Hardened By Sin

The writer of Hebrews warns in Heb 3.13-14, for his readers not to become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. This is such a dangerous trap. I do what I want to, and the more I do it, the less real God becomes. This is something which Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw clearly. He once wrote, "When lust takes control, then God becomes unreal." Just so. Beware, Oh Christ-follower that you do not become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Beware, O my heart, that you do not become hardened by the deceifulness of sin.

God and Mystery

3000 years after Solomon penned Ecclesiastes 11.5, we still have no clue how the spirit gets implanted into a child in the process of pregnancy, just that it does. Men have learned a lot about science and how the world works, and yet we still cannot understand the complete working out of God's plan for man. This is very humbling.

Trusting in "His holy name"

Bible reading highlight is from Ps. 33.21 today. Spurgeon comments: The root of faith in due time bears the flower of rejoicing. Doubts breed sorrow, confidence creates joy.

A Wise Heart

I love the way the ESV translates the last half of Ecc 8.5: The wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. While this is set in the context of interaction with the king, it is applicable to any person at any time. For this reason, we ought to cultivate a wise heart, by fearing the Lord, so that we will know the right thing to do, and the proper time to act. Lord, give me a wise heart!

Inhabiting the Praises of Israel

Reading in Ps 22.3 this morning and the ESV translates the second line as "enthroned upon the praises of Israel." This is not a very exact translation. It is put more literally as "inhabiting the praises of Israel." The point, however, is not changed. God inhabits or is enthroned upon the praises of his people. I like to think of it this way. Since it glorifies God to lift him up as the only infinitely holy and worthy being, in doing so God himself dwells or is enthroned upon those praises. When God's people praise him, God is glorified.

Christ, Our Hope

Reading in 1 Tim 1.1 this morning where Paul simply describes Christ as our hope. On this beautiful Easter morning, just so. Christ is risen! He is our (only) hope. He who knew no sin, became sin on our behalf. I praise God for the hope we find in Christ.

An Anchor in the Storm

Paul tells the Thessalonians in 2 Thess 3.3, that in contrast to wicked and evil men (who are not faithful), God is faithful. This is such a solid anchor of truth for us to lash ourselves to in the inevitable storms of life. God's character is that he is faithful. We can rely upon that. We can believe it. We can count on it.

Jesus Wants the Rose

This is a beautiful illustration from Matt Chandler's life of thinking correctly about the mercy and grace of Christ. Very moving. We need to really live out grace rather than preaching grace, but living law.

The Virtue of Patience

My Bible reading highlight was from 1 Thess 5.14 today. Paul tells the Thessalonians to admonish the idle, help the weak, and encourage the fainthearted. Then he says, be patient with them all. I believe that he says this because he understands men. Few people who have deeply rooted problems change quickly. It takes many starts with a lot of stops on the way; it takes failure; it takes starting over. Thus the virtue of patience. Patience means understanding that people are human and frail.

The Christian's One Calamity

I was reading 1 Thess 4.1 this morning and Chrysostom had a great comment on that verse:

There is only one calamity for a Christian, this being disobedience to God.

Fervent Prayer

Reading in Col 4.12 this morning and I was struck by Epapharas' fervent prayer for the church in Colossae. Paul calls him a "slave of Christ Jesus" and says that he was "agonizing in prayer" for the church. This humbles me because I struggle to "agonize in prayer" for my family, more less anyone else. Thomas Constable, commenting on this passage writes: Epaphras’ fervent agonizing in prayer (cf. Luke 22:44) reflects his understanding that God would provide illumination and continued growth in proportion as people requested these of Him (James 4:2). This is spiritual work that only God can do. Just so. However, if only God can do it, then why am I not praying more fervently for those to whom I minister?

Christ to Mary Magdalene: Don't Cling to Me!

One of the first statements that Christ makes after his resurrection is to command Mary Magadalene not to cling to him (John 20.17). What to make of this command? Commentators have offered different opinions and who knows who is correct. I tend to agree with Thomas Constable. He says that Mary was holding onto Jesus as if she would never let him go and he needed to point out that there was work to be done on her part and on his part as well. He is also implying that there will be a new relationship to him soon, one in which his disciples will not be able to see and speak to him.

Constable: Thomas needed to touch Jesus to strengthen his faith. Mary needed to release Him because He would not depart immediately, and Jesus had something else for her to do.

Tongues That Cut/Tongues That Heal

How powerful the tongue is to do either harm or good. Whoever came up with the childhood ditty—Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me—had probably never been hurt by words. Words are often more powerful than sticks and stones and do more lasting damage. This is certainly what Solomon is getting at in Prov 12.18. May we have a tongue that brings healing and encouragement, an honest tongue, but a healing tongue.

Avoiding the Washing Machine

I was reading in Eph 4.13-14 today and was struck by the word that Paul used which is translated "tossed to and fro by the waves (κλυδωνίζομαι)." It's a good translation of this passage and brings to mind body-surfing in L. A. when I was a kid. You would get caught in one of the waves and flipped over and over, sometimes so badly that you didn't know which way was up for awhile. We called it, "being in the washing machine." It was a terrifying experience as a kid. The aim of Christian maturity is that one is not dumped into a crisis of faith every time one hears—as Paul puts it—every wind of doctrine. May we grow to maturity so that we can withstand the inevitable attacks that come against the teachings of Scripture.

Don't Give Up!

Paul gives us the law of the reaper in Gal 6.9. The promise is that we will reap in due time if we do not give up. It is a call to perseverance in the work of ministry, in the things that God has called us to do. John Brown commented that "Christians frequently act like children in reference to this harvest. They would sow and reap in the same day." True enough. God's way seems to be just the opposite, we do not always see the result of our ministry. God often only shows us this years down the road. Persevere. Stick with it. Don't give up.

The Heart of a Pharisee

My Bible reading highlight today was John 9.34. It is the Pharisees' response to the man who was born blind and healed by Christ. They make a tacit admission that the man was healed by Christ without even realizing it! In addition, in the Greek they emphasize the second person singular: "YOU were born in utter sin, and would YOU teach us?"

We need to be very careful that we do not have the heart of a Pharisee. The Bible Speaks Today makes this point in its commentary on this section:

The Pharisees are not an extinct breed. Whenever we find ourselves valuing the letter of God’s law above its spirit; whenever we find ourselves unable to rejoice in the saving and renewing of lives simply because the instrument used was not someone who dots all the i’s and crosses all the t’s of our theological group; whenever we lose the daily, hourly sense of joy in the grace of God by which alone we know him and live before him, then we need to beware.

I Am the Light of the World

Reading in John 8.12 this morning where Christ makes the (now) familiar claim, I am the light of the world. In a day without electricity, where the world was lit only by fire and where darkness reigned half of the time, light was perhaps the key commodity one could have. It is a metaphor that would resonate with the people very strongly since light was not taken for granted so much as it is now.

Throughout Israel's history, light was associated with God as Johnson points out in his commentary at this verse. The people understood what his claim was. It is one of several statements in John that are breathtaking. What kind of person makes claims like this? Either one who is indeed the light of the world, or someone who is crazy or a liar. Christ's works, message, and resurrection attest that what he said was true.

Ministry of Reconciliation/Message of Reconciliation

Paul says in 2 Cor. 5.18-19 that God gave us both the ministry of reconciliation and the message of reconciliation with the motivation for our own ministry of reconciliation being the pattern of how God reconciled us to himself through Christ. Reconciliation here is the word καταλλάσσω which means to reestablish proper friendly interpersonal relations after these have been disrupted or broken (the componential features of this series of meanings involve (1) disruption of friendly relations because of (2) presumed or real provocation, (3) overt behavior designed to remove hostility, and (4) restoration of original friendly relations) — ‘to reconcile, to make things right with one another (Louw and Nida).
Is our ministry of reconciliation here one of reconciling other people to God, or reconciling other people to ourselves? Judging from the very next verse it would seem that Paul is speaking of the reconciliation between God and man because he calls it the message of reconciliation. So we are to both do (live out) reconciliation and preach reconciliation of God to man through Christ.

Children and the Kingdom of Heaven

Reading in Luke 18.16-17 this morning. As usual when Christ sees a teaching moment, he seizes it. In this case the disciples obviously assumed that Christ couldn't be bothered with little children since he had much more important things to do, like healing the sick and preaching the gospel. Christ demonstrates both compassion and concern for little children as well as teaching the disciples that if one were to enter the kingdom of God, one must do it with child-like faith.

It seems to me that one of the key ingredients of the faith of a child is dependency. The child is dependent upon his parents and doesn't spend a lot of time wondering how or where the next meal is going to come from, that is for parents to worry about, not children. As Thomas Constable puts it:

Obviously infants are not humble in the same sense that adults show humility, but infants are humble in the sense of being totally dependent and unable to provide for themselves. They receive rather than provide, and in those qualities they are good examples of humility.