Author: Dave Dishman (Page 32 of 451)

My wife and I enjoyed lunch at an Asian-Mexican fusion place recently. We paired a chips/queso/salsa appetizer with a bowl of ramen and ginger-glazed chicken. The food tasted fabulous, the fusion working to perfection. Our waiter, a young man, stayed attentive and helpful. We left him a generous tip. In my mind he earned a good tip due to his excellent service. On one hand a tip is a gratuity, but on the other a tip rises or falls based on the quality of service. Tips are seldom free gifts.

When I go to work I’m not after a gift, but what I feel I earn. A gift often arrives out of the blue, undeserved and unexpected. To be handed a free gift, one I know I did nothing to warrant, feels both exciting and humbling.

Paul discussed earnings and gifts in his letter to the church in Rome. He summed up his argument with this famous verse: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our ways of life and the inherited nature of our beings lead us to a type of slavery to our sins. Our choices to move away from God earn bitter wages. Eventually our physical death and spiritual death combine—a grievous tip on top of lifetime earnings.

But God offers an alternative. If we choose to reverse our trajectory and turn towards him, to kneel before our Creator, then God offers freedom from the old pay scale. He replaces dark fruits of no value with the gracious gift of life.

God’s gift remains totally free. An abundant, eternal life. A bounty of freedom. Not a wage or a tip based on good service, but an undeserved and unexpected endowment waiting for me and you. Take Jesus as Lord, and the gift is yours.

Romans 3:23

Photo by Sam Dan Truong

I’m a slow giver. Or you might say I’m a thoughtful giver. I don’t quickly hand over cash, but first evaluate both the need and the receiver. While I give and even give cheerfully at times, I tend to measure carefully.

Which skates the edge on Biblical giving. Proverbs tells us: One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

That’s the paradox of generosity in the Lord’s kingdom. The one who gives openly and without constraint gains wealth. The tight-fisted suffer.

Of course this applies to far more than money. As I give of my time, talents, labor and influence, I find myself refreshed. I gain energy, I add friends, I build emotional reserves. Proverbs adds: Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Of course, no greater example exists than our amazing God, who lavishly pours out his grace upon all peoples of the world. Generous in love and forgiveness, the Lord doesn’t measure so carefully. Ask and ye shall receive.

My tendency is to hold back. But when I lean into the paradox of generosity, I enjoy the multiplied gain of God’s kingdom. My life overflows (through little effort of my own) due to the magic of living within God’s values.

Proverbs 11:24 & 25

Photo by Joanna Kosinska

I use a couple of online Bibles as I study and write. I find these invaluable when searching for a verse or researching a topic. Plus, I copy and paste without misspelling any words! Super helpful for one whose fingers get lost on the keyboard.

But I notice that one of the sites I like comes with ads. I ignore them as most of us have learned to do. Like billboards along a highway, internet ads form the background of our lives. But each one vies for my attention, hoping to conform me to a habit of consuming their product.

Indeed, much of this world sets out to remake my image, to capture my attention, to colonize my thinking. Our culture is good at enticing and wooing. It’s easy to fall in line and trust the prevailing narratives.

But God offers a radically different path. Paul wrote: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Transformation differs completely from conformity. As God works through his Word and his Holy Spirit, my mind awakens. Revitalized as it tunes with the Lord’s perspective, this modification shifts my intellect towards fresh powers of reasoning. Instead of allowing my outer shell—my looks, my body, my speech, my thoughts—to slide with prevailing philosophies, God remolds me. Conformity is a costume. Transformation is radical heart surgery.

How do we enter this path of transformation? Paul gives a clear answer, and in it lies a problem: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

Transformation requires we turn over all our being. The Lord asks for you and me to give ourselves up, to willingly follow him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. It’s really simple and really scary. The Lord wants everything we have and everything we are.

In the meantime, the world squeezes and shapes. Only by presenting myself to the Lord might I begin to navigate with his guidance. Filled with God’s Spirit I learn to discern with greater clarity and insight. More often than not I avoid the broken and profane and enjoy the goodness found in the Lord. It’s challenging yet real. Transformation overwhelms conformity, if I allow the Lord’s way in my life.

Romans 12:1-2

Photo by Jamie Ginsberg

It’s an uncomfortable topic in our modern age, much like politics at a family dinner when both ends of the spectrum sit at the table. But Paul raises the issue, and so we gain a deeper understanding about the nature of God.

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness.

Our modern sensibilities bristle at the idea of God’s severity. People brandish God is love as a proof-text to live as they wish. The view of God as a wealthy, benevolent uncle predominates. We’re worthy—why wouldn’t God grant our every wish?

Indeed, God is love. However, God balances love with truth. God extends his mercy to everyone, but each one of us carries the capacity to reject that mercy. And without God’s mercy through Jesus Christ to act as a propitiation (an appeasement or satisfaction to remove the penalty of sin), then we face God’s severity uncovered and uninsured.

People reject God for many reasons. Deep down, pride (the original sin) conquers the ability to humbly bow before God. But the Lord never stops extending mercy. Paul added, for God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

I don’t pretend to know all the ways of God. I read the text and wrestle. Thankfully, Paul’s summary resonates: Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

While I may not understand or agree with all the Bible teaches, I cannot wish away unpalatable characteristics of God by reading with a rose-colored lens. Truly the ways of God are inscrutable. All I can do is trust in the depth of God’s wisdom, and the fairness of his judgements, as I reach out for his mercy.

Romans 11 & 1 John 4

Photo by Jacob Bentzinger