Unexpected and a little troubling

I read an article recently that I found rather concerning.

According to the American Bible Society’s annual State of the Bible report for 2022, roughly 26 million people had mostly or completely stopped reading the Bible in the past year.  To put that number in perspective, that’s the equivalent of everyone in the states of New York and Arizona setting down the Bible and no longer reading it.

The article I read was from Christianity Today.  You can also download the released chapters from the American Bible Society.  Each month, the ABS will release a new chapter of the study. 

Here’s a quote from the Christianity Today article:

In 2021, about 50 percent of Americans said they read the Bible on their own at least three or four times per year. That percentage had stayed more or less steady since 2011.

But in 2022, it dropped 11 points. Now only 39 percent say they read the Bible multiple times per year or more. It is the steepest, sharpest decline on record.

According to the 12th annual State of the Bible report, it wasn’t just the occasional Scripture readers who didn’t pick up their Bibles as much in 2022 either. More than 13 million of the most engaged Bible readers—measured by frequency, feelings of connection to God, and impact on day-to-day decisions—said they read God’s Word less.

Currently, only 10 percent of Americans report daily Bible reading. Before the pandemic, that number was at about 14 percent.

It’s easy to lose hope when you read numbers like that.  Makes one wonder if ministry is worth the effort.  If fewer people are making the effort to stay connected with God through His Word, then has the church failed?  Should modern-day pastors and teachers be considered unsuccessful?

But those of us who teach aren’t counted as “successful” in God’s eyes because we’ve grown our little church into a mega-church, or if we have the most followers on social media, or if we’ve reached ten thousand subscribers to our blog.  God’s definition of success is faithful labor, to work well with the gifts He has given you…regardless of how others respond – albeit positive, negative, or with apathy.

However, something encouraging was noted in the study: the researchers found that among those who “never, rarely, or seldom” read the Bible, a significant number of them are highly curious about it.  They’re wondering if the Bible, and more broadly if God has something for them.

The good news is that God can and will meet us where we are.  Whether we’ve stopped seeking Him or have never read a verse, He is still seeking us. 

John 3:16
For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man [Jesus] has come to seek and to save the lost.

Just like it’s tough to operate a new piece of machinery without referring to the instruction manual, we miss out on many benefits when we decide to skip out on God’s instruction manual for life.  In fact, God rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).  Here is a sampling of the benefits David found through his relationship with God:

Psalm 25:8-15
The Lord is good and upright; therefore He shows sinners the way.
He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.
All the Lord’s ways show faithful love and truth to those who keep His covenant and decrees.
Lord, for the sake of your name, forgive my iniquity, for it is immense.

Who is this person who fears the Lord?
He will show him the way he should choose.
He will live a good life and his descendants will inherit the land.
The secret counsel of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He reveals His covenant to them.
My eyes are always on the Lord, for He will pull my feet out of the net.

So, where do we go from here?  Based on the ABS survey, should churches just close their doors and pastors find new careers?

No, now is the time to open the doors as wide as possible.  Everyone is welcome to come and seek God.  Explore the life-giving truth found in His Word.  Spend more intentional time with God, because relationships require “together time” in order to grow.  Encourage other Christians with what God reveals to you, and then get out in the world and put it into practice – showing the same compassion to everyone that Jesus extends to us.  Doing so will enable us to be effective ambassadors for God and change agents in the world. 

And who knows?  Maybe someone will be inspired to seek the God of the Bible because you lived out what God has taught you through His Word.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite - How to be rich and live richly

Now that we know we’re rich…what are we to do with our wealth?

How to be rich and live richly

Originally posted on April 06, 2017

We discovered last time that we’re rich.  Richly rich.  That if we make over $32,400 per year ($15.59/hour)…we’re in the top 1% of the world.  But we also found out that no matter what our income amounts to, we shouldn’t feel guilty that we have wealth, because God richly provides us with all things to enjoy. 

God gives good gifts, and gifts are given for the enjoyment of the one receiving it.  Maybe someone got a better gift than you, and it doesn’t seem fair…however, our jealousy tends to evaporate once we expand our comparison circle to include the rest of the world.

So now that we know we’re rich, what do we do?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught:

Matthew 6:19-21
Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.  But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

A few observations:
·        Jesus gave no indication that being wealthy in this life (or the next) is wrong.
·        What is considered valuable now is not going to be what is considered valuable in the next life.
·        How we obtain wealth in this life is not how we store up treasures for the next life.

During his ministry, Jesus met many rich folks who didn’t handle their wealth very well in light of eternity.  A few examples include the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-22), also the Pharisees and their scribes (Luke 5:29-31).  The rich were also featured in Jesus’ parables as bad examples of how to live life in the present age (Luke 12:13-21, Luke 16:19-31, and Luke 18:9-14).

So, what should us rich 1%ers do?  What does God consider the right way to handle the wealth He’s given us?

Paul addressed that topic in his instructions to Timothy:

1 Timothy 6:17-19
Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. 

Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real.

Being rich in the age to come means being other-focused in the present age.  Whether we make $15,000 a year or $1,500,000 a year – what we do with what God has given us will determine the foundation of our lives in the next life.

That thought just blows me away, so dwell on it for just a moment with me.  Everything in this life is building *only* the foundation for our lives in eternity.  What we build, the work we do, the experiences we will have in the next life…are going to be based upon the choices we make in the present age.

My mentor, Joe, would tell me often “This life is just boot camp for the next.”  C.S. Lewis wrote that our present lives are simply the cover and the title page…when we enter Eternity future, we will begin Chapter 1 of the Great Story that never ends, where each chapter is better than the one before.

Partnering with God now affects how we can partner with God in Eternity.  We should absolutely enjoy the gifts God has given us, but don’t enjoy them selfishly.  Do good.  Be rich in good works.  Be generous.  Be willing to share.

Lay a good foundation for the age to come.  Find and take hold of life that is real.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

I was disqualified

While I have never been in a situation where I needed additional blood, I know friends and family that have.  I’m thankful that when their need for a transfusion arose, blood was available.  Not only can your donation impact one or more lives, there are health benefits for those who donate blood, too.  I’ve also found that donation places like the Red Cross will even tell you which hospital received your donation.  We all know that donating blood is “a good thing”, but learning where and how our specific donation was used certainly reinforces the positive impact of our actions.

That said, I recently decided to donate blood.  I hadn’t done so in a while, so I went online and signed up for an upcoming Saturday morning where I could set aside some time.  I planned my day around the appointment.  When I arrived, I was asked to wait for a short time while they took care of other donors.  When it was my turn, I filled out the paperwork, answered some additional questions, and passed my mini-physical. 

After I sat down in the donation chair, the lady checked the veins in my left arm.  A troubled look came over her face as she gently pushed her finger around the inside of my elbow.  She couldn’t find a vein suitable for their needle.  I offered that she could use a vein a little lower down my forearm, but she told me they had to use a specific zone around the inside of my elbow.  She checked my right arm, and had the same problem – she couldn’t find a suitable vein.  She called over her colleague, who examined both of my arms.  She also came to the conclusion that I wasn’t prepared to donate blood. 

I admitted that I had not had any water that morning, and that I should have hydrated better.  They both agreed, but instead of just getting additional water the morning prior to donating, they suggested that I increase my water intake for two weeks before my next donation attempt.  This I found a little frustrating.  I told them that I do drink a fair bit of water, typically 2-3 liters per day.  But there was nothing to be done.  I was disqualified to give blood because I wasn’t prepared.  I didn’t fight or argue, because neither would have changed my situation.  I wished them a good day, and I went home.  All-in-all, the total trip cost me two hours and nothing came of it.

Without being over-dramatic, the reality of the situation was that I was unable to participate with the donation center in providing a positive impact to others in my community.  As I drove home, I thought about how much water I had been drinking lately.  After an honest assessment of the last few weeks…although I generally do drink as much as 3 liters of water per day…I have to admit that recently it’s probably been more like 1 liter per day, which would certainly explain my dehydrated state and blood donation disqualification.

Did you know that every person who has believed in Jesus for eternal life will one day have their actions assessed by Jesus?  While His assessment of our works will have no bearing on our eternal destiny, His bema seat judgment will impact our opportunities in eternity future.  Paul talked about it in both of his letters to the believers in Corinth:

2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.  

1 Corinthians 3:14-15
For the [judgment] day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work.  If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved – but only as through fire.

The loss experienced will be the loss of rewards and future opportunity to partner with Christ.  On that bema seat judgment day, all that we have done, whether good or evil, will be examined.  It will be clear how much we have lived for Jesus in this life and how much we have matured to be like Him.  Some will be rewarded, others will be disqualified.

There are many passages we could examine to find hints and descriptions of what kinds of rewards are available, but suffice it to say that if the God of the Universe says His rewards are good…then they’re going to be rewards we want to earn! 

Our difficulty right now is the same one that I had with my water intake…I thought I was “generally” ok.  Turns out I wasn’t.  We tend to think that God is ok with whatever progress we’ve made or actions we’ve taken.  However, Paul warned believers in Rome that they shouldn’t think to highly of themselves, rather they should honestly examine their choices and actions (Romans 12:3).  We may want to do the same…otherwise, we may coast through life thinking that we’re pleasing God when we’re actually not.  That’s not something we want to realize when it comes time for the judgment seat of Christ. 

Let’s not be disqualified later because we didn’t take action now.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Ready to burst out

It happens every year, just like clockwork. 

We roll through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and enjoy every minute of it.  The foods, the traditions, the family gatherings, the gift giving, the decorated houses, the celebrations of Jesus’ birth during local church services…the whole thing just feels delightful.  The old song calls it “The most wonderful time of the year”, and it would be really hard to argue with that.

And then January hits.

It’s cold and dark and all the shimmery Christmas lights have been taken down.  Mid-January to mid-February is the worst time of year for me.  Life seems to match the coldness that perpetually hangs in the air.

It’s during this time that I usually quip, “I’ve had my most wonderful time of the year, so now I’m ready to fast-forward into Spring.”  Unfortunately, there is no fast-forward button and the coldness of winter must be endured.  As the days go on and temperatures finally start to rise, there’s no guarantee of exactly when Spring will start – there is neither a definitive change-over from Winter to Spring, nor is there a steady temperature increase.  It feels more like the two seasons have to fight it out – leaving us to experience an unexpectedly warm day that is followed up with days of a frigid blast.  And back and forth it goes.

This past week and weekend was like that for us.  During the week, it was warm enough that all you needed was a light jacket…but Saturday and Sunday?  You had to bundle up in your winter gear to go out because of the icy winds during the day, and the temperature dropped even further at night.   

However, as I was driving around in the coldness of the weekend, I noticed something.  The signs were not everywhere, but there were signs – that Spring really was coming.  You could see dead-stick-looking trees were thickening up with new buds.  There were glimpses of the brilliant spring colors that were on their way, but were currently suppressed.  There was an almost tangible anticipation, despite the chilling winds that whipped through the day. 

I couldn’t help but think of what Paul wrote to the believers in Rome:

Romans 8:19-22
For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly, but because of him who subjected it – in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.

Creation doesn’t just long for the annual Spring season to begin – it is also anticipating the time when sin and decay no longer control the world.  Creation groans, rumbles, and longs to burst out of this deadness and into its new life.

Paul saw a similar longing in us, as well:

Romans 8:23, 26-27
Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits – we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies…In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with [our] unspoken groanings.  And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Those who have placed their faith in Jesus, who believe in Him for eternal life, know this groaning, this longing.  We eagerly look forward to the day when our mortal, sinful bodies are no longer battling with our new life in Christ.  We so want our outside to match our new inside!

The longing for the redemption of our bodies can leave us frustrated as we battle with moments of life contrasted against moments of coldness…and that constant pulling can make it difficult to pray.  How many times have you prayed “God, I don’t even know where to start…”

The good news is that God knows – and understands – our unspoken groanings.  Just like creation eagerly awaits its liberation, so do we.  Believers are part of God’s family now, but we long to see our Father face-to-face.  We eagerly wait for our physical adoption, which will signify our complete victory over sin.  As we long for the day when we burst out with our glorified bodies, we can take heart in the encouragement Paul gave as bookends to this section:

Romans 8:18
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

Romans 8:28
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Taking out the trash

Recently, I saw a thought-provoking Facebook post shared by a friend:

When you throw the trash out, do you go outside later and check how it’s doing? No?
So stop talking to your ex.

Of course, for this to be true, the caveat is that there are no kids from that relationship.  But haven’t we all seen this behavior when a relationship ends poorly?  I knew a guy who struggled like that.  He was on-again-off-again with a girl and even when his friends were telling him to stay away, he’d reply telling us, “I know, but I can’t help but go back.”

In his mind, he was stuck.  He had hitched his wagon to this girl and was going to go wherever she would lead him – no matter how much pain, fighting, grief, and stress would come.  He may not have used this exact wording, but he really was enslaved to her.  He had done it to himself, and he saw no way out.

There is a proverb that goes along perfectly with his situation:

Proverbs 26:11
As a dog returns to its vomit,
so also a fool repeats his foolishness

It’s easy to identify this cyclical self-destructive-enslaved behavior in others.  When you see them go back – yet again – it just boggles the mind.  As soon as a dog throws up, it immediately starts to lick up the vomit.  Similarly, without even thinking about it, a fool jumps right back into his foolishness.  And when that fool is your friend or a family member…you can feel pretty helpless.

If you are fortunate enough to have a good romantic relationship, it can be easy to get a little snooty about those who struggle in this manner.  But the truth is, Christians struggle with this same behavior…not always in an amorous sense, but the same self-destructive-enslaved behavior is often closer than we care to admit.  Ever “slip back into an old habit”?  Ever have a tough day and seek comfort in an old vice?  Ever get caught off-guard or become so embarrassed that you flame-spray whomever bumped you?  Ever get mad enough to threaten violence?

Paul addressed this struggle when he wrote to the believers in Rome.  Although he wrote to a group of people who were already saved and part of the local house churches, Paul took them through the entire scope of a believer’s experience: The failings of humanity (Romans 1:18-3:20), how one becomes right with God (Romans 3:21-5:11), and how to live the victorious Christian life (Romans 5:12-8:39).

It’s in the third section that Paul discusses how we can deal with the conflict inside us – between our new nature and our old nature, the Spirit of God in us vs. our physical fleshly bodies.  The first part to defeating the cyclical self-destructive-enslaved behavior involves our mindset:

Romans 6:6-11
For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again.  Death no longer rules over Him.

For the death He died, He died to sin once for all time; but the life He lives, He lives to God.  So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

When we believe in Jesus for eternal life, we are identified with Jesus and declared righteous before God.  As a result, Jesus is now our example.  Since we are identified with the once for all time death He died, Paul tells us to shift our thinking about our cyclical self-destructive-enslaved behavior.  He says to consider yourselves dead to sin.  Those old feelings, thoughts, habits, and vices have all been taken out with the trash.  Don’t go back out and check on them.  Instead consider yourselves…alive to God in Christ Jesus.

But practically speaking, our minds aren’t the only battle ground for this struggle.  Sometimes, we still want to be the way we were before.  It felt good (in the moment) and our body craves going back.  That’s why the second part to defeating the cyclical self-destructive-enslaved behavior involves how we use our physical body:

Romans 6:12-13
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires.  And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness.  But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness.

Once we see ourselves clearly, it’s time to flip the script on how we use our bodies.  I don’t think Paul is being metaphorical here with this “body talk”.  Wherever you struggle, make that a point of emphasis to good things instead:

Has your tongue been used for gossip?  Now purposely be encouraging.
Have your hands been violent?  Find ways to help others. 
Were you sexually promiscuous?  Offer your body only to your spouse. 
Have your feet taken you to places that make you stumble?  Go to places that build you up.

Changing your mindset is not easy.  Physically doing these things is not easy, either.  It takes practice and sacrifice.  However, these changes do not go unnoticed by God.  Later on, Paul adds this:

Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.  Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Renewing our minds and offering our bodies for good is pleasing to God.  And don’t miss what God gives in return – the ability to recognize the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

The good news is you don’t have to live trapped inside the cyclical self-destructive-enslaved behavior.  Jesus is our example for the way out.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

When the house tears itself apart

I grew up in the Western US, in the Nevada desert.  When I was in my teens, my family realized there was something wrong with our house.  And by “something wrong” I mean something structurally wrong with our house.  There were large-gap cracks appearing in the sidewalk and our living room floor was bowing.  Turns out, one part of the house was slowly sinking, while another section, on the opposite side, was slowly drifting away. 

How could this happen?  Well, the first thing you have to understand about desert soil is that it is very alkaline and it swells when it gets wet.  While the soil in the rest of the US will act like a sponge and soak in any rainfall, the top layer of the desert soil tends to swell shut and not allow additional water to be absorbed.  This is why “flash floods” happen in the desert – too much rainfall too quickly, the top layer of dirt swells shut, and any remaining water rapidly moves to the lowest elevation point it can find.  After the rain evaporates in the desert heat, the ground contracts back to normal.

Further investigation of the cracks and shifts revealed that the house did not have a proper foundation.  Sure, there was a concrete slab and some footers, but not much else underneath.  The house was about 25-30 years old at the time, and who knows what zoning/building laws were in place (or just flat ignored) when it was built.  In any case, we had to do something, because after a couple of decades of the ground underneath settling and the surrounding topsoil being treated like an accordion, the lack of proper foundation meant that the ground was literally tearing our house apart.

This wasn’t something we could patch with plaster or pour concrete over.  Ultimately, the best way to fix the problem was to start over with a new, properly-laid foundation.  Now, it’s one thing to place a new foundation behind an existing house…but it’s a completely different operation to move a house from its current foundation on to the new one.  We brought in and moved into a single-wide trailer on our property.  Next, our home had to be gutted.  Everything was removed, even the bottom layer of sheetrock, exposing the wooden frame.  Then, enormous metal beams were run through the gutted lower layer.  The last step was to have the house picked up by the metal beams and moved to the new foundation.  (It was quite a sight to see my entire home “floating” in the air, being supported by jacks.)  Afterward, my dad rebuilt the gutted portions before we could move back in.

By way of correlation, the same thing can happen to how we interpret the Bible.  The best way to handle Scripture begins with Observation (What do I see?), moves to Interpretation (What does it mean?), and ends with Application (How does it work?).  To use my house analogy, Observation is the foundation, Interpretation is the structure, and Application is the furnishings that make the building useful.  However…no matter how pretty we make the Application, or how much we like the Interpretation, the whole structure will fall apart if the Observation-foundation is not solid.

Perhaps you’ve lived with a particular interpretation you were taught decades ago.  But, over the years, you noticed some cracks in that line of thinking.  Maybe you’ve found that those conclusions don’t quite “fit in” with other clear statements in Scripture or your experience in life.  It’s hard to change your mind when it’s something you’ve “known” for a long time, or if it was taught by someone you respect.  When we realize that our Application is off or our Interpretation doesn’t work, it’s time to take a hard look at our Observation-foundation.  Ultimately, we need to let Scripture speak for itself.

One of the most common mis-interpretations of the Bible comes with the word “save” or “salvation”.  A regularly quoted verse about salvation is found in Paul’s letter to the believers in Philippi:

Philippians 2:12-13
Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to His good purpose.

“See?” they say.  “In order to be saved from eternal damnation, you have work to do and God has work to do.  Our obedience proves that we’re working out of our ‘saved’ state.”

But if you compare this statement with Paul’s letter to the believers in Ephesus, you find:

Ephesians 2:8-9
For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is God’s gift – not from works, so that no one can boast.

So which is it, Paul?  Is eternal salvation proven by us working or is it God’s gift?  Many people try to reconcile these two verses by putting the “work” concept from Philippians into the “faith” concept found in Ephesians.  They would argue that you are saved by grace through faith [which is proven through your continued obedience and work]…the problem with this reconciliation attempt is that anything done as work automatically disqualifies the work-earnings from being called a gift (as Paul states in Romans 4:4-5). 

Notice the cracks in the interpretation structure here?  Does the house look/feel unsteady?  To really address this interpretation problem, we’re going to have to inspect our Observation-foundation.

Our problem stems from the assumption that every use of the word “save” or “salvation” in the Bible refers to being eternally saved from the consequences of our sin.  When, in fact, no Old Testament use of “save” means that, and less than half of the uses of “save” in the New Testament refer to our eternal salvation.  The other uses throughout the Bible refer to being delivered from enemies, or healed from sickness, or delivered from physical death, or other types of “rescue”…all of which can be determined by looking at the context where the word “save” is used.  Let’s be fair here…we do the same thing in English: I saved money.  I saved someone from choking.  I saved you when I gave you a ride after your car broke down.  Lots of saving here…but nothing pertaining to eternity.

If we take the same context-driven approach with our Bible reading, we find that in his letter to the believers in Philippi, Paul used the term “salvation” three times (Philippians 1:19, 1:28, 2:12).  In his chapter 1 uses, the context makes it clear that Paul is talking about an earthly rescue from earthly persecution.  In the verses surrounding 1:19, he talks about his own earthly rescue, and then in the following two uses (1:28, 2:12) Paul is using himself as a pattern for the Philippian believers to follow for their own escape from earthly persecution.

With this new, solid Observation-foundation, our interpretation changes when we read Philippians 2:12-13.  We find that this rescue-from-persecution interpretation is more consistent with the rest of the chapter.  We also realize that those verses are not in conflict with Ephesians 2:8-9, and there is no need to shoehorn one verse inside the other.  When our observations are solid, our interpretations become accurate, and our applications will be more useful.

The same thing happened when we moved our house.  Since there was a new foundation being laid…my dad took the opportunity to add a master bath and other improvements that made the home more pleasant and useful to live in.  However, these extra amenities would have been useless if we had not replaced the poorly-constructed foundation.

Whenever you find an apparent conflict between Bible passages, go back and look at the context.  Rarely does the same word mean the same thing every single time it is used.  Even if it means we need to gut and replace what we’ve been taught previously, we must let the Scriptures speak for themselves.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Help! I married my opposite.

At one point, I was very interested in personality traits and tendencies.  I read up on different personality assessments and took a number of assessment quizzes.  The results of one particular Myers-Briggs assessment included pairing of your personality type with others, so that you would know what type of person would be your “best friend”, “marriage material”, or “likely competition”.  Curious, I convinced my wife to take the test.

Three of her four traits were opposite mine…and I couldn’t find our pairing in any of their categories.  Not friend, not foe, not hiking buddy, not marriage partner, not even preferred acquaintance.  Finally, after bouncing around multiple pages on their website, I found their one-word description of a relationship between my set of four traits and her set of four traits: novelty.

According to the personality typing, she thinks I’m oddly intriguing.  I see her the same way.  “Opposites attract” – it’s a culturally accepted norm that all of us have plenty of experience with.  We certainly came from different families, and we’ve had our share of differences to work through over the years.  When you boil it all down…she’s an artist and I’m a nerd…and a prime example of our differences is in how we express and receive love. 

If you’re familiar with the Five Love Languages (Gift Giving, Acts of Service, Quality Time, Words of Affirmation, and Physical Touch), you’ll probably empathize with what I’m about to say.  My love language is not the same as my wife’s love language…in fact, hers is probably my lowest ranking choice and mine is probably her lowest ranking choice.

I think I’m quite simple to love…after all, as an Acts of Service lover, just do something for me and I feel loved by you.  A clean home, laundry done, and dinner on the table makes me the happiest person on the planet.  Whereas my wife desires Physical Touch – hand held lovingly, hugs, cuddles, closeness.  Problem is…I’m not a touchy-feely person.  If you initiate a hug, I’ll reciprocate, but don’t expect me to go seeking one out.  On the flip-side, my wife’s clue that dishes are today’s priority is when we’ve run out of cups or skillets.

So we run into the constant problem: if I’m not reaching for her hand, giving hugs, etc. then she’s even less inclined to do something for me.  And if she’s not helping me out, I’m even less inclined to initiate loving contact with her.  It’s a vicious cycle, really.  It doesn’t start spiraling down out of spite or meanness…just the normal everyday busyness pulls us away from actively thinking about how the other person receives love.  When we’re distracted, we default to acting out in the way we want love to look like…I keep busy doing things around the house “for her” and she reaches for my hand “for him”…and those actions are easily misinterpreted. 

So, the question is…Who gives in first?  Who makes the first “loving move”?

When writing to the church in Ephesus, Paul spent the first two-thirds of the letter describing the relationship between Jesus and the church.  This relationship was previously a mystery (Ephesians 3:3-4), there is unity (4:4-6), there is diversity of gifts (4:11-13), and it results in a new way of living (4:17-5:21).  Paul wraps up his main discussion by giving the highest earthly example of the relationship between Jesus and the church – marriage. 

Ephesians 5:21-22, 25
Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.  Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord…Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her

To answer our question, it would be easy to quote the above verses and say “See!  We both should swallow our pride and selfishness.  We need to think of the other person first.”  And I understand that sentiment.  I see the verses above.  Who should make the first move?  Whichever of us is more mature and humble in the moment.

However…I can’t help but notice two things.

1.       When I read the entire marriage section in Paul’s letter (5:22-33), he talks a lot more about how us men need to love our wives than he does about wives loving their husbands.  Paul places the burden on us to love our wife just as much as we love and care for ourselves.

2.       If I look at the timeline of when the church loved Jesus vs when Jesus loved the church – I find that Jesus loved first.  And if I’m to love my wife just as Christ loved the church…again, Paul is placing the first-step responsibility on me.

Then, I am reminded of other verses like these:

1 John 4:19
We love because He first loved us.

Romans 5:8
But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus loved us before we could do anything to deserve it.  He loved us when we thought ourselves unlovable.  He continues to love us, even when we are unlovely. 

So, fellas…I have to break it to you: we are the ones who should move first and show our wife the love she needs in the way she needs it.  Even if you don’t understand why she likes the kind of love communication that she does.  Get her a little gift, run the vacuum, block out your schedule to do something with her, compliment her, or – as I need to do – take her hand and give her a hug without being asked to.

It’s not wrong if she beats you to the punch and speaks your love language first – just speak hers back.  Opposites do attract, but they stay together only when we’re intentional with how we show our love.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The “how” of living the Christian life

Last time, we learned that the Christian life is a miracle of resurrection – that after we believe in Jesus for eternal life, God is the one (not us) who empowers our mortal bodies to accomplish the good desires He has given us.

And while that truth lifts a great weight off of our shoulders, you may have the same question I had when I was first exposed to this teaching: That’s great to know that I don’t have to muscle through my desire to do good and my inability to consistently do it…but…exactly how does God empower my spiritually dead body?

Fortunately, Paul got real specific about this topic with the group of believers in the city of Corinth. 

2 Corinthians 3:18
We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

In the preceding verses (2 Corinthians 3:12-16), Paul is clear that the mirror he is referring to is the Scriptures.  While the Old Testament was The Scriptures of Paul’s day, the New Testament describes how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures and the resulting, permanent adjustment He made to our relationship to God.  As such, the same mirror analogy applies to the New Testament Scriptures, and God uses the entirety of the Bible to change us.  As for seeing the glory of the Lord, consider the following verses:

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  We observed His glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:18
No one has ever seen God.  The one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side – He has revealed Him.

The Scriptures – both Old and New Testament – reveal who Jesus is.  We see His excellence, His grace, His kindness, His righteous anger, His love, His tenacity, His creativity, His plan…we see that He is the way, the truth, and the life…and most of all, we see His glory.  Jesus is the glory of the Father.  Jesus is our perfect representation of who God is and what He is like. 

The Scriptures are the mirror for us to see the glory of the Lord…The Scriptures are the mirror for us to see Jesus.  Look at the rebuke Jesus gave to the religious egg-heads of His day:

John 5:39-40
You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me so that you may have life.

They used the text to justify how good they were before God, how much better they saw themselves as compared to others.  However, they had completely missed the point of reading/studying/memorizing Scripture.  The fulfillment of Scripture was standing right in front of them…and they missed it.  In fact, because they were so wrapped up in their own outward goodness, they were not willing to see Jesus for who He is. 

There were other times Jesus pointed out this fundamental truth – that all Scripture was pointing to Him:

Luke 24:27
Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He [Jesus] interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

Luke 24:44-45
He told them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”  Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

We cannot properly understand the Scriptures until we recognize that they are the reflection of Jesus.  If we go to the Bible for any other reason, we will miss the point.  But…if we approach the Bible with the mindset that they are about Him (and not us)…then we will observe His glory and be transformed by the reflection…transformed to be like Jesus, step by step, and growing from glory to glory throughout our lifetime.

Most Christians, if they look at their Bibles at all, read them because they feel “they have to”, or they feel guilty if they don’t, or they want to find a way to prove themselves right on a certain topic.  Don’t miss this – if we go to the Scriptures to find Jesus, if we spend time there to understand who He is…the reflection of Him in the Scriptures will change us to be like Him. 

That is how Jesus empowers our mortal bodies to live the Christian life – He does it by making us more like Him.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The try-hard Christian

You may or may not have heard of someone being called a  “try-hard”, but I bet you know exactly what I mean.  When our boys were teens, they would almost reluctantly use the phrase to describe classmate that was overtly trying to fit into a particular group or look a certain way.  Oftentimes, the boys would follow up a “try-hard” description with a sigh and say, “I wish they would just relax and be who they really are.”

Unfortunately, I think there are a lot of try-hard Christians.  And if we’re honest, we’ve played the part, too.  We learn the Christian-ese, churchy lingo…we put on our Sunday best and our best Sunday smiley face…never show where we’re struggling…never admit that we have doubts about ourselves, our marriages, or even about God…

You may have been surprised in last week’s blog.  In it, I said the reason I was a jerk to my coworker was not because I needed to work harder at behaving “as a Christian should”.  Maybe you expected me to say that to fix my poor behavior, my next step would be to try harder to “do the right thing” the next time I wanted to sharply correct someone.  Instead, the root cause of my jerkishness was because I had forgotten my identity in Christ, and instead I acted out of my own selfishness.

The New Testament authors routinely refer to our selfishness (or self-centeredness) as “the flesh”, especially when in contrast to “the spiritual” life that God imparts to us when we believe in Jesus for eternal life.  And yet…when we try to live out what we expect life as a Christ-follower to be, we grit our teeth, try hard to gut it out, and forcefully course-correct our self-centeredness.

This is a common approach to attempting to live like a Christian, but it ends in failure.  Even the apostle Paul fought this battle…and lost.  In Romans 7, he described his early Christian experience.  And he kept losing out to “his flesh”:

Romans 7:15, 18
For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but [instead] I do what I hate…For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.  For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.

Paul recognizes the desire to do good – it was given to him when he believed in Jesus for eternal life.  But trying to drum up the ability to actually be the way he desires to be has left him feeling hopeless.

Romans 7:21-23
So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me.  For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, but I see a different principle in the parts of my body, waging war against the principle of my mind and taking me prisoner to the principle of sin in the parts of my body.

Paul felt so trapped by this conflict – he could not find a way to make himself accomplish the good things he truly desired.  So much so that he felt like a prisoner to the inability of his flesh.  No wonder he exclaimed:

Romans 7:24
What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Fortunately, Paul found a way out of his frustrating contradiction…and fortunately, so can we.  A few verses later, while Paul speaks rhetorically to the believers in Rome, he hands over the keys to get out of this prison:

Romans 8:10-11
Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.

Twice here Paul reminds them of their status as believers: he says to them if Christ is in you (implicitly saying “and He is”), and then he says to them if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you (implicitly saying “and He does”).   

The key to getting out of their “inability prison” isn’t to work harder; instead, it is to recognize that the Spirit gives life because [Christ’s] righteousness was attributed to them the moment they believed.  This is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, and as such the Spirit will bring your mortal bodies to life, thus enabling us to do the good we now desire to do.

Don’t think these verses only apply to some day in the future.  Notice that the Spirit gives life to your mortal bodies – that is here-and-now language, not future.  The Spirit of God performs a resurrection of our dead flesh, giving us the power and ability to live this life the way God designed for us.  Which flows to Paul’s conclusion:

Romans 8:12
So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh

I think this is also why Paul tells the Galatian church:

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body [literally: the flesh], I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

We are not obligated to live the life of a try-hard Christian.  We don’t need to muscle-through our circumstances to do the right thing.  Instead, we trust God that He will resurrect our mortal bodies to live out the new desires He has given us when He gave us life through His son. 

The Christian life is a miracle of resurrection.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

I don't know what to read next

One morning, a guy got up early, made coffee, and sat down to read his Bible.  The problem was that he didn’t know where to start.  After a few moments of staring at the unopened book sitting on his kitchen table, he still didn’t know what to do.  So he prayed, “Lord, I don’t know what I’m doing here.  Please give me direction on what I should read and what I should do today.”

Not knowing where to turn, he decided to randomly open to a page and point at a verse.  He hoped God would guide him.  Not wanting to end up in the Old Testament, he veered towards the right side of his Bible.  He landed on Matthew 27:5, Then he went and hanged himself.  “That’s…weird,” he muttered. “God, I’m looking for guidance here…” So he flipped a few pages forward and stopped at Luke 10:37, Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”  Feeling a bit unnerved, he sought safety in the book of John.  Quickly turning there, he stopped at John 13:27, So Jesus told him, “What you’re doing, do quickly.”

I joke, I joke.

Randomly opening our Bibles, hoping God will direct our flipping around so we land on a piece of wisdom is never a good idea.  However, wondering what part of the Bible to read next is a very common concern for Christians who choose to spend time and effort seeking God.  There are lots of blog posts, study guides, and other plans out there.  Which one to choose?

You could treat the Bible like one big book and read it cover to cover.  In fact, many people do that – only to get bogged down in Exodus and then quitting at some chapter in Leviticus.  Read-the-Bible-in-a-year plans also take this approach.  You’ll end up reading 3 or 4 chapters a day, every day.  I have finished a yearly plan like this once.  It certainly had its benefits – knowing exactly how much to read, seeing some familiar New Testament references in Old Testament passages that I don’t routinely read – but you have to be aware of the drawbacks, too.  The challenges with this approach is that you’re mainly reading for information and not life change; also your daily chunk of chapters could easily become an anxiety-driven checkbox for your day.  All in all, I’m glad that I completed a full read of the Bible, because getting a 30,000 ft view of Scripture was great – but I do not have any plans to do it again.

Over the years of reading/studying/teaching the Bible, I have found that the slower approach is better.  Take the text in smaller pieces…think about it, pray about it, and then take what you learn into your daily life.  To help with that, I offer 3 suggestions:

·       Proverbs – Whatever day of month it is, read that chapter of Proverbs.  This is my go-to if I’m not sure what to read next or if I just want to read the Bible while I eat breakfast.  Chapters in Proverbs are easy to drop in anywhere and not lose any context.  Read through each proverb and look for truths you have experienced, perspectives you might not have considered, or situations you can trust God with.  It’s ok to linger on a proverb and just think through it.  Since this blog is posted on the 15th, when I turn to that chapter, I’m immediately challenged with the first verse:

Proverbs 15:1
A gentle answer turns away anger,
but a harsh word stirs up wrath.

 We can easily see the truth in this statement, but let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?  Allow yourself the time to think through questions like:

Why do I immediately recognize this to be true? 
How do I respond to gentle answers? 
How do I respond to harsh words?
Which one am I more likely to give at work? to my spouse? to my kids? to strangers?
Where in my life can God help me to be intentional about giving others a gentle answer?

I’m sure you could follow this train of thought with a few more questions of your own.  Just one verse…and a lot of good applications that can come from it.  These are easily found when you look at the Proverbs chapter that match the day of the month.

·       Psalms – Where the Proverbs are steady, logical life-principles, the Psalms are dripping with emotion and relationship.  The shortest one is just 2 verses (Psalm 117) and the longest is 176 verses (Psalm 119).  There are 150 Psalms, so you could easily read one Psalm per day and have a five month plan laid out for you (maybe spread out Psalm 119 over a few days).  What you’ll find is a lot of raw emotion, especially in David’s psalms.  He wasn’t afraid to tell God exactly how he felt, for better or worse, and in vivid detail.  Don’t get caught up in any graphic details or cultural references you may not understand…instead look for the theme of each psalm and think about why the Israelites would have sung these lines to God.  You might be surprised to find out that ancient people and modern people aren’t all that different in their struggles, concerns, and aspirations.

·       John – The book of John is THE place to start when reading the Bible.  John’s gospel is the only book explicitly written to non-believers to explain who Jesus is, the purpose and result of His mission, and – most importantly – how to obtain eternal life from Him.  The apostle admits that he could have written about any number of scenes in Jesus’ life, but the specific ones that he selected were to convince his readers that Jesus is the Son of God and that by simply believing in Him, anyone can have eternal life.  John gives no additional conditions or requirements.  In this gospel, you’ll find that in order to obtain eternal life, you don’t have to confess all your sins, believe certain facts in a certain order, promise to live better, repent, or make a commitment to follow Jesus – while all those are good things, they are not pre-conditions of eternal salvation.  The only requirement for eternal salvation is that you believe in Jesus for it.  Don’t believe me?  John’s gospel has 21 chapters – read one per day for the next three weeks, and ask God to show you exactly what He requires.

The main thing is that we continually get into our Bibles.  There are too many things that clamor for our attention every day, and this is the book that God has crafted over the centuries in an effort to reveal Himself to us.  Don’t get hung up on what to read next…just take the next step and don’t be afraid to take your time.  It’s more important that you grow in your relationship with God than checking the box on a reading plan each day. 

The focus isn’t on how many times you’ve been though the Bible…instead, how many times has the Bible been through you?

Keep Pressing,
Ken