Category Archives: God’s Word: The Bible

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April 19, 2017

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Faith & Hope, God's Grace & Love, God's Word: The Bible, Knowing Him, Prayer, Trusting God, Wisdom & Guidance

WHAT’S YOUR QUESTION?

I pray that the glorious Father, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know Christ better. Then you will have deeper insight. You will know the confidence that he calls you to have and the glorious wealth that God’s people will inherit. [Ephesians 1:17-18 (ESV)]

I received an email regarding a not yet released Christian movie about a journalist who has the opportunity to interview someone who claims to be God. The email posed an interesting question: “If you could interview God, what would you ask?”

day lilyAn interview with God would appear to be a journalist’s dream opportunity! As I started thinking of questions, I realized I wouldn’t want to know the answers for many. I don’t want to know when or how I’ll die and I certainly wouldn’t want to be privy to that information about anyone else. I wouldn’t want to know exactly what will become of friends who don’t believe or who will go where at judgment. A friend said he might ask how he was doing but, fully aware of his failings, realized he probably wouldn’t want to hear God’s answer. Some friends in Chicago might want to ask Him about the Cubs but, unless they were gamblers, knowing the answer would be a season spoiler. There is much that God could tell me that I wouldn’t want to know because I could never live with the weight of His answers.

On the other hand, many of God’s answers would be amazingly profound in their simplicity. If I did ask when I would die, His answer would be “Never” since He’s already given me eternal life. If I asked how He could possibly love me, His answer would be, “Because I am love and you’re my child.” If I asked how he managed creation, He might answer, “With a word!” If I asked what proof there is of His existence, He’d remind me to open my eyes and see the proof in a sunrise, sunset, butterfly or flower. When asked how He came to be, He’d reply that He’s always been and forever will be. If I dared ask why people suffer, He would remind me that Job already asked that one. He’d probably add, “You wouldn’t understand!” which is correct, because I wouldn’t. Conceivably, many of His answers would consist of only one word—such as listen, sacrifice, love, obey, trust, believe, share, witness, care and forgive. If I asked what I should know, He’d tell me I already had everything I truly needed to know in the Bible, his love letter to us, and then remind me to spend more time reading it. Fortunately, there’s no need to make an appointment for a formal interview with God; we can interview Him every day in prayer!

Thank you, God, for the privilege of reading your word and coming to you in prayer.

Our supreme need, our only need, is to know God, the living God, and the power of His might. [Martyn Lloyd-Jones]

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. [Romans 1:20 (ESV)]

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” [Jeremiah 9:23-24 (ESV)]

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April 7, 2017

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Attitudes & Behavior, Faith & Hope, Fear & Doubt, God's Grace & Love, God's Promises, God's Word: The Bible, Knowing Him, Trusting God

WHEN BELIEF BECOMES FAITH

trapeze
You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? [James 2:19-20 (NLT)]

When we visited our grandchildren in February, I had another opportunity to watch my granddaughter fly on the trapeze. As she practiced transferring from her fly bar into the catcher’s hands, I thought of promises. The catcher assured the flyers he’d catch them and they clearly believed him when they jumped off the platform, turned upside down and hung from their knees. Knowing his promise and believing it, however, isn’t enough to get someone from the fly bar into his hands. Once swinging through the air, my grand had to act on his promise by straightening her legs, flying off the bar and reaching into emptiness. In that moment, when she floated in the air between fly bar and catcher, her belief in the catcher became faith in him. The catcher can only make good on his promise when the flyer acts on it. Those flyers who professed to believe his words but never reached for him were left hanging upside down.

The word “promise” appears 364 times in my NLT Bible. Scholars usually say that God made more than 3,500 promises to man. In 1956, however, during his 27th reading of the Bible, Canadian schoolteacher Everett Storms catalogued 7,487 promises from God to mankind. Although I couldn’t even begin to list them all, I know that God promises provision, protection, direction, wisdom and a love that will never fail. He promises peace, forgiveness, an abundant life, salvation, Jesus’ 2nd coming, healing and eternal life. Nevertheless, even if I could recite every promise found in the Bible’s 31,173 verses and wholeheartedly professed my belief in each one of them, I still have not shown faith.

Faith requires action; it requires us to live our lives in reliance on each one of God’s glorious promises. It’s when we act on our belief, when we live our lives in dependence on God’s word, that faith is born. God can never make good on His promises if we never act on them! Of course, since my grand is still learning, she wears a safety harness in case her timing is off. When we take that leap of faith with God, however, we don’t need a harness—we can get it right the first time we do it. It’s always the right time to take our belief and act in faith on God. Without that leap of faith that propels us into God’s arms, however, we’re just hanging upside down from the fly bar!

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. [James 1:22-25 (NLT)]

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March 20, 2017

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Bible Stories, Faith & Hope, Forgiveness, God's Grace & Love, God's Word: The Bible, Knowing Him, Salvation: A New You

THE WINNER

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I find joy in the way shown by your written instructions more than I find joy in all kinds of riches. [Psalm 119:14 (GW)]

It’s March Madness time for basketball fans and my team is already out of the competition. Last year, however, my choice won—but not in basketball. After placing sixteen popular Bible stories in brackets, my preferred Bible resource site had its followers tweet votes for their favorite story to see which one moved forward. The choices were: Esther and the king, Jesus walking on water, the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, Joseph and his coat, Jonah and the fish, Noah and the ark, the exodus from Egypt, David and Goliath, Ezekiel and the dry bones, Jericho’s walls, Balaam’s donkey, Daniel and the lion’s den, Jesus healing the blind, Rahab and the spies, and the burning bush. Which would you expect to be the final winner?

Ezekiel and the dry bones didn’t make it past the first round (which I understand since that one sort of creeps me out). Unfortunately, the lovely story of Esther, up against the more familiar parable of the Prodigal Son, was defeated in the first round. In the final round, on one side was the historical account of the young David defeating the giant Goliath. The story is exciting, has danger and violence, and illustrates the supernatural power of God. It’s a tale of a brave young man who demonstrates the power of God with just a sling and a few stones. It tells us that, when we step out in faith, the God we serve can defeat any of the giants in our lives. Everyone loves a story where faith in God beats brute strength and the little guy defeats the big one.

David’s underdog opponent was the parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s a moving story with a not totally happy ending. After the younger son insults his father and foolishly demands his inheritance, he squanders it all. In desperate circumstances, he returns home with his head hanging low and is welcomed by his father. The dark side to the story is that the older son, the one who faithfully remained at his father’s side, is indignant and can’t understand his father’s compassion and forgiveness.

At first glance, David’s defeat of the formidable Philistine would appear to be the favorite. Nevertheless, the undefeatable youth was trounced by the Prodigal Son. When we first meet David, even though he’s young, he seems larger than life. He’s handsome, a skilled musician, and described as having good judgment and being a brave warrior. Among all of Jesse’s sons, he is the one chosen by God to become king. Most of us don’t resemble David nor have we been anointed as a king. We’re not heroic future monarchs, but we are God’s troubled children. As much as we appreciate a story of good triumphing over evil, we can personally relate to Jesus’ parable because we all are God’s prodigal sons.

The parable is a story of hope (the father is waiting at the gate for his son), mercy (the boy is not punished), love (he is hugged and greeted with a kiss), forgiveness (he is welcomed as a son, not a slave) and joy (there’s to be a huge celebration). Like the son, we all disappointed our parents and, if we were blessed with children, they disappointed us at times. Moreover, just as the son misused his father’s money, we have misused the gift of free will and squandered the blessings given us by our heavenly Father. This story reassures us that no matter how immoral, unscrupulous, self-indulgent or corrupt we’ve been, God welcomes his children home when they come with humble and repentant hearts. Once dead because of sin, we can come alive again. Knowing what sinners we are, this demonstration of the Father’s love and forgiveness is reassuring. The parable reminds us that blessings aren’t earned and obedience is not what gives us eternal life. God’s grace is not something we deserve but something He freely gives. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for loving and forgiving your undeserving prodigal children.

He has not treated us as we deserve for our sins or paid us back for our wrongs. As high as the heavens are above the earth—that is how vast his mercy is toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west—that is how far he has removed our rebellious acts from himself. As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. [Psalm 103: 10-13 (GW)]

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February 15, 2017

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Attitudes & Behavior, Church & Worship, God's Word: The Bible, Knowing Him, Obedience, Prayer, Salvation: A New You, Temptation & Sin, Wisdom & Guidance

SAFETY NETS

bald python and florida cottomouth snakes
If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. [1 Corinthians 10:12 (NLT)]

Our local zoo does a fascinating presentation called “Snakes Alive.” Two snake handlers stand in a walled area while the spectators stand on the other side of the waist-high wall. Using snake hooks and tongs, the keepers bring out their reptilian charges—including venomous snakes such as rattlers and cottonmouths. As the snakes roam freely around the enclosure, the keepers talk about each species. There may be as many as three snakes loose at once. Even though the keepers are speaking to the audience, they keep their eyes on the snakes at all times. Since they wear low-cut hiking boots, I wondered about their footwear and asked why they didn’t wear high boots. The keeper responded that they’ve found wearing high boots gives them a false sense of security. When trusting boots to keep them from harm (which they won’t), the keepers tend to become complacent and less vigilant, adding that lack of caution can have disastrous results.

I thought of that response when five of the famed Flying Wallendas fell over 30-feet while practicing an eight-man high-wire pyramid stunt earlier this month. Known for performing without a net, the Wallendas weren’t using a safety net that day. “We don’t train with a net. It’s been taught for generations a net can be a false sense of security,” said spokesman Nik Wallenda. “It’s all about training and preparing,” he added. Like high boots for zoo keepers, even a net cannot fully protect someone. In the 1930s, one of the troupe died when he fell into the net and bounced out of it.

While I don’t advocate performing on a high-wire without a net or sharing an enclosure with venomous snakes at any time, I think both the Wallendas and the zoo’s reptile handlers make a good point. High boots can’t prevent snake bites, nets can’t prevent falls, and being a Christian doesn’t mean the enemy won’t get his fangs in us or make us lose our balance.

Satan wants us to get so comfortable and relaxed in our lives that we start going through the motions rather than truly keeping the faith. We are so sure of heaven that we forget about hell. Being Christians it isn’t enough to protect us from the enemy—we must live as Christians. When life is going smoothly, we tend to get lax in Bible reading, prayer and even church attendance. Although we have the armor of God, we get too self-confident to put it on. We become self-reliant rather than God-dependent. When we stop bubbling over with heartfelt enthusiasm for God, we become tepid and lackadaisical and the enemy is ready to strike while we’re looking the other way. When our worship becomes perfunctory, our prayers are half-hearted and our good intentions regarding Bible study and service remain just intentions, Satan distracts us and we start wobbling! When we become spiritually apathetic and stop paying attention to God, Satan is right there waiting to attack. As well trained and prepared as both the snake handlers and the Wallendas are, they can’t allow themselves to let down their guard or become complacent and overly confident in their abilities; neither can we! A lack of caution can have disastrous results!

Not everyone who calls out to me, “Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, “Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.” But I will reply, “I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.” [Matthew 7:21-23 (NLT)]

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January 4, 2017

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God's Word: The Bible, Sharing Our Faith, Temptation & Sin, Wisdom & Guidance

UNDER ATTACK

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. [Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)]

St. Luke - cathedral-of-st-francis-santa-feLiving in a nation where we worship freely and can both possess and read the Bible, we can easily get complacent and forget that Satan is trying to defeat the spread of the gospel message. According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, those Gideon Bibles we find in our hotel rooms are becoming an endangered species. In this era of political correctness and inclusiveness, hotels want to avoid offending people of other faiths or no faith at all. Two years ago, for example, citing “diversity” reasons, the Travelodge chain in the United Kingdom removed Bibles from all of its rooms. Last year, the Freedom from Religion Foundation asked fifteen major hotel companies to keep Bibles out of hotel rooms. With threats of lawsuits, they succeeded in convincing hotels operated by some state universities in Arizona, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa to do just that. The FFRF has also printed a sticker reading, “Warning: Literal belief in this book may endanger your health and life.” They encourage their supporters to place the stickers on any hotel room Bible they find.

Kowtowing to those who preach freedom from religion rather than freedom of religion is not the only reason Bibles are disappearing from hotels. Many of the newer hotels don’t have nightstands. While they found discreetly hiding a Bible in a drawer acceptable, hotels feel placing a Bible on an open shelf is too strong a religious statement. There is also a perception that younger travelers aren’t interested in religion. Although the Marriott chain of hotels has offered both the Bible and the Book of Mormon in the rooms of all of their hotel franchises, their two new hotel brands, Moxy and Edition, will have no kind of religious material. Geared toward “fun-loving millennials,” Marriott’s spokesperson explained that religious books “don’t fit the personality of the brands.” Promising that the bar is always open, their website describes a Moxy hotel as “a free-spirited place where you can do all that crazy fun stuff you’d never think of doing at home, together with likeminded spirits you’d otherwise never have met.”

When asked about their elimination of Bibles, many hotels chains respond that people who really want to read the Bible already have one with them. That’s probably true but I’m not concerned about those people who want to read the Bible. It’s the people who need to read the Bible who concern me—be it a travelling salesman who just got a pink slip instead of an order, someone contemplating adultery, a family whose child is undergoing surgery at a nearby hospital, a woman who’s left her abusive husband, someone trying desperately to stay sober one more night or even one of those millennials who has regrets about some of that crazy fun. They are the ones who need a Bible and just might be looking for one in their hotel room some night.

Today’s hotels usually offer Wi-Fi and many offer mini bars, iPod docking stations, large flat-screen TVs and even pay-per-view X-rated entertainment. What surprised me was learning that some hotels now offer a variety of something called “intimacy kits” that come with condoms, massage oils and other sex aids. Nevertheless, some of those same hotel chains don’t want to offend anyone by leaving a Bible in their room!

Let us never forget that the enemy is out and about and eager to keep people from God’s word. As for me, I just made a donation to the Gideons so they can keep distributing Bibles to police, fire, medical and military personnel and continue placing Bibles in prisons, schools, hospitals, medical offices, shelters and any hotels that will still take them. I’m also considering placing stickers on hotel room Bibles that read: “Warning: not believing what’s written in this book is hazardous to your everlasting life!”

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. [2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)]

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. [Hebrews 4:12 (NLT)]

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December 28, 2016

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Church & Worship, Faith & Hope, God's Word: The Bible, Knowing Him, Prayer, Salvation: A New You, Sharing Our Faith

NOMINAL FANS

message T-shirts
Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention. [Matthew 7:13-14 (MSG)]

Northwestern University’s football team is in the Pinstripe Bowl and I’ll cheer on the team at a bowl party this afternoon. I’m not really a football fan but I’ll look and act like one today. I’ll wear a purple and white NU Wildcat t-shirt, cheer when everyone else cheers, wave a purple pompon, and even sing the fight song. Since I know next to nothing about football and don’t even know who they’re playing, I’m what could be called a nominal fan. I’m only going because I went to Northwestern fifty years ago and we’re new members of the local NU alumni club, sponsors of the event. Although my husband likes football, our real motivation is to meet people and make friends. We probably won’t give Northwestern or their team another thought until the next alumni event.

My type of fandom is what being a “nominal” or “cultural” Christian is like. Nominal Christians are the people who attend church simply because they did when they were growing up, society expects it of them, or they want to meet some new people. They’re the people who call themselves Christian because they’re not Jewish, atheist, Hindu or Muslim. Nominal Christianity is often based on faulty logic: “Christians are good, I am good, therefore I am a Christian” or “Since Christians go to church and I go to church, I must be a Christian.” Nominal Christians may know and observe Christian holidays, but they don’t know Jesus. Although they bear the name of Christ, Jesus has no bearing on their lives. Nominal Christianity certainly is easier – it doesn’t require a changed life and things like repentance, forgiveness or loving your enemies. Nominal Christianity, however, doesn’t offer salvation and eternal life.

As I walked through the park taking photos before our Christmas Eve service, I wondered about the more the 4,000 in attendance. Were they believers, firm in their relationship with our triune God? Were they seekers trying to find their way in this troubled world? Were they new to the faith and anxious to learn more about their Lord and Savior? Were they nominal Christians or “birth and resurrectionists,” attending church because that’s what one does on Christmas Eve, or were they curious tourists, there just because of the good reviews on Yelp?

It’s not my business to judge the depth of anyone’s faith, but I wondered if Jesus ever enters their thoughts until the next time they enter a church, whenever that may be. Are their only prayers the ones said at a worship service? Is reading or hearing God’s word a Sunday only event? I remembered our new pastor’s words when asked about the future of our church. He didn’t want to see us just grow larger; he wanted us to grow deeper. The first place to start is in our own lives with a careful examination of our faith and relationship with Jesus. Do we take a minimalist approach to God or are we in a deep and long lasting relationship with Jesus? Evangelist Billy Sunday said, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” Let’s remember that calling ourselves Christians doesn’t make us Christians any more than wearing a team jersey makes me (or anyone else) a football fan.

Cultural Christianity is not saving faith. [Trevin Wax]

Knowing the correct password—saying Master, Master,” for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, “Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.” And do you know what I am going to say? “You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.” [Matthew 7:21-23 (MSG)]

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