The "we know"s of John

 

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 John3-5; Psalm 37


TO CHEW ON: "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true..." 1 John 5:20

As we read 1 John 5, the phrase "we know" keeps popping up. What are the things John told his readers way back in the first century, and tells us now, that "we know"?

1. "We know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments" (1 John 5:2).

[Know here and in its last appearance (in 1 John 5:20) is ginosko which means to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of, perceive, feel, understand.]

2. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life..." (1 John 5:13).

[Know here is oida from horao which means to see with the eyes, see with the mind, perceive, know, become acquainted with by experience, to see, look, take heed, be aware.]

3. "... we know that He hears us, whatever we ask..." (1 John 5:15)

4. "...we know we have the petitions we have asked of Him" (1 John 5;15).

5. "We know that whoever is born of God does not sin" (1 John 5'18).

6. "We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19).

7. "We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding..." (1 John 5:20a).

8. "...that we may know Him who is true and we are in Him who is true..." (1 John 5:20b).

As I read this list of certainties posed by John, I am again impressed with how the Christian life is a push-and-pull of faith and experience. Notice how our lists of knows (the know of experience) is bracketed by two knows (learning to know, getting a knowledge or perception of).

I ask myself, which of these knows can I declare with confidence? Which do I need to grow in? Most of all, am I progressively advancing in knowing Him (1 John 5:20b)? I do that by buttressing my faith through experience in all the ways John lists.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to have the confident knowledge of You that John expresses. Above all, help me to know You.


PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 37

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Do we walk in darkness, or light?

TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 John 1-2; Psalm 36

TO CHEW ON: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:6,7


Our reading talks about two ways to live: “Walk in darkness” and “walk in light.” These are metaphors. What do they mean?

The Zondervan Study Bible notes define both (emphases added):

To “walk in darkness” denotes a life characterized by wickedness and ignorance and an unwillingness to be open toward God and his revelation in Christ—lest one’s sinful behaviour be exposed.”

John actually quotes Jesus Himself on what walking in darkness is about:

“‘For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed’” - John 3:19.

Here’s the old secrecy over disobedience cropping up again that began way back in the Genesis garden (Genesis 3:8-10).

To “walk in light” denotes a life characterized by truth and holiness and a willingness to be open to God and his revelation, resulting in fellowship with one another and with God.”

How do we, in our everyday lives, walk in light?

A start, I believe is to be open with God—to let Him search us through the Bible and in prayer and keep no secrets from Him. We can express our doubts, fears, issues, and questions to Him. When He shows us attitudes to change and exposes the times we’ve sinned, we acknowledge, confess, repent, make restitution (or whatever is required). We let Him shine light into the farthest, darkest recesses of our hearts to show us to ourselves so we can renounce all darkness and live in light. (I’m thinking this may take years as, in my experience, God deals with us in layers to get to core of our onion hearts.)

A wonderful side benefit of living in light is how it smooths our relationships with fellow-Christians: “… we have fellowship with one another…”


PRAYER: Dear Father, help me to walk in light by being completely open and honest with You. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 36

The Bible Project VIDEO: 1-3 John (Read Scripture Series)



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Sin—not exactly as shown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 3-4; Psalm 26

TO CHEW ON: "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today,' lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Hebrews 3:12-13

I remember how, when we were little, my siblings and I begged our parents to buy cereal because of the prize inside. Almost always, though, we were disappointed by that prize. For the large, sturdy toy pictured on the outside of the box turned out to be a fraction of the size and often broke even as we were trying to put it together.

Sin is like that. It looks attractive, desirable, must-have, must-do. But it never ends up as good as the picture.

Sin and deceit

• Satan's deceitful depiction of sin's consequences (he said there were none) convinced Eve to disobey God and put us on the sinful road we're on (Genesis 3:13).

• Deceit drags others into its net (2 Timothy 2:14).

• Deceit multiplies (2 Timothy 3:13).

• The deceived life is one of dissipation and selfishness (Titus 3:3).

• Continuing to live in deceit results in corruption (Ephesians 4:22) and death (Romans 7:11).

• We are to exhort our Christian brother or sister if we see them being deceived by sin (Hebrews 3:13).

The reason identifying sin's deceit is so important is because being fooled by it is the first step down the road that leads away from God. A footnote in my Bible says it well:

"Unbelief is caused by a hardened heart, which is caused by the deceitfulness of sin. The result is apostasy, departing from the living God .... Constant encouragement in the midst of a caring fellowship will help believers remain faithful" - Guy P. Duffield, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, notes on Hebrews, p. 1733.

I vaguely recall that often there was, beside those cereal box pictures, a disclaimer that read (in very small print) "Not exactly as shown." Next time we're tempted by sin's attractive image let's imagine those same words beside it: "Not exactly as shown."

PRAYER: Dear God, please open my eyes to sin's deceit. Help me to see past the pretty picture to the lie it represents. And give me the love and courage to exhort others when I see them being deceived. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 26

MORE: "Sin lives in a costume..."

"Sin lives in a costume; that’s why it’s so hard to recognize. The fact that sin looks so good is one of the things that make it so bad. In order for it to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil. Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party.

Impatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth. Lust can masquerade as a love for beauty. Gossip does its evil work by living in the costume of concern and prayer. Craving for power and control wears the mask of biblical leadership. Fear of man gets dressed up as a servant heart. The pride of always being right masquerades as a love for biblical wisdom. Evil simply doesn’t present itself as evil, which is part of its draw.

You’ll never understand sin’s sleight of hand until you acknowledge that the DNA of sin is deception. Now, what this means personally is that as sinners we are all very committed and gifted self-swindlers . . . . We’re all too skilled at looking at our own wrong and seeing good." - Paul David Tripp, Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy, p. 32 (quoted in The Glorious Deeds of Christ, "Why Does Sin Look So Good?")

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

An effective ransom

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Galatians 3-4; Psalm 6

TO CHEW ON: "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." Galatians 4:4,5

Kidnapping is a crime that strikes fear into a parent's heart. Though the demands for ransom that sometimes accompany kidnappings give a glimmer of hope, the stories of abduction victims never redeemed but found dead even after ransom was paid, are chilling (10 Unsolved Ransom Kidnappings).

God is a parent whose human children were, in a sense, abducted—kidnapped by Satan. As such they (we) were in bondage, not tied up in the trunk of a car or hidden in an out-building, but prisoners to Satan and his workings in circumstances and through our enemies, captive to our default setting of sin, to our inability to keep God's law, to the curse of sin on creation, and to death.

But, praise the Lord, our kidnapping has a happy ending. The ransom paid—Jesus' death on the cross—was effective. Because of it we are or can be redeemed from:

• circumstances - Psalm 34:19-22.

• enemies - Psalm 69:18.

• the bondage and guilt of sin - Psalm 130:7,8.

• the need to keep the law - Galatians 4:5.

• And we look forward to a time when this ransom will effect the release of nature from the curse of sin (Romans 8:19-23), including death (Psalm 103:2-4).

Do we appreciate God's ransom—His Son Jesus become human for us, dying for us? Have we applied it personally to our own lives? Do we live by faith, as freed sons and daughters of the Father who has redeemed us?

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus who laid down His life as a ransom for me. I no longer belong to Satan but to You. When I forget this, please remind me by Your Spirit that I am Your daughter—that You are my "Abba" - Daddy. Amen.
 
PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 6


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The urgent job of being a reconciler

Image: CikerFreVectorImages / pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 2 Corinthians 5-6; Psalm 1

TO CHEW ON: "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:18

Have you ever been at odds with someone in your family so you weren't speaking to each other, or every time you did, that issue between you got in the way? Or perhaps you've been the person trying to get family members to reconcile with each other? Either one is uncomfortable, sad, even tragic.

The need for reconciliation follows a wrong or perceived wrong or hurtful action by one of the parties. It  causes a rift in the relationship. To become reconciled, someone usually needs to forgive.

The rift in humankind's relationship with God happened when Adam and Even sinned in Eden. The story of Israel in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New is the story of God making a way of reconciliation.

The penalty for our rebellion is death. God is able to forgive our sins (yet stay true to His justice) because Jesus, God the Son, paid that death sentence for us. On the basis of Him becoming sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) God can now forgive our sin, yet stay true to His standard of moral perfection.

Now our job, as those whose friendship with Him has been repaired because we have admitted our sin and accepted His way of reconciliation, is to tell this good news to others. In our reading Paul calls it the "ministry of reconciliation."

Challenges to the job of being a reconciler are several:

• To live the reconciliation lifestyle by staying in relationship with others both believers and unbelievers. We are forgiven. We need to live a life characterized by forgiveness.

• To share the good news of possible reconciliation to God with friends, neighbours and family members who may not even acknowledge God's existence, let alone the possibility of being alienated from Him by sin.

Why is it important to persist?

Because the consequence of giving up, implied in 2 Corinthians 5:19 "… imputing their trespasses to them…" i.e. making our loved ones bear the penalty of their own sin and rebellion, is unthinkable.

PRAYER: Dear God, please impress on me the urgency of the ministry of reconciliation. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 1

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

When should someone else's conscience rule your behavior?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 7-8; Psalm 144

TO CHEW ON: "But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak." 1 Corinthians 8:9

Are you aware of your conscience? We all have one, you know, though this part of our consciousness gets little attention in the secular world. However, writer Joe Carter believes the conscience is making a comeback among Christians. In an article on The Gospel Coalition, he describes what the conscience is and isn't, does and doesn't do for us. He makes these points:

1. Conscience is an internal rational capacity that bears witness to our value system.

He likens a bothered conscience to physical pain, alerting us to the fact that we've done something we consider wrong.

2. Conscience is a trustworthy guide only when it is informed and ruled by God.

3. Conscience is to be subordinated to and informed by the revealed Word of God.

4. To willfully act against conscience is always a sin.

5. Conscience can be suppressed by sin.

Paul here is going one further, telling his readers not to merely follow their own consciences (he assumes they already do) but to alter their behavior so as not to offend the conscience of a more sensitive brother or sister.

And why would they do that?

Out of genuine care for that more sensitive Christian, realizing that when they indulge their greater freedom, their example may encourage the person with the sensitive conscience to join in the activity and thus go against his conscience and thus sin (1 Corinthians 8:9).

The example Paul uses—eating meat offered to idols—will hardly apply to us. But many modern behaviors could. For example, if your conscience allows you to drink alcohol in moderation, would you refrain from drinking it if you were with someone who had scruples against drinking alcohol?

Jim Cymbala in the book Storm makes an impassioned plea for this kind of consideration of others exactly in this area. His dad, who was an alcoholic, didn't even attend his wedding. Cymbala says:

"That's what I always think about when I hear people flaunting their so-called 'freedom in Christ' or their enlightened view of twenty-first century ethics. One drink at one party did my dad in. And I don't know what weakness lies resident in me. That's why I forgo anything with alcohol content. Not because wine with a meal is wrong, but rather who knows where that drink might lead me? Or someone who watches me drink it? ...  Can't we all, regardless of our differing views on what's 'lawful,' put other people's welfare first?" - Jim Cymbala, Storm, Kindle Location 1576.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to put into practice the principle of caring as much about others and their spiritual welfare as I care about my own. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 144

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Should you ever unfriend a fellow Christian?

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 5-6; Psalm 143

TO CHEW ON: “But now I write to you not to associate with any one who bears the name of [Christian] brother, if he is known to be guilty of immorality, or greed, or is an idolater—that is whose soul is devoted to any object that usurps the place of God—or [is] a person with a foul tongue (railing, abusing, reviling, slandering) or is a drunkard or a swindler or a robber. [No] you must not so much as eat with such a person” 1 Corinthians 5:11 AMP.

The church discipline Paul recommends here sounds a lot like the “shunning” that happens amongst, for example, the Amish. To us, living in our postmodern culture of individuality and permissiveness, this kind of treatment may sound extreme. I’ve heard of members of religious groups taking to court church officials who disciplined them in such ways.

However, tolerated sin is dangerous. Earlier in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul explains why, using the metaphor of leaven or yeast (which is almost always a type of sin in the Bible). Just like leaven grows to spread through an entire lump of dough, so, Paul says, sin left unaddressed soon permeates an entire congregation (1 Corinthians 5:6-7).

The Israelites were to remove leaven from their homes in preparation for Passover. So, Paul argues, these Christ-followers need to deal with the leaven of sin in their midst when they gather to celebrate Christ (“keep the feast”-[2 Cor. 5:8—Passover and/or the Lord’s Supper).

Paul’s list of leaven-type actions they needed to address didn’t end with the sexual immorality of two members. To immorality Paul added greed, idolatry, "foul tongue"*, drunkard, swindler, robber.


Two takeaway thoughts from this passage:
1. I ask myself (and all of us)  are we guilty of the leaven on this list? Could we be spreaders of leaven in our churches? Could our attitude toward possessions, accomplishments, goals etc. ever be characterized as greedy or idolatrous? What about speech. Do we ever rail, revile, abuse, or slander? Are we disciplined in eating and drinking? Are we honest?

2. If our church leadership doesn’t enact discipline, we need to guard our own relationships. Perhaps we should prayerfully consider separating ourselves from “brothers and sister” who live immorally, are greedy and worship the idols of possessions, accomplishments, prestige, leisure, whose speech is abusive and foul, who practice dishonesty.

PRAYER: Dear Father, help me to eliminate the leaven from my own life, and to guard my relationships with Christians who have slipped into a worldly lifestyle.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 143

* “Foul tongue” "Railing" (rail: to utter bitter complaint or vehement denunciation), and "reviling" (revile: to assail with contemptuous language, address or speak abusively - definitions from dictionary.com). 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

The rebel within

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Romans 7-8; Psalm 136

TO CHEW ON: "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." Romans 7:24-25

Who of us can't relate to the split personality inside each of us that Paul writes about here? Some ideas he develops in this passage:

1. The law is a mixed blessing.
What law is Paul talking about? I think we can safely assume he is referring at the very least of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17). He mentions one of them ("You shall not covet") in verse 7.

Jewish readers would also probably have thought of the myriad of laws connected to their worship. These involved offerings, feast days, circumcision, refraining from certain foods etc. We know a lifetime of religiously doing such things can put one into bondage, fearing that if something is left out, it will lead to damnation, It's another way the law puts one in shackles.

Paul describes the law as the thing that revives an inner struggle (so, in a way, bad) and also "holy, just, and good" (Romans 7:12).

2. Awareness of the law awakens within us the desire to break it (Romans 7:7-12).
The very presence of a rule is a challenge to our perverse human nature to break that rule.

3. We are born in sin with a bent to rebel against God and His law.
The tendency to sin is our default setting (Romans 7:14-18). And so as Christians, our desires (wanting to obey Christ) and our actions (disobedience, because it comes naturally) often contradict each other (Romans 7:19).

4. But there is a way out of this law-awakened rebellion against God—a way to get unchained from this "body of death":

This body of death: The figure of a person chained to a corpse from which he cannot be freed, despairing of deliverance…"

It is "Through Jesus Christ our Lord":

"But despair gives way to a declaration of victory, not because the struggle ceases, but because human strength is exceeded by the power of the Holy Spirit" - Wayne Grudem, commentary notes on Romans, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1561).

As we experience what Paul is talking about, let's allow the Spirit full sway in our hearts to change our desires so that we fulfill the "law of God" (Romans 7:22) not only with our minds but with our flesh as well.

PRAYER: Dear Holy Spirit, be alive and active in me so that I desire to obey—not rebel—God's will as expressed through His moral laws.  Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 136

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Exposed

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 7-8; Psalm 106

TO CHEW ON: "Then Jesus spoke to them again saying, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'" John 8:12

The scribes and Pharisess who brought the adulterous woman to Jesus figure largely in many incidents in the gospels. My Thompson Chain Bible (NKJV) gives a simple description of them:

"Scribes: Writers or secretaries who copied the Scriptures.


Pharisees: A party among the Jews of Jesus' time that laid great stress upon the observance of rites and ceremonies. They made a pretense of superior piety and separated themselves from the common people. They were believers in the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body and the existence of angels and spirits" (p. 1939).

Most people of that day held the scribes and Pharisees in awe because of their showy saintliness. But not Jesus. And not the Gospel writers. Matthew, for example shows the Pharisees and scribes as:

• Not righteousness enough to get into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:20).

• Murderous (Matthew 12:14).

• Insincere when they pretended to be on the verge of following Jesus if He would give them just one more sign (Matthew 12:38).

• Hypocritical when they tried to entrap others over transgressing the fine points of the law (like hand-washing) while they themselves transgressed the big points (like failing to honor parents) (Matthew 15:1-9).

• Conniving as they attempted to trap Jesus into saying or doing something they considered wrong (Matthew 19:3).

Today's story from John 8 shows them in just such a scheming mode. And though there was no question that the woman they hauled before Jesus was a sinner, He was masterful in staying out of their trap. When they insisted that she be stoned:

"He raised Himself up and said, 'Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.' Then He bent down and went on writing on the ground with His finger" - John 8:7-8.

Surprise of surprises, instead of picking up stones and getting to work they began, one by one, to leave. Why? Obviously each one was convicted of his own sin.

Some say that the source of their sin-conviction was what Jesus was writing on the ground — that he was listing their sins right in front of their eyes. But I believe it was His simple presence. For, Jesus' declaration of being the light of the world (John 8:12) follows the narrative as if it's the lesson or point of the story. Their slinking away showed that in the light of Him, each one became painfully aware of his own sin and knew he could not be the one to start the stoning.

Like the self-righteous Pharisees we too find it easy to categorize sin and stand in judgment over those whose sin is, in our eyes, worse than our own. Until, that is, we come into the presence of Jesus, the light, and see our own soiled selves.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, please keep me from being pharisaical and judgmental. Help me to view myself realistically and to treat fellow travelers with the same grace that I need. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 106

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Abandoned

"The Crucifixion" by Alexandre Bida

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Mark 15-16; Psalm 102

TO CHEW ON: "And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani' which is translated 'My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?'" Mark 15:34

No matter how often I read the story of Jesus' death, these words from the cross (the echo of Psalm 22:1) wrench at my heart. They carry the tones of utter despair and abandonment.

A footnote in my Bible describes them as a "...cry of dereliction from Jesus that reflects the burden of humanity's sin, complete identification with sinners and a real abandonment by God" - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1379.

Wayne Grudem names four aspects of the pain of the cross:

1. Physical pain and death ... death by crucifixion was one of the most horrible forms of execution ever devised by men...


2. The pain of bearing sin: More awful than the pain of physical suffering that Jesus endured was the psychological pain of bearing the guilt of our sin (Isaiah 53:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13).


3. Abandonment ... Jesus faced this pain alone (Mark 15:34; Matthew 26:56).


4. Bearing the wrath of God ... As Jesus bore the guilt of our sins alone, God the Father, the mighty Creator, the Lord of the universe, poured out on Jesus the fury of his wrath: Jesus became the object of the intense hatred of sin and vengeance against sin which God had patiently stored up since the beginning of the world (Romans 3:24-25; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2). - Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, pp. 573-575.

Which makes that desolate cry from the cross all the more impacting. It has something to do with me. My sin—my pride, jealousy, anger, greed, covetousness etc. etc. were part of that black burden that not only separated Jesus from His Father but made Jesus (instead of me) the object of the Father's wrath.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for not turning away from the terrible "cup." I am forever grateful that You became sin, a curse, for me. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 102


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Is there leaven in our lives?

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TODAY'S SPECIAL: Mark 7-8; Psalm 98

TO CHEW ON: "Then He charged them, saying, 'Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.' " Mark 8:15

In a conversation that makes us smile because of its misunderstandings, Jesus warned the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. The disciples thought He was talking about real bread—seen by their discussion amongst themselves (Mark 8:16).

But that wasn't it at all. What Jesus was really referring to is leaven as a metaphor. "Often the term has an evil connotation, that is, what is small may corrupt the whole," says J. Lyle Story in his notes on Mark (New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1364).

The leaven, or evil Jesus tells them to avoid here is that of the Pharisees and Herod. My Bible's notes suggest the leaven of the Pharisees is lack of faith so that ever more signs are needed, and the leaven of Herod is the worldly outlook of godlessness.

The meaning of leaven as a small thing that disseminates through the whole batch is borne out in other references to leaven. In 1 Corinthians Paul said, "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" Then he told the Corinthians to purge out the leaven of "malice and wickedness" - 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.

In Galatians Paul repeated the leaven proverb (Galatians 2:9) and warned readers about the leaven of returning to the bondage of the law (practicing and insisting on circumcision) as a way to earn salvation - Galatians 2:2-12.

These references to leaven as a small, seemingly insignificant thing that can corrupt the whole has me asking, might there be leaven in my life?

It could be some secret and unconfessed sin that saps my spiritual energy by its whispers: "You sinner! You have no right to spiritual power and success." Or it could be an attitude like the fear of man, or a lack of faith that the Bible is really truth, or pride that says, "I would never do that" and then sits in judgment on others. It could be any number of things—bits of leaven that eventually affect every part of life and ministry.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to discern the leaven in my life and, with the help of Your spirit, rid myself of it. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 98

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Insulting the guests

Jesus Eats With Publicans and Sinners - by Alexandre Bida

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 9-10; Psalm 85

TO CHEW ON: "And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, 'Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' When Jesus heard that, He said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.' " Matthew 9:11,12

Jesus and His disciples were socializing with known sinners. This dinner party was in Matthew's own home (this is clear from the Mark 2:13-17 and Luke 5:27-32 versions of this story, where Matthew is called "Levi").

You've got to admire Matthew's humility when he reports Jesus' defense of why He's associating with, what his critics consider, riffraff.  Jesus says they are sick and need a doctor, sinners who need to repent, unrighteous who need mercy. He's basically describing Matthew and current company. How would you or I feel if a dinner guest said that about us and our guests?

But it seems Matthew had no problem with it. He had faced himself in this way. It had brought him to his moment of decision, led him to leave his job— a life change (Matthew 9:9).  Now he wanted his friends to be exposed to the same ideas and the Person who had helped him see himself.

I would suggest that it is similar for us. It's only when we are honest about our condition and realistic about who and what we are that we get free to leave the old life behind and embark with Jesus on the new.

We have to face that we don't "make mistakes," we sin. Our sinful acts aren't the odd exception, they are symptoms of our chronic condition. We need to repent, turn around, and come to Dr. Jesus for mercy. This is not some self-improvement program for us and our friends, but a spiritual healing, a rebirth.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, in my society where "sin" and "repentance" are words I rarely hear, help me to understand the depth of human separation from You, the need to admit that we're all sinners and must turn around (repent) to re-establish our relationship with God. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 85

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

When your belly is full of tears

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 2 Chronicles 35-36; Psalm 80

TO CHEW ON: "Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts;
Look down from heaven and see,
And visit this vine." Psalm 80:14


From the vantage point of hindsight we know the "vine's" story—the ups and downs of Israel's history. It's easy for us gloss over generations of slavery in Egypt, the back-and-forth between oppression and freedom of the judges' period, the waves of invaders that led to the exile of the Jews in at the end of the Old Testament.  Our Bible reading takes us through millennia in mere hours. We readily forget how horrible it must have been to live in any one of those dark times.

This psalm, however, seems like a cry from the middle of one of them:

"O Lord God of hosts,
How long will You be angry
Against the prayer of Your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears,
And given them tears to drink in great measure" - Psalm 80:4,5 (emphasis added).

One of the powerful things about the psalms is how they express the experience and emotion we all go through, no matter when we live. Can't you just hear the Christians of Syria, hounded and killed by ISIS terrorists weeping these verses, or the family in Africa devastated by the  Ebola virus, or the family in North America cut apart by cancer, or…?

In this psalm there is only one resolution to whatever tragedy the pray-er is experiencing. It is God.

Our prayers can echo the psalmist's as we cry from whatever dark place we're in:

"Restore us ... Restore us ... Return we beseech You...
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts,
Cause Your face to shine,
And we shall be saved" - Psalm 80:3,7,14,19.

PRAYER: Dear God, please restore and return to those with their bellies full of tears who call on You today. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 80

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Your sin hurts more than just you

"Deliverance from the flood" - Psalm 69:15
Engraver Melchior Kussell
Artist SL
From the Pitts Theology Library.

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Chronicles  22-24;  Psalm 69

TO CHEW ON: "Let not those who wait for You,
O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me;
Let not those who seek you be confounded because of me,
O God of Israel." Psalm 69:6

What a desperate cry for help David makes in this psalm! In picturesque language he describes the feeling of drowning in trouble and being sucked into the mire of problems (Psalm 69:1-2; 14-15). His enemies seem numberless and his treatment unfair (Psalm 69:4). The message that comes through is, 'None of this is my fault!'

And then we come to verse 5:

"O God you know my foolishness / And my sins are not hidden from you." Maybe he isn't as blameless as he let on at the beginning.

I really appreciate his thoughts relating to the potential fallout of his actions in verse 6:

"Let not those who wait for You
O Lord of hosts, be ashamed because of me;
Let not those who seek you be confounded because of me,
O God of Israel."

The sad truth is that we are often at least a little to blame for our own problems. And when we sin we hurt those who view us as examples and mentors—our children, young Christians, our friends and colleagues, those who look to us for instruction and inspiration etc. Our broken marriages, involvements in pornography, illegal money schemes, theft, child sexual abuse—whatever—especially if we are leaders, impact much more than just our own lives.

Let's keep that in mind before we yield to temptation. Let's let our love for the body of Christ be another reason not to sin in the first place.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to realize how my sin affects Your body (the church) and resist temptation. Help me, at the same time, to refrain from harsh judgment when my brothers and sisters sin. I want to be a restorer of the broken. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 69

MORE: Second most-quoted psalm
The NIV Study Bible's introduction to this psalm names it the second most-quoted psalm in the New Testament:

"The authors of the NT viewed this cry of a godly sufferer as foreshadowing the sufferings of Christ; no psalm except Psalm 22 is quoted more frequently in the NT" - NIV Study Bible, p. 855.

Those quotes:

• Psalm 69:4 - John 15:25

• Psalm 69:9 - John 2:17; Romans 15:3

• Psalm 69:21 - Matthew 27:34

• Psalm 69:25 - Acts 1:20

• Psalm 69:33 - Luke 4:18 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

I'm sorry. Please forgive me

"David Asking Forgiveness" by Julius Schnorr Von Carolsfeld (1851-60)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Nehemiah 10-11; Psalm 51

TO CHEW ON: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:17

Psalm 51 is David's eloquent prayer of repentance, prayed after the prophet Nathan confronted him with God's reaction to his role in the Bathsheba affair. I wonder, had he been avoiding God in the interim? Or had he carried on as usual, pretending everything was fine between them? Now that he knew things weren't fine, a lot of seemingly pent-up realizations came bubbling to the surface:

• He's been feeling dirty: "wash me thoroughly ... purge me with hyssop ... wash me..." (Psalm 51:2, 7, 10). My Bible's footnotes explain, "The Hebrew word for wash (vs. 10)  is not the one used for the simple cleansing of a dish in water but rather the washing of clothes by beating and pounding them" - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible p. 727.

• His sin has been bothering him—even if he squelched it down pretending it was no big deal: "...my sin is always before me..." (Psalm 51:3,4).

• He admits that he deceived himself and needs God's help for that not to happen again: "Behold You desire truth in the inward parts / And in the hidden part you will make me know wisdom" (Psalm 51:6).

• His sin has sucked the joy out of life: "Make me hear joy and gladness .... Restore to me the joy of Your salvation" (Psalm 51:8,12).

• It has silenced his praise: "O Lord, open my lips / And my mouth shall sing aloud of Your righteousness" (Psalm 51:15).

• He fears God's Spirit has left or will leave him: "Do not cast me away from Your presence / And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me" (Psalm 51:11).

• He has a renewed realization that God is holy and not someone with whom to toy: "Have mercy upon me, O God ... Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed" (Psalm 51:1, 14).

• No bargaining, he gives God carte blanche to deal with him over this sin: "Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion" (Psalm 51:18).

I would suggest that David's reactions to his uncovered sin are frequently ours as well. That's why Psalm 51 is often our destination when we've sinned and we're needing to confess and repent.

May our words be as sincere, our spirits as broken, our hearts as contrite as David's appear to be when we read or recite this sacrifice of confession and repentance.

PRAYER: Dear God, You know how easily and often I sin and feel the same emotions as David expresses here. Help me to be as repentant as he was. May I learn from these times so that "truth in the inner parts" and wisdom in the "hidden part" become my lifestyle. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 51

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Path to desolation

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 25-27; Psalm 38

TO CHEW ON: “For thus says the LORD God: ‘When I make you a desolate city like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring the deep upon you, and great waters cover you, then I will bring you down into the Pit, to the people of old and I will make you dwell in the lowest part of the earth, in places desolate from antiquity with those who go down to the Pit, so that you may never be inhabited; and I shall establish glory in the land’” Ezekiel 26:19,20


Part of our reading today is a prophecy against Tyre. Some facts about the history and setting (gleaned from my Bible’s study notes):

• Tyre was an important Phonician seaport along the northern coast of the Mediterranean. It was in present-day Lebanon.

• Tyre was a city of two sections, one on the mainland and the other on an island half a mile offshore.

• Tyre’s destruction is prophesied in other places: Amos condemned Tyre for selling the Israelites to the Edomites (Amos 1:9), and Jeremiah prophesied their destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in Jeremiah 27:1-6.

• The destruction of Tyre happened in two parts. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the mainland city in the siege of 585-572 BC. The island city was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. The prophecies in Ezekiel 26:4,12,14 came true when Alexander captured the city by building a causeway using the debris from the city on the mainland.

Ezekiel describes Tyre as a wealthy, diverse, established, bustling and proud seaport. People hearing his prophecy may have thought, how can his words ever come true? And yet Tyre fell as predicted.

As citizens of wealthy, diverse, established, bustling, and proud towns and cities on a continent of similar communities, we may also feel secure and certain that nothing can take our society down. However, even now in our developed democracies cracks are appearing.

Note, for example, the polarization of the people holding to left-leaning (liberal / progressive) and right-leaning (conservative / traditional) thought and lifestyle in the U.S., illustrated by an ad developed for the Republican party, that plays back threats and calls to action by their left-leaning opponents.

The Left in 2018: Unhinged



 As pressure mounts between the two sides, political watchers predict a blow-up. One can see how the nation could explode and implode in civil conflict.

In Canada the conflict is not as overt. Yet if one listens to talk shows and follows comments on Twitter and social media, one can see the same polarization developing.

Let’s not be smug and secure in our own society's outer beauty, sturdiness, wealth, knowledge, and systems of defense, like the citizens of Tyre were (Ezekiel 27:3-11),  when God sees rot and we’re also marked for destruction.


PRAYER: Dear Father, help me as a citizen of a wealthy peaceful nation to resist putting my confidence in possessions and government, especially when that government turns its back on You and urges me to go along with the breaking of Your laws for right living in the areas of accepting, even celebrating sexual perversion and confusion. Help me to cling to Your word as the standard by which I live no matter what my society and government tell me. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 38

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Thanks for reading! This year we are using The Bible Project "Timeless Reading Plan" to read through the Bible in 2018. If you'd like to read along in your own Bible, you can download a pdf of the reading plan HERE.

The burden of concealment

Achan hides his loot - Artist Unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 5-8; Psalm 32

TO CHEW ON: "When I kept silent my bones grew old through my groaning all day long." Psalm 32:3


David writes Psalm 32 from a place of relief. He had covered a sin, then come clean and confessed it.  He contrasts the way it feels to be holding his secret with the relief of having confessed. Let's take a look at the effects of covering or concealing sin on David - Psalm 32:3,4:

"When I kept silent…

• "…my bones grew old…" - He felt a sense of fragility and weakness.

• "…through my groaning all day long." - He experienced day-long agony of spirit.

• "For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;" - God's presence felt heavy, not comforting.

• "My vitality was turned into the drought of summer" - he felt useless and unproductive, like a plant shrivels and grows weak without water.

A brief overview of others who practiced concealment in the Bible show more side effects of covering sin:

• Adam and Eve attempted to hide from God (Genesis 3:8), though it was and is impossible (Psalm 139:11; Luke 12:2; Revelation 6:16).

• Achan and Gehazi had to sneak around and hide their stolen treasures - Joshua 7:21; 2 Kings 5:24.

• Isaiah talks about permanent deep changes to the person who lives a life of concealment. He calls it becoming "warped" - Isaiah 47:10.

I don't know if you have ever refused to confess a known sin, but I have.  I can witness to how accurate David is in describing what it feels like.

Contrast those feelings with how everything changes for him following his confession:
He feels:

• a desire to be with God again - Psalm 32:6.

• security in God's presence -  Psalm 32:7.

• joy, expressed in singing and shouting - Psalm 32:7, 11.

• direction and purpose - Psalm 32:8.

• gratitude for God's mercy - Psalm 32:10.

If you are holding onto a secret sin thinking you can live like this indefinitely, stop kidding yourself. Expose your secret. Make it right with God and any person involved. Then watch the vitality and joy flow back into your relationship with God and others.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for David's vivid and accurate description of concealment. Help me to live my life clear and transparent before you and others. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 32

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Is trouble our fault?

Image: Pixabay.com

TODAY’S  SPECIAL: Jeremiah 14-17; Psalm 17

TO CHEW ON: “Thus says the LORD to this people;
‘They have loved to wander;
They have not restrained their feet.
Therefore the LORD does not accept them;
He will remember their iniquity now,
And punish their sins’ “ Jeremiah 14:10.

There is probably nothing that draws our attention toward or away from God like tragedy. Whether it’s the personal tragedy of sickness, death, or accident or mass disasters like flood, earthquake, fire, or war, when such things touch our lives we feel compelled to ask life's hard questions.

In Jeremiah 14 of our reading today Jeremiah describes horrendous drought conditions. There is no water anywhere. Man and beast alike languish (Jeremiah 14:1-6).

He links these physical conditions to the spiritual state of the land’s inhabitants - Jeremiah 14:10 (our focus verse).

As if that isn’t bad enough, God goes on to command Jeremiah not to pray for these people because even if they perform outward signs of repentance (fast, bring offerings) God knows that their repentance isn’t genuine (Jeremiah 14:11,12).

God is especially hard on the religious leaders—false prophets—who claim to speak for God but don’t (Jeremiah 14:13-15).

Back to us, we hesitate—maybe too much—to link difficult circumstances and tragedies to our spiritual condition. Maybe there’s a stronger connection than we acknowledge. For starters, we live in a fallen world where things devolve into chaos rather than evolve into order. Additionally, as citizens of nations that have, in effect, turned their backs on God, Christians are not immune from feeling the effects of God’s punishment on the countries in which we live.

Maybe the consequences resulting from spiritual hardness of sword, famine, and pestilence is one that should not surprise us, both personally and nationally (Leviticus 26:25,26).

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to search my own heart and keep clear accounts with You in good times and in bad. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 17

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A pest in the garden

"Rise up my love, my fair one
and come away"
by James Shaw Crompton

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Song of Solomon 5-8; Psalm 12


TO CHEW ON: "I had put off my garment;
how could I put it on?
I had bathed my feet;
how could I soil them." Song of Solomon 5:3

Even this idyllic garden of love has a pest or two. In today's reading we see glimmers of selfishness when Beloved comes to the door, but Bride doesn't feel like getting dressed or soiling her clean feet. So she delays. When she does eventually open the door no one is there.  Beloved has gone. She has delayed too long.

We may recognize Bride's selfishness in reactions that well up within us. We don't like to be interrupted, pulled away from activities that we have planned, or have our sleep broken by the telephone.

After ignoring the summons to respond we may be filled with regret just like Bride was. But when we try to back-track, we often find, just like she did that once an opportunity to show love has been squandered, it is lost forever.

PRAYER: Dear God, I recognize Bride's selfishness in me. Help me to respond to opportunities to show love and think more of others than myself. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 12

MORE: The sober truth

John Piper explores selfishness in a February 2011 sermon entitled "I Act the Miracle":

"Selfishness is virtually the same as pride and is the deep, broad corruption that is at the bottom of it all. I would give it six traits.
    •    My selfishness is a reflex to expect to be served.
    •    My selfishness is a reflex to feel that I am owed.
    •    My selfishness is a reflex to want praise.
    •    My selfishness is a reflex to expect that things will go my way.
    •    My selfishness is a reflex to feel that I have the right to react negatively to being crossed.
And the reason I use the word “reflex” to describe the traits of selfishness is that there is zero premeditation. When these responses happen, they are coming from nature, not reflection. They are the marks of original sin.
Now what happens when this selfishness is crossed?" 

By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

Read all of I Act the Miracle and discover ANTHEM (an acronym for victory over selfishness and its nasty symptoms).


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Unwelcome wages

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 65-66; Psalm 121

TO CHEW ON: "'Behold it is written before Me: I will not keep silent but repay -- even repay into their bosom -- your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,' says the Lord, 'who have burned incense on the mountains and blasphemed Me on the hills; Therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom.'" Isaiah 65:6-7
What is it about us humans that we so readily tend toward breaking rules? Wherever there is a posted speed limit, for example, you can guarantee that more people will be driving over than under it (at least where I live). When my husband was on the council of our townhouse strata, we became more aware than ever of owners parking in visitor spots (something our rules forbid)--an awareness that was uncomfortable because, as a council member, he had some responsibility to see that those rules were enforced.

Our penchant to break rules is not lessened when it comes to God's rules. Our reading today is God's response to Isaiah's sermon-prayer of Isaiah 63:7-64:12. God answers Isaiah's impassioned questions about why Israel is in the state she's in (Isaiah 64:10-12) by detailing what He sees.

There is worship in unauthorized places (Isaiah 65:3). The people are spending time in the company of and sating their hunger with things God calls an abomination (Isaiah 65:4). And they are proud of it (Isaiah 65:5). So, God says, they are getting their just wages (Isaiah 65:6-7, our focus verses for today).

There is a word for breaking God's rules. It is sin. The idea that sin has wages goes through scripture. These wages are not desirable:

- Sinning is called a futile thing, which will be rewarded with futility (Job 15:31).
- The wicked person will be condemned; he will be destroyed by evil (Psalm 34:21).
- Those who make a lifestyle of breaking God's rules are called fools and are "afflicted" (made ill)  by their sins (Psalm 107:17).
- Their "revenue" (income) is trouble (Proverbs 15:6).
- The sinner spends his life amassing wealth "that he may give to him who is good before God" (Ecclesiastes 2:26).
- Sinners bring evil upon themselves (Isaiah 3:9).
- Evil deeds are repaid in kind (Isaiah 59:18).
- Sinning leads to bitter consequences (Jeremiah 8:14).
- It also leads to a harvest of uselessness and irritation (Jeremiah 12:13).
- It results in calamity (evil, disaster, doom) (Jeremiah 44:23).
- Every transgression and disobedience receives a just reward (Hebrews 2:2).
- Its wages are death (Romans 6:23).

This uncomfortable list of sin's consequences makes one ask: what exactly is the attractiveness of sin again?

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me remember, when tempted to sin, that there are consequences. And thank You for the gospel, which counteracts these wages with Your gift of forgiveness and life. Amen.


PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 121


MORE: "Sin's Wages and God's Gift"
J. Gresham Machen (1991-1937) was a Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary and Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. His excellent short essay "Sin's Wages and God's Gift" -- first published in God Transcendent (1949)-- begins:

Some time ago I heard a sermon on this text by a preacher who has now retired. The sermon was not one that I agreed with altogether, but the beginning of it, I thought, was interesting. The preacher said that during the preceding summer he had met in a chance sort of way, on one of the steamers of the Great Lakes, a gentleman who turned out to be a man of large affairs, but a man who had little to do with the church. Incidentally the conversation turned to religious matters, and the man of business gave to the preacher the benefit of a little criticism. The criticism was perhaps not unworthy of attention. "You preachers," the outsider said, "don't preach hell enough."

Read the whole thing and you will not only be impressed with the dreadfulness of sin's wages, but reminded of the wonderful good news of the second part of Romans 6:23: "...the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord."

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.