Author: Dave Dishman (Page 194 of 458)

Ever wonder how people describe you to others? I don’t mean when someone’s angry and down-streaming you with four letter descriptors, but when a friend talks about you.

Do they say, he’s a good guy, or she’s reliable, or he talks a lot, or she tends to worry?

Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, described Barnabus in this way: He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.

Barnabus encouraged the new followers of Jesus in Antioch to remain true to God, and in his wake a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Next Barnabus began working with Paul, helping develop his fresh faith. As Barnabus and Paul ministered together in Antioch, the Jesus people gained a new name—Christians.

People around Barnabus flourished, because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.

What do you think your friends say about you?

Acts 11 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Aziz Acharki

I wonder what Saul thought when David, a teen-ager, asked to go toe-to-toe with Goliath? Saul first responded like any sane observer: There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possible win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.

We all know the lesson, but it bears repeating. As Samuel examined a line of tall, strong, strapping young men, anxious to anoint the next king, he heard a whisper:

Do not consider his appearance or his height. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

What’s inside matters most. At least that’s what I tell myself, and I told my kids and I teach to students. But I’m easily impressed by outward appearances.

I notice how people dress (Boulder, Colorado, near where I live, may be the worst-dressed city in America). I notice hair styles and hair colors. More and more I notice tattoos. People tattoo themselves as a form of self-expression, but I see some poor design choices. I notice the cars people drive. Yesterday a big truck pulling a killer ski boat passed down my street—I noticed.

But God isn’t impressed. By going below the surface and giving attention to my heart, I develop in areas most central to the Lord. I can do something about that.

Surface decorations fade, clothes go out of style, tattoos sag. It’s incredibly freeing to realize none of this matters to God. As we pay less attention to external appearances and more attention to the heart, our souls flourish and shine.

A lesson I need to review over and over.

1 Samuel 16 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Dingzeyu Li

When you visit certain theme parks and pay extra, you receive a pass that lets you skip the lines. We call ahead to a busy restaurant, making a reservation and ensuring a table waits for us when we arrive. In busy stores I connive to move to the front of the line. I prefer a favored status, a fast-pass through Walmart.

God started to change Peter’s misconceptions of favorites through dreams. After meeting believers in the house of Cornelius, a godly Roman centurion, Peter exclaimed: I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

No favored status exists with the Lord, but no outsider status exists either. A godly lineage is awesome, but what have you decided for yourself? Raised by scoundrels? The Lord welcomes you with open arms. We each choose on our own.

It matters not your nationality or your ethnicity. In heaven we’ll meet people from every tribe, tongue, people and nation—every ethnos.

What matters is that we fear the Lord and do what is right. A good prescription for living in this world, and for joining the heavenly throng to come.

Acts 10 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Madeleine Maguire