Monthly Archives: August 2022
“Hope, Grace, and Power Washing the Driveway”
“1 Pet. 1:13 ¶ Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (English Standard Version)
“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.” – Barbara Kingsolver
I suppose that most of us feel hopeless at times. There may be a few people who never do, but I am skeptical about them. Perhaps they aren’t paying sufficient attention.
Sometimes the hopeless feelings come from outside us. When we look at the hydra-headed monsters outside of our heads—war, politics, the environment, the economy, the pandemic du jour—there are plenty of things to feel hopeless about. And then there are our families.
But I don’t have to look around me if I want a fresh batch of hopelessness. No, I sometimes feel hopeless when I look within. Last night, for example, I had nightmares. They were not very realistic, but the symbolism was all too real. I woke up feeling hopeless.
What to do when I feel hopeless? Keep on hoping anyway.
“Set your hope!” says Peter. “There is a grace yet to be revealed when Christ returns!” It sounds as if I am supposed to do the setting. That is probably because I do, in fact, need to do the setting. Christ will do the gracing.
. . .
So, I am finishing writing this post late in the day. The three dots just above this sentence indicate the passing of time. I am going to bed more hopeful than I got out of it this morning. I went to a 12-step meeting this morning, did other recovery work, talked with a friend who called me, graded presentations that my students are turning in, and (with a lot of help from my savvy and patient wife) put together our new power washer. I power washed a bit of driveway. It has been a grace-filled day even if Jesus didn’t return.
There are times when power washing the driveway is an expression of hope and grace.
“The Man Who Did One Thing”
This is the last in my series on “one thing.” It involves a man who did a lot of things, and yet, he claimed to do only one thing. Here is part of his story:
“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Straining Toward the Goal
Phil. 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” (English Standard Version)
“One thing I do,” said the Apostle Paul. Actually, Paul had done a lot of things, both good and bad. Indeed, he had just listed a number of things that he had been and done that showed that he was about as Jewish as a person could be. This was important because there were people who were trying to convince the Philippian believers that if they wanted to be Christ-followers, they had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. Paul says a resounding “No!” to this approach to the faith. While Paul might have played that game, he had come to believe that it was a game neither he nor anyone else could win.
But, ironically enough, Paul’s one thing actually involves at least two things. The first part of his two-fold “one thing” was that he had forgotten the past.
The irony deepens. The things that Paul says he has forgotten are things that he has just mentioned. It would seem that Paul’s “forgetory”, like the memory of may people, was awfully selective.
On the other hand, I am not sure that forgetting in Hebrew or Greek is merely concerned with whether or not a person has retained something in his conscious awareness. I suspect that, instead, the words for remembering and forgetting involve focus. Remembering means “to focus on something,” and forgetting means “to choose not to focus on something.” So perhaps Paul wasn’t as inconsistent as he might appear—at least in this case.
So, if Paul was refusing to focus on certain things—even good things—from his past, where was his focus? It was on knowing Christ as well as he could. Paul was well aware that he didn’t know Jesus Christ as well as he wanted to. His understanding of Christ was not perfect. This should comfort the rest of us who feel like beginners at this Christian faith business. Maybe we are all beginners.
Still, knowing Christ deserved his most strenuous and sustained efforts. Paul uses a Greek word (διώκω), which is used for a runner who is straining to finish strong. And the present tense of the verbs suggests an ongoing, continual striving to know Christ better.
Even if Jesus was only a great teacher, prophet, and teller of stories, he would be well worth getting to know better. If he was, as some of us believe, God in the flesh, then we really need to strive to do this one thing: to know Christ better. I suspect that this One Thing will take more than a lifetime, more than several of them. Fortunately, God thought of this, and offers us an eternity to get to know Jesus better.
One of my favorite Promise Keeper’s hymns is called “Knowing You.” I close with its lyrics.
“Verse 1
All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres and wars to own;
All I once thought gain I have counted loss,
Spent and worthless now compared to this.
Chorus
Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all, You’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness,
And I love You Lord.
Verse 2
Now my heart’s desire is to know You more,
To be found in You and known as Yours,
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All surpassing gift of righteousness
Chorus
Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all, You’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness,
And I love You Lord.
Verse 3
Oh to know the power of Your risen life,
And to know You in Your sufferings;
To become like You in Your death, my Lord,
So with You to live and never die.
Chorus
Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all, You’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness,
And I love You Lord.”
“The Man Who Knew One Thing”
“John 9:25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” (English Standard Version)
In continuing this series of posts (with one exception so far), we come to the man who knew only one thing. It’s a long story, and think that we had better have a gander at the context. Don’t worry: The story my be long, but it is not boring!
“Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
John 9:1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
John 9:8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
John 9:13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
John 9:18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
John 9:24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” (English Standard Version)
This (formerly) blind man didn’t know much. At first, he didn’t even know Jesus’ name. Jesus often did miracles and then snuck away. So, it was in this case. Jesus had a nasty habit of healing people on the Sabbath when no work was supposed to be done. In fact, Jesus had a lot of habits that greatly irritated the good folks of his day. Of course, Jesus is still an irritant to many good people.
The formerly blind man didn’t know a lot of doctrine or theory, but he did know one thing: Before, he was blind, but now he could see. This was an empirical truth that even the used-to-be-blind man’s neighbors and his own parents confirmed.
Most of us don’t know nearly as much about anything or anyone as we would like to know. We don’t know nearly as much as we pretend to know. But there are times when knowing one thing is enough. There are those of us who know that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit has/have done something for us that we could not do for ourselves. Just one thing, perhaps, but a very important one.
In my case, God has begun to heal from the ravages of an addiction—an addiction that I tried to overcome for decades without much success. I identify with the factory worker who had a terrible problem with alcohol abuse. He wasn’t all that bright, and the chronic alcoholism had probably fried a lot of his brain cells.
But in desperation he called out to Jesus. Jesus heard and embraced the man in his arms, forgave him, and gradually dried him up. He still wasn’t a genius, and his coworkers often teased him. One day, one of them said to him, “Jim, I heard you got religion.”
“Yep!” said Jim.
“So, do you really believe that Jesus turned water into wine?” his coworker scoffed.
“Well,” said Jim, “I don’t know about that, but I do know this: in my own apartment, I’ve seen Jesus turn beer into furniture.”
If you decide to stick with the one thing you know about God, it is entirely likely that you’ll be okay. Who knows? You might even eventually know more than one thing.
“Date Night with Myself”
A friend of mine who is single likes to go down by the river to pray, to meditate, and to write. He made an intriguing comment to me about “. . . my solo river sunset date nights.” The thought occurred to me that a person could have a nice date night with themselves.
For many of us, this radically crazy practice might help us to get better acquainted with ourselves. And let’s face it, most of us are not nearly as acquainted with ourselves as we would like to think we are.
We wouldn’t have to make a big production of this, though we probably should take a shower and dress up a little. We could go to a restaurant we particularly like, or for a picnic, or a bike ride. We could take ourselves out to a concert or a baseball game.
An occasional (or regular?) self-date night/day could counter our very human tendency to do everything possible to avoid knowing ourselves. We think that if we don’t have somebody with us, we have to be miserable.
No! As important as people are to us—and they are important to us—we can survive and thrive for a while without them. In fact, a date with ourselves could position us to be nicer for other people to be around. As someone has said, “If you can’t stand being alone, don’t inflict your presence on others.”
I just googled self-dating. It appears that solo dating is a real thing. It may be new to me, but it isn’t new. This could make me feel a little foolish. “Huh, I thought I had an original day, but I didn’t.” Or I could take this as, “Wow! I’m on the right track! Other people have tried this!”
I think I’ll do the “Wow” thing. I’ll let you know how my date with myself goes. I hope that we have something to talk about. And then there is the question of who will pick up the tab.
“The Man Who Had it All and Lacked One Thing”
“There’s a story of Reb Yehiel Mikhal, the Maggid of Zlotchov. He lived a life of great poverty and hardship, yet he was constantly joyful and filled with gratitude. Once, a disciple saw him praying the morning prayers, and he chanted the blessing, ‘Barukh Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melekh Ha’olam, She’asah li kol tzarki – Blessed are You, Divine Being, Our Divine Nature, Sovereign of the Universe, for fulfilling my every want.’
The disciple asked, ‘how can you pray that blessing, when you are in such poverty?’
‘Poverty,’ replied the master, ‘must be what I really want!’ (https://www.torahofawakening.com/torah-of-awakening-teachings-408656/wanting-what-you-dont-want-parshat-vaykhel, accessed 08-25-2022)
“Mark 10:17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Mark 10:23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:17-31, English Standard Version)
There are times when we need to focus on the one thing that we lack, which may be what we have—or at least what we think we have.
The young man in Jesus’ story had it all, but he realized that he didn’t really have it all. He didn’t know how to inherit eternal life. He knew the commandments and felt that he had done a good job obeying them, but he still sensed that he was missing something.
According to Jesus, there was one thing that the young man lacked. He lacked the poverty that would allow him to be generous to the poor and the poverty that would allow him to follow Jesus.
There is a song that Mark Cable wrote and performed that says, “If you can’t give it away, then it owns you.” Yes indeed!
“On Adjusting Numbered Lists and My Attitude”
Until a few minutes ago, I hated doing numbered lists that include (and/or exceed) 100. The reason is so trivial that it is exceedingly unreasonable: Beginning with the number 100, the document looks messy. When I reach 100, Microsoft Word begins throwing in extra space between the numbers and whatever text accompanies the number.
I’ve never been formally diagnosed as being a compulsive person. However, that does not prevent me from being one. (Oh my! I just looked online to see if the word “prevent” already has the idea of “from” in it, so that the word “from” was unnecessary. I am in even worse shape than I had thought!)
However, this post is actually not about being compulsive. Rather, it is about being a problem solver, as an antidote to carrying around low-grade irritation all the time. I decided to see if I could figure out how to fix this numbering-with-too-much-space issue. I had tried several things in the past that had not worked. So, this time I asked Professor Google. My first hit helped me to solve the problem in a matter of seconds.
So, did I solve the problem, or did someone else solve it? Yes! I humbled myself. I asked for help. I tried what I was advised to do.
Voila! Problem solved.
You may ask, “What does this have to do with me or with anything that actually matters?” My answer is, “A lot!”
That same approach might help us to solve all kinds of problems. And for those of us who believe in God, we believe—at least in theory—that we have an even more powerful search engine than Google. It might be that we could solve a lot of our problems by humbling ourselves, asking for God’s help, and then doing what God says. Each of those three things seems to be easy. Right? However, though they are easy to understand, they are difficult to practice. We all struggle with pride that keeps us from asking for help. And acting on the help we are offered is about as common as hair on a frog. G. K Chesterton said that “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” Indeed!
We have probably all spent a lot of time trying to change ourselves in substantial ways. We’ve augmented our irritation but not our growth in character. How about trying this threefold approach instead:
- Humble yourself.
- Ask God for help.
- Do what God says.
If it doesn’t work, you can always ask for online help. And who knows? Perhaps God can speak through the internet, too. God spoke to me today through the internet. I don’t think that God plays favorites.
“Hanging up Clothes and Accidental Happiness”
I grew up before the days when a lot of people had electric or gas-powered dryers to dry their clothes. We used to wash our clothes by hand or in a washing machine, get the water out of them as best we could, and then hang them outside on the line to dry in the sunshine and wind.
I like bounce sheets, but there is nothing like fresh air and sunshine for making clothes smell wonderful. I was reminded of this smell this morning because of a 12-step reading that I did. Here it is:
“Monday, August 22
… sparrow, your message is clear: it is not too late for my singing.
—Tess Gallagher
There was once a mother who loved to hang the laundry out on the clothesline in the backyard. Her baby crawled through the sheets and towels that almost touched the grass. The baby didn’t talk yet, so nobody knew what she was thinking.
Ten years later, the baby, twelve years old, told her that her happiest memory of childhood was playing in her “playhouse” of laundry on the line. She remembered thinking that her mother hung the sheets out there just so she could play in the grass and wind and sun!
How wonderful to be living in a world where we can accidentally make people happy! This knowledge is a miraculous gift, and can give us reason to do every task well and with love, because it may be remembered for a lifetime by someone near to us.
What happy memory do I have of childhood?” (From Today’s Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©1985, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.)
I don’t remember crawling through my mom’s accidental playhouse of drying clothes and sheets, but I do remember walking and running through it. It was a wonderful experience.
Of course, for my mom, doing the laundry was hard work. She was not young (forty-four years old) when I was born. She was a hard-working farm wife. She had arthritis. (I am just beginning to experience that form of mild torture.) I am not sure if I ever told her how much I liked the smell and feel of clothes drying on a clothesline.
I wonder if there are not a lot of things that are hard work or mundane tasks for us that might be bringing accidental happiness to someone. We may not be aware of it. They may or may not notice and thank us. But the crucial thing is that we be, as George MacDonald said, “. . . doers of the work . . . .”
And even God is pleased when we do the mundane things that need to be done. The Apostle Paul discusses at some length whether the Christ-followers in Corinth should eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols. He gives them a lot of good specific counsel, but then he gives them—and us—an overarching principle. “So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31, New Living Translation)
When we do even such mundane things as eating and drinking for the glory of God, we give God a lot of not-so-accidental happiness.
“Courage in Little Bits”
The verse of the day in the YouVersion Bible App is Joshua 1:9. “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (New Living Translation)
Joshua needed some courage for sure. Moses had died, and Joshua was to lead the Children of Israel across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land. What a task!
I used to think of Joshua as very courageous. However, now that I’ve actually slowed down and looked at the text, I’m not so sure. God has to tell Joshua (three times in chapter 1 alone) that he is to be strong and courageous (verses 6, 7, and 9). At the end of this chapter, some of the leaders of the tribes also tell Joshua to be strong and courageous. Would a courageous person need to be told so often to be courageous?
Well, maybe we all need encouragement in that regard. I am told that there are approximately 365 commands in the Bible to not be afraid. This sounds like the flip side of the command to be courageous. (I haven’t counted them myself to see if there really are 365 of them. This may be an old preacher’s tale.)
There is a lot that could be said about this command in Joshua 1:9. Here are a few observations.
- Apparently, courage is not a feeling. It is a command, and feelings can’t be commanded. So, a command relates to action.
- A command implies that the one doing the commanding is in a position of authority.
- A command implies that the one receiving the command has only two choices: either to obey the command or not.
- Notice that the command is related to meditating in the Law of the LORD and careful obedience/doing of what God says (vss. 7-8). We might think of courage as relating to military prowess. No, it is not. Courage is instead about obeying God.
- Courage comes in many forms. For Joshua, I don’t doubt that it took courage to refuse to lose his temper when some of the Ephraimites (from his own tribe, no less!) whined that they hadn’t been given enough land (Joshua 17:14-18). Sometimes, putting up with a whiny extended family takes as much courage as conquering a city!
My last observation leads me to an application which is stretching Joshua 1:9. I hope that it isn’t stretching the text too far. Here is my application. It may or may not fit you. I suspect that we need courage even for little things.
To hold your tongue when you would like to use it as a lash, to eat in a healthy manner, to write a blog post when you’re not sure you have anything to say—these and a thousand other small things require us to choose courage every day. Courage is not reserved for soldiers and fire fighters. It is required of us all.
Courage in little bits is the name of the game. That is what our lives consist of mostly.
“WEIGHING HEARTS”
“All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the LORD weighs the spirit.” (Proverbs 16:2, English Standard Version)
“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Yahweh weighs the hearts.” (Proverbs 21:2, Young’s Literal Translation)
Lasine, commenting on Proverbs 21:2 (as well as on other ancient writings), notes that “. . . our evaluations of biblical characters may end up revealing our own ‘nakedness,’ allowing us to weigh ourselves in the balance while still alive.”[1] So, in a profound sense, when we read the Bible, it also reads us.
Well, it is not so much the Bible that weighs us as it is the LORD who weighs us. In the original Hebrew in both 16:2 and 21:2, the verb translated “weighs” is a participle. Often, the Hebrew participle conveys continual action that flows from the character of the one doing the action. So, it would appear that God is always weighing our spirits and hearts.
Perhaps this should warn us against thinking we know our own hearts very well. It should certainly warn us against thinking we know other people very well. Who knows? It might even make us less prone to weigh others or to judge them.
In fact, our weighing of the motives of others might be one of things that God weighs. Like Belshazzar in Daniel 5, we may be “weighed in the balance and found wanting.”
[1] Stuart Lasine, Weighing Hearts: Character, Judgment, and the Ethics of Reading the Bible, Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 568 (New York: T & T Clark, 2012), xii.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- “Even a Sliver of Light” April 9, 2024“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:6, English Standard Version) I missed the total eclipse yesterday. There were a number of good reasons for this, but […]
- “The Process in Miracles and the Miracle of Process” March 11, 2024“2 Kings 5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids […]
- “The Power of Encouragement—Even for Old People” March 10, 2024“But encourage each other every day while it is ‘today.’ Help each other so none of you will become hardened because sin has tricked you.” (Hebrews 3:13, New Century Version) Yesterday, I was walking at a nearby park. There was a large group of young people some of whom were running while other young people […]
- “Endurance” March 10, 2024“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” (Hebrews 10:36, English Standard Version) “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us […]
- “The Limits of Non-Judgmentalism” February 24, 2024“Matt. 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. Matt. 7:2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2, English Standard Version) This morning, in my virtual 12-step meeting, we discussed the topic of judgmentalism. There were many wise […]
- “Delighting in Being Told What to Do?!?” February 23, 2024“Psa. 112:1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! 2 His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures […]
- “Character is the Real Lesson” January 19, 2024I am often confused about what lesson I’m really supposed to be learning. For example, this morning I was trying to knock out several Spanish lessons. My intentions were a lot better than my internet connection. I’ve done three lessons. Or rather, I’ve done two lessons. One of them I did twice because the internet […]
- “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked” January 1, 2024Each year, I try to come up with one word or a short phrase for what I intend to work on in the upcoming year. 2024 is “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked”. What?!! What does that even mean? So glad that you asked! Jesus said to his disciples, “Why do you look at the speck […]
- “Searching for the Noble One” December 26, 2023My wife and I were reading Luke, chapter 2 on Christmas Day. Luke 2 talks about the shepherds being told to look for this very special child—in fact, this King—in a stable. I prefer the word “barn”. I grew up on a farm. I know what a barn is. A stable is entirely too biblical […]
- “That Don’t Impress God Much” December 14, 2023DTEB, “That Don’t Impress God Much” “That Don’t Impress Me Much” (Song by Robert John Lange and Shania Twain) Micah 6:8 (MSG) “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be […]
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