Tag Archives: Bible

Better Bread

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When you sink your teeth into good sourdough, the crust fights back a little; it’s chewy and a bit tough.  Making bread has been a hobby of mine for years and I’ve developed methods that work pretty well. But when I spotted a used copy of Peter Reinhart’s “Crust and Crumb” down at Barbwire Books, I snatched it up.  Peter writes about how to make “world class bread,” bread that is “good beyond belief.”  When I read that line, I had to have the book.

I keep “Crust and Crumb” by my easy chair and frequently browse through it, absorbing what he has to say. Peter’s recipes were very much like the ones I had been using.  But he spends most of the book describing specific ways to form and handle the dough.  Some of those methods require several days to make a batch of bread and seemed unnecessarily tedious to me.  So, I modified his methods with a few personal shortcuts here and there. My sourdough was improved somewhat but was not yet “good beyond belief.”  In reflecting on what was wrong, it occurred to me that perhaps I’d get better results if I actually followed Reinharts instructions. (Duh!)  Last time I made sourdough, I followed his methods to the letter.  Oh my goodness…  Not yet good beyond belief but it’s getting there…

It’s very easy to make the same mistake with the Bible – keep it by the easy chair, browse through it and modify what it says to suit what seems doable.  Throw in a personal shortcut here or there.  Here’s what Jesus’ brother Jim said about that:

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:22-25, NIV)

Just do it.  Like the bread, you won’t be “good beyond belief” but you’ll be heading in that direction.

Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Powerful Word

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What’s the big deal with the “F word?”  Used to be that people would use adjectives to help us understand what they meant.  They would talk about a melodious bird or a twisted relic, a cantankerous geezer or a dog-eared book.  Their descriptive words would jumpstart our imaginations.  Now, they say, “F’n geezer,” or “F’n bird” and my imagination shrivels. My interest sags.  My daughter says I’m old fashioned and that I have allowed the “F word” to have too much power over me.  Power?  I think not. It’s not powerful, it’s lazy.

Let me tell you about a Word with astonishing power, so much so, there’s no word in English that completely conveys it’s meaning.  The Greek word, Logos, is translated in English as “Word.”  But, as it is commonly used in the New Testament, it’s much more than a combination of letters.  Logos means the mindset and understanding of God, the way God thinks and interacts with the reality He created.  Logos is the Greek root for the word, “logic.”   The apostle, John, called Jesus “The Word,” the “Logos.”   He meant that Jesus was the full essence of God’s Mind.  By this he equates Jesus, “The Word,” with God:

” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

“Logos” is a word with power.  God’s plan to restore humans to their full potential and life, as revealed in both the Old and New Testaments, is to plant His “Logos” in their soul, like a seed that will grow.

““… “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33b)

“And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:27)

When God’s Logos is planted in us it grows and changes us with power.  His law is put into our minds, His Spirit lives in our soul.  This planting of God’s Logos is made possible as we accept God’s gift of forgiveness and cleansing, paid for by Jesus on the cross.  In Jesus’ words,

“…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16b-17)

Now, there’s a “Word” with real power, living, growing, transforming power.  Compared to “Logos,” the “F word” has all the power of flattened roadkill.

Now, consider this from Jesus’ brother, James:

“Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” (James 1:21)

Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Woot, Woot!

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The red and blue twirly lights came on just past Fort Donelson, as we drove down along the Cumberland River in Tennessee.  I eased our 25 year old RV to the curb, rolled down my window and waited.  As the officer approached, I said, “Is this a Colorado marijuana stop?”  “Not yet,” he said with a laugh.  “i clocked you going 40, coming down that hill into town.”  You know what always comes next: you hand over the paperwork and then sit there, drumming your fingers on the steering wheel and wondering what’s coming as this sick feeling begins to grow in your stomach. My guess was 4 points and 150 bucks.  After what seemed like a very long time, he came strolling back from his cruiser, hitching up his pants and adjusting his hat.  Didn’t look good…  “Well sir, I’m going to give you a warning this time.  Please drive more slowly and y’all have a nice day.”  Do you remember what that feels like?  The sudden, unexpected rush of freedom and joy?  Woot, woot!

Be honest: If you owed $150 for every time you drove over the speed limit in your life, how much would you owe?  How about for just last week?  Justice demands that we pay the full amount.  Grace, the kind of grace I received from a cop in Tennessee, treats you as though you had obeyed the law completely.  We all know justice is good.  But grace is better!   What if you had to pay the full and just penalty for everything you ever did that was not good?  Hmmm….

Psalm 32 begins like this:

“Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1-2)

The first phrase is grace.  God will let you off (with a warning!) and treat you as though you had obeyed the law completely.  But notice that the second phrase says our “sins are covered.”  By Whom? This ancient psalm foretells the sacrifice of Jesus!  He will “cover” the cost for our sins.  Having done so, He will also cover over our sins, as though we had never sinned.  Amazing!  And “blessed!”  Woot, woot!

But notice, the last phrase, which talks of the one in “whose spirit is no deceit.”   As you read further in Psalm 32, you discover that David is talking about one who openly confesses his sins to God, with no holding back, no deceit.  The process of surrender to Jesus, by which we are given the full pardon of grace, includes heartfelt, honest acknowledgement to God of our shortcomings and moral failures.  We don’t pretend that we deserve the grace He offers.  We come “without one plea.”  But that confession (which becomes a continual part of our relationship) clears the air.  We have no secrets and live, fully aware of just how much we need grace.

Woot, woot!

Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Words and Music

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As Albert Einstein lay dying, he gathered a faltering breath and spoke final words. Are you curious to know what he said?  Nobody knows, since his nurse didn’t speak German!  It was probably only a critical correction to his theory of relativity or something.  Famous last words…  Often the last things that a person says come from a very deep place.

When Jesus died on the cross, His final words were a quote from a psalm written by David, roughly 1000 years earlier.  He said,

“Into Your hands I commit my spirit…”   (Luke 23:46; Psalm 31:5)

If you read the rest of that psalm, it is uncanny how perfectly it expresses what Jesus must have been thinking and feeling, a complex mixture of anguish and trust.  Jesus also quoted Psalm 22 on the cross:

“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” (Mark 15:34, Psalm 22;1)

Once again, David’s psalm eerily captures both the agony of Jesus,

“Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.” (Psalm 22:16)

and, later in that same psalm, His overriding confidence in God:

“You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.” (Psalm 22:23-24)

Those who write songs frequently say they feel as though the words and music were already there, waiting to be discovered.  It must have been that David was so in tune with the heartbeat, the “words and music” of God, that the words he was inspired to write, were the ones spoken from the lips of the Son of God, moments before His physical death.

I’m not sure there is a lesson there, or any practical application.  But when I ponder that powerful connection between David and Jesus, it casts me into a deep, swirling pool of profound awe.  I hope it might do so for you, too.  I believe it is in such awe that we find ourselves more in tune with God’s “words and music.”

Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Mutual Yearning

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You know the scene at the end of the chick flick, when the two lovers finally find one another.  It seems like it always happens in slow motion as they run toward one another through a field of flowers.  There is something powerful in that motif of mutual yearning finally fulfilled.

There’s a mutual yearning between us humans and the God Who created us.  We reach up; He has reached down.  Look at these two verses, one from the Old Testament and one from the New:

“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, …” (Psalm 27:4a)

“Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)

We long to live with God; He comes to us and offers to make His home with us.  That’s the offer – our deepest mutual yearning perfectly fulfilled.  What’s that part about “obey my teaching”?  It begins with the simple act of trust, with saying yes to Jesus and accepting the offer.

They may not film it in slo-mo.  It might not be in flowers.  But it’s yours if you accept it.

Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Affair Protection

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Is your marriage vulnerable?  Might one of you have an affair?  There is a very simple and yet powerful way to protect it.  It’s found in just one verse in the Book of James.  If you actually do what this says, you could “affair-proof” your marriage.  This verse is easy to understand but hard to remember to do because it runs contrary to human nature.

Here it is:

” My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” (James 1:19)

When you are in a conversation that is even slightly adversarial, while your partner is speaking, isn’t it true that you seem to listen, but are really thinking through how you are going to respond?  Coming up with some killer logic, so you can win the argument and emerge the victor?  That is what most people do. It’s human nature.

But if, instead, you put aside your own thoughts and rebuttals and actively try to understand what your partner really means and also how they really feel, you will be amazed at how it changes things.  If, before you respond with your own thoughts, you take a moment to make sure you really have understood your partner, understood him or her to their satisfaction, that one little move will really calm the storm.

But it gets better than that, especially in a marriage.  When people “fall in love” they spend a lot of time listening to one another and really trying to understand one another.  It’s a key ingredient in romance.  Think back to your first dates if you don’t believe me.  When a marriage goes stale, if one partner begins to listen – really listen – in an active and interested way, it’s amazing how quickly that one simple thing can begin to restore the lost romance.  It’s like maple syrup on pancakes.

Listening to really understand your partner is an effective way to “affair-proof” your marriage.  Most affairs do not begin with sex.  They begin with listening.  When someone seems really interested in you.  You know the old line: “My spouse doesn’t understand me…”  And it goes from there…

Marriage counselors charge $100 an hour – maybe more.  Apply James 1:19 and you can save a bunch of money.  Probably save your marriage, too.

Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Becoming Fruit

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By the time anyone noticed, she had been underwater for way too long. They hauled her out and laid her out on the dock, her body a dark purple color, her eyes lifeless. I watched as a med student kneeled over her and began CPR. When she took her first breath, when the color of her body began to chameleon back to its normal hue, when she came back to life, the process seemed miraculous. I’ve been present as each of my two children were born and took their first breath. This was like that, except that in her case, no one expected she would ever breathe again. I’m guessing, if anyone ever asks that young girl about the best gift she ever received, she would say it was the gift of life itself.

We are so used to being alive we actually take life for granted. It is all we’ve ever known. We also take spiritual death as the norm. It is all we have ever known. Spiritual death is the condition of being disconnected from the Spirit of God. Designed and created to be filled with God’s Spirit, we have been cut off since Adam’s Fall. Since we are born in this condition, we initially don’t notice anything wrong. It’s like being born blind and not discovering until later on that we were supposed to be able to see. But eventually we do sense a problem. We sense that something is missing. What’s missing is real, full life, the life of the Spirit in us. We cannot fix it, anymore than anyone could perform CPR on themselves. Spiritually speaking, we are as dead as that girl laid out on the dock.

But check out this amazing good news:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

James 1:17-18

We gasp for spiritual breath in many ways, often with no real understanding that what we seek is life itself. God, the Giver of every good and perfect gift reaches down through eternity and offers to give us “birth,” birth into eternal, spiritual life. How so? Through His Son, Jesus, the One Who is the “Word of Truth.” Those who accept this gift by faith, become like the first harvest of fruit in the orchard, the first tomatoes on the vine, the first grain in the field. The difference between fruit and the plant on which it grows is that there is continuing life in the fruit. So too with those who have been given the eternal life of God’s Spirit through their faith in Jesus.

Doubtless

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Swarms of vicious, rabid mice were attacking my son, nibbling at his legs.  Screaming in terror, he couldn’t hear my voice as I told him to remove his 3-D glasses.  He kept freaking out.  I shouted at him: “Take off your glasses!”  When he finally heard me, registered that it was my voice, believed me and then tentatively reached up to remove his glasses, the mice instantly retreated into the confines of the movie screen at the Walt Disney theater.  But for awhile there, he was too terrified to listen, much less obey.

The same principle is in play when we are stressed out or suffering and ask God for wisdom (See: Wise Up).  God gives wisdom, generously and without finding fault.  But if we are too distracted by our fears to listen, it does no good.  That’s why James added this next part to his teaching on asking for and receiving God’s wisdom:

“But when he asks [God for wisdom], he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” (James 1:6-8 – with my added explanation in brackets)

We’ve all experienced the paralysis of indecision, when our minds resemble squirrels caught in the middle of the road.  Doubt can stop you dead in your tracks.  Satan’s first strategy in the Garden of Eden was to inject doubt between the humans and God.

” …He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”” (Genesis 3:1b)

When you ask Him for wisdom, you could doubt that God would answer, doubt His wisdom is true, or doubt that it is really God Who you have heard.  Any one of those doubts would interfere with your ability to hear His voice and apply His wisdom.  The solution for that is practice – practice before you really are in a desperate need.  If you get in the habit of asking God for wisdom, listening for His response, and following what He tells you, soon you will be able to recognize His voice and distinguish it from all the other voices.  With practice, you will learn to trust and follow what He tells you.

You will be very glad you practiced, the next time you get attacked by mice…

Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Wise Up

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She was alone and afraid.  The night before, she had made a tough but courageous medical decision but now, as early daylight began to seep into her hospital room, fear came with it.  She prayed, asking God to send her something to encourage her.  Almost immediately a doctor came into her room and sat by her side.  “I was not scheduled to see you until later today, but something prompted me to come now,” he said.   He was literally Heaven-sent!

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5)

There are times when it is appropriate to pray for rescue, for healing, for money, for material things.  It is always appropriate to pray for wisdom.  When we ask God for wisdom, He gives generously, not grudgingly and He doesn’t hold it against us that we need to ask.

But what is wisdom?

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.” (Psalm 111:10)

Fear of the Lord is not like fear of spiders.  This kind of fear is an attitude of profound respect and reverence, combined with humility.  The captain of a nuclear submarine isn’t afraid of the sub, but must “fear” it; he must maintain a humble awareness of her power and a respect for doing things the right way.  Or else!   Fear of the Lord is similar.  It’s a profound respect for the power, sovereignty of God, a humble attitude that acknowledges His unlimited understanding.  When you come with that attitude before God, asking Him for wisdom, it is a prayer to understand what He sees, a prayer for guidance to do things the right way.

God hears a prayer like that and answers it generously, without finding fault.  Sometimes He simply shows us, giving us new insight and peace.  Sometimes He sends a doctor.

Quotes:  The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

 

Good Question

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If you could ask just one question of Jesus, you probably couldn’t come up with a better one than they did.  But Jesus refused to answer them.  But if you  asked Him, would He answer you?  Maybe, maybe not.  Let’s set the stage:

” Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”” (Matthew 21:23)

Trouble with that question is that most of the time it’s not really a question, it’s a challenge.  It translates as, “Who do you think you are?”  plus, “Don’t you realize who I am?”  People ask “by whose authority” in order to assert their own authority.  They aren’t really looking for an answer, just a surrender.  Jesus knew that and gave a masterful, “chess move” response.  He asked them to identify the authority behind John the Baptist’s baptism: was it from Heaven or was it from men? The priests refused to answer because either way they answered would have weakened their own authority over the people.

It was a beautiful trap – too detailed to explain in this short format, but worth reading (Matthew 21:23-27).  But with that question, Jesus established that they were not really interested in knowing Who had given Him His authority!  They were only interested in putting down His challenge to their own.  Think about that: the priests were not really interested in learning more about God!

 

But if someone really wanted to know the answer, that would be an excellent question to ask Jesus!  In fact, Jesus came to earth in great measure to answer that question!  God Almighty exists beyond the plane of human sight.  Jesus revealed Who He is in ways humans could understand.  In the same way you are looking at your computer monitor (or phone screen) to understand what is happening in the invisible realms inside your computer, Jesus came to make God visible and comprehensible.  He said:

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.  (John 14:9b)

If the priests and teachers had really been seeking an answer, He would have given them the answer, the answer that would have blown their minds open and transformed them.  They had a good question but missed out on the answer.  It’s easy to make that mistake when we read the Bible.  If you have a chip on your shoulder when you approach the Bible, if you read it to judge it, you won’t find many answers.  But if you come with a humble, open heart, the answers will amaze you and nourish your soul.

Quotes: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.