Author: Dave Dishman (Page 236 of 458)

I’m loving life when my football team is winning while I’m eating nachos on the couch. Or, I’m loving life when I’m hiking in the woods. Or, I’m loving life when I fall in bed after a long hard day.

Peter shares a different perspective on loving life: Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.

My vision for loving life involve enjoying things I like. Peter’s points me towards how I speak about and with others.

One way to love life more is to keep my mouth shut. To hold strong and not lash back in anger, to refuse to fire off a snarky retort on social media, to listen longer.

Another way to see good days revolves around honesty. As I speak, I should do so with sympathy, compassion and humility. When I bless those around me, they are more likely to listen to my honest thoughts even when they run contrary to their view.

Of course, in my natural state I’m incapable of such kindness. I need the power of the Holy Spirit to get anywhere close to this way of interacting. It takes God to control the tongue, and I must constantly lean on him to do so.

1 Peter 3 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Natasha Bhogal

This week I’ve attended a fantastic conference at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, the pivotal engagement of the American Civil War. Thousands of men fought and died here, and we’ve learned the stories of several of them.

Many of these men wrote letters home, or recorded their experiences following the battle, and spoke of their hope in the Lord. Not everyone was religious, but walking toward a massive battle turned even hardened minds beyond this life.

Passages like this one from Peter proved especially meaningful: For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Those marching towards fields of death turned to the Good Shepherd. Because where else was there to turn?

Like brave men North and South, we too may enjoy a relationship with the Shepherd and Overseer. Hopefully we’ll never face a withering field of fire, but we do face challenging situations and persistent difficulties no less potent.

As I walked the battlefield this week I realized, with pleasure and hope, that I take comfort in the same God our forefathers turned to in their hours of distress—the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul.

1 Peter 2:25 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Peter reminded his readers of a most important fact for those who follow the Lord—God’s word endures forever.

By repeating a passage from Isaiah 40, Peter highlighted the value of the scriptures. Peter underlined and circled the truth that the word of God remains forever.

If you’ve come to faith in Jesus, then you’ve been born a second time through the living and abiding word of God.

All that humankind produces fades like grass in the winter, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

If this Holy Bible I possess contains the abiding words of God, then it’s worth my time. If these words and ideas and concepts live, then they’re worth my energy. If all this is true, then herein lies value like nothing else, because nothing else lasts.

If I read the word, listen to the word, give time to the word, and live the word, then I’m investing in the right direction.

1 Peter 1 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Aaron Burden

It’s natural to hope for the end of difficult times. It’s also normal to question the Lord as we struggle with our faith during periods of testing and doubt. But if we hang in, the reward outruns our imagining.

Peter writes of an inheritance kept in heaven, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

A faith tested by battle and hardened through persecution and trial gains a value far greater than I perceive. Gold, a metal still coveted and trading today at $1,674 per ounce, looks cheap in comparison.

The tested genuineness of faith is more precious than gold.

What does a tested, genuine faith look like? Confident, calm, trusting the Lord remains present and in control, patient and concerned for others. You want to stay close to such people. If possible, you and I want to become such a person.

As the trials of faith constantly swirl, persevere and keep one rare outcome in mind—the incomparable value of a tested genuineness of faith.

James 1 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Jingming Pan