’. So, I think that’s my takeaway for today - that I would better appreciate the playing field on which God is performing, and that I would grasp the idea that really understanding everything that is going on isn’t an option for me in this life, because I am not equipped for that. And, as such, I pray that I would be thankful for any revelation I DO receive from God, and that this humility about my place in the world would compel me to follow God’s command and live as He directs me...because I can’t really know what hangs in the balance of my faithful living.

Deep stuff today...the second half of Daniel takes us there!

This is a crazy chapter in that it departs from this narrative story-telling and gets into some visions that Daniel, himself, is having. As with much of this kind of material, like Revelation, there are challenges that confront us as readers.. On the one hand we may decide to omit these chapters from our study, preferring to confine ourselves to safer, more familiar parts of Scripture. On the other hand, we may become over-absorbed in working out our own theory of their significance and become unbalanced in the amount of attention we gives to them at the expense of other parts of Scripture. We see people doing this with certain parts of scripture routinely, stretching and expanding on the meaning endless, sifting the language and the context until a silver nugget drops out of the material. There is a term in statistics called ‘data mining bias’. It refers to the idea that if you look at data long enough, you can find patterns in it that aren’t really there...they appear real, but there is no any real statistical significance to it. I think that’s the risk we face when reading this material. That’s the risk I face for sure.

In summary, the vision Daniel sees in this chapter is of four great beasts which come up out of the sea; three bear some resemblance to known animals, but the fourth is just awful, sprouting ten horns, one of which is singled out for more discussion. At that point Daniel perceives the throne-room of heaven and the awesome splendor of ‘the Ancient of Days’, seated to execute judgment on the beasts, whose kingdom was given to ‘one like a son of man’. ‘One of those who stood there’ answered the questions Daniel raised, but mysteries remain, and the vision which so deeply disturbed Daniel continues to concern us, ‘upon whom the end of the ages has come’

In that vein, let’s talk about this chapter for a moment. And I love what my study Bible says right at the outset of this chapter:

Despite the various interpretations, there is one thing above all that the chapter is proclaiming quite unambiguously: the Most High is the reigning king in heaven and earth. There is an opposition to his rule, formidable in appearance and powerful, but all the time the Most High is in control, even when his opponents seem most successful (7:26). Therefore those who are allied with him triumph also. No wonder the chapter has been called ‘the center of gravity of the whole book’, and ‘one of the summits of scripture’.

So, tomorrow we will hit on a few technical elements in these words from Daniel, but today, let us reflect on God’s greatness. Today, let us take a quick moment to look up at the sky and realize how small we are, and how big God is. In closing, this entire reading reminds me of Isaiah 40: 28-31, famous and poetic verses among the best in all of scripture (in my opinion):

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

That’s the thought for today, before we dive off into the depths of Daniel - how great IS out God?

3 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,

and the Lord tests hearts.

I love the way my study Bible talks about this verse:

The second line by itself would make God only an examiner; but the first line implies that his trials are constructive: not for finding a person out but for sorting him out. When things reveal their relative worths under ‘fiery trial’, it is our part to pick out, with him, ‘the precious from the worthless’, for the benefit is not automatic.

I don’t know about you, but I find that I generally experience life according to a sort of ‘continuum’ - at the extreme left side is terrible, like a 0 out of 10, and at the extreme right is just amazing, at a 10 out of 10. And, I find that I spend most of my life vacillating between the two. And, what I find most interesting is that, over time, I have noticed that the real character-shaping tends to occur the closer I get to either extreme; either 0 or 10.

Here we see a reminder relating to one of the ends of the spectrum - that in the trials of our lives, in the ‘fire’, we are not just ‘revealed’, but we are shaped. I think the commentator is onto a fantastic idea here. If fire simply reveals our character, then it takes a TON of purpose out of struggle. But, if the ‘fire’ BUILDS our character, then it brings a real meaning to it; it adds a purpose to it. And, as much as I dislike struggle and ‘the fire’, I dislike it LESS if I know here is a purpose for it.

So, this morning, this verse really just reminds me that I need to maintain perspective when I am struggling, that I need to keep my eyes on the right thing - not getting away from the suffering, but GROWING in the suffering. I need to focus on the process and I need to view it as an opportunity to commune with God. I have heard it said, and I think it is spot on, that in times of struggle, we truly find out ‘whose’ we are. That’s my takeaway for today!

This is one of those stories that I think is over-leveraged in kids’ stories, and that really is a great story, but also is confused with ‘teaching’. I feel like it is too often the case that teachers will use stories like these to teach people that they need to behave, like Daniel, and pray, like Daniel, and that God will keep you from harm IF you are worthy, like Daniel.

In a subtle way, the message becomes this: behave and God will be there for you. And, the really twisted thing about this message is that it fits in our mental paradigm as we grow up; it is intuitive. I mean, that’s how WE interact with other people generally, an eye for an eye. But that’s not how God really designed us, and that is certainly not what Jesus taught us. But, a few lessons like this, in isolation and apart from the greater story, and that’s what we hear and what we adopt into our frame of reference and we are then setup for disappointment as it relates to God. We end up in one of two places:

Well, I have done my part, I have been good, why is God allowing me to be harmed in this situation? Why do good things happen to bad people - it is a question birthed from this twisted thought process.
OR, we end up here - Well, I am not good enough, and I know that because God is allowing me to suffer...and, if I am not good enough, then I will just do what I want to do, when I want to do it, and at least enjoy living in the moment; what’s the point, I can’t be perfect?!?

Both of these thoughts processes come out of this mode of thinking that can be traced back to using a story like this out of context. And, I know I am only ONE example, but I know this is the kind of Sunday school teaching I received until the day I was allowed to start skipping church.

I could go on about that forever, but I will stop there.

It does beg the question though - Why? Why did God show up for Daniel? If we look at the examples from chapters 1-5, what we see is an amazing example of connection between Daniel and God. We see Daniel’s faith growing. We see God using Daniel in unique ways and we see Daniel learning how to hear and to step into his different ‘callings’, or ‘missions’. I don’t think this story is meant to show us how to create a ‘cause and effect’ relationship with God. I think this story is meant to tell us that if we pray, and if we listen, and if we step into God’s unique calling in our lives, God can do amazing things. I think it is a promise that God WILL do amazing things.

In the end, if I can direct God’s movement in the world around me by behaving a certain way, then who is really in control? I don’t know about you, but MY God is bigger than that! In my mind, this is God’s world, and I am just living in it. And, Daniel is a GREAT reminder that taking steps in God’s direction unlocks the potential to see God move in the world around me.

Not much is really know of this king, Belshazzar. But, it can be pretty well deduced that he was more-or-less a waste of a king. And the message he received from God pretty much summed it up here in verses 26-28:

This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

As I am reading these verses, I couldn’t help but recall what is probably the biggest contrast to them, an exact opposite comment from Matthew 25:23,

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

In Matthew, we a story (or parable) told by Jesus that is kind of famous called the Parable of the Talents. Essentially, Jesus has given this guy some money or some kind of gift, and this guy leveraged it for the greater good, making the most of his talent. In contrast, the other guy in the story wasted his gift and was judged by Jesus.

This morning, my thought is really about this contrast between a person who lives his/her life so as to leverage it and make the most of it, not for his OWN benefit, but for God’s kingdom, vs. the guy who wastes it on himself like this king appears to do. Obviously I would rather be the former and not the latter, but it just causes me to pause and think, in what ways have I recently lived for my own benefit to detriment of living for the greatest good? It causes me to sort of take inventory. It causes me to do a sort of reset on myself.

So, that’s my prayer today, that I would live in a state of awareness today, that I would notice those moments when I have that subtle choice between leveraging the moment for the greater good or just living for my own good. Often times, it is just the awareness of this choice that provides the will power to make the best choice...it is just listening to the angel on my shoulder instead of the little devil!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this chapter. I see 2 ideas that really jump out at me as I am reading this chapter.

First is the idea that our relationship with God, our journey in faith, is a deeply personalized experience. At the same time, because we are all ‘human’, there are some common elements in many of our journey. In the king’s case, the exact details of his ups and his downs with God, and his eventual derangement are truly unique to him. But, I can certainly relate the themes that are present in his story - I experience the ups and the downs, and I experience the moments of clarity and the more dramatic moments of ‘coming home to God’ in my own spiritual journey. That is all completely relatable.

The second, and perhaps one of the most encouraging element (at least to me), is the idea that it is our decision to convene with God. In other words, God wasn’t going to force the king to trust in Him. God was certainly willing to demonstrate His sovereignty, and He was willing to do some extraordinary things to make His point (I can also relate to this in my life!), but ultimately the king had to choose to turn back to God. And, as always seems to be the case, God was waiting and ready when he did. I love this verse:

Daniel 4:34 “At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, ...”

One of the things I have noticed in my own life is that I often don’t realize that I am swimming upstream and that I am working against God’s will, especially when I am weak on prayer and devotional life or living out my life in a more “Godly” fashion. When I am low on my spiritual disciplines, and tend to start to drift. And, as I do, I start to get out on the edges of God’s will for my life. Eventually, I am sometimes even totally off track. But then, when I have that moment of clarity and I look up to God, He is always there. And, I usually get this feeling of calm that washes over me...it is a sense of reassurance, that I am once again right where I need to be; I am living as God designed me once again. I feel like that feeling is what is being described here in verses 34-37...that ‘coming home’ feeling.

This morning, I am thankful for God’s patience, and for His always keeping His arms open for me when do as the king does here at the end of the chapter - when I come back home.

Here we are, literally a few lines further into the text from the point in time when the king was enthralled by God, and now he is creating an image of himself that is nearly 60 feet tall, and when he signals ‘his people’, the text literally says that “as soon as they were hearing they were falling down [and worship him]”...whatever humility the king had in chapter 2 is now gone!

Unfortunately, I can’t say that I am entirely different. In my spiritual life, I tend to give God the blame and give myself the credit more than I would really care to admit.

Another thing- notice how Daniel is absent from this incident about the fiery furnace? I run the risk of inserting something into the story that isn’t really there, but I would venture to say that Daniel has probably discipled these gentlemen well. In the first 2 chapters, they were coming alongside Daniel as he was leading the way, leaning into God, trusting God, and displaying God’s greatness. Now we see these guys take their own faith to the next level, and without Daniel. I think that is a cool and subtle point in this book.

For me though, my big takeaway from these stories with King Nebuchadnezzar is really the up and down nature of his faith. He could be a considered a ‘fair weather believer’...in that, his faith only exists when miraculous signs or direct intervention from God is right there in front of him. He is unable to extend that faith deeper into his life. He is unable to translate that experience with God into a relationship with God. He is unable to let the truths of God and the desires of God play out in his own life. And, unfortunately, I think there are many of us that suffer from this same issue.

How do we do that then? How do we ‘step into’ the life in which God has called us, and experience Him on a more systematic, rhythmic basis?

Though this isn’t in Daniel, it is scattered all over the New Testament writings...it is in ‘doing’ the right thing. This is an area that I am passionate about, as a type A...I like action. It is just a reality that in doing what God has called us to do, we start feeling things God would have us to feel, and we start seeing things God has in store for us, and we start to experience a relationship with God. The caveat to this is that our hearts must be settled on the fact that our doing is about experiencing God, NOT about impressing others. When we do the right things for the wrong reasons, that relationship with God won’t flourish in the same way.

So, today, building on what I have been learning the last few days in reading Daniel, I will consider this king that has this up and down relationship with God here in Daniel, and I will remind myself that in doing the right things, the right little things, and for the right reasons, creates a sort of spiritual momentum in my life. And this momentum will allow me to be more faith-filled, and to experience God more deeply and more consistently in my daily life.

Today we see Daniel (and his 3 friends) step up to the plate and reveal to the king his dream. The king was applying pressure to his magicians to give him the meaning of his dream while being unable to remember the actual dream himself, and they couldn’t. So, he is mad and is threatening to kill them all when Daniel steps in. So, Daniel is interpreting this dream for the king without being told the dreams contents, which surely would have been impressive. Presumably as well, when Daniel starts to tell the king about the dream, describing elements of the dream as he is interpreting the dream, I am guessing the king starts to recall it and that this further impresses the king. But, for me, today, the key statement comes right here:

2:27-28 “Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries...”

As I read that this morning, I have to ask myself, “How forthcoming am I in my daily life at giving God the glory for things that happen in my life?” When God answers prayers, how do I go about recognizing those answered prayers? How am I cataloging those victories to remember them later, and to embolden my faith in moments of weakness? How am I leveraging God’s blessings to encourage others in faith? How am I using blessings in my life to point to God?

Daniel steps right up and gives up this example...he gives the glory to God at the onset. Then he goes on to tell the king everything in his dream. This is also, as I discovered yesterday, a step in Daniel’s spiritual development. He was able to understand the details of a dream previously, but it was a dream where he was given all of the details and he just had to bring meaning to them. Now he is getting the details of the dream from God and bringing meaning to them, which reveals a deeper level of connection with God.

Yesterday was about doing the little things, to take the little steps towards developing my spiritual life, and today I am going to do the same thing, to be conscious of the little steps, but I am also going to make an effort to thank God for the guidance in those moments...I am going to recognize that it is God revealing the steps in those moments.

If I were to title today’s reading, in Daniel 1, it might be something like “Sweat the Small Stuff”.

It is interesting - as I read Daniel chapter 1, because there is a lot of effort being made to explain why Daniel and his three friends resisted the cultural traditions that king Nebuchadnezzar was pushing on them. maybe I am thinking to simplistically, but it seems that the most obvious reason for this would be that they all knew that giving into the little things would eventually lead to a full assimilation into Babylonian culture and foregoing their faith and trust in God.

I don’t know about you, but usually when I am giving into sin or to temptation, it starts with the small things. I’ll give in a little bit in one spot, and then the next, and eventually I look up and wonder how I got there. That’s the way sin tends to integrate into our lives. King Nebuchadnezzar probably understood this, and that’s why he was integrating all of these exiles into his culture. Get them eating and drinking and conducting themselves as Babylonians, and before long, they will consider themselves Babylonians. We tend to become a product of the things we see and do.

So here in chapter 1, we see the king doing this, but we also see Daniel and his three friends resisting that cultural integration. I think it’s reasonable to think that Daniel understood that giving up his Jewish practices would also cause him to start forgetting God. When I’m not praying regularly, when I’m not reading scripture regularly, and when I get disconnected from Christian fellowship, I certainly end up further from God. I think Daniel simply understood this principle. So, he resisted the order to integrate into this culture in order to hang onto his connection with God.

This reminds us of a very important lesson. It is the idea that the small things matter, and this idea cuts both ways. if we give in a little here, and we give in a little there, eventually we end up in the middle of nowhere, adrift, lost. Likewise, when we are faithful in our spiritual disciplines, when we are praying, applying God‘s wisdom in our lives, even in the smallest places, reading God‘s word, and in fellowship with other believers, there is a momentum that builds.

Today, I will win in the small things, the seemingly insignificant moments, in order to create momentum in my spiritual life.

These are some confusing chapters, and they bring to mind Revelation, which has some obvious similarities (obvious = confusing, sounding a little crazy, etc.).

I want to step back and take this at a really high level, at least in this first read-through. What we are seeing is God in communication with Daniel through visions and dreams, as we later see God doing with John in Revelation. So many people have ventured to try to understand this stuff, and there is just so much symbolism and so much imagery and so many dates and details that it actually makes it very difficult to fully nail down the exact events being discussed. But it also points out something to me - that we are just not equipped as humans to fully understand what God is up to in this world. What if part of the purpose of these messages from God is simply to help us to grasp the scale on which God is working? In fact, I would argue that this is precisely ONE of the purposes.

Today, I am going to keep it simple, as I tend to try to do when I get deep into the weeds. First, I am going to go ahead and pause and go through my time of prayer. Doing that now.

So, my prayer today is simply that God would show up for me, and give me clarity around his calling for me life. I pray that God would help me to understand my purpose; that God would help my faith develop to deeper and deeper levels as he did with Daniel, and that I would have to courage to continue to step into that faith as Daniel did.

In the last reading, I covered Daniel 1-4, and today I have gone through chapters 5-7. Today we see a story about Belshazzar’s pride in chapter 5, Daniel’s famous story about the lion’s den in chapter 6, and a story about Daniel’s own dream and vision in chapter 7.

So, we have seen laid out in front of us 3 big ideas now.

In chapters 1, 3, and 6, we see stories about the faithfulness of Daniel and his friends, across a few extraordinary situations. In chapters 4 and 5, we see the reason for all of the chaos in this book is related to human pride, specifically these two kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. And we then see encouragement that God’s people should be patient, and faithful, and should be in a sort of mode of ‘waiting’ and ‘longing’ in chapters 2 and 7, as we see the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and Daniel’s dream.

As we flip to the last few chapters, the question we start looking to have answered is simply, “When?”. When will we see these rescue that is promised?

The thing that strikes me this morning, which is not nearly as complex or deep of a thought as this material could provoke, is Daniel’s journey. As I read this, I am thinking about how Daniel’s first actions was a small step of faithfulness (compared to later steps), to refuse to eat food that he felt compelled to resist because of his relationship with God. It was his battle. In doing that, he discipled three guys (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), and he brought them on his journey of faithfulness. Then Daniel is tested again, this time alone in the story of the lion’s den, and proves a faithful servant of God. All along the way, we see him interpreting visions and dreams that are more and more complex. Eventually, he finds himself communicating with the angel Gabriel, and even God.

The reason I find this encouraging to me is that it demonstrates how our spiritual maturity takes us to a deeper level of understanding over time. It leads us to a place of more intimate relationship with God. It reminds me that the world isn’t really completely visible or understandable to me...God has to bring me to a place of understanding over time, and as I develop. It reminds me that there is a reward for faithfulness here in this life; that is understanding. I also have to imagine that with that understanding comes a love and respect that is also deeper...for God, for life, for those around me. Daniel is showing me that there really is a lifelong journey of spiritual development for me. What a great reminder for this morning.

Today is the first half of my full read through on the book of Daniel. It is long enough and I’m breaking it up into two sections. Today I listened while following along in my Bible to chapters 1 through 4. I actually do this a lot, I will listen and follow along because it engages me in a different way than simply reading.

Three things really stood out to me this morning.

The first is in chapter 1, and it’s how strongly Daniel follows his lead from God to resist eating food that he was being given. I don’t think the point of the passage is to inform us about food to eat. I think what’s important is that Daniel had a personal relationship with God and clearly felt led to conduct his life in a certain way. Daniel followed that personalized directive from God. This reminds me that our spiritual journey is personal, and it looks different for each of us. For me, the most obvious example of that is the global mission field. I don’t believe we ALL are called to go travel the world on mission. For some of us, our mission field is here. For some, our mission field may be one other person. Each of us has a unique journey, and it is incumbent upon us to seek out God’s unique plan for our own life, and then to pursue it.

The second thing that really jumped out at me was Daniels humility in chapter 2, in verses 27 and 28 when he clearly credits God as it relates to his ability to see and interpret visions for the king. How many times I’ve been credited with success and not given the glory to God? How many times has God been largely responsible for that success? The answer to both of those questions is approaching 100% unfortunately. Shame on me.

And third, King Nebuchadnezzar really is a lot more like me than any other character in this reading this morning. He is changed by an interaction with God, he has a momentary perspective, and then he snapped back into his sinful self. That’s my journey; I feel like the best I can manage sometimes is two steps forward and one step back.

Today, I will be praying that God would instill a little more of Daniel in me, and a little less of Nebuchadnezzar.

With the setup yesterday, and knowing that this is really an example from Jesus of a personal prayer, designed to take place in a specific place (alone, just me and God), purpose (this is a personal prayer, not a corporate prayer), and position (on your knees, or at least in some kind of a deliberate physical position)...now we get into the prayer. And I am going to read the words and then paraphrase how I use those words to create my own prayer, in my own words, that follows Jesus’ example:

9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Father, you are God and I am not. It is your world and I am just living in it, and you are an awesome God...I am so thankful to be able to come to you in prayer like that, and that you know my name.

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

I know you are going to do what you are going to do...with or without me. I know you are working a plan that is far beyond what I can see, what I can understand, or imagine. And, I know my greatest joy in life is coming alongside of you and plugging into that plan, and living in the way you created me to live.

11 Give us this day our daily bread,

And you have always provided for me...without fail. You always will. Sometimes I forget that...sometimes I forget how blessed I am. Please continue in your provision, and continue to help me see just how blessed I really am.

12 and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Your word teaches me that forgiven people forgive...that’s a bedrock teaching in your Word. Lord, help me to accept your forgiveness of my sin. Help me to forgive myself as you’ve forgiven me. Help me, in turn, forgive those around me, and to live with a forgiving heart. Help me to live free of resentment and bitterness.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

As the old Irish prayer says, please help me to have wisdom to see what’s coming along with courage to take wise action. Help me to see temptation when it is just budding, that I can turn away before it gets full grown. Help me deeply desire goodness. And give me a sense that you are there with me in the in those moments. And, father, help me release others of their burdens of guilt and shame as it relates to me...let me not hold onto wrongs against me. Let me be a light into the world for you...let others see your face when they see me.

I don’t think prayer has to be fancy. It just has to be real. For me, this works. And, when I get to this point, THIS is when I start talking through me prayer list, or my wish list, and all of that. At this point I am really in the right frame of mind to ask God for things. And, frankly, sometimes at this point certain things don’t even register as that important, and others have already been addressed. But, when I use the Lord’s Prayer in this way, my experience with God is much richer and more personal than when I just lob up wishes to God. I suppose that is why Jesus taught it...it knew what would serve us well.

For me, I was really never taught how to pray. Or, if I was, I can’t remember it. I do remember wondering about it though. And, I remember being asked to memorize the Lord’s Prayer, but it was a just words for the longest time for me. And, to make it worse, I am fairly certain that I was asked to memorize the King James version of the prayer, which makes it even less relatable.

I don’t know if you have wondered about this, but I kind of think the disciples were a little in the dark too. Jesus seems to have thought they needed to polish up their prayer as well, as He made a point to teach them.

At a high level, before even getting into the prayer itself, context and perspective are so important. The verses before the actual Lord’s Prayer are hugely helpful in understanding it.

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The Lord’s Prayer

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

These first 6 verses all get at this idea that our prayers are between us and God. It isn’t about praying to be seen. And, just to be clear, I believe Jesus is teaching about personal prayer here, about having a personal practice of prayer; I don’t think this is talking about how pastors should pray on Sunday mornings with their congregations. But, in our personal prayer time, we should be removed so as to completely isolate ourselves and to confirm that our only real purpose for our time of prayer is communion with God. When we remove the temptation to want to be seen, it really puts us into a frame of mind where we can be silent, and be still. As I am reading this, I am reminded that I used to literally go into a closet and pray...and I thinking that I am about to re-install this practice. To literally get on my knees, alone, in a position that really only has one purpose - to pray. Think about how honoring that is to God. Then, Jesus goes on...

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

And I love this...this is for me! There are people’s who make me feel like I went to a tier 2 school when I hear them pray...I need Siri and Google to understand their words, I am carried away by the angelic tone of their voice, and all of that. Prayers like that aren’t wrong or bad...in fact, someone who is a gifted communicator praying like that is just someone using their talent, and it can certainly be God-honoring. What I am saying is that Jesus teaches us that our words don’t matter. God wants us to talk to Him like we talk to each other. He just wants us talking, and as we’ll see when we get into the prayer, He wants us listening as well.

For me, the take away from today is simple - a time, a place, and a position.

In reading Proverbs 4 this morning, I am reminded that I could literally do a journal entry on about every pair of verses in each Proverb...I mean, these writing are just LACED with truth, and with quotable stuff. It is a playground for us a readers of God’s Word.

One of the lines that really jumps out at me is this the first line of verse 7: “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom”. From my study Bible, it says this:

The first line, literally is most likely translates this as a blunt way of saying: ‘What it takes is not brains or opportunity, but decision. Do you want it? Come and get it’ (‘it’ being wisdom).

That’s awesome. One thing about wisdom is that it is almost taught to us, through subconscious messaging, that wisdom is something you get from deeply learning and understanding the Bible. We can catch this notion that scholars are needed in order to teach and message things for us. The Catholic Church has installed a message-getter into their entire religious system in the Pope (not picking on Catholics, just illustrating a point). In reality, I don’t think God set it up that way...God is approachable, and God is personal. If you go looking, you’ll generally find Him. For instance, yesterday I wrote about needing to create margin and space in my life for God and for others, and I declared that yesterday I would leave a lot of my to do list undone for the sake of creating that margin. It wasn’t an hour later, I got out for a nice 30 minute walk, no music, and ended up having some time for reflection. I really did sense God in that moment, and I could hear Him saying, “See, take a few minutes, relax, create some space, I then there is room for me in your life...and here I am”. I walked and prayed while I was walking and it was just a great little moment. It was subtle, but it was exactly what I needed.

And that brings me to the second pair of verses that really jumped of the page at me this morning, here in v18-19:

18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. 19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

In my spiritual journey, these moments when I encounter God have been these subtle moments...like that warm sensation as the sun rises and hits your skin. It is just a tinge of warm, just enough to feel it if you are in a place to be able to do so. Wisdom is like that too...when I am in a good place mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, I can usually just have this sense of, “Ah, I think this is what I need to do”; I think most of us have had that. My experience has been that this sense is like a muscle...when I ignore it several times in a row, I stop sensing it as easily. Then I have to work to get back to it. We need to act in order to keep that muscle sharp and sensing.

And, lastly, verses 25 through 27 are three of my favorites: 25 Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. 26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. 27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.

The message of this verse is so strong and so clear - look straight ahead, as there are distractions in all directions around us. Keep your field of vision squarely out front of me, on what God has called me to...to my unique role in this world. And watch where I step, because there are struggles, there are traps, and there are challenges. Trouble is lurking when we start looking around. Our bodies will follow our field of vision...let God guide that.

Today, I am talking to myself in a big way as I am thinking about this. The message is simple today, and that is just to live in wisdom. Why is that so hard? Said another way, why do I know what to do and so often choose not to do it? I would say that there are plenty of things that I have very little or no knowledge about when it comes to making a decision in my life, but far more often, a great majority of the time, I have a pretty good sense as to what I should do. Far more times than not, it isn’t ‘what’, but ‘why’ that is my issues.

It usually isn’t that I make a bad decision because I don’t know what to do...it is just that I don’t want to do it. I don’t think I am unique in this struggle; I think this is a a common issue for all of us. In fact, ironically, this was THE issue for the writer of many of these Proverbs - Solomon. This is one of the great ironies of all of this wisdom.

Two big ideas jumped into my mind this morning.

First is something that probably jumped into mind because I have been talking about it recently, and that is the utility of prayer - and it is really woven into the first 12 verses of the reading this morning; look at all of the trust language in there. And it’s not just the little quick prayers throughout the day, but the really solid prayers in the morning when I am doing this - when I am studying and reflecting. These are the way I can make God tangible in my life, and I can bring God along with me in my daily living. These little mini prayers throughout the day are great little reminders of my morning prayer and are a great way to encourage the application of wisdom thorough the day. A lot of times, just this little pause for a mini prayer is enough to get me to make the decision I ought to make rather than the decision I ‘want’ to make in the moment. Today’s reading is just laced with this reminder to cling to truth in this way...to bind God’s teaching around my neck, to lean on him in all my ways, honor the Lord with the first fruits of my labor, do not lose sight of these, etc. This idea is all over the book of Proverbs.

The second thing that jumps out at me and I can’t help but think about as I am reading this is one word; margin. My days are packed with way too many things to do, and way too many decisions to make, and way too little time to just ‘go with the flow’. I am a person that thrives when I am busy, to an extent. The problem is, there must be an ebb and flow...it can’t just be 90 miles an hour all of the time. I must create space and time to pause, pray, reflect, and think, I need more time to be bored. For me, life trends towards complexity, and the scriptures and God would lead me to a place where I would be simplifying my life so I can have the space and the time to interact with God in a meaningful way. That is really where I can grow personally. I can get rid of some things on my to do list and my schedule. I can create margin for God, among other people and things.

So, that is my action for today...right now, I am going to open up my to do app and take a hatchet to it...I am going to get myself into a place where I can enjoy the rest of the day; where I can have the space and the time to experience God in various ways because I am not too busy to relax. I guess that’s why God teaches us to take a Sabbath each week anyways...imagine that!

Perspective, it is really one of the main ingredients to understanding scripture well. That being said, one of the best ways to get a little perspective, and what too many of us don’t do often enough as we are reading through scripture, is to read AROUND the verses we grab hold of, or that we hear quoted.

Today we see a great example of that, and it comes right back around to that beautiful and poetic section I honed in on during my read through of this book- verses 17-19.

But, now I really have the context for these couple of verses. It also demonstrates a key element to prayer. If you have ever heard anyone Talking about “praying through the Bible” or “praying through the scriptures”, I think this is a great example of that. You find something that resonates with you, and then you weave your own life into it and thereby associate yourself with the life of someone in scripture.

For me, it kind of sounds like this on this, if I were re-writing the first 16 verses to reflect my own life and reflection on God’s provision in my life:

God, I am thinking back on my life, and what I know about your history with my family, and I am seeing that you ARE faithful. You have truly blessed us as it relates to our son by giving us amazing doctors and nurses, and you have opened up new friendships were we can have a lasting impact on peoples’ lives, people that we would otherwise never have met. You have provided a school for my daughter and the resources to attend that school, which specializes in handling dyslexia. It has been amazing to see how much better her life has been since we could do that. You answered my financial prayers last year, and it was a great business year for our team, and it think it was a really a special time for my business partner especially. During this virus, to get even closer to the now, you have blessed us by keeping us safe and you have provided the necessary resources to support ourselves in a time when many people are really hurting. You have been faithful in more ways that I can even really list or recall.

And, in light of that truth and declaration, ...

Habakkuk 3:17–19 (ESV):

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

(In other words, though it is hard right now...and knowing what I know from what I have already said...)

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

19 God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer’s;

he makes me tread on my high places.

(Or, God, you are God, and I am not. You have always been faithful to me...and I am trusting that will continue while knowing exactly what that looks like.)

Now, that is a great prayer that Habakkuk demonstrates for us. That is something to repeat on a frequent basis!

Habakkuk 2 (1:12 forward)

I love how relatable Habakkuk’s response to God is! We have all been there.

“God, how can THAT be your plan?”

“God, why are you using them and letting ME be punished?”

This is that age old question that we all ask at some point, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

Habakkuk is wrestling with an issue that is definitely a part of all of our spiritual journey. This is an issue that we all must wrestle with and really work through if we are going to grow in our faith and trust in God.

And God’s response is classic... “...be patient”. Then God attacks the issues head-on that Habakkuk is talking about, I think just to assure him that He has heard them.

One of the hardest things about understanding God, at least for me, is remembering how much biggest His timeline is than mine. Patience for me is typically a few days, maybe a few weeks or a month. I have been patient for a few things in my life for a a year or two. Perhaps the most long-term element of time in my life that has a finite timeline was college, and that was 5 years for me.

God waited a few thousand years to bring Jesus to the earth to begin redeeming mankind. Who knows how long this phase we are in now will last, it had already been about 2000 years. Think about that...we are such small pieces of the puzzle. And yet, I think one thing God communicates through Habakkuk is that personal relationship with Him is certainly possible...so, as small as we are, as insignificant as we are, we are known by Him. That is amazing if I think about it!

This interchange really just reminds me that there is a difference between God hearing my prayers and God directly acting on them. I think there is plenty of evidence from various parts of scripture that clearly support the idea that God not only hears our prayers, but that God can and sometimes does answer our prayers directly. There are other times when God hears them and doesn’t seem to respond. And, there are seasons of life where we wonder if God hears them.

I an encouraged this morning that God hears them. I am encouraged that God sometimes does move because of prayer. But I am also reminded that there is a long game here...God is working on a timeline that I can’t grasp, with an amount of details and information that I can’t fathom, and I can live with the assurance that a “no” from God isn’t indicative of a lack of love for me.

It reminds me of my thought from yesterday, that continued prayer and reflection on God’s provision for my own life is the key, for me, to not becoming like Babylon.

So, in Habakkuk’s first complaint to God, he is saying that Judah (Southern Israel) is due punishment for her sin and depravity. And I love how God essentially tells Habakkuk, “Yeah, I know...and that punishment is coming!” He tells him that Babylon is overtaking Judah. But I love the last thing he tells him in this first exchange, in v11

“...whose own might is their god.”

In the intro, I commented that I read a commentary that said that a takeaway from this book of the Bible is that Babylon’s sin is illustrative of every country’s sin, and even every person’s sin. This gets right at that point - that, our tendency is to call ourselves self-sufficient, to deem ourselves “self-made”, and to assume a sense of autonomy in time, as we become more wise and more successful. Since this is our natural, sin-fueled tendency, we must be careful to guard ourselves against ourselves.

In what ways am I working to hold this tendency towards self-sufficiency in check in my own life?

As I think about that comment about Babylon illustrating our own tendency and sin nature, I also think about their expansion across the known world. Their insatiable desire to conquest and take over every country in site also bears resemblance to our nature. I tend to always reach for bigger, better, etc. Contentment is something that some people are blessed with...but I share this struggle with Babylon.

So, in addition to this question of self-sufficiency, another one would be, “In what ways am I reminding myself to be and training myself in becoming content?”

One area of my spiritual life where I tend to really be more naturally inclined is this...reading, studying, thinking, and listening to God’s word. But, I think that the solution (or at least a big part of it) to these issues of self-sufficiency and contentment rests in the other aspect of a strong spiritual discipline where I am far more lacking - prayer.

Prayer. It is the time when we reach out to God, we declare Him worthy of our praise, we reflect on His provision for our lives, and we communicate our need for Him. I am going to venture to say that my contentment and my tendency towards self-sufficiency has a direct correlation with my prayer life.

So, for today, I am committing to a great time of prayer as I close out my devotional. If just for today, I will training myself to this kind of prayer and reflection. Perhaps in introducing this kind of time of reflection into my morning ritual on a more regular basis I can curb my tendency to be like Babylon in my own life.

This is one of the books of the Bible that I have really never spent much time with, and for whatever reason, I picked it up as my bed read. I think the pastor mentioned it this weekend in the Sunday sermon and the book just stuck in my mind.

In studying the background and doing the full read through this morning, I bumped into a statement that really stuck with me that a commentator used to describe a major theme of Habakkuk; he said that the five woes that make up the second half of chapter 2 aren’t unique to Babylon, that because of the human condition, most nations actually become Babylon in time. Without God, most people do the same. This is a theme I am sure I will camp out on when I get to chapter 2.

The book also reminds me a lot of Job, as it is really more of a dialogue between Habakkuk and God rather than a judgment by Habakkuk on the people. What’s great is that because it is so short, I can dig into it and get a lot out of it without the fatigue I often feel in studying the longer prophetic books that take so long to get through, and require a lot of reminding as to context, time, place, etc. The last few verses of this book really resonated with me this morning:

3:17-19:

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”

This just reminds me that God‘s presence is enough, or it should be enough. My circumstances may not be what I desire, but God is with me, God hasn’t forgotten me, and God loves me. It reminds me that God‘s provision for me and love for me isn’t defined by what’s happening around me in the moment. God is working through me and on me with a much bigger perspective than what I could possibly see or understand.

I love Proverbs - it is a playpen for type a personalities! I can’t help but think about the book of Ecclesiastes this morning though, as I am reading all of this rich wisdom here in Proverb 28.

Proverbs, taken as a whole, is really a manual for life. That is a phrase often used, incorrectly in my opinion, to describe the Bible as a whole. But, it is a great description of Proverbs. But all the wisdom of Proverbs essentially carries an asterisk by it; Ecclesiastes. Ironically, most of both of these incredible writings likely have the same author, king Solomon.

Where is Proverbs guides us on wise living, Ecclesiastes remind us that life is full of chance, and that it doesn’t work itself out through a simple math/wisdom equation. Living with integrity doesn’t mean that it will be easy in our lives and that we will have justice as it relates to wrongs against us. Living with love for others doesn’t mean that I will get loved back. Wise stewarding of my wealth doesn’t mean that I’ll have a lot coming back to me either.

Why then? Why live wisely? Why follow the order that God has laid out in the world?

I think Proverbs iandEcclesiastes taken together answer this for us, though in a roundabout fashion. I think there are two answers to the question, one practical and one more spiritual.

Practically speaking, if choosing between foolish living or wise living, wise living has the greatest potential to bring positive results over the long term whereas foolish living most likely leads me in the wrong direction. So, practically, it makes sense to stack the deck in my favor and to live wisely. It’s essentially a play on probability. Said another way, you’re much more likely to be successful socking away money in your 401(k) then you are by buying a lottery ticket; one is a plan rooted in wisdom and the other is just hoping it all works out. so, wisdom is the most practical choice.

Spiritually speaking, the real gem of Ecclesiastes, in my opinion, is that it teaches us the ultimate reward for wise living is not earthly or worldly success, but communion with God. When we do as God says, we begin to see as God sees. And as we see as God sees, we begin to understand what he is up to in this world around us. Think back to the garden, as soon as Adam and Eve sinned, the first thing we are told is that they head and they put on their fig leaves. Sin leads to shame. Shame destroys intimacy. Ultimately, what we want in our hearts is the same thing that God wants, and that is to restore intimacy. Living in wisdom restores that intimacy by removing shame from our lives. That is the real reward of wise living; reduce shame, increased intimacy with God, and ultimately a joy that is no other way attainable in our lives.

For today, where can I take a step towards wise living with the hope of greater intimacy with God?

2 Peter 3

Here’s the pair of verses that really jumped out to me this morning:

8-9: “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is 1000 years, and 1000 years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

I love that these two verses are together, because we often make the mistake of trying to understand God‘s heart and intentions by his specific actions, and that often leads us in the wrong direction. In the moment I discipline my children, you can only see one small element of my fatherhood. In a moment I choose to let one of them struggle through a little of their work, if you swooped in and viewed that decision in isolation you might say that I am being cruel to them. But that would miss that I am trying to help them learn and to develop into independent adults in time. it’s the bigger goal that gives context to the smaller goal. it is easy to judge a moment and miss a vision.

Think about looking at a piece of art. You can learn some thing about the artist often times by looking at their art. But you can’t truly know that artist from a piece of art. we, the world we live in, and everything that is going on around us give us clues as to who God is. But there is a lot of work still to be done for each of us individually to understand God‘s vision for our lives and God himself.

Here Peter gives us a quick reminder of God‘s ultimate plan. I can be frustrated with God at his methods, and with his timing, but I must remember that his ultimate goal with his methods and timing are, as Peter says, to bring me back to him through repentance.

Today, my thought for the day draws on this idea but is not directly related to what Peter is actually addressing. My question is this:

If someone were to pull my kids aside and my kids had to convince them that I love them unconditionally, as if making a case in a court of law, what chance would they have to make that case?

Am I loving my kids, and my wife, as God loves me; unconditionally, selflessly?

Or, do I love them in a way that communicates a works-based love from me? Am I modeling what Jesus demonstrates through his example to us, a selfless love, or does my strategy with them communicate that they must earn my love and my approval?

I know my heart, I know I am trying to love them as Jesus loves me, my question is more about trying to help me think through what is being heard from me versus what is being said.

This is a really ‘strong’ chapter. As is often the case in reading scripture, context is very important. Peter is talking about false teachers here, people knowingly leading others away from God. And, it is important to differentiate between someone who is ignorant of the truth and someone who knows the truth but uses otherwise. In a lot of this chapter, Peter is describing the consequences of knowingly false teaching, self-serving teaching, and exploitation. His point is that this particular variety of sin carries with it a direct consequence from God. Most sin hurts us directly and ripples into the lives of those we love, whereas this sin directly hurts those around us, and can benefit us in the short-term...God doesn’t like that one bit. And this sin, knowingly false teaching, pushes people away from God...which he also hates.

But look at verse 21, it says: "For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness then after knowing it turned back from the holy commandment delivered to them." That immediately reminded me, as I was reading it this morning, of John 6:67, when Jesus has done some miracles (including the famous walking on water) and then he goes into some really strong teaching and it exposes a divide between those following him for the right versus the wrong reasons.

Go read John 6:67.

Notice the character in there with Jesus? It is Peter, the same Peter that wrote this letter. I love his question to Jesus, “To whom shall we go?”

In other words, we can't unsee the truth. Our only choice is after seeing truth or to except it and to do the work to develop our faith in ourselves, or to reject it. In choosing to reject it though, we are really just deferring it. Truth is truth. When we deal with the consequences of God's truth during life we can experience the joy associated with the truth; life change, fellowship with God, love, joy, etc. If we choose deferral, we deal with it later and longer (forever).

So that is the question for today, simply “Am I willing?”

...willing to accept grace...to be changed by it...to apply myself to growth by it...to be humbled by it...to submit to it...all of it...am I? Am I REALLY?

As hard as that teaching from Jesus seems, and as hard as this question is, the truth is that life is hard. It can be hard with God or hard without God, and I'll take the former over the latter every day of the week!

One of the things that plagues the Christian faith is the proliferation of the works-based salvation mindset; the idea that our behavior, our ability to sin less, has a relationship with our salvation. That is simply not true, and even a cursory read of the New Testament demonstrates that. What is admittedly a little more difficult to get at for many of us becomes this question, “What is the point in behaving then?” This is a little more of a tricky question, because most of the answers presuppose a faith in God. The truth is, behaving is irrelevant if you don’t believe in God. But, for us believers, Peter gets at one of the answers to this question here in 2 Peter 1:8

“For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is also one of those verses where all of the material around this particular verse supports this verse, so it's important to read all of it.

In the study of behavior change, there is a lot of evidence that points to the fact that removing unwanted behavior is much less effective than replacing it. It stands to reason that our faith may operate similarly; instead of focusing on all the things God wants us to avoid, perhaps we should focus on those things to which we have been called. Peter lists those for us as virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Paul lists these in various places in his writings as well. Maybe if we focused on these behaviors, not as a way to avoid God's punishment, but as a way to understand God and to have a more personal relationship with God, our relationship with behavior change might improve. It stands to reason as well that in doing these things it would be hard to simultaneously behave in a way that would displease God, it's hard to love somebody and intentionally hurt them at the same time.

So, for today, my question to ponder throughout the day will be thinking through what I can do to be a little more like God, in a small way, as I live my life today.

Before getting into the chapter by chapter study of 2 Peter, I did my full read through this morning. As I went through the entire letter one passage really specifically stuck out to me.

2 Peter 19 says:

“They promised them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For what overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”

Wow, that last sentence, so strong! There is so much teaching about the dues and especially adults in Christian living, from Scripture, but it generally isn't a particular action that is what is so important, but the heart. Just about anything can become an idol, and therefore a bad thing...so we must be on guard against what is attempting to overcome us.

So here is the question I am considering for myself today - “What, in my life, now controls me that I once controlled? What appetite? What behavior? Or how about this - what HABIT now runs on autopilot and controls me without my thinking about it, needs up-rooting?

A huge theme in Peters writing his self control. We see it come up in all of his letters. And that's exactly what this is about. Today I will be conscious of my appetites and especially my habitual behaviors to see if I can identify what's controlling me, and where I need to take back control.

I love the reminder in verse five that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. It is just another example from Peter that demonstrates an interaction with God in our lives; that our actions can influence how God interacts with us. Yesterday I was reading of how our prayers can be hindered if we don’t live out our mandate of brotherly love with others, and here we see another connection between God and us. In someways, Peter is making a relationship with God more “tangible”.

But, for me, perhaps the most powerful two verses in all of this letter come here in 6 & 7

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

That is so strong! Three things jump out at me from this text:

At the proper time: unfortunately, this is not at a time of my choosing, nor on a timeline of which I am on aware. This is a real shot any sense of control that I might have over my life!
Exalt: I am essentially setting up a scenario where God holds me in a high regard when I humble myself in my life; again, we see the cause-and-effect relationship between the way we live and how God interacts with us.
Because he cares for you: this phrase sounds so personal. It’s not just that God loves us, but that he is concerned for us, and he wants to respond to us. We just have to get out of our own way by being humble and living out our calling of brotherly love.

Great stuff!

Looking at 1 Peter 4:7 “... For the sake of your prayers...”, and connecting it back to 1 Peter 3:7 “... so your prayers may not be hindered...”, we can see a relationship between our actions and how our prayers are 'heard' by God.

Peter hits on this idea repeatedly, that our love of others, our honor of others has a direct correlation with God hearing our prayers.

It begs the question, “Where am I under minding my own prayers?”

Am I not loving at times, in a way that to the detriment of my own prayers?

It reminds me of Joshua 7:10, as Joshua is leading Israel to defeat the Canaanites, but Achen held onto some devoted treasures against God's will, and they aren't able to win the battle. Joshua is lamenting the situation and has fallen down on his face to pray to God and God tells them to get up, not to pray, but to do something about it.

The reality is that sometimes we have to act ourselves into feeling. This love that Peter calls us to sometimes, quite often, requires action over intention, it requires making love a verb and not a feeling. So that’s the challenge today, to live out this love that Peter calls us to and I trust that God will meet me in that action and deliver the feeling.