Tag Archives: daily walk

(Acts 16) How Far Are You Willing To Go?

Leave a reply

It seems that immediately after the Church leaders made it plain that a Gentile did not have to be circumcised in order to be considered a believer, Paul had Timothy circumcised. Paul had been strongly against the circumcision requirement. So was he being hypocritical when he insisted Timothy be circumcised? What gives?

Well, first off, Timothy was already a believer. He had already accepted the saving work of Jesus by faith. His circumcision was not a step toward salvation. He was already saved.

So why on earth would he go through that painful surgery if he didn’t have to?

Timothy wasn’t circumcised for his own benefit. He did it for the benefit of the Jews who needed to hear the Gospel, and he knew the Jews would not easily accept the word of an uncircumcised man.

Paul and Timothy were picking their battles. It was the Gospel they wanted to preach, not the value or uselessness of circumcision.

Sometimes we get so caught up in little details and opinions that the Gospel isn’t heard. What is more important: what the preacher wears on Sunday morning (and I’m talking to you who prefer suit and tie AND you who prefer jeans and t-shirts), or is it what he says from the pulpit that matters?

Is it more important to hear drums or an organ accompanying the singing, or is the preaching of the Gospel more important? King James, NIV, or the Gospel being explained through the text?

Timothy was willing to go as far as having that surgery to clear the way for the Gospel. How far are you willing to go?

(Matthew 10) Voices

Leave a reply

There are so many voices out there these days: voices that use Scripture, compassionate voices, tolerant voices, loving and encouraging voices, voices that sound like Jesus’ voice but are really the voice of Satan. These voices can be sung in some worship services, preached from too many pulpits, written in some Bible commentaries, blogs, and study guides.

Some voices are more easily recognized as lies. They are in the news and social medias, on the lips of government officials, Hollywood, etc. At least they should be recognizable. They call good evil and evil good, they say males are females and females are males, the Constitution is bad and history needs to be erased or tweaked.

I say those voices are easily identified as lies and, with that, should be rejected. But obviously from what we see going on in our world, that is not the case. Those lying voices are loud and clear and believed by what may be the majority.

The reason for this is that we don’t recognize the voice of the Shepherd any more. We are lazy and irresponsible. We let others do our thinking for us. We follow this voice, then that, as those voices lead us further and further away from the Truth. And as we move further from the Truth, the Shepherd’s voice gets weaker and weaker.

Do you know the Shepherd’s voice? Can you distinguish it from the voice of the wolves that would lure you into death? If you find yourself beginning to fall for the alternate truths being shouted today, you need to stop and listen. Open your Bibles. Hear the voice of the Shepherd through the words He wrote to you. Reject the lies and stand on the only Truth there is.

I’m praying for you. I’m praying for us all.

(Mark 3-6) Not About Me

2 Replies

Do you find it interesting that, of all the Gospel writers, Mark (who is believed to have written Peter’s experiences with Jesus) didn’t write about Peter walking a few steps on the water? Did Mark and Peter omit that fact to save the apostle from the embarrassment of admitting he sank when he doubted? Maybe. But I doubt it.

Scripture doesn’t explain this omission so I can only guess at the reason behind it. On the surface, the fact that Peter even got out of the boat in the middle of a rain storm and walked toward Jesus on top of the water is amazing, and something to celebrate. Talk about faith! Talk about a miracle! Regular old Peter the fisherman walked on water. You don’t hear that happening every day!

Yet when it came to chronicling the life and work of Jesus, Peter kept that detail to himself. I don’t think it was to hide his doubt, or to save face. I think that Peter understood that it wasn’t about him at all. This narrative was about Jesus.

Even today when people hear “walking on water,” they think of Jesus – not Peter. And that’s exactly what I think Peter wanted.

Does my life point to me, do I seek attention and applause? Do I “share” what Jesus is doing in my life so people think what a great Christian I must be?

I want to take a page from Peter’s life. Take me out of the picture. I want my life to be about Jesus, to make people think of Jesus, to shine a light away from myself and point to Jesus only.

It’s not about me.

(Matthew 13-15) What Our World Needs

Leave a reply

Jesus speaks so often about the difference between head-knowledge and heart-knowledge, of obedience for the sake of the Law, and willing obedience for the sake of Jesus.

Christianity is not a list of rules to follow in order to earn God’s favor. It’s a changed heart that is the result of repenting of sin and accepting the forgiveness God provides through Jesus. It’s a changed heart that wants to obey God out of love and appreciation for having received God’s favor at the cross. It’s willing obedience in light of God’s grace.

Oh, for changed hearts, not just people who do good things, or go to church, or simply wear His Name.

It’s what God demands. And it’s exactly what our world needs.

(Haggai) What You Believe and What You Choose

2 Replies

In reference to the words of the prophet Haggai, my study Bible says this:

“To acknowledge the Lord as God has implications for ordinary decisions of life. It is to live before One who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and who has an agenda. He has a plan that impinges on the details of our lives.” (CSB Apologetics Study Bible; 2017; Holman Bible Publishers; Nashville, TN; p1143)

Do you believe in God? Then how does knowing He knows all, sees all, and has a plan for you that requires your obedience, effect the choices you’ll make today? I’m talking about your choice of clothing, the places you choose to go, the thoughts you allow yourself to think. How does your belief in God impact your day-to-day?

Haggai brings up an important point. It has to do with how close we choose to live with sin before we ourselves become stained with sin. He paints a picture of someone in dirty clothes rubbing shoulders with someone clean. Does the cleanness ever rub off on the filth so that the filth becomes clean?

Have you ever hugged a dirty, smelly person, and watched the dirt fall from their clothes, and their stench replaced by the scent of your shower gel? The answer, of course, is NO.

But, if you hug that dirty, smelly person, you walk away with smudges on your clothes, and the lingering scent of body odor on your skin. You walk away needing a bath yourself.

You catch diseases by being close to the diseased. But they never catch your health by being close to you.

Choices. You and I will make them today according to what we believe about God. And your choices will impact whether or not God’s will will be done in your life today.

(Hosea 4-8) I Want That, Too

Leave a reply

Sometimes I can almost feel God’s heart breaking. Even as He spells out the judgment to come, even as He expresses His anger over the continued disobedience of His children, He says, “I want to redeem them.”

If only they would repent. If only they would obey. If only they would let Him, He would save them. He wanted to redeem them. But because they’d rather hold on to their idols, He couldn’t.

God threw out a lifeline, but they were still drowning because they couldn’t let go of their sin. And it broke His heart.

I don’t think I can fully understand the extent of His pain because I can’t fully understand the depth of His love. But as I read God’s message to us through Hosea, I know I don’t want any part of adding to His pain.

I want to repent of sin the moment God reveals it to me. I want to resist temptation, and obey Him with every breath I take. I want only to bring Him joy. My redemption cost Jesus so much. I don’t want to waste a single drop of the blood He shed paying the death penalty for my sin.

There isn’t an idol, a sin, that’s worth a fraction of the cross. I hear God say, “I want to redeem Connie.” And I want that, too.

(Jeremiah 46-49) Doing The Lord’s Business

Leave a reply

God’s not a fool. And we are foolish if we think He is. We might go to church, teach a Sunday School class, visit the sick, give generously. But if we have not confessed sin, if we do those things with any other motive than to be obedient to our King, God says this to us:

The one who does the Lord’s business deceitfully is cursed. The one who withholds his sword from bloodshed is cursed. (48:10)

Bloodshed? Surely not!

Actually, Jeremiah was speaking of war, of destroying God’s flesh and blood enemies. But thankfully, after the cross, we are not told to kill anyone! We’re told to love our enemies.

Yet what Jeremiah said can and does apply to us. We need to destroy sin in our lives, cut it out, without mercy. Satan is the enemy that applies here. And we cannot withhold bloodshed against him by ignoring sin in our lives.

We can do all the right things and be first in line to volunteer for a ministry. But if we haven’t dealt with our sin at the foot of the cross, we do God’s business deceitfully. And we are cursed.

Jesus Himself addressed this in Matthew 7:21-23:

Not every who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?” Then I will announce to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!“

The lesson for us here in Jeremiah and in Jesus’ own word in Matthew is: Deal with the enemy of your soul first by confessing your sin and accepting God’s grace through Jesus’ blood…

THEN get busy doing the Lord’s business! For His sake and His glory!

(Jeremiah 23-25) Do We Fear God?

Leave a reply

The Jews considered themselves God’s chosen, most loved people on earth. Yet they acted like the rest of the world. They claimed to know God – but they did not fear Him.

Their preachers were preaching lies, and the people were soaking it up. God was about to show them what their lack of fear got them.

I wonder if Christians today really fear God. Our divorce rate rivals that of non-Christians. (yes, many non-Christians choose to live together without marriage, but so do many Christians these days). Some Christians carelessly use the Holy Name of God in their speech. There are Christians who lie, are judgmental, laugh at dirty jokes. Christians blend in with the world more and more every day. And many people who consider themselves Christians don’t even bother going to church on Sunday morning.

I’m not sure we fear God. And I think we are seeing the tip of the iceberg what that lack of fear will get us.

(Isaiah 61-64) A Loving God

Leave a reply

How can a loving God send anyone to hell? If God really loved us, why is there so much evil in the world? Isaiah seems to get what so many of us don’t.

Would it have been more loving if God had created you without the ability to make choices? Would it be love if we HAD to love Him, if we were incapable of not loving Him?

When I was a child I loved playing with my Barbie dolls. Barbie didn’t move without me. She only spoke the words I said. I loved playing Barbie dolls. But that love was not returned. Barbie was not created with the ability to choose love.

We are not Barbie dolls.

God is much more loving that He’s given credit for. Without Him there would be no love. God expresses His love to good people as well as to bad people, and really no one deserves His love considering the way we treat Him. Yet God loves us enough to want us with Him. And He loves us enough to let us choose to be with Him. He won’t make us love Him.

Read Isaiah and hear what rejecting Him costs. Read Isaiah and hear what obedience gains. God, in His love, has spelled it all out. There are no hidden rules. No secret punishments. Choose God and live forever. Choose anything else and suffer the consequences. He won’t send anyone to hell who doesn’t reject Him.

It’s a loving God who lets us choose.

(Isaiah 15-19) Who Do You Listen To?

Leave a reply

I think we all like to believe in our abilities. We want to believe we are strong and capable and powerful and clever and can handle (or should be able to handle) anything life throws our way.

But Scripture – and experience – tells us that just isn’t always so. If God is not in it, our efforts are doomed.

We need to be careful who we listen to. The world wants us to suck it up, pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, overcome by our own resolve. God wants us to trust Him.

God promises to defeat any enemy of we who obey Him. God longs to move mountains, destroy enemies, give us victory. But so often we get in His way. The result, like we see here in Isaiah is drought, defeat, devastation.

I want to surrender today to God, completely, unreservedly, happily. I’m not ashamed to admit I need Him.