Author: Dave Dishman (Page 226 of 474)

A Bible sits on a shelf for years and years. Then, someone blows the dust off, starts to read, and finds their innards stirring. The book lays them bare.

I think hard and often on this insight the writer of Hebrews shared about the Scriptures: For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Mysteriously, after thousands of years, the words are not expired, not grown stale, not gone out of date. The opposite actually. Seething with energy, pulsing with hope, infused with insight and power, that Bible trembles on the rack.

Like yeast, its teachings permeate. Like a virus, the words infect. Like spring rains, the Holy Spirit uses the scriptures to soften the ground, sprout seeds and create flourishing lives.

Simply put, God’s revelation does things—open the book and let it do things to you.

Hebrews 4 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Syd Wachs

Years ago I traveled though Eastern Europe. Out of curiosity, I ducked into a few churches. The communist leaders in this block sealed off most houses of worship and neglected those left open. Doors swung in the wind and leaves littered the floor. However, at the front of every church an old woman or two knelt in prayer.

As a young missionary I despaired and asked the Lord, is this all that’s left of your followers? Only a few toothless women muttering desperate prayers in a beat-down church?

Forty years later, I understand the power of old women muttering prayers.

I suppose many whispered the words of David, who also prayed during a desperate time, when the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall.

Old women pray because they understand nothing else works. Turning the hearts of family, friends, neighbors and nations requires God to move. Divine acts all. Over the years we work and plead and shake, but still we wait. Old knees understand and bend to the Lord more quickly.

As I finally join those old women in prayer, I enter into their hope as well. David closed his psalm with this promise, one I’ve clung to in many difficult periods in my life, and now see afresh:

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

In the years following my visit the monolithic, unassailable system of communism collapsed. Spiritual awakenings spread through country after country. New converts, and freshly-freed old ones, crowded those old women in the pews. They all enjoyed the goodness of the Lord.

Embrace the wisdom of the babushkas. Be strong. Take heart. Pray and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Katarzyna Biernaciak

Our culture venerates choice. Options of all kinds abound. Just walk down the cereal isle and try to pick your favorite sugary breakfast treat. Multiple this throughout the day and notice all the choices we make for ourselves.

We follow gods of our choosing as well. Even the non-religious follow gods, whether they call it career, or wellness, or finding themselves. Such labels simply cover the adoration of themselves.

Paul spoke of those who worshipped self. Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach…their mind is set on earthly things.

Contrast this reality check with Paul’s reminder to the church in Philippi. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

I’m way beyond the cereal isle, and I still hold a choice. Will I live for my stomach, my cravings—my self? Or continually turn toward the Savior, who eventually will transform me into a glorious new creature?

I know my choice (as much as I stumble along the way). What about yours?

Philippians 3 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya

One aspect of living as a Jesus follower remains clear—you and I can’t go it alone.

The author of Hebrews clarified: See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, a long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

How to avoid an unbelieving heart? Spend time with other followers of Jesus. Not just online, but in physical proximity. Those of us who claim allegiance to Christ need each other. Otherwise we fall for deceit, our souls grow a thick crust, and our share in Christ slips through our fingers.

We’re not designed to go at this life alone. This is why we go to a church, why we join a small group centered around the study of the Bible, why we get up early for a men’s or women’s breakfast. We rub shoulders, breathe in encouragement, and keep going.

Isolation hardens even the softest of hearts. You and I need those believers in that church, as weird as they seem (never forgetting that you and I bring our own brand of weirdness). Invest in your walk with the Lord.

Go hang out and enjoy faith-building optimism and reassurance.

Hebrews 3 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Small Group Network