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July 17, 2025

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Bible Stories, Faith & Hope, Fear & Doubt, Sharing Our Faith, Today: Make it Count

DARKNESS OR LIGHT?

There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. [John 3:18-20 (NLT)]

Occasionally, I’ll spot a partially open moonflower (Ipomoea alba) during an early morning walk at the park. While the Moonflower’s cousin the Morning Glory opens wide to welcome the sunlight, the Moonflower prefers darkness. It’s only when the sun sets that it opens to a large trumpet-shaped bloom. Rather than competing during the day with brightly colored flowers for pollinators like bees and butterflies, Moonflowers enjoy pollinators like bats and moths at night. As the morning sun rises, the Moonflower again rejects the light and rolls up into itself.

The Moonflower’s rejection of the sun reminds me of those people who, preferring darkness, reject Jesus, the light of the world. Some people choose the dark because they don’t know or understand God’s word or doubt its authenticity. At best, they may think of Scripture as a guide to good living and, at worst, a work of fiction along the lines of The Odyssey and The Iliad. Others may reject the light because of painful personal experiences with the church, the hypocrisy they’ve seen in people claiming to be Christ’s followers, or the church’s failures regarding abuse, morality, prejudice, and righting wrongs.

While a Moonflower can never become a Morning Glory in my garden, they can in God’s! An unbeliever can become a believer and glory in the light of Christ. But, for that to happen, we must do a better job of sharing the light of the Lord and being Christ-like in all we do. As God’s gardeners, if we gently correct misunderstandings and misconceptions and witness Jesus in our words and actions, some of those choosing darkness may turn to God’s light.

Nevertheless, while some people may have their reasons for rejecting the light, I suspect many reject Jesus simply because (like a Moonflower) they prefer the darkness to the light. While they might even know the truth of Christianity, they’re like the Jews who believed in Jesus but, fearful of the Pharisees, wouldn’t admit it and remained in the darkness. John tells us they “loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” [12:43] Perhaps, like the rich man who walked away from Jesus because he valued his earthly possessions more than eternal life, they find the ideas of sacrifice, selflessness, humility, submission, righteousness, repentance, or forgiveness to be stumbling blocks. The cost of discipleship, of carrying their own cross and following Christ—is too great. Jesus may stand at the door and knock, but it’s up to each person to decide whether to open it! Sadly, not everyone will.

The issue is now clear. It is between light and darkness and everyone must choose his side. [G.K. Chesterton]

For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. [Ephesians 5:8-9 (NLT)]

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June 9, 2025

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Bible Stories, Church & Worship, Prayer, Sharing Our Faith

THE SINNER’S PRAYER

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” [Acts 2:38 (ESV)]

purple prairie clover In a book about evangelism, the author wrote of bringing a new believer into his office and the two of them saying the “Sinner’s Prayer.” After the new believer repeated the Pastor’s words, he was pronounced saved. While there is no official version of this “sinner’s” prayer, it probably goes something like this: “God, I know that I am a sinner and that I deserve to go to hell. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. I do now receive Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you, Lord, for saving me and forgiving me! Amen.” Many evangelical Christians speak of saying some sort of prayer like this at the moment of conversion. Is a special “Sinner’s Prayer” a requirement for salvation?

If would seem that, if a special prayer were required, we would find it in the Bible. While we find lots of prayers, there doesn’t appear to be a special prayer prerequisite for salvation. Jesus told the sinful woman who kissed and anointed his feet that her faith had saved her, He told the woman with the bleeding disorder that her faith made her well, and He told the blind men that their faith gave them sight. While on the cross, the Lord promised the repentant thief that he’d join the Him in paradise that day. Although they all knew they were sinners, none of them recited a special “sinner’s” prayer!

When the 3,000 were converted at Pentecost, we don’t read of a mass recitation of a specific prayer. Instead, Peter told the people to repent of their sins, turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. After hearing the gospel from Philip, the Ethiopian eunuch was baptized and, after speaking with Ananias, Saul regained his sight and was baptized. While Peter preached the gospel to the Roman centurion Cornelius and his Gentile friends, the Holy Spirit descended upon them and they all were baptized. In none of those cases is there mention of a special prayer before conversion, asking for salvation, or taking Jesus as a “personal Lord and Savior.” The people believed, repented, and were baptized. If a special prayer is required for Christ’s salvation, I’m pretty sure it would have been included in Scripture and it isn’t.

Nevertheless, it is Biblical to repentantly pray and ask for forgiveness; what’s not Biblical is to say salvation comes because of a prayer. Salvation comes by God’s grace through faith. We are justified by faith, not by works, and certainly not by words. Even so, there’s nothing inherently wrong with praying some sort of sinner’s prayer at conversion—unless, of course, the person praying isn’t called by the Holy Spirit and genuinely repentant. When empty of faith, that prayer is meaningless and gives the person praying it a false (and dangerous) sense of security. Merely saying a version of the Sinner’s Prayer isn’t like purchasing an insurance policy guaranteeing salvation and eternal life. Even repeating dozens of prayers can’t save us. We’re not saved by the words of a prayer but by the genuine repentance and faith behind the prayer. As Christians, we don’t put our trust in words but in the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

In actuality, since we’re all sinners, every prayer we say is a sinner’s prayer. Nevertheless, our faith, hope, and assurance should not be in the prayers we say but rather in the God who hears those prayers.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. [Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)]

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. [1 Peter 1:8-10 (ESV)]

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June 5, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Church & Worship, Sharing Our Faith, Thanks & Praise

THE FIRST HYMN

…be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…. [Ephesians 5:18-20 (ESV)]

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, [Acts 16:25 (ESV)]

In the ruins of Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, a scrap of parchment known as P.Oxy. 1786 was discovered in 1918. Only 11-inches long and 2-inches wide, it consists of four lines of text along with musical notations on the back of a grain contract. Found in an ancient garbage dump, it was just one of 500,000 parchments dating from the 1^st century BC to the 7^th AD. Along with grocery lists, official records, and business contracts, the rubbish heap yielded a play by Sophocles, poetry by Sappho, portions of the Old Testament, fragments of both Matthew’s and Mark’s gospels, and an arrest warrant for a Christian.

While scholars call it P.Oxy. 1786, after hearing the version adapted by Chris Tomlin and Ben Fielding, you probably will know it as “The First Hymn.” Indeed, in a way, it is! Granted, the song sung by Miriam after crossing the Red Sea predates Christ by 1,400 years, the Hebrew Psalms were sung at Temple worship, and Biblical scholars believe passages like Colossians 1:15-20 and 1 Timothy 3:16 were hymns sung by early Christians. Nevertheless, none of those psalms or hymns include musical notations as does P.Oxy. 1786. To date, this scrap of parchment dating from around 260 AD is the oldest piece of Christian music in existence.

Although musicologists and historians have known about P.Oxy. 1786 for over a century, it remained in a sort of academic “no man’s land,” until historian John Dickson took an interest in it. Hoping to bring this obscure little hymn back to life, he reached out to musicians Ben Fielding and Christ Tomlin. The result is a new worship song, “The First Hymn.” Bringing the words of this ancient hymn back to life as a contemporary worship song seems almost sacrilegious until we understand the original music. Musicologists say the hymn used the same melodic structure used in taverns and on the stage at pagan theaters at the time. Musically, it was a 3^rd century version of a Broadway, pop, or contemporary worship song! While the resurrected version doesn’t sound like the original, it has remained true to its purpose—a Christian worship song in the musical style of the day!

This hymn was sung at a time when the Church was confronted both by the pagan gods of the Roman Empire and various heresies regarding the divinity of Jesus and the Trinity. Yet, in its 35 words, it is a bold declaration of Christian faith. Combatting heresies of the day, it clarifies both the divinity of Jesus and the three separate but equal persons of the one triune God. It also makes a not too subtle dig at the Roman god Zeus. While pagans referred to him as the “giver of good gifts,” this hymn calls God the “only giver of all good gifts.” Moreover, by calling the heavens to be silent and the rivers to be still, the hymn showed the power of the one true God!

The 3^rd century was a dangerous time for followers of Christ. In 201, Rome made conversion to Christianity a capital offense and, by mid-century, every citizen was required to make a sacrifice to the gods or face death. Found in that same ancient rubbish dump was a formal certificate proving that one local citizen had offered pagan sacrifice in public. Christians who refused were martyred in gruesome ways; if they weren’t crucified or beheaded, they may have been tossed into cauldrons of boiling oil or cast into an arena to be devoured by lions. Nevertheless, this hymn speaks of a God who gives good gifts—not suffering and persecution! This defiant hymn resounds with joy with its words, “Might, praise, and glory forever to our God. The only giver of all good gifts.”

The singing of hymns has a long history in the Christian church. Psalms, a book of songs, is the longest book in the Bible and Scripture makes over four hundred references to singing and fifty direct commands to sing. The last thing Jesus and the disciples did in the upper room His last night was sing a hymn. While in prison, Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns to God which led to their jailer’s conversion! We find instructions to sing in Psalms, Ephesians, Colossians, and James. In the early second century, the Roman governor Pliny the Younger described the worship practices of Christians who “were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god.” Let us continue to sing the song of the redeemed as boldly as did the persecuted Christians of the early Church. Amen and amen.

Let all be silent: The shining stars not sound forth,
All rushing rivers stilled, As we sing our hymn
To the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
As all Powers cry out in answer, “Amen, amen.”
Might, praise, and glory forever to our God.
The only giver of all good gifts. Amen. Amen.
[P.Oxy. 1786 (The First Hymn)]

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [Colossians 3:16 (ESV)]

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May 29, 2025

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Bible Stories, Faith & Hope, God's Plan, Holidays & Holy Days, Sharing Our Faith

40 DAYS LATER – THE ASCENSION

He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.” [Acts 1:9-11 (CSB)]

transfiguration The Resurrection story didn’t end on Easter with Jesus’ appearance to ten disciples, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and John, Salome, and Joanna, along with Cleopas and another believer who broke bread with Him in Emmaus. Appearing and disappearing at will, Jesus remained on earth for forty days. While He probably appeared other times, Scripture tells us He later appeared to Thomas and the ten others, to seven of the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee, to His half-brother James, to over 500 believers at one time, and to the disciples on his last day with them.

The resurrected Jesus had a body—a body with scars from the crucifixion; one that could walk, talk, eat, touch, and be touched. His body, however, was not like the bodies of Jairus’ daughter, the widow of Nain’s son, or Lazarus. Their resuscitated bodies returned to the earthly bodies they had before death and were subject to weakness, aging, disease, death, and decay. But, when Jesus rose from the grave, He didn’t take back His old vulnerable human body—He took on a transformed and invulnerable body. Although physical, His resurrected body was supernatural, imperishable, and immortal. Sharing the power of God, it never would meet death again.

Although the disciples kept asking Jesus if the time had come for Him to restore the kingdom to Israel, He explained that the timing was not theirs to know. After promising them the power of the Holy Spirit and commissioning them to carry His message into the world, Jesus’ physical time on earth came to an end. On the 40^th day after Easter, He disappeared into a cloud and was taken to Heaven. For the disciples who’d been fixated on the restoration of Israel, Jesus’ disappearance was an unexpected event. It’s no wonder they stood gape-mouthed staring into the sky until two angels appeared and promised that He would return in the same way He departed.

Today, some people find it hard to reconcile Jesus’ ascension in Heaven with what we know about the universe and space travel. Did He travel at the speed of light and escape the confines of our universe without benefit of a space suit? Ascending into Heaven, however, does not imply traveling through space to a location far from our world. Just because Heaven is beyond the reach of rockets and telescopes doesn’t mean it is far away or doesn’t exist!

As the abode of a holy and perfect God, Heaven is real and solid and probably closer than we think. A very different kind of world, it is not a geographical or astronomical location within our material universe. Existing in another dimension or on another plane, Heaven is the place where God and the risen Christ dwell. However, even without its navigational coordinates, we can get there because Jesus told us how—He is the way!

On the 40^th day after Easter, the disciples watched as Jesus transcended time and space to His rightful place seated at the right hand of God. The angels’ words to the disciples told them the story wasn’t over—Jesus’ incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension were just the beginning. The story will come to fruition when Jesus reappears and puts everything right. Until that day comes, let us do as did the disciples—go out and share the Gospel message everywhere.

So the Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the accompanying signs. [Mark 16:19-20 (CSB)]

And while he was blessing them, he left them and was carried up into heaven. After worshiping him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they were continually in the temple praising God. [Luke 24:51-53 (CSB)]

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May 22, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Church & Worship, Fruit of the Spirit, Salvation: A New You, Sharing Our Faith, Sorrow, Grief & Regrets, Today: Make it Count

BROKEN PROMISES

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. [2 Corinthians 5:10-11 (ESV)]

Earlier this week, I wrote about my nephew Johnny’s baptism in my mother’s hospital room. Because she was at death’s door, my brother took emergency leave and he and I served as the baby’s sponsors in Baptism (or Godparents).

As Johnny’s Godmother, I made three promises for him during the service: that he would “renounce the devil and all his works…believe all of the Articles of the Christian Faith and…keep God’s holy will and commandments.” In a perfect world, Johnny would have made those same promises again at his confirmation when he was old enough to personally know Jesus. But the world isn’t perfect; he never came to know Jesus and make those vows for himself.

As his Baptismal sponsor, I promised to make sure Johnny learned the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and “all the other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul’s health.” Sometimes promises are easier said than done and I did not keep my vows any better than did my nephew the promises made on his behalf. I can make all sorts of excuses for my failure—I only was 15 when I made those vows, at least 1,500 miles always separated us, and I saw him less than ten times in his 60 years. Nevertheless, I did not try to keep those promises and I will answer to God for my failure.

When I stand at God’s judgment seat, my sins will not be an issue; they already have been forgiven and my ticket to heaven is secure. But I will be asked to give an accounting for what I have done (and failed to do) since becoming a believer. While I kept my nephew in my prayers, I squandered my opportunity, small as it was, to share God’s love and the good news of the Gospel with him. I can’t say that anything I could have done would have made a difference in his troubled life but I should have tried. That weighs heavy on my heart—not because I may miss out on some heavenly reward, but because I missed an opportunity to be a disciple of Christ.

When believers stand before God, we will be judged. Since each of us have been uniquely created and gifted, my evaluation will not be the same as yours; nevertheless, each one of us will give an accounting of ourselves. What did we do with the spiritual light we had, what did we do with the opportunities given to us, and what did we do with the time, talents, and property God entrusted to us?

My nephew is one of the reasons I served our church’s children’s ministry and support both recovery ministries and programs serving the homeless and mentally ill. I suspect I continue writing these devotions as a way of atoning for not keeping the promises to God I made at my mother’s bedside 63 years ago. Older, wiser, and having more light, opportunity, time, and ability, more is expected of me now. While I no longer pray for my nephew, I continue to pray for God’s protection, grace, and mercy on others like him. As for those of us who are Christ followers, I pray that we will make good use of all that God has given us and that through our words and deeds we will live and teach the Creeds, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and “all the other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul’s health.”

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. [Romans 12:6 (ESV)]

Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. [Luke 12:48b (ESV)]

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May 15, 2025

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CLOSE ONLY COUNTS IN HORSESHOES

For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that every one who believes in him shall not be lost, but should have eternal life. … Any man who believes in him is not judged at all. It is the one who will not believe who stands already condemned, because he will not believe in the character of God’s only Son. [John 3:16,18 (PHILLIPS)]

clematis We once had neighbors who left our church for what I’ll call the “church of what’s happening now.” Its members have a variety of beliefs about God and, while they acknowledge a “higher power,” they do not share a concept of it. It could be God, a sacred force, or the spirit of life and there is no right or wrong way to understand Him, Her, or It. While some may regard Jesus as a great moral and spiritual leader or prophet (and possibly even supernatural), they don’t believe He was God and reject the Trinity. Theirs is an eclectic mix of beliefs with each person having his or her own personal truth. Embracing uncertainty, some believe there may be an afterlife and/or reincarnation but, for others, this life is all there is. Although they look to the Bible for wisdom, they also find spiritual inspiration in texts like the Bhagavad Gita, Dhammapada, and Tao Te-Ching. Our neighbors were loving caring people who believed in good things like justice, compassion, peace, protecting the environment, and the dignity of the individual. Nevertheless, while some of their thinking was correct, their conclusion was very wrong.

C.S. Lewis asserts that while many non-Christian religions have good ideas and may not be entirely erroneous, they most definitely are not correct. After all, while some math answers might be closer to being correct than others, there is only one correct answer to the problem. For example, if we had to determine the volume of a cone, we’d need the correct formula:⅓ x b x h. But, before starting, we’d need to figure out b (the area of the base) with another formula: pi x r². To do that, however, we’d have to know the value for pi. With two formulas, several multiplications and one division, there are plenty of opportunities to get the final answer wrong. If the wrong formulas are used, the answer is wrong. If both the formulas and math are correct but the wrong number for pi is used, the answer is wrong and, if everything is done correctly but the decimal is misplaced, the answer still is wrong. Although a nice math teacher may give us some credit for being partially correct, I’m not sure God works that way. Although some of the answers offered by other religions are closer to being right than others, the only correct answer to the salvation equation is Jesus Christ!

In mathematics, we’re given a set of axioms (fundamental truths) and postulates (fundamental assumptions) on which we base our figuring. In Christianity, our creeds are our axioms and postulates. But rather than basing them on Aristotle or Euclid, our fundamental truths and assumptions are based on the Word of God as revealed in Scripture. Within those uncompromisable Christian beliefs, however, we are free to make choices and even disagree. That’s why we have so many different denominations! Nevertheless, our Christian creeds are just that—Christian—and they clarify and encompass our universal beliefs so that, however we got there, we all share the one and only right answer!

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; The Holy catholic Church, the Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen. [Apostles’ Creed]

You all belong to one body, of which there is one Spirit, just as you all experienced one calling to one hope. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, one Father of us all, who is the one over all, the one working through all and the one living in all. [Ephesians 4:4-6 (PHILLIPS)]