Category Archives: Bible

Hard Work and Laughter

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The rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem is one of my favorite Old Testament accounts. (Nehemiah 3-6) The Jews worked together, each taking a section, and the wall went up in 52 days. I hope they had fun.

When I was a teenager, my family would take part in the semi-annual church clean-up. Like many churches, the members of the fellowship would get together on a Saturday to paint and repair, spring clean and plant flowers around our church property. There were jobs for all of us to do, no matter what age we were. I remember laughter and teasing, a covered dish lunch, the smell of Endust and newly cut grass. We had fun.

Was it like that for the Jews as they worked shoulder to shoulder with their neighbors on rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem? Did they make it a game, a contest to see who could carry the largest boulder? Did they joke with each other? Did they stop for lunch together?

The Bible tells us bullies tried to intimidate them into stopping their work. Did the Jews talk about Sanballat and Tobiah as they took a break from their work in the hot sun over a cool drink of water? Did they encourage one another to ignore the threats? I know they determined to protect each other.

I think this is a picture of what our churches should look like. People working shoulder to shoulder to share Jesus in the neighborhood, encouraging one another, supporting one another.

And having fun doing it.

Does the neighborhood surrounding your church property see a group of people who love one another and who enjoy serving God together? I hope they see a pick-up soccer game in the parking lot once in a while. I hope they hear laughter and occasionally smell the fragrance of hamburgs on the grill. I hope they see a building cared for and loved by the people who call it their church home. And I hope they are drawn to your fellowship because of it.

The Jews rebuilt that wall in 52 days. Pretty amazing. God has amazing things for our church fellowships to do, too. May he find us faithful doing his work with joy.

Why we do what we do.

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God asked the Jews an important question:

During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting? And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourself? (Zechariah 7:5&6)

It’s an honest question I think each of us need to consider for ourselves.

If I attend church services for a “worship experience”, who is the focus? Does God need the experience? Or do I? If I read my Bible, is it so I can feel good about my faithfulness?

I knew a woman who felt she had to take part in a communion service every Sunday because if she didn’t, she would have a terrible week.

If I blog, is it to be complimented on my post? I have to confess I like to see icons of people who “like” what I say. Is that what motivates me to hit “publish” each time?

If you listen to people like Joel Osteen you will likely begin to believe worship is about you, that following God is about you, that life is about you. Is it? Is it really?

Or is it about God?

Zechariah has a lot to say to us today. And he says something in 8:23 that I believe sums up why we worship, why we live lives set apart from the world, why we are kinder, more loving and forgiving, more honest than our unsaved neighbor. He talks about people from every nation going to Jerusalem to worship God. He says ten people will cling to the sleeve of one Jew and say:

Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

That’s our commission as Christians. All that we do, all that we say and are, is surrendered to God for one reason. Not so that we are blessed. But so that others are lead to the Savior.

That should be why we do what we do.

Heavenly Father, I want my worship to be pleasing to you, whether sitting in a pew on Sunday, or reading my Bible in my home, whether singing hymns in my car, or praying while talking to my neighbor over coffee. Forgive me for the tendency to make it about me. May the result of my worship of you in spirit and in truth cause people to want to get to know my Savior. I want my motivation to be you. I want my focus to be you. I want my life to be pleasing to you alone. 

Building the Temple

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The people threw a celebration when the foundation of the Temple was finished. (Ezra 3:10-13) There was a lot of work ahead of them. But that first, and important piece was finally in place. And they stopped to worship God there.

A couple of things come to mind as I read Ezra 3, and as I apply this account to my life. Scripture tells me I am God’s Temple. (I Corinthians 3:16, 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16) He lives on earth in me. 

The New Testament talks a lot about foundations. Jesus told a parable about building houses on sand, compared to building on solid rock. (Matthew 7:24-27). In Luke 14:28-30 Jesus speaks about how important it is to finish building on the foundation. Paul names the Foundation in I Corinthians 3:11. “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

Jesus is the sure foundation and he grounds me, supports me. If I build my life on him, he can take it. But the Temple wouldn’t have been worth much if the people we read about in Ezra had just left the structure as a foundation. If they had continued to celebrate and rejoice and worship God over the foundation, the Temple would not have been able to be completed or to be used as it was intended.

So here’s what I’m thinking. I, as the Temple of the Living God, have a solid foundation in the person of Jesus Christ. He is my Savior. I went to him and confessed my sin and asked him to forgive me… and he did. That’s cause to celebrate!

But it doesn’t have to end there. There is work to be done. I want to grow in my relationship with him, build on my salvation by studying his Word, surrounding myself with Christians who will hold me accountable, and by praying. 

If I attend church on Sunday for a “worship experience” and come away from there feeling spiritual, I’m celebrating on the foundation. If I don’t study my Bible or pray, don’t talk about Jesus to others, live a life that looks no different than my unsaved neighbor, this Temple isn’t being built. I’m living on the foundation without a useful structure through which God can work.

Dear Foundation, I thank you for being that solid rock beneath my feet. I thank you for forgiving my sins and the privilege of having you living in me. I want to sing your praises, celebrate having you in my life. But I pray that I, like the example we read about in Ezra, will be motivated to build my life on the Foundation you have provided. Give me discernment to know the Truth of Scripture, give me opportunity to share Christ with others, let me be strong enough to resist temptation and rise above the world’s influence. May I be a Temple you deserve, holy and useful for your kingdom, built on the Foundation of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Healing Stream

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As I read Ezekiel 47 this morning about the Healing Stream, I was reminded of Jesus, the Living Water. The angel in Ezekiel’s vision described water that would freshen the Dead Sea, cause fruit trees to thrive so that they wouldn’t go dormant, and produce fish of every kind for fishermen to catch.

Fruit trees, fish, a useless body of water restored, blessed, “life will flourish wherever this water flows”. (verse 9)

Shouldn’t that describe the life of a believer in Jesus? Sometimes we don’t really know how dead we are in our sin until we are faced with the Truth of Scripture. Accepting Christ’s gift of forgiveness causes our worthless lives to have meaning. We, too, become fishers of men, we bear fruit that reveal Jesus to those around us. And none of this comes from our effort, our frame of mind, or even our faith.

Just like in Ezekiel’s vision, our transformation comes when the Healing Stream, the Living Water, Jesus Himself, flows through us. Which makes me wonder.

“Life will flourish wherever this water flows.”

I wonder if I haven’t built a dam that prevents the water from flowing freely. Would a sin I hold onto, harboring hatred or jealousy, neglecting my time with God in his Word and prayer, cause the Holy Spirit, that Healing Stream, to hit a snag?

I want my life to be like that which the angel showed Ezekiel in his vision. I want the Healing Stream to flow freely through me. I want to bear fruit, feed hungry souls, and be an example of the power of God to a world that needs him. 

Dear Father, Forgive me when I begin to build a dam that would prevent you from flowing through me. You are the Healing Stream, the Living Water. What a privilege it is to know you. I pray that I will be that vessel through which you can flow freely to draw others to you, too. Give me the ability to recognize the beginnings of dam-building, may I quickly repent, and may you use me today. Refresh me. Flow through me. And may Jesus receive the glory.

As Long As It Takes

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If you read the book of Lamentations you will feel the anguish over the state of things in Israel due to their disobedience. In fact, throughout the Old Testament you will often hear the Jews crying out to God: How long will you continue to forget us?

And often you will hear God’s reply: As long as it takes.

God doesn’t delight in punishing his people. He created us to fellowship with him, to love and obey him. And because he created us with the ability to choose or reject him, he drew a line in the sand. We call the condensed version of this line The Ten Commandments. There needs to be no guessing concerning the requirements for having a blessed relationship with him:

Worship me only. Love me above all else, Obey my instructions how to treat people, how to conduct business, what to believe. And for we who live after the cross: accept my Son as your Savior.

Sure it’s a tough list of rules. In fact, an impossible list to achieve for us humans. Yet God’s requirements don’t change. Here’s the line in the sand. Cross it and enjoy a forgiven life under grace. Stay where you are and accept the consequence.

Be assured. God won’t just let you stay on that side without doing everything he can to get you to come over to his side. You may even find yourself asking, “Why, God? How long are you going to cause me pain?”

AS LONG AS IT TAKES.

You Lie

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I was reading in Jeremiah 42 this morning the account of yet another time Israel disobeyed and God punished. As I read, my mind kept wandering toward pictures of things happening in the US today. Are we any different than those in the Old Testament who blatantly sinned, told God to back off, and were so prideful they thought they knew more and were stronger than God?

God’s warning through Jeremiah was: repent or die. Their response: You lie.

Today, Christians are still saying: repent or face the consequences. The world’s response: You lie.

They tell us we lie if we say Jesus is the only way to the One True God. They say we lie if we tell them homosexuality is a sin, that abortion is murder, that God created this universe with a word, that marriage between a man and a woman is a sacred union before God and meant to last a life time.

The list goes on and in many cases, Christians are portrayed as liars and haters. In some countries, there will be Christians TODAY who are tortured and murdered for speaking the Truth. The temptation to keep quiet is certainly there for many of us, in order to avoid the labels or the danger.

Oh Christians, and I know there are many of us out there, let’s determine to be heard with firmness and in love. Let’s use our voices to proclaim the Truth of Scripture with unwavering boldness. Read the newspaper, watch the news on TV, know what’s happening in our world and in our country. Vote intelligently. Run for office. Pray.

Pray.

The things we do – or don’t do – today will determine the future. Will our children and grandchildren face persecution because we sat in our recliners and did nothing? Will we face persecution because we were afraid someone would call us out, call us liars? We who know the Truth have a responsibility and a calling to proclaim that Truth whether they want to hear it or not.

May God find us faithful.

What is Hell?

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The last thing Zedekiah saw was the slaughtering of his sons and friends. (The account is recorded in Ezekiel 25, Jeremiah 52 and 39) After this horrible event, the king of Babylon ordered Zedekiah’s eyes to be gouged out. The Jewish king was then thrown into prison where he lived out the rest of his life, alone and in pain. He must have longed for death.

But here’s the thing. Dying for an unrepentant sinner is so much worse then even Zedekiah experienced. No physical or emotional pain endured in this lifetime comes close to the absence of God forever. I imagine Zedekiah was unable to erase the picture of his sons being killed. All he had left to see were the images in his memories.

Have you ever seen something you wish you hadn’t? Maybe it was a traumatic event, or a disgusting act, or an embarrassing moment. Did you, for a time, relive that moment every time you closed your eyes? Did the picture in your mind haunt you, torment you, follow you everywhere you went? Imagine Zedekiah who had the image of those murders seared into his mind, and no means of distracting himself from the memory, from the knowledge that it was his own disobedience that caused his son’s deaths.

Zedekiah was a bad man. The Bible tells us that, as king of Judah, he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He was proud and refused to obey God or even pay attention to the warnings God sent him through Jeremiah and Ezekiel. But I don’t wish what he endured at the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar on my worst enemy.

I have to ask myself, then, why is it I ignore the fact that some of my loved ones are facing an eternity so much worse? How can I not share Jesus with them, with my neighbors, with dear friends? What can be worse than watching your children be murdered, then having your eyes ripped out of your head?

Hell – where the darkness will be as thick as total blindness, where memories, guilt, and regret will haunt and burn forever.

Dear God, Thank you for this picture of Hell, here in the life of Zedekiah. I know some people think Hell will be a drunken party, or a burning furnace. But as I look at your Word, I see Hell as being something much worse. There is no fellowship in Hell. It’s personal. It’s solitary. It’s living with the burning regret of a life lived without you. I put myself in Zedekiah’s shoes and realize what he experienced is a fraction of what Hell will be for those who reject you. An eternity without eyes to see, darkness that is so complete, and all they will have are the memories of the times you reached out to them, and they rejected you. They will realize how much they were loved by you, and agonize over the times their pride got in their way of receiving your gift of grace. God, help me not to forget this picture. And may I be faithful to share you with people in my world while I still have time. While they still have time to find you.

Jesus Only

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As I read in Ezekiel this morning, I was impressed with this reality: God will judge each of us according to our own actions. We can’t blame parents, or a pastor, or hypocrites sitting in pews.

“I’m not a Christian because my parents never took us to church growing up.”

“I’m not interested in church because there are too many hypocrites who call themselves Christians.”

“I don’t want anything to do with God because there are people starving in Africa.”

When we stand before God, he is not going to ask us, “Why?” He is going to ask us, “What”.

In the Old Testament, people were judged by their day to day choices: How they followed God’s law, how they treated others, how they conducted themselves in business.

After the cross, there is a different plumb-line. When we stand before God, there is only one question he will ask: “What did you do with my Son’s gift of grace?”

That’s not to say that living out our faith by being good, honest, giving, compassionate people isn’t important. Jesus tells us the world will know us by our love, he challenges us to be salt and light to a sinful world. But heaven will not be gained because we went to church, or volunteered at the homeless shelter. Being a good person will never be good enough.

You can say that’s not fair, that God is wrong. But he will answer us like he answered Israel through Ezekiel’s vision.

“No! YOU are wrong.” (Ez 18:25-29)

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one will approach the Father without him. There are no loopholes.

Jesus. Only.

A Tattoo On My Life

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Tattoos are the rage these days. I have a friend who got her first tat when she turned 60. I recently saw a boy of about eight with a cross tattooed to his leg. Both his parents were covered in colorful ink.

Tattoos are no longer “Mom” written on a sailor’s arm. Flowers and skulls and dragons and butterflies, even faces and catchy phrases are worn from the scalp to the toes and everywhere in between by a growing number of people.

In Ezekiel’s vision, an angel was given the task of putting a mark on the forehead of the people who were grieved over sin. (Ez 9) Only those few, with the angel’s tat, were saved. Everyone else lost their lives as a result of God’s judgement.

So I ask myself: is there a visible sign in me that identifies me with the Savior? Is it possible to be a closet Christian? Or, like in Ezekiel’s vision, are we to live as though we had “JESUS” tattooed on our foreheads? The Bible tells us there is no other name under heaven that can save us.

I have no plans to ever have a tattoo. I’ve only ever seen one worth having, and that’s my niece’s personal tribute to her brother, who was tragically killed in an auto accident two years ago. It’s the Hebrew word for “brother” that Jesus used when he spoke to his disciples, and it’s on her right wrist.

I don’t want a tattoo. But I want to live my life in such a way that Jesus is as visible as if his name was tattooed to my forehead. May Christ be seen in me by the words I say, the places I go, the things I do, by the very look on my face.

Dear Jesus, I love you. What you did on the cross so that I can be with you is everything to me. Help me live my life so that others know that about me. May they recognize your love, your grace, your peace, your Presence when they look at my life. Convict me when I begin to get off track and may I be quick to confess. I would be honored to represent you today according to your Word. You have tattooed your Name on my heart. May I wear it proudly and truly so that someone will recognize you and want you in their life, too.

How Do I Look?

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I’ve heard the account of Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego many times and for many years. But when I recently read about Daniel’s desire to abstain from the kings food, I found myself wondering what it is I am ingesting myself. Not the chips I ate yesterday, or the big piece of angel food cake I had for dinner last night. I’m wondering what it is I’m feeding my soul.

What do I read, watch on TV? What is it a pastor or teacher or friend or blogger has said? The Bible tells me to guard my heart. How am I doing?

If I’m watching acts of sin played out on TV, what is that doing to my heart’s condition before God? If I go to a church with a “God is Love” theology without preaching the truth about his holiness, is that effecting my relationship with God? Is the music I listen to slowly separating me from God’s Presence? Relationships, thoughts, what I do in secret, are feeding my soul.

The difference in Daniel and his friends was noticeable They looked better than everyone else because of the food they rejected, the pure food they ingested. 

I wonder if people, when they look at my life, can tell I’ve feasted on God’s Word and abstained from what was offered to me by the world. I want to look different: better, more joyful, kinder, more honest. I want to BE a person others identify with my Savior.