Category: Bible (Page 256 of 425)

I spent last week in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, working on an advanced degree, a week filled with seminars, case studies, and interactions with students and professors. I thoroughly enjoyed the people and the learning.

When I engage in conversations regarding living out theology, it’s easy for me to get lost in the weeds. Maybe we should pursue this, or maybe churches would grow if we did that? Where are we lacking, or failing, or succeeding? How do we build the church united?

Then I opened my Bible this morning to John chapter 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

Jesus is the light of all mankind.

If my studies don’t end with Jesus and point the world around me to Jesus, then my learning is a charade. All other paths up the mountain lead to box canyons and false summits. Religion is only beautiful with Jesus at the core.

Such thoughts reset my world view. The point of study, the end of theology, the culmination of learning should point me and others to the light of all mankind.

Now back to the books.

Photo by Kenny Eliason

I travel quite a bit, and I notice some trips go by quickly while others seem to take forever. I once flew 17 hours from Johannesburg, South Africa to Atlanta. I found my seat and started watching movies. Watch a movie, take a lap around the plane, watch another movie and so on. The trip proved less torturous than expected.

I returned from Sioux Falls, South Dakota this week (just over an hour in the air) and the flight felt like forever. Antsy the whole way, I just wanted off the plane. Sometimes a short time feels long.

God’s schedule with us feels arbitrary, so it’s helpful to remember that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years. He is patient and wants all to come to repentance. Not slow at all, the Lord continues with untiring compassion. He extends time to those who need it.

The opposite is also true with God—a thousand years are like a day. The Lord moves fast when he wishes. I shouldn’t picture the Lord dozing somewhere in the heavens, lazy and forgetful. At some point the day of the Lord’s return will come like a thief.

Best keep a light burning.

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

Photo by Jarrod Reed

In my twenties I often signed a note to a friend (when I wrote one) with my name and underneath added a verse reference—Psalm 137:9. Rarely did anyone look up the verse references that appeared in various letters, so I got creative. I received few comments on this one, confirming my hunch.

So what does Psalm 137:9 actually say?

Blessed is he who seizes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks.

Wait—that’s in the Bible?

Psalm 137 is a song of lament. It starts, by the waters of Babylon, we sat and wept. The writer describes the agony of being conquered and enslaved. After living through the destruction of the city, the rape and murder of loved ones, the weary march into Babylon, their captors gleefully forced a chorus of happy songs.

The writer retaliated with his pen, wishing the same cruelty on his new masters.

Does God really condone smashing babies? No, but the Lord does allow us to express our pain in as honest a way as possible. There’s no need to tiptoe. Frustrations, doubts, anger, rage, the Lord handles them all—in fact, welcomes them.

The Lord, who’s honest with us through his word, welcomes our candor in return. Don’t hold back. Talk with him often. He can handle whatever you have in mind.

Psalm 137 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Álvaro Serrano

The handiest added feature of my mobile phone? Not the camera or the GPS, although both are great. It’s the flashlight. When I’m in a dark places that little light proves invaluable.

Peter points out this feature of the scriptures, especially those written by the prophets: We have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.

When I go to God’s Word to light my path, I turn first to the Psalms, and next to the Gospels. I rarely get around to the Prophets.

But Peter underscores their power: No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Wild-eyed mouthpieces spoke and recorded divine words burned into their souls. Listen to Jeremiah describe the feeling: But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

That blaze within Jeremiah’s inner core now lights our outer paths. In the Old Testament prophets we uncover hot spots ready to flare into wildfires. John Brown the abolitionist and Martin Luther King Jr. drew sustenance and power from the prophets.

Today may these combustible words continue to shine in dark places, including the deep recesses of our own hearts, moving us beyond ourselves and into the world.

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

Photo by De an Sun