After every football game I point out what certain players could have done better. If only they’d caught that pass, or juked another direction, and a loss would turn into a victory. All is clear from my couch, but then again I’m not on the field running full speed away from large individuals looking to plow me into the ground.

It’s easy to pontificate, much harder to perform.

John the Apostle reminded us that we gotta walk the talk in regards to living out our faith: Little children, let us not love in words or talk but in deed and in truth.

Much of what passes as loving is simply words. Social media posturing. Clicking the like button. Telling others what to do. Everyone preaches but no one listens. I fail to notice deeper needs when I’m busy talking.

Better to quietly practice love than boldly announce my good intentions. Virtue signaling lingers like the smell of yesterday’s fried fish, and is about as welcome.

Getting off my couch takes work. I’ll fumble at times and might even get hurt in the process. But loving in deed and in truth requires more than talk from this Monday-morning quarterback.

I John 3 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Keith Johnston

The Lord expresses fantastic patience, never wanting anyone to perish. Way more than I show for others. But his patience for those who claim to know and follow him depends to a certain degree upon ourselves.

They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord.

So the Lord spoke through Zechariah his prophet to the Jews in captivity. We don’t like to think about it, but it’s possible by our actions to close the ears of the Lord. I possess the ability to bake my attitude towards God diamond-hard.

Much of popular thinking holds the Lord as totally gracious, glossing over our foibles, slights, hatreds and sin. As long as we don’t kill anyone, we’re good. But such a god exists only in the uninformed mind.

The God of the Scriptures (indeed the only God who exists) looks to knead our hearts into softness. If I let him break the crust by allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through his words—and if I act upon them—then the Lord will hear me when I call.

I need to tap on my heart. If there’s no give, then something’s wrong. The hardness and luster of a diamond makes for beautiful jewelry, but unyielding cynicism is the wrong quality for a heart tuned to the Lord.

Zechariah 7 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Edgar Soto

Thanksgiving became an official U.S. holiday in 1863, smack in the middle of a bloody civil war. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

What are you thankful for? I’m thankful for family, friends, health, interesting work, insightful travel and good food, just to name a few. This is the day to take a few quiet minutes to reflect on the Lord’s goodness in your life.

Oddly enough, Thanksgiving is now surrounded by Black Friday sales. It seems a blink of thankfulness flits by in the midst of frenzy, difficult to catch and hold. But give it a grab. By taking time to reflect on what I’m thankful for, I worry less about holiday eruptions and enjoy more those around me.

As I reflect on the goodness of the Lord towards me, I’m encouraged by this verse from Colossians 3:15: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

I can choose to be thankful. And today, Thanksgiving Day, yields no better opportunity.

Photo by Brooke Lark

John, the apostle and author of the Gospel, wrote much of light and dark in his records of Jesus. He continued the theme in a letter we now know at 1 John:

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

No shadiness with the Lord, or dealing from the bottom of the deck. No need for doorbell cameras to keep him honest. Forget to hide your credit cards? No problem. The contract contains no surprises.

I expect a wink at my unsavory proclivities. As Satan told Eve, Did God actually say…? God can’t really be that strict, can he? He surely doesn’t expect me to live by a standard only he himself meets?

Actually he does. When it comes to absolute purity, God means it. In him is no darkness at all, only stark raving brightness. I cannot carry my darkness into any relationship with him. Light only lives with light. But how do I drag my murky crevices to one who dwells in unapproachable light?

Fortunately, the one who proclaimed let there be light hands us a beacon of our own. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. As I open my pitch black corners to the Lord he forgives and renews.

It just takes admitting what I already know—I’m sinful and enjoy sitting in dark places—then humbly turning toward the keeper of the light. Thanks to God’s grace I can enjoy his brilliance, no longer finding it searing, but now warm and enveloping.

1 John 1 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Jeremy Bishop