Category Archives: The Bible

Hardly Fair

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Bambi vs. Godzilla was hardly a fair fight.  Haven’t seen it?  Here’s the link:  https://youtu.be/8s3UogfAGg0    Go ahead and check it out; we’ll see you soon…

There would be no betting on Bambi vs. Godzilla because the outcome would be absolutely certain.  Same thing if you spot a spider in your bathtub.  Stomp, splat, the end.  Cool way to start a devotional blog, eh?  

But there’s a point coming.  Keep the certainty of those outcomes in mind the next time you find yourself struggling with the devil.  Temptation seems so strong but, when you put your whole trust in Jesus, He promises to come and make His home within you. 

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  (John 14:23) 

When you remember He is there and turn Him loose, it’s not a fair fight.  

1 John 4:4

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

I heard a guy say, “Whenever Satan knocks on my door, I say, ‘Jesus, it’s for you…'”   That’s good advice, but the outcome is hardly fair.

Good Works

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Throughout much of the Middle East it is illegal to convert to Christianity from Islam. And yet hundreds of Muslims break that law willingly.  A church near the Syrian border has recently baptized over 800 converts.  One couple explained their decision before the judge: “When we lived in Syria the Muslims in ISIS murdered three quarters of our family before we could escape.  But here, the Christians have done nothing but love us, shelter us, feed us and clothe us.  So, tell us: Why shouldn’t convert?”

The judge dismissed the charges and let them go.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.  (1 Peter 2:15)

Futility

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It is futile to keep doing something that does not work. It is futile to push the elevator button after the first time.  It is futile to attempt to clean up your act and connect  to God by following religious regulations.  Religion that consists of do’s and don’ts doesn’t work. Like the elevator button, however, it seems like it might work if you just keep at it.  That kind of religion reminds me of people using slot machines.  Futility.  They do the same, ineffective thing, over and over, hoping for a better result next time.

Strict religious rules, Paul said, “… have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”   (Colossians 2:23)

I mean no disrespect.  I am not criticizing sincere motives of people who practice religious ritual.  But, what they do is futile.  If you are trying to close the gap between yourself and God, trying to repair what has been broken in your soul, there is a better way.  One that works.  God has promised to fix what is broken, freely and thoroughly, if you will trust His Son.  

Peter said it like this:

“… [Those who trust Jesus have been]  ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ…”  (1Peter 1:18b-1:19a)

Homecoming

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Have you burned your bridges to God?  Wandered too far?  Lots of people feel that way. But Jesus taught this truth:. If you want to go back, you cannot have gone too far from God.  Maybe what really is causing you to stay away is the fear you would not be received well. Jesus understood why people feel that way. That is partly why He told the story of the Prodigal Son.  To help us come to grips with God’s astonishing love and grace.

It’s easy to miss the passionate details He included.  He didn’t merely say, “The Father was glad his son returned.”. Take some time to consider what He did say, and to imagine God the Father receiving you home like this:

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.  (Luke 15:20)

Jesus was not exaggerating. What are you waiting for?

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (​James 4:8a)

Just Do It

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Technical support workers will tell you most problems with computers could be avoided by following the instructions.  When the manual says to do X and our natural instinct is to do Y, we humans have a tendency to follow our own ideas.  Then our stuff breaks and we call tech support.  After 30 or 40 minutes listening to a recording tell us how important our call is, when the support person answers, most of the time they will lead us through the process of following the instructions.

Same thing applies with following Jesus.  For example, you have a terrible conflict with someone at church and go to your prayer place to “call up Tech Support.”

“This is God; how can I help you?”

“____________ is such an unpleasant person and I can’t get along with them.”

“How did you handle it?  Did you go to them by yourself and discuss it?”

“Well, no, I talked it over with my friends at Bible study.”

“You gossiped?”

“Me, gossip?  Oh, no; it was just explaining the situation for a prayer request.”

“Nope, that’s gossip.  It messes everything up.  That’s why it says don’t do it in the instructions.   How about returning a blessing fot their unpleasant behavior, have you tried that?”

“Are You serious?  A blessing?    How’s that going to help?”

“Give it a shot; it’s in the instructions…”

And so forth…

When people read computer instructions and then ignore them, chances are pretty good they are going to be waiting on hold for a half-hour for customer service to pick up.  It’s just as true with the Bible.  That’s why they should post these words over the exits from the church as a reminder to folks on the way out:

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  (James 1:22)

Help

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Nobody know which President said it first, but Abraham Lincoln, at his second inauguration, after taking the oath of office, added, “So help me God.”   I believe we are better served by a President who seeks and receives Divine help.  Especially in bestowing His kind of wisdom.

As you prepare to vote, consider the difference between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom as explained by Jesus’ brother, James:

“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”  (James 3:13-18)

From where I sit, we have weeded out all the candidates open to godly wisdom.  

So help us God.

Practice Makes Perfect

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Dad installed a chinup bar in a doorway and used it everyday.  He challenged me to a contest when I was visiting.  I was amazed at his stamina but still beat him – hey, I was 30 years younger.  But now, at the age he was, there’s no way I could measure up to what he did then.  Unless I practiced.  The training regimen of olympic athletes is scary intense.  They punish themselves with every greater challenges til they know they can push through them.

In a similar way, we are encouraged to accept the various trials of life as opportunities to train our faith and develop our capacity to patiently push through.  

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  (James 1:2-4)

To test a diving board, you jump on it, tentatively at first but then with greater and greater force.  If you can’t break it then you know it will hold you.  You trust it  Same thing with faith; you jump on it to know if it will hold.  You test faith with trials.  As you learn your faith will hold, you become more able to endure life’s trials with steadfastness.  You become “perfect and complete,” in the sense that you are “good to go” in the faith department.  The faith is not in your own toughness but in Jesus’ ability to hold you safe, no matter what.  Like this:

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:38-39)

Crazy True

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“A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?” -Albert Einstein

Einstein was by no means the first scientist to be accused of losing his mind.  Probably the guy who discovered fire was ostracized at first.  But the more science advances, the more the scientists seem crazy to the rest of us.  They say crazy things like this:  This vast universe came into being with a sudden expansion of an infinitely small and invisible “singularity.”  That’s the ‘Big Bang Theory.”   They actually believe the cosmos, so large we measure it in light years, was originally created from a tiny, invisible speck. It sounds crazy.  

Like this, written almost 2000 years ago:

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.  (​Hebrews 11:3)

Exactly

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Did you know there is a building code for how many inches there must be between the toilet and a bathroom cabinet?  Fact is, there’s codes for everything.  But if you think local building codes are fussy, have a look at the regulations God required for the tabernacle, the precursor to the temple.  You’ll find it in the book of Exodus, starting with this verse:

And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.  (Exodus 25:8-9)

Back then, you had to know what a cubit was.  And measure precisely.  But why?  Why would Almighty God give the impression that, if they used the wrong dimensions He couldn’t “dwell in their midst?”  God is sovereign; He can dwell anywhere He wants.  So what’s the deal?

Every detail of the design of the tabernacle nonverbally communicates some important truth.  It’s fascinating to consider each part and ask, “What is this teaching?”  But the overall specificity, the requirement that it be built exactly according to God’s instructions, teaches a lesson easily overlooked today.  If you want to connect to God, you do so on His terms, not your own.

God is Who He is, not who we think He ought to be.  His Name is, “I AM WHO I AM.”  We don’t get to decide how to approach God.   In those days, God taught that important lesson in a rudimentary way, using tabernacle dimensions, etc.  But the lesson still holds today:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  (John 14:6)

 

Stop, Look and Listen

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Does God really exist?  How do you know?  We have been told by people we trust.  Most people believe in God.  But how do you know?  It’s worth asking that question every so often.  Blind faith, faith not tested by doubt, might slip across the line into weak superstition.

But how can we know?  We cannot see God.  We can’t see gravity, but every time we drop the toast, gravity does its thing.  But God is different, a living Person – not human, but Someone Who operates with mind, emotion and will.  You can’t test a person like you test a force, because he might surprise you.  He might catch the toast.  So how?

Many have found certainty for God’s existence in the complexity and vast scope of Creation.  But, perhaps the best way to know, since God is a living Person, is to do something that does not come easy for most of us.  Quiet yourself.  Shut off all the words inside.  Open the eyes of your soul.  Listen.

“Be still, and know that I am God…”  (Psalms 46:10a)

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.  (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2)

If we really listen for God’s voice, really pay attention to Him with a readiness to respond, He has no problem demonstrating the reality of His existence.  Listening to Him comes with a reward.  Jesus said:

“It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—  (John 6:45)
And… “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”  (John 6:47)