Mission Faithwalk

                  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,...

                   Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:25-26)                 There’s an old ad. I don’t remember what it’s about, but an animated figure throws a world class, melodramatic hissy fit about something. I wish I could remember it to share it because that’s what comes to mind here. Please don’t be offended. I’m quite sure Asaph was in circumstances that justified such a cry. And I’m sure I’ve whined or otherwise expressed sentiments to God or about God that probably sounded over the top. Chances are fair that you’ve done the same. Or perhaps you’ve expressed some sentiment about someone or something else that sounds equally overboard. And looking at it from the outside or back through time, it might seem a...

                   Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.   And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.   Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,   and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (II Timothy 1:23-26) This is one of those passages that can easily be misquoted. People may go as far as “not resentful” and stop. This leads to a false impression of what the Lord’s servant is to be like. Don’t ever say anything that might be considered quarrelsome or unkind, and don’t ever be resentful, period. In other words, the Lord’s servant has to keep his/her big mouth shut at all times. Never mind that Jesus didn’t do this If ...