Category Archives: Bible study

A Lesson From “Space Jam”

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The Apostle Paul got me thinking about what it means to be innocent. A child is innocent of a lot of things because he hasn’t been exposed to the ugly side of life. Disney knows this. So they throw “adult” humor in their cartoons and films, believing children won’t get it, so won’t be effected by it. Or maybe they just don’t care if children get it or not.

Years ago I had my five year old nephew for a weekend visit. That’s a story in itself. I love that kid! Anyway, after a day of playing in the yard and eating pizza, we settled down for the evening in front of the TV and watched a video of “Space Jam”. Reed and I laughed out loud at the silly characters and cheered for Michael Jordan like we were in the stadium.

The next day was a rainy Saturday. So Reed asked if we could watch the movie again. He was an easy kid to babysit. We laughed as hard the second time. In fact, as I recall, we watched it for a third time before he went to bed that night. (I might not get the “Babysitter of the Year” award any time soon.)

I took him home on Sunday afternoon. His parents weren’t home yet so Reed took me to the basement to show me a video game he liked to play. He snuggled up next to me on the couch, and proceeded to push buttons on the controller to get the character to the next level. But the character kept “dying” at a certain point in the game. Over and over Reed would get it to that point, then fail.

All of a sudden, he exclaimed, “What the hell is going on here?”

I was shocked! “What did you say?” I asked.

“Why, is that bad?” he replied innocently, thumbs still frantically pushing buttons.

Reed lives in a home where neither parent swears. I am sure he never heard those words come out of either of their mouths. Why he would say that was a mystery to us all.

About a year or so later, Reed and his family were visiting me, and Reed asked if we could watch “Space Jam”. So, we sat down to enjoy the movie together.

Half way through the movie the coach, at a frustrating point in a basketball game shouts, “What the hell is going on here?”

We all looked at each other in disbelief. Mystery solved.

Romans 16:19 tells us to “…be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.” Is that even possible in today’s society? I wonder.

Do you know the names of the Real Housewives? Do you laugh at the characters on Modern Family? Did you cry when Luke left Port Charles?

You have to admit that TV has destroyed our innocence. Have you considered what information and ideas it has put into your minds and hearts? Are you tolerant of sin, or worse, at a point where you don’t recognize sin as sin? Have you thought about what kinds of things your children are ingesting?

I’m not necessarily advocating putting your TV on the curb for the trash guy. That’s between you and God. I do, however, advocate that you and I be careful about what we watch.

We worship a holy God who demands holiness of us. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing not knowing what your coworkers are talking about around the water cooler when they are rehashing the events on last night’s episode of Dating Naked. In fact, your not knowing might speak to someone about their own heart’s condition before God.

Don’t ever apologize for being simple concerning evil. It’s far more important to honor God with our lives. It’s his approval we should be seeking. Isn’t it?

Father, I know that some people will think saying the word, hell, in frustration is no big deal. I know some people will insist that what they watch on TV doesn’t translate into sin in their own lives. But I read what Paul says about being simple concerning evil, and I am convicted. I know too much to be simple concerning evil. I’ve seen too much. But, I don’t have to continue to dump evil into my brain. Give me wisdom about my choices of TV shows, about what I read, about what music I listen to. I can’t unlearn what I’ve allowed to penetrate me to this point. But I can prevent more garbage from coming in in the future. Give me an innocence from today on as I choose to be wise in what is good.

Listen For The Whisper

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Job, in chapter 26, tries to say how big, how powerful, how awe-inspiring is God. God is supreme over death and hell. He is supreme over creation: “He hangs the earth on nothing.” And God is supreme over heaven.

Job tells us that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s just what we can know of God. God is greater, more powerful than we can even imagine!

Then in verse 14 he says, “…and how small a whisper we hear of him…”

What we see around us, what we experience in life is such a small part of WHO God really is. Our human minds can’t comprehend his reality.

A whisper is something you can only hear close up. That’s what spoke to me in this verse today. This immense God leans in so we can hear him. As mighty as he is, as awesome, and as enormous his reach, he is also personal, wanting us to know him.

He whispers to us through his Word, through the birth of a baby, through struggles and joys, through a budding rose, and a summer rain. “Here I am,” he says to us. “I love you. I died for you. I want to walk with you today.”

Listen for the whisper!

Being A Christian

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Faith may be believing in things you can’t see, but there is nothing unseen about living a Christian life. Paul, in Romans 12, tells us to be transformed by using our minds. He says God gives his people gifts. We need to recognize ours and use them.

The list of things Paul says to do require intention, thought, action. Being a Christian is not praying a prayer, then saying, “Whew! I dodged that bullet! No hell for me,” then continuing life as usual. In fact, if that is your experience I question your salvation according to Scripture.

Being a Christian does begin with faith, and with repentance, with accepting Jesus’ work on the cross on your behalf. But Scripture tells us a natural outcome of your salvation is a changed life, something people can see.

Being a Christian involves radiating Jesus. It’s the person who studies God’s Word to show himself a child of God, one who loves, is kind, diligent, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient, prayerful, giving, humble. The list goes on.

Being a Christian doesn’t mean walking around with a sappy smile on your face and saying, “God bless you.” It’s getting your hands dirty, using your mind by studying God’s Word. It’s about reasonable service to the One who saved you.

I hope you take time to read Romans 12 today and allow Paul to challenge you in your walk with the Lord. Let’s not conform to the world, but be transformed into the people God delights in using to reveal himself to those around us.

And may He find us faithful.

Job’s Hell On Earth

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I am reading the book of Job this week as part of my year long plan. I’ve read Job several times, so as I read his words of anguish, I know his turmoil is temporary. Job’s hell on earth will not last forever.

Job is tormented by his thoughts, his memories, his questions, the “what-ifs”. He can find no comfort; not physically and not in his soul. His groans come from deep inside of him.

If you’ve been with me on this blogging journey for very long, you know that in 2012 we lost my 22 year old nephew in an auto accident. I have experienced death repeated times as we’ve buried grandparents, aunts and uncles, parents. But I had never experienced the level of grief that paralyzed me when I got the horrible news of Geoffrey’s death.

I remember sitting in silence in my parent’s family room. My sisters, their families, my dad. Tears flowed freely, but there were no words that could express what we were going through. There were, however, occasional groans.

I can still hear the sound of Geoff’s parents as that mournful sound escaped from their hearts. Our sister, Kathy, Geoff’s aunt, would groan in such a way you never thought could come from a human. I remember hearing a sorrowful groan, then realizing the sound had come from me. I finally understood the definition of “lament”.

That kind of grief cannot be described. It’s too painful, too personal. The sound of that kind of pain comes involuntarily. It’s like the whistle of a teapot. It just comes on its own as a result of the boiling turmoil deep inside. It’s the sound of true anguish.

Dear One, that’s a portrait of hell. Hell is not a giant bonfire. It is the absence of God, the absence of light, of love, of comfort, of peace, of joy. It’s living inside that teapot where thoughts and memories, the “what-ifs” torment. Forever. Where the only sound heard is that of painful, personal groaning.

Job’s anguish was temporary. Even though I still grieve the loss of my dear nephew, the intensity isn’t the same today as it was on June 24, 2012. But here is what God would say to us today: without  accepting the grace God offers to us sinners through the blood of his Son Jesus, eternity will be living with that grief, that agony, that helplessness FOREVER. No relief, no lessening of the pain, no hope that things will ever get better. And if I think my grief was hard to bear, if Job’s grief was devastating, the grief of those in hell, separated from God will be so much more intense.

I can’t imagine living an eternity of June 24, 2012. And hell will be so much more painful than even that day was.

Hell is nothing to joke about, nothing to take lightly. It’s personal, and painful, and devastating, and ugly, and separated from everything good with no chance of reprieve. The good news is, you can avoid that end.

Jesus died so you and I don’t have to ever experience hell. But you need to meet him on his terms. You need to confess your sins and accept his forgiveness. I promise you, he will be faithful to forgive you, to cleanse you, to live inside of you, and one day, to welcome you into his heavenly home where you will joyfully live…

Forever.

Dear God, Hell is scary. And not the sci-fi kind of scary. It’s real. It’s personal. It’s devastating. Thank you for Jesus, for his willingness to die so that I don’t have to spend one second in that awful place. Life on earth is hard enough, is sad enough. I’d much rather spend eternity in Your presence. I pray for each one who reads these words today. I pray that hearts will be drawn to you, that sins will be confessed, that Your grace will be accepted by anyone who doesn’t already know You. May each of us come to You on Your terms, then look forward to seeing You the day you call us home.

All Of Me

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“… those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8)

Paul is talking about what it looks like to be a child of God: Led by the Spirit. Putting to death the deeds of the body. Suffering for Jesus’ sake. Setting our minds on the things of the Spirit.

The opposite is true for those who are in the flesh. Their focus is on “self”: Self-confidence, self-gratification, self-acceptance, self-love. They are led by the things that benefit themselves without a thought of what benefits the Kingdom of God.

Or are they?

Can’t a Christian have a tiny bit of “self” and still be ok? Does God really insist I lose my identity?

I don’t see Paul making provisions for anything other than total submission. It seems he is telling us we are either led by the Spirit, or we’re not.

Oh God, I don’t want any of me left in this body. I want you to fill me, to transform me, to live in and through me. I want to look like You, talk like You, live like You lived while you were here on earth. I want to see people like You see them, love them like You love them. Forgive me for the times when I allow myself to be led by anything other than your Spirit, even if those things sound good. I want to please YOU alone. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

That Makes Me Happy

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Some people get caught up in what Paul says in Romans 7 about divorce, and miss the point of what God wants us to know. This is not a mandate about marriage. It is, however, an example of marriage to show what happens when we accept Jesus as Savior. We bind ourselves to God, keeping ourselves only to God, as long as we live.

If I begin to worship anyone or anything else (in other words, if I put anything before God on my priority list) I am like an adulteress.

Paul is saying we were once married to the law. The Old Testament Jews were bound to the law, and found forgiveness through the Law of Moses and blood sacrifices. But when Jesus died, the Law died, too. We are now free to bind ourselves to another husband, to God through faith in Jesus.

“… we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”

I love this analogy of marriage here in Romans. I don’t follow a religion. I have a relationship, as loving and intimate as a marriage, to God Himself! I choose to love Jesus. I choose to worship him only.

I am bound by love. And that makes me happy.

The Choice

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I was reading in Psalm 90 this morning and heard the author remind me that our life spans maybe 80 years if we are strong. In light of eternity, our days on earth are but a blink. Yet these hours on earth determine our eternity. What we do with our lives is the difference between life and death.

Paul says in Romans 5 that there are only two results of a life: condemnation or justification. Jesus died for all mankind. We can be justified before God simply by accepting it. It’s an intentional act of will.

I go to God, admit I am a sinner, humble myself and recognize my need of a Savior. Then I ask God to forgive me, and to BE my Savior. That act, that confession, opens the door of heaven to me.

We are justified by faith. And there is no one anywhere who cannot be saved if they accept Jesus’ gift of grace, the forgiveness of sins bought by Jesus’ blood shed at Calvary.

But be warned. There is only condemnation for those who refuse what Jesus offers. And condemnation brings with it eternal separation from God, a hell more painful than we can imagine.

There is no Plan B. God made it plain and simple: justification or condemnation. Jesus or no Jesus. Yes or No.

I choose Jesus. I pray you do, too.

How Much Is Too Much?

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It seems a bit excessive. Sure, many people wanted Paul dead for preaching Jesus, and 40 men devised a plan to ambush and murder him. But deploying 470 troops to take him to Governor Felix might have been overkill. (Acts 23)

Yet how much is too much when protecting the Gospel? I doubt protecting the Gospel was on the mind of the commander when he went to such lengths to get Paul out of town. He was probably more concerned about his own skin should Paul be killed while in his custody.

I thank God that, when we read his Word, he nudges us at certain truths. The Bible is alive, active, powerful!

God’s nudge today finds me asking myself to what extremes am I willing to go to protect the Gospel? There are those who are planning to ambush the Church, destroy Christianity, eliminate Christians. Satan seems to be on a roll!

Am I prepared to protect the Truth of Scripture? At what cost? When I think about it, no effort can be too excessive if it will keep the truth of Jesus Christ still changing lives.

Dear Father in Heaven, once again I am amazed at how alive your Word is, how it can speak to us every time we open its pages. God, I don’t know the answer to the question you seem to be asking me this morning. I don’t know what I am willing to do to stand firm on your Truth. I’d hope that there would be no limit to what I’d be willing to do. I’d like to think I would stop at nothing to preserve the Gospel. But I don’t always reach out to my neighbor when you prompt me to. I don’t always visit or call that one who you have laid on my heart. I don’t always pray as I should. Am I waiting for the Great Tribulation or something before I begin to battle the enemy? I want to be part of the army that’s protecting the Gospel. May you find me faithful. We have some work to do, don’t we Lord?

If you say it often enough…

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Saying something doesn’t automatically make it true. In Acts 19 we see that during a riot, the city clerk stood up and said:

“Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of Ephesus is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Zeus? Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly.” (NKJV)

Is it a fact that some god named Zeus fashioned a statue in the clouds and dropped it in Ephesus? Is that what the city clerk said cannot be denied? Do you believe that to be true?

How often have you heard the earth is billions of years old stated as a fact that can’t be denied? What about the statement that life does not begin at conception? Or that homosexuality is a viable lifestyle? Have you heard it is possible to change your gender stated as fact? Or that marriage isn’t restricted to a union between a man and a woman? Some people even preach God is a god of love and accepts all of us just the way we are.

And they keep saying it, and saying it, and saying it.

The sad truth is, if you tell someone something often enough, very often they’ll begin to believe it.

But I’m here to tell you I can certainly deny that city clerk’s story about the statue. I know for a fact that the earth is thousands, not millions of years old, that there is nothing normal about homosexuality, and abortion is murder. I stand on the truth that God is not only a God of love, he is Holy and demands holiness of his children.

And none of that is true just because I say it is.

I’ve read the Bible from cover to cover several times. And each time I do, the more I realize I cannot deny it is true. It has so many checks and balances. This book, written by many writers over many years, clearly presents God as Creator, Almighty, True, a God who loves each and every one of us, a God who demands our obedience and deserves our worship.

In its pages we see Him proving He is who He says He is. And not just once. He chose the physical nation of Israel, and then the Church, to show us exactly what he expects, the consequences of disobedience, the blessings of faith in Him, and the grace that is ours through Jesus. You have to admit that the fulfilling of so many prophesies is hard to deny. Who else but God could bring that about?

I have learned to check what I am hearing with what is written in God’s Word. The voice of Satan is loud and repetitive. And if I’m not carefully guarding my heart, I might begin to assume he’s telling the truth.

Dear one, let’s determine to depend on God’s Word to be our plumb line. Let’s allow God to be the Cornerstone from which everything is measured. Don’t fall for “popular opinion” or you might start believing a statue fell from heaven…

News Flash: Life Isn’t Fair

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It wasn’t fair. Paul and Silas had been severely beaten and thrown into prison and they had done nothing wrong. Now I know people say there are no “guilty” people in prison. But in this case, Paul and Silas were truly not guilty of any crime. (Acts 16)

How did they handle that? By praising God and singing until midnight. The other prisoners listened to them. And when the angel came and set them free, they stayed right there. Their example led the jailor and his whole family to the Lord.

Things happen in this life that just don’t seem fair. Cancer isn’t fair. An unfaithful spouse isn’t fair. It’s not fair when there’s no money to pay the bills, or the car breaks down, or someone lies about you. But trust me when I say people are watching how you handle it when things happen to you that aren’t fair. They wonder if you go through trials and hardships any differently than they do.

So do you complain, or praise God? Do you express anger with vulgarity, or do you sing about God’s Amazing Grace? Are you pushing people away from, or inviting them into their Savior’s embrace?

Life isn’t fair. How you handle it, however, could make the difference in someone’s life eternally.

Dear God, I don’t pretend to know what those who read this blog are going through. I don’t walk in anyone’s shoes but mine. But I pray for all of us, Lord, as we live through yet another day. Some of us are facing life threatening challenges. Some hearts are broken. Some of us don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Remind us, Father, that you are there in the midst, that you want to be our strength, our hope and joy. As we face these difficulties, I pray that you will be evident in our lives. And may our example, like Paul and Silas, draw someone to your saving grace. Hear our prayers. Accept our praise. And may Jesus be glorified in us today no matter how unfair our lives seem at the moment.