Author: Dave Dishman (Page 171 of 458)

It’s a short slide from warm faith to cold religiosity. The Old Testaments prophets spoke to this tendency again and again. Hosea announced, Though Ephraim built many alters for sin offerings, these have become alters for sinning.

How do we see this play out?

One example involves sexual scandals roiling our churches, where clergy or others in power prey on the young and vulnerable. Financial malfeasance also flips an alter, church leaders enriching themselves to the detriment of their congregation.

Closer to home, pride douses the fires of faith. Pride over how I get my religion right and others don’t. God surely favors my viewpoint, even if I tend to overlook a few of the finer points of the law. Hosea spoke for the Lord, I wrote for them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something foreign.

Do we forgive? Do we show mercy? Do we castigate and malign rather than seek compassion? I know I do, and thus my alters for sin offerings devolve into alters for sinning.

May the words of Hosea and the prophets continually remind you and me of this fondness in our nature, the door behind which sin patiently waits. Don’t regard the words of God’s law as foreign, but ask the Holy Spirit to reveal their truth to you.

Lord, help me avoid the slide from a warm faith focused on You, to a cold religiosity tuned only to myself.

Hosea 8 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Zoltan Tasi

I’ve never attended a faith healer’s service, but I suppose I should sometime. I tend toward skepticism when thinking of healing in such a splashy way. Prayer and the laying on of hands focuses on the Lord and his intervention. On the other hand, a ringmaster preacher feels off-kilter.

Some faith healers pray over a handkerchief, and claiming similar powers to Paul (see Acts 19), mail it out to the faithful for a sizable donation. That feels even worse than a show on stage.

Of course, Jesus set the mark for healers:

When the men of the region recognized Jesus, they sent around to all the region and brought to him all who were sick and implored Jesus that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

Jesus walked through town and anyone who touched his clothes recovered from whatever ailed them. Just the rub of a loose thread between thumb and forefinger brought immediate relief. A faith healer’s dream. Crowds of sick and hurting mobbed Jesus, recognizing the amazing power given over to this man.

All frauds play off a desire for the real thing, and in the case of healing, Jesus proved real. Best of all? No donation required.

Matthew 14 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Michael Walter

As kids in the early 1970’s, my brother and I received Chip Away sculpting sets one Christmas. Each figurine started as a block of soft plastic that you chiseled down to the masterpiece beneath. I believe we carved athletes and circus animals. Best of all, each set included a mallet and chisel, which proved useful long after the figures sat forgotten.

I thought of Chip Away while reflecting on the cost of discipleship. Jesus said, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me…what good will it do to gain the whole world yet forfeit your soul? What can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

These thoughts starkly oppose the philosophies of our world, especially considering the unceasing promotion of wealth and power and sex and possessions and personal fulfillment. In a few words Jesus opposes the messaging from every advertiser and promoter across the planet.

Heeding the constant call of self-fulfillment creates layers of bloat that harden into thick slabs of conceit. Piggishness and narcissism bury each of us. Only the hammer and chisel of the Lord—God’s Word and his Holy Spirit—crack the case entombing our soul.

After chopping away all the plastic, my brother and I put our toy sculptures on a shelf to admire. The stuff around the statues went into the trash. The junk I pursue with such ardor will eventually end up there as well.

Only our souls hold eternal value, so take your hammer and chisel and start chipping away.

Matthew 16 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo thanks to Sam’s Toy Box

A few nights ago a massive windstorm blew through southern Missouri, where we happened to be sleeping at that exact moment. I woke up to bangs on the roof and wind whirling. Immediately I checked my phone for tornado warnings. Seeing none, I lay back, listened to the onslaught and fell asleep. Only in the morning did my wife and I see the damage wrought all around us.

Fallen trees littered the property, including four blocking the long driveway. The wind forced one huge tree (pictured above) over on its side, leaving a massive hole where its root ball once clung. With help of neighbors we cleared the drive, then spent hours and hours running a chainsaw and picking up branches.

I fell back to sleep the night of the storm oblivious. But my ignorance didn’t affect the chaos occurring all around me.

The ancient kings of Israel attempted to shut the mouths of the prophets, who spoke of chaos to come if the kings refused to turn to the Lord. Rolling over and going back to sleep didn’t serve those rulers any better than it served me. The storm raged on. The prophet spoke these words to the kings:

For the Lord does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?

The lion has roared—the Lord God has spoken. The words of the Lord God remain. I read some this morning. Who can peer into them and not fear?

Like the kings, it doesn’t serve me in the long run to stuff my head under the pillow. I still wake up to the aftermath of the storm. The secrets of the prophets await, if only I choose to turn their direction.

Amos 3 in reading the Bible in 2023