Mission Faithwalk

                       He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:3-4)                 I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.―  C. S. Lewis                 This year, I haven’t seen as many of the “other gods died and resurrected” and “Easter is a pagan holiday” as I have in the past. That’s a good thing. I think the people who ...

            God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (II Corinthians 5:21) Have you ever had a dilemma? There were two (or more) equal desirable outcomes, or two (or more) equally undesirable outcomes. You, yourself, and you have an argument. "You" wants one thing, "Yourself" wants the other, and "You" can’t decide. To be fully accurate, God doesn’t have dilemmas. He is wise; He knows how things will and must work out. But in a sense, God had a dilemma. He created the universe and put us in it. He loves us and is ready to forgive us, but at the same time, His sense of justice won’t permit it. We also have a dilemma. We’ve rebelled. We’re guilty. But we don’t want to face the punishment for our crimes. We want God to change the rules, and He does, but not the way we expect, because our solution either requires Him to violate His love or His justice. His solution might violate our egos, but ...

                     For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time . (II Timothy 2:5-6)                 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,   and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.   After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,   and last of all he appeared to me also, as to...

                 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge . (Psalm 62:7) Chances are, we’ve learned that our salvation depends on God. At least, our eternal salvation. I suspect none of us is as convinced that our daily salvation (in whatever form that might take) depends on Him, or that we even need daily salvation. That’s something we might do well to pray about and a challenge we would do well to explore, but the rest of the verse is the focus today, because I suspect it leads to our eternal and our daily salvation. Imagine not having to protect ourselves all the time. Maybe that’s easy for you, but it’s not for most of us. Some of us spend our lives fighting against multitudinous threats. They’re not always big or physical, but they endanger something in us that seems important to us. Yesterday, a deaf customer came into the garden center, and my signing has never been good but is way out of practi...

                   For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, (Philippians 1:29)                 This sounds really bad, almost sick in our day. Granted to suffer? That makes it sound like suffering is a good or noble thing. Then again, I’ve read recent calls that the rich should be required to give up more of their money, and the whites should accept humiliation for the sake of other races. We should all suffer a little for the sake of saving our environment. Teams or groups are often called upon to give up something (often money, but sometimes time or the safety of their bodies) for their team’s statistics or some good cause. There are people around the world and through history that we honor who have suffered for the name of Christ. And then, of course, there are the her...

                 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9) To begin, confession isn’t just saying that we did something. It’s a “con” word, meaning that it’s doing something with someone else. In this case, it involves agreeing with someone about the nature of something we believe or have done. It’s the difference between “I took” and “I stole, it was wrong, and I regret having done it.” The next term is “sin.” As I’ve noted recently, this word causes a lot of trouble. But, to explain it simply, it was a term taken from archery and meaning the distance from the bullseye that the arrow hit. In other words, it’s not some great big bad thing. It’s any imperfection. In some cases, we might actually be wrong about something being a sin, but the point is to talk it over with God and let Him inform you. Note: If Scripture says it’s a sin, it’s a sin. ...

                 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord . (Romans 6:23) This is one of those “important” verses we’re taught as children like John 3:16. I don’t remember whether I was taught that wages are something you earn or not, but that’s the obvious conclusion. In one sense, we like that. It puts us in at least partial control. We can do something that deserves death. What we don’t like about it is that we don’t get to decide what constitutes sin that is sufficient to warrant death.  There are sins we might agree are sufficient, but telling a little white lie? Stealing a loaf of bread to feed your starving family? Gossip? One one-night stand in 25 years of marriage? Calling someone a nasty name? Using bad language? Killing a dog? Maybe some people would happily state that most or all of these earn death. I agree that most do, but I’m not happy about it. We tend to think ...

                 After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. (Job 42:7) If you read the books of Job and the Psalms, one of the things you can’t avoid is the sense that Job and the Psalmist expressed their feelings and ideas about God. Particularly, if you read Job, you’ll find four visitors who clearly tell Job things that we might think are good and true. Job shouldn’t be so arrogant. He should confess his sins, and then God will make everything all right again. And at the end of the book, God reprimands them for speaking what is not true about Him and says that Job was speaking the truth. Time for a close-up of the shocked faces of all concerned. And this is where we usually get stuck in the mud. What truth was Job telling? What truth were his friends not telling? Some...

                  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. (Ephesians 6:10)                 Strong: Middle English  strong , from Old English  strang , of living things, body parts, "physically powerful;" of persons, "firm, bold, brave; constant, resolute; having authority, able to enforce one's will;" of medicines, poisons, "powerful in effect;" of winds, etc., "violent, forceful, severe," of wine, "having high alcohol content." The general sense is "possessing or imparting force or energy; intense or intensified in degree."( Strong - Etymology, Origin & Meaning )                 And, we’re back to this verse, or maybe this passage. It ...

                 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)                 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)               ...

                  Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us . (II Peter 2:11-12)                 “Even though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God…”? Huh? When Peter wrote this, the Roman Emperor was considered (at least by himself) to be a god. To refuse to acknowledge him as such was considered evil. People were permitted to worship other gods, too, but the emperor had to be among them. Many cities had their own patron gods, such as Diana of the Ephesians. Again, you could worship other gods, too, but if the city’s patron god was not among the...

                   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)                 Yesterday, I mentioned these verses in my post. Today, it is the passage of the day on my Bible platform and I can’t think of another verse to discuss instead. It doesn’t help that I’ve discussed this passage at length in the past. So, when all else fails, go with the obvious. The singular fruit of the Spirit is all these virtues. No one consistently demonstrates all of them to their fullest degree except God, but there might be moments when we display one or another to a degree. Perhaps to a remarkable degree. Sometimes, we hear or get the impression that if someone does not epitomize all of the best of Christianity, that we are hypocrites or...

                 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (II Peter 1:5-8) A few days ago, I focused on II Peter 1:5-8 (the second passage above), discussing it as a progression. Each element needed to be there before the next is added. Peter started with faith. Paul did the same thing, though he didn’t list them in order. He wrote, “as you trust in him.” Even though trust is listed in the middle, it ...

  A psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:1-3) Before we launch into comparing ourselves with David as he describes himself in this passage, we need to remember that there are also times when he laments his sinfulness and when he whines at God, calling on God to shatter the teeth of his enemies. Today’s passage is the “mountaintop” and the circumstances we believe we want, but it wasn’t even David’s reality all the time. At the same time, it was David’s reality, and ours. As we read it, we think of living a pleasant pastoral life, wandering from pasture to brook along pleasant, well-tended trails. If you read a shepherd’s understanding of what the psalm says, it’s all stuff that sheep need for their well-being. A good shepherd would do these things. But, He makes me…He leads me…He guides...

                     Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:11-12)                 The second half of this passage makes it sound as though we’re supposed to wear our hearts on our sleeves. That’s why I backed up a verse to give it some context. Paul wrote that the various tribes and cliques did not belong in the Church. It didn’t matter what you looked like, what your social status was, or how you had identified before coming to Christ. Once you were in Christ, you were part of the family, and the behavioral code for family members was different from the behavioral code for everyone else....

                 Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided. (Proverbs 16:6) The best example of the first half of this verse is, of course, the love and faithfulness of God that led to the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But it is because of our love for others and our faithfulness to them and/or to what is right that we seek reconciliation and make restitution for wrongs done to us and forgive those who have wronged to us and seek reconciliation with them. We can atone for our sins against others and we can forgive sins committed against us. The second half of the verse is something I've discussed before. It's not about a phobia. It’s about healthy fear. I used to be phobic of spiders. Now, I have what I would describe as a healthy fear. I’m not likely to try to agitate a spider or even to handle it. But I’m also not likely to leave a building becau...

                  For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (II Peter 1:5-8) He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.” (Acts 10:28)   Given the priority given to love in passages like I Corinthians 13, the list above is interesting. Of course, it ends with love while I Corinthians 13:1-8 describes love. But you know that person or those people you know you’re supposed to love, b...

                        What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! (Romans 6:15)                 God has forgiven our sins, past, present, and future. If we confess our sins, God will forgive us (I John 1:9). So, what’s the big deal if we sin? If God is a loving God, what’s the problem with our sinning? To answer this, let’s look at the concept of sin. God told Adam and Eve that if they broke His law about eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. So, what was the big problem with their eating? They died, and with them, so did every other human. We were separated from God. Sin separates. We like to think of sin as some minor thing that God gets bent out of shape about. But every sin is a brick in a wall we’re building between ourselves and God, between ourselves and...

                 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  (II Peter 1:3-4) Duct tape, WD-40 and bubble gum…all you need to fix anything, right? And the bubble gum is to give your mouth something to do besides use foul language. That’s sort of the way today’s passage sounds. All we need is…knowledge of Him (Duct Tape) and His great and precious promises (WD-40), and we can live a godly life, participate in the divine nature, and escape the corruption of the world. Of course, if you know me, I’d say “WD-40” is “WDA” What all this boils down to is that what we need in order to live the sort of life we like to think we dream ...

                 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments . (Deuteronomy 7:9) The first thing that comes to mind as I read this verse is that Scripture can and does include figurative language. The thousand generations is not some magical limit. When the 1001 st generation comes along, God can and does remain faithful and keep His covenant. The reality is that within those thousand generations, there is likely to be another generation, perhaps the 848th, that also loves God and keeps His commandments. If the thousand-generation bit was literal, that would require that God keep His covenant to the 1849 th generation. God’s certainly capable of keeping track of such things, but that would make His behavior contingent upon the behavior of those who love Him and keep His co...

                 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, (I Peter 3:15) Recently, I saw a comment from someone to the effect of “The only reason you believe what you believe is because your parents taught you to.” It’s not the first time I’ve seen it, and I have to admit that it’s the truth, sometimes. Even if we claim that God has revealed Himself to us or spoken to us, that could just be the way we’ve been taught to interpret it. Of course, those who make this claim (usually atheists) don’t generally have a much better claim for themselves. Either they believe what their parents taught them to believe, or they believe what some teacher (author, scientist, philosopher) told them to believe when they rebelled against what their parent taught. The problem is that the vast majority of w...

                 BibleGateway.com has provided another “before” verse. It specifically says that God gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but earlier in the verse, it connects grace with purpose. I know someone who was taught that if she didn’t perform, God might “shelve” her. This is a variation on what Mordecai said to Esther about what would happen if she didn’t try to help her people, and what God told Ezekiel about what would happen if he didn’t warn his people about their sins. I’m not suggesting that there won’t be consequences if we refuse to do as God tells us. I’m suggesting that God’s plans include grace and are not so fragile that our failure automatically disqualifies us. But more than that. God planned all this before the beginning of time. He had a purpose for you and for me before the universe came to be. He knew that we would fall short, and He chose to work with us anyway. He created us in a way...

                  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (II Corinthians 1:3-4)                 We love because he first loved us. (I John 4:19)                 What do you think of when you think of comfort . Nice, cozy fires, warm blankets, cool breezes, soft clothing that doesn’t squeeze, pinch, or otherwise bother you; a hand on your shoulder, good food… I agree. All those things can and do comfort. But comfort is a con/com- word, meaning “with” and -fort comes from the same root as fortify, fort, and forte, all of which have to do wi...

                 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24) I don’t often remember dreams. More often than not, the ones I remember are about me going back to school/work in a place that isn’t a workplace/school, usually with people who make me uncomfortable. Translation: stress or anxiety. Last night, I woke after dreaming that I had angrily called someone significant in my life an idiot. I have no idea what preceded or followed that declaration or accusation. I felt guilty, as if I had actually said it to the actual victim, and when I checked my Bible platform, the above was the passage of the day. Naturally, I’m looking at them together. To begin, of course, there’s my clearly offensive way: calling someone names. I don’t approve of it in general, and even less from myself, even in a dream. It at least sugge...

                     Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.   (Isaiah 25:1)                 One of the problems evolutionists have is that they can’t believe any being capable of creating all that is, in all its detail, with a few sentences. It’s all too complicated to plan and organize in so short a time. (One. I didn’t say they didn’t have other problems.) After all, it takes months or years to do an oil painting. An engineer takes time designing whatever he’s making and develops drawings and blueprints. He doesn’t do it off the top of his head. Were it possible for an engineer to design and build a living thing, it would probably take him years. Maybe decades..             ...

                 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7) Wednesday night at a prayer meeting, someone shared a concern about our kids. I’ve read Jonathan Haidt’s books describing how fear and anxiety plague our youth, but this time, it was about “our” children and how timid they are. Part of it is because of social media, schools, and the press. But another big part of it is our fault. We have spoken with social media, schools, and the press. We have spoken fear, not faith, and conformation, not courage. These have been spoken to us and over us for decades. Maybe you’re not the same, but I have spoken fear over my life for a long time. I can’t say I’m a conformer, but I have been a coward. Today’s passage follows the Shema that Jesus quoted as part...

                 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast . (Psalm 139:7-10) The Hound of Heaven (by Francis Thompson) As Christians, we’re supposed to seek God’s presence and to rejoice that He is with us wherever we go. Promises like the one in Joshua are supposed to be comforting or thrilling. And at least part of the time, they are. This morning, these passages brought to mind a different feeling, and a long poem by Francis Thompson. Don’t worry, it’s not as long as Paradise Lo...

            “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. ” (Isaiah 55:8-9) I wish this passage had shown up before I thought to meditate on Matthew 5:48 yesterday, because it points out one of the things I mentioned. God is far above us: greater, superior, and beyond us. There is no comparison. Even if we were the type of perfection that is without flaws (as discussed yesterday), the comparison would still not exist. Perfection, whether flawless or useful, would not bring us any closer to God, unless, perhaps, our perfection included perfect humility. I suspect that I – and maybe a few others – tend to think God sees us as nightcrawlers that disappoint Him because we can’t fly, or even step dance. But God knows we are people, so it would be unreasonable for Him to expect us to emulate...

                 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect . (Matthew 5:48) Has this command ever bothered you? Be perfect? Be as perfect as God? Jesus gave us an impossible task. Of course, some would claim that our heavenly Father isn’t perfect because He doesn’t do everything precisely as they think He should. That may be one thing we should keep in mind. Our being perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect doesn’t mean that we’ll be perfect from everyone’s point of view. In fact, we need to be careful, because our own ideas of perfection may not be perfect. According to one resource, the Greek word used is teleios , which “conveys a sense of maturity, completeness, or attaining a goal.” ( What does it mean to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48)? | GotQuestions.org ) I’ve heard it described that a well-made screwdriver is a perfect screwdriver because it drives screws effectively,...