“Where is God?” some ask.  “Is He aware of our plight?”  “Is He passively waiting for the destruction of mankind?”  “Will He intervene in due time?”

Over 2, 500 years ago, a prophet named Elisha said to his servant: “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them!” (2 Kgs 6:16).  But when the servant peeked out the window, all he saw was a large Syrian army with its multitude of horses and iron chariots.  Turning to the prophet, he started counting: “One, two!”  Peering a second time out the window, he thought to himself: “The pressure must be too great for my master.  He is now unable to count!”  Calmly, Elisha prayed: “Lord, open his eyes that he may see.”  Suddenly, the servant saw countless horses and chariots of fire appearing on the horizon and at that very moment, he knew that once he was blind and now he could see.  God was there all along!

If the story were to end there, it would be victorious but greater still are the events that follow!  The prophet Elisha prays for God to bring blindness on his enemies.  Now unable to proceed forward on their own, the Syrian military men who had originally intended to kill the prophet and his servant are led by Elisha to Samaria, to a place where the prophet orders: “‘Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master.’ So he prepared for them a great feast; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the Syrians came no more on raids into the land of Israel” (6:22-23).  What an amazing example of divine retribution!  As Paul said to the believer in Rome, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (12:20-21).  Yes, the world is in chaos and the enemy seems more numerous than we are, but with the Lord’s help, we can overcome evil with good one deed at a time, one day at a time for ‘more are they that are with us than with them!’  Can you see God’s army with its horses and chariots of fire?  “Lord, open our eyes!”

While married to Tamar, Judah’s sons Er and Onan die.  Grieving over his loss, Judah withholds his third son Shelah from his daughter-in-law, thinking he would at least keep his last heir alive.  Judah may have thought that Tamar was cursed and caused his sons to die but the narrative tells us otherwise.  Er “was wicked in the eyes of the Lord so the Lord put him to death” (Genesis 38:7) and “what he [Onan] did was wicked in the eyes of the Lord so the Lord put him to death” (38:10).  Er and Onan brought about their own demise.  No blame is ever place on Tamar. 

Humiliated and sorrowful, Tamar returns to her father’s house as a widow.  Many years later, she finds out that Judah who withheld Shelah from her is coming to a nearby town. She dresses as a street prostitute, covers herself up and tricks Judah into pledging some of his personal belongings for a later payment.  He gives her his most precious treasures: his seal (credit card), his cord (driver’s license) and his staff (passport). 

Three months later, Tamar is pregnant and accused of prostitution.  She is brought before Judah who quickly condemns her to death (thinking he would finally get rid of her completely).  But to Judah’s surprise, Tamar produces the evidence he left behind months earlier and turns the tables on him.  Ashamed, Judah falls to his knees, repents and declares Tamar more righteous than he.  Pregnant with twins, Tamar gives birth to Zerah and Perez who later appears in the genealogy of Jesus (Matt 1:3, Luke 3:33).  Dead sons, spilled seed, lies, prostitution, manipulation, and yet God fulfills his redemptive plan and prepares the way for the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5). 

Moral of the story – your credit card will show up somewhere! … and pray that it does so you can repent and ask God to use your entire life (the good, the bad and the ugly) for his glory! 

“We need more people to fast.”  I have often heard those words in Christian contexts when someone is praying fervently for a particular need.  Is this the key? 

Fasting was a common practice among ancient Israelites.  The Greek verb nēsteuo, the standard word for fasting, occurs twenty-eight times in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and eighteen times in the Gospels.  A few passages have textual variants, less well attested, but well known from their use in the KJV translation of the Bible, that add “fasting” after “prayer” as the key to working the kind of miracles Jesus performed.

After the inauguration of the new covenant at Pentecost, however, there are only two uses of the verb.  Only in this brief passage of how the church in Antioch chose the two it would send out as its missionaries does any reference to fasting appear in all of Acts through Revelation.  And it appears merely as a description of what the Christians there did, not as a prescription of what we all should do.

The fasting obviously worked, so there is no reason why Christians shouldn’t fast in seeking God’s will.  But if it were a central spiritual discipline for all of us, we’d see it commanded, and referenced a whole lot more often.  And we must never forget Colossians 2:23:  “Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”

Why do evil people get away with so much?  This is the flip side of the question the first nineteen verses of Acts 12 raise—why God doesn’t intervene more often to spare his people from suffering.  Herod (Agrippa I) forms a classic example.  First he executes James, the apostle and brother of John.  Then he imprisons Peter, even if an angel comes and helps him miraculously escape.

But God always has his limits.  Agrippa goes to Syrophoenicia (modern-day Lebanon), where the people of its two leading cities, Tyre and Sidon, acclaim him as a god and Herod accepts it.  Luke writes that an angel of the Lord struck him down and he was eaten by worms and died.  God can punish somebody directly, as he did Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11, or he can use an intermediary.  That can be an angel, just as earlier an angel did God’s redemptive bidding.  An angel, like God himself, can even use “natural” circumstances like a severe intestinal disorder caused by worms to accomplish his purposes.  The Jewish historian, Josephus, writing in the late first century, corroborates that Agrippa died of a horrible abdominal disease.

Sometimes justice won’t be meted out until Judgment Day.  But it will come.  That should free us from feeling like we have to avenge God for him in this life and encourage us that one day those who have made our lives miserable will be punished as well, if they have not repented.

“Why did God allow my brother to die?”  “Why hasn’t he healed my cancer?”  We ask these and countless questions like them over and over again.  The church in Jerusalem no doubt wondered why God hadn’t spared, James, the brother of John, the son of Zebedee.  He was the first apostle to be martyred and, unlike Stephen, the first known Christian martyr overall (recall Acts 6:8-8:3), he hadn’t said anything to inflame the authorities.

Most of Acts 12:1-19 is about Peter’s imprisonment and miraculous release.  That makes the question about James all the more poignant.  God could have rescued James as well, had he wanted to.  The kinds of claims some Christians have made throughout church history don’t fit this passage.  Nothing is said about Peter being more faith-filled or obedient than James; what we know of Peter elsewhere in the Bible makes that highly unlikely!  Luke does refer to Christians praying for Peter, but we dare not infer that no one ever prayed for James.

The truth is we don’t know why God miraculously intervened to spare Peter but not James.  We must be content leaving it in his sovereign and gracious hands.  We should recall that miracles are rare or we’d stop calling them miracles.  Most of the time in a fallen world, God does not intervene to prevent evil.  The only question we should ever ask is why he does very occasionally work miracles.  He obviously had more for Peter to do.  Beyond that, we dare not surmise.

I can’t count the number of times in my life I’ve heard some conservative Christian confidently pronounce, “I don’t believe it’s the role of the government to help the poor; it’s the responsibility of the church.”  I suspect first-century Christians would have agreed, since, except for the corn dole in Rome, and that only for citizens, there was no welfare in the ancient Mediterranean world.

I can’t help but wonder, however, how often the person who makes such a comment today is basically saying, “I don’t want to pay so much tax to the government,” rather than “I’m prepared to contribute vastly more money to Christian supported ministries to the needy.”  You see, in any given year, the U.S. government spends between 50 and 100 times as much on the neediest Americans as do all churches put together.  Does anyone seriously think if the government spent dramatically less, that the church would pick up that much slack?

The model of the church at Antioch, after a famine in Judea left fellow Christians there particularly impoverished, was for each to provide as much help as they were able.  Intriguingly Karl Marx derived his famous manifesto from this verse, combined with part of Acts 4:35, yielding, “from each according to his ability to each according to his need.”  His fatal flaws were that he tried to make it involuntary and irreligious.

Will God’s people do any better following a non-legislated, voluntary model? 

“The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.“ (11:26b; updated NIV)

When it fits into the conversation, I sometimes like to ask students, “Do you think any person has ever been saved who has not heard of Jesus?”  Usually, someone will say, “No,” perhaps even with some passion.  Upon further thought, someone else will typically chime in, “Sure--all believing Jews in Old Testament times.”  Of course the second comment is the correct one.

A more pressing question in today’s world is “Do you think it is possible for someone to be saved if they don’t call themselves a Christian?”  I’m not thinking here of the fate of the unevangelized.  Rather I’m remembering that for the first ten or twenty years of the Jesus-movement, nobody had even invented the word.  That takes place here in Antioch, when Jewish Christians evangelize full-fledged Gentiles with no attachment even to Judaism.  Outsiders to the new movement, it appears, coined the Greek term Christianoi or “Christ-ones.”

In some parts of the world, especially the Muslim world, it is virtually impossible to use “Christian” without it being taken as “Western, wealthy and/or hedonistic.”  Muslim-background believers in such setting should feel perfectly free to call themselves “followers of ‘Issa” (the Arabic for Jesus) rather than Christians if that enables them both to stay alive and to communicate their beliefs more accurately.  It also reminds us that we who do not face such life-threatening challenges had better be willing to identify ourselves publicly as Jesus’ followers, whatever specific labels we may choose. 

A faithful member of the missions committee at a church we used to attend once absolutely refused to consider supporting an organization that was trying to get humanitarian aid and the good news of Jesus to the people of North Korea.  “They are our enemies,” he shouted defiantly.  “It is unbiblical to do anything that might support them.”

Peter may well have felt the same way about the Romans.  Worse still, they were the occupying forces who had conquered Israel.  Even if he was beginning to recognize that some or even most Gentiles should hear the gospel, surely God would not send him to speak to the commander of 100 Roman troops!  But that is precisely what this story narrates.  Luke tells it in great detail, and then narrates Peter recounting it again when he returns to Jerusalem, thereby demonstrating its importance in the life of the early church.

Even had Rome not been the imperial force that it was, Gentiles were regularly ritually unclean because they did not follow Jewish dietary laws.  So if God was declaring all foods clean, it meant that he was declaring all people clean (cf. 10:34-35).  Every geopolitical or ethnic group had to hear about Christ; no one who believed was in any way a second-class Christian based on their nationality, ethnicity, or race.  Is there anyone who is a Cornelius in your life?  If so, what will you do to change the way you think about them or behave toward them?

The words “flesh” and “glory” just don’t seem to go together. John’s audacious assertion that the eternal Word, the one true God, became flesh slaps us in the face. Flesh. Meat. John had other ways to describe the incarnation. He could have written that the Word became a man, or that the Word took on a human body. But he chose to use the rather crude term “flesh.” Nothing could be less godlike than flesh. In fact, the apostle Paul specifically chose the word “flesh” to provide a stark contrast with the Spirit (Gal 5:16-17).

So why did John choose this almost offensive term to describe the very Son of God? No other term could better communicate the startling reality that the eternal God had become fully human so that we could know him as no other god had ever been known. He didn’t just seem to become human. He didn’t just indwell a human body. He didn’t take on human appearance for a short period of time before going back to his spiritual state. The eternal Word became human—fully flesh and bone—in order to reveal to us what God is truly like.

But how can flesh reveal glory? The glory of God in the Old Testament was an unapproachable presence in the tabernacle and in the temple, an overwhelming brilliance that none could endure (Exodus 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:11). Jesus, fully flesh, revealed the glory of God in his miracles (John 2:11), but ultimately it is in his death and resurrection that his glory is fully seen (John 7:39; 12:16; 13:31-32). But the glory revealed by the Word made flesh was not seen by all. As Don Carson has written, “There is a hiddenness to the display of glory in the incarnate,” a hiddenness that can only be penetrated by the light of faith. Without faith, this supreme act of revelation and redemption—the Word made flesh—is little more than foolishness. But to all who believe, it is the very source of eternal life (1 Corinthians 1:18).  God made flesh—accessible, knowable, embraceable, and believable. Behold his glory, the glory of the One and Only!

Mark Young
President

Scottish theologian T.F. Torrance once observed a theological similarity between how Jesus was "raised up as the appointed Messiah, the anointed Prophet, Priest, and King" and how "the resurrection implies the installation or enthronement of Jesus in his office as Christos" (Space, Time and Resurrection, 33). Even as far back as creation we see God creating--"raising up"--from nothing. That pattern continues throughout redemptive history. God takes the first step toward us in our sin, blindness, bondage, hopelessness, and death. In Jesus Christ, the Son of God experienced the full effects of our predicament and gave to the Father the faithfulness that we have all failed to give.

The redemption that was accomplished on the cross and at the empty tomb was in motion from the moment of His conception, and even before that! God brought Jesus' human life out of an impossible situation. Then, as the Son of God, Jesus brought back into being an obedient humanity by willingly enduring the limitations, fears, frustrations, and tears of our brokenness without an personal sin. God brought something out of nothing!

At this season we can be profoundly grateful for the gift of the incarnation. We symbolize that gratitude by giving and receiving gifts. A child may experience expanding gratitude toward parents as he or she becomes more aware of all that the parents have given. Likewise, we are enriched to have the dimensions of our gratitude to God expanded by getting a fuller glimpse of the ways God has been working to give us life--and to give us life again.

Don Payne
Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Theology and Ministry

• A pregnant, unmarried teenager
• Violent and unclean Gypsies of the lowest social class  
• Foreigners
• A common laborer
• Refugees
• An old homeless woman and an old man

These were the people who first experienced Jesus. None of them had any kind of special status in the society of that time. They were on the outskirts of society, the marginalized, the overlooked, the despised, the forgotten. Our greeting card images of Christmas blind us to this fact.

Jesus came first to those who were outsiders. Mary was stigmatized as a sinner. The shepherds were despised and unwanted—they probably only spoke the local dialect (Bethlehemish?) instead of standard Aramaic. The magi probably looked weird and spoke with a strange accent, and they obviously didn’t understand the local culture (how else to explain such unpractical gifts). Joseph and Mary were homeless and had to flee as refugees to Egypt (which meant that Jesus himself was a refugee). And the elderly Anna and Simeon were in their final days and no longer fulfilled any useful function in society. When Jesus announced his ministry in Luke 4:18-19, he made verbally explicit what he had already demonstrated through his birth:  

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)

The ones to whom he would minister were the same ones to whom He had first appeared. Jesus came to the poor. He came to the sick—to those who need a doctor, not to the healthy.  Jesus came to the prisoners and oppressed and handicapped, because they knew that they needed him.

Does Jesus come to us today?  At the beginning we come to Jesus, knowing that we need him. But later, we try to make ourselves pretty and clean, so that we don’t need him anymore. We think we aren’t poor, and so we miss him. We think that we are healthy, and then Jesus is not there for us any longer . But when we constantly acknowledge that we are poor and helpless, imprisoned and blind—either physically or spiritually—then Jesus can come to us.

Scott Klingsmith
Missiologist-in-Residence

Luke 2:29-31, 36-38

What begins as an ordinary day for Simeon and Anna turns into an extraordinary one. As usual, Simeon rises up early and prepares to spend the day serving God. Led by the Spirit, Simeon makes his way to the Temple, and as he looks at Mary and Joseph entering the building to dedicate baby Jesus and to offer a sacrifice, his heart bursts with joy. Simeon lovingly welcomes them and declares, “My eyes have seen your salvation.”

Coincidentally, the prophetess Anna happens to walk by. Moved by the Spirit, she breaks into praises to God, proclaiming boldly that the long awaited Messiah has finally come, the one whose advent had been foretold by prophets long ago (Isaiah 9:6-7; Micah 5:2; Isaiah 53; Zech 12:10). A reader of the text can easily imagine Simeon and Anna, two very old people, dancing for joy in the Temple court!

This story reveals a number of interesting contrasts and insights: 

May we join in celebration with Simeon and Anna, proclaiming boldly that the Messiah has come to redeem men and women, young and old, rich and poor, strong and weak. A Merry Christmas to all who will welcome Him in their lives!

Helene Dallaire
Associate Professor of Old Testament

In 2 Kings 5, we are told of a young Israelite captive girl who revealed to Naaman’s wife that her husband could be healed of his ‘skin condition’ through the prophet in Samaria.  Intrigued by this prospect of a cure for his leprosy, Naaman visited the prophet, (reluctantly) obeyed his instructions, received healing and ultimately declared, “I know there is no God in the whole world except in Israel” (2 Kgs 5:15).  Who was this ‘young Israelite captive girl’ whose simple message resulted in the conversion of a Syrian Gentile?

In Esther 6, we are informed that king Ahasuerus suffered from insomnia and ordered that the book of the chronicles of the day be read to him.  In the chronicles, they found and read the record of Mordecai’s disclosure of the plot to assassinate the king.  The king asked his personal attendant if Mordecai had been honored for this act of bravery.  The attendant’s answer, “Nothing has been done for him” (Est 6:3) changed the course of events and resulted in the hanging of Haman, the promotion of Mordecai and the glorious victory for the Jewish community in Persia that was doomed to annihilation by the evil decree of Haman.  Who were these men who found and read the chronicles, and who was this personal attendant whose simple answer changed the course of Jewish history?

We could add to this list the ‘officials of Moses, able, God-fearing, trustworthy and bribe-hating men’ who provided counsel for the Israelites in the wilderness (Ex 18:17-26), Isaiah’s wife who served as ‘a prophetess’ for Yahweh (Is 8:3), ‘the priests’ who could not continue to minister in Solomon’s Temple because the glory of the Lord had filled the Temple (1 Kgs 8:10-11), the ‘choir members’ who sang glorious praises to God when the ark of the covenant was brought from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David (1 Chron 15:22-28), etc. 

Are you an unnamed hero?

This verse is way too easy to ignore.  Saul is the one God has chosen to be the great apostle to the Gentiles (9:15).  Peter still seems thoroughly Jewish, even as a Christ-follower.  True, he has finally left Jerusalem for the Judean seaside and God has worked some amazing miracles through him en route (vv.  32-42). As a result many who saw or heard became believers (vv. 35, 42).  While most of these in Lydda and Joppa would have been Jews, a few might not have been.

But it’s not until chapter 10 that Peter has the dramatic vision of God declaring unclean foods clean, after which messengers from Cornelius, the officer in the Roman army, summon him to share a message from God with a large group of Gentiles.  Surely here Peter is still as ethnocentric as ever.

Maybe not.  A tanner in first-century Israel worked with pigskin.  It made him, his home, and his food perpetually unclean.  This man had the most common of all Jewish names, Simon, the same name as Peter’s.  But by accepting his hospitality, Peter was defiled on several counts, at least in the eyes of the orthodox.  Maybe Peter was already starting to recognize how Jesus had done away with the purity laws (Mark 7:19).

We know that we should consider no one beyond the pale of God’s love.  But we still find some people groups harder to love than others?  What steps will you take to abolish this prejudice?  Do you need to live with one of them for awhile?

Next only to Jesus, Saul of Tarsus must be the most misunderstood character in the Bible.  Acts 9 tells the story of his coming to Christ and its immediate aftermath.  Initially, he was a highly trained, Pharisaic Jewish, budding young leader in Israel, determined to stamp out this heretical new movement that had adopted the ridiculous notion that a crucified Messianic pretender had been resurrected.  Or so Saul would have thought.  He was prepared to go as far afield from Jerusalem as Damascus in Syria to to be imprison and/or execute these Jewish apostates.  How could God bless Israel if such apostasy were not swiftly and severely punished?

In today’s world Saul would be called a religious terrorist.  The reason Christ had to appear to him in so dramatic a fashion may be because nothing less would have captured his attention.  Ananias knew of his reputation and needed divine reassurance before housing, catechizing and baptizing him.  God also knew that Saul’s early years in Tarsus (a center of Greek education and culture), his Roman citizenship, and his orthodox Jewish education under Gamaliel uniquely equipped him as a missionary to Gentiles and Jews alike, including their rulers.  But, perhaps, akin to the suffering he inflicted on others, he would suffer enormous persecution for proclaiming his new faith as well.

Should we be any less bold as the apostle Paul, even while being as tactful as possible?  Should we be any less surprised when we suffer because of it?

A retired friend recently commented that he wished the people that waited on him in fast-food restaurants would speak better English so that they could more consistently get his orders right!  Of course, he quickly conceded that his grandparents were Italian immigrants who had faced similar challenges.

Samaritans in first-century Israel were the closest equivalents to the newest wave of immigrants to the U.S. in the twenty-first century, including undocumented ones.  Though some of their families had lived in Samaria for centuries, they were the descendants of the illegal marriages between Jews and Gentiles, their real homelands (in the eyes of the Jews) were in neighboring countries, and they had their own language and traditions that could be very hard to understand. 

The fledgling church mounted no effort to purge Samaria of its present residents.  Instead they preached the gospel to them and many became followers of Jesus.  There are a lot of fascinating details in Acts 8:4-25 worthy of attention.  But if we miss this one main fact, we miss Luke’s whole point to the account:  the Gospel is going out and having success among the hated foreigners living in the land!

Contemporary immigrants to the U.S., especially from Latin America, are already evangelical Christians to a higher degree than the rest of the nation.  Those who are not our sisters and brothers need to hear the Good News of Jesus.  Those who are need our welcome and empowerment for God’s work in our world.

Imagine a group of devout worshipers of God, some of them longtime religious leaders, quite bent out of shape because some young, upstart folks in their midst are teaching and modeling that true worship doesn’t have to occur in the church building, at the regular times for services, or even in their denomination.  Imagine, too, that the forms of worship promoted by this new group appear to violate all the time-honored customs of the congregation.

Sound like the modern “worship wars”?  Well, change “church” to “temple” and this could be a description of the fledgling Jesus movement as compared to the orthodox Judaism in Israel in A.D. 32.  Stephen may have been first to realize that true worship need not be tied to the temple, the Law, or even the land of Israel.  When the Jewish high court arraigned and interrogated him (7:1), he replied with what could be viewed as an ancient filibuster!  He began to tell selected bits of the Jewish history that everyone present already well knew.  To what end?

On closer inspection, three themes tie this “Old Testament history lesson” together.  The patriarchs were not able to permanently occupy the land.  Moses, the Lawgiver, pointed forward to the Christ.  And the temple was not God’s first or last plan for his people’s worship.  Indeed by verse 51, Stephen accuses the court of resisting God’s Spirit by not realizing the new directions God was leading his people.  May we never, however unwittingly, allow ourselves to be similarly encrusted by inflexible tradition!

                Growing up, I always wondered why a minority of Christian speakers refused to call Israel the “Holy Land” but spoke of visiting “Bible Lands” instead.  Later I would learn.

                What made Stephen the first Christian martyr, when all of the apostles were able to remain in Jerusalem unchallenged (8:1)?  It seems he was the first to articulate just how radical the effect of Jesus’ incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection really was.

                Testimony does not have to be entirely wrong to be labeled “false.”  In fact, the most successful false witness mixes truth and error.  The false witnesses in this passage recognized that Stephen was challenging conventional understandings of “this holy place”—the temple and the land in which it was built—and “the law.”  Chapter 7 will record Stephen’s replies to these charges:  he had God’s true understanding of things, while the Sanhedrin’s leaders were the ones who had missed the correct interpretation (see esp. v. 51).

                The only purpose for the temple in Jerusalem that could not also be accomplished in local synagogues around the empire was the offering of animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins.  With Christ’s once for all sacrifice this was no longer necessary.  The age of the law was giving way to the age of the gospel, the good news of God’s kingdom.  That also meant there would no longer be any uniquely holy land, for people could worship in Spirit and in truth anywhere (John 4:24).

“They produced false witnesses, who testified, ‘This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.’” (v. 13; TNIV)

                Growing up, I always wondered why a minority of Christian speakers refused to call Israel the “Holy Land” but spoke of visiting “Bible Lands” instead.  Later I would learn.

                What made Stephen the first Christian martyr, when all of the apostles were able to remain in Jerusalem unchallenged (8:1)?  It seems he was the first to articulate just how radical the effect of Jesus’ incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection really was.

                Testimony does not have to be entirely wrong to be labeled “false.”  In fact, the most successful false witness mixes truth and error.  The false witnesses in this passage recognized that Stephen was challenging conventional understandings of “this holy place”—the temple and the land in which it was built—and “the law.”  Chapter 7 w

“They produced false witnesses, who testified, ‘This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.’” (v. 13; TNIV)

                Growing up, I always wondered why a minority of Christian speakers refused to call Israel the “Holy Land” but spoke of visiting “Bible Lands” instead.  Later I would learn.

                What made Stephen the first Christian martyr, when all of the apostles were able to remain in Jerusalem unchallenged (8:1)?  It seems he was the first to articulate just how radical the effect of Jesus’ incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection really was.

                Testimony does not have to be entirely wrong to be labeled “false.”  In fact, the most successful false witness mixes truth and error.  The false witnesses in this passage recognized that Stephen was challenging conventional understandings of “this holy place”—the temple and the land in which it was built—and “the law.”  Chapter 7 will record Stephen’s replies to these charges:  he had God’s true understanding of things, while the Sanhedrin’s leaders were the ones who had missed the correct interpretation (see esp. v. 51).

                The only purpose for the temple in Jerusalem that could not also be accomplished in local synagogues around the empire was the offering of animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins.  With Christ’s once for all sacrifice this was no longer necessary.  The age of the law was giving way to the age of the gospel, the good news of God’s kingdom.  That also meant there would no longer be any uniquely holy land, for people could worship in Spirit and in truth anywhere (John 4:24).

ill record Stephen’s replies to these charges:  he had God’s true understanding of things, while the Sanhedrin’s leaders were the ones who had missed the correct interpretation (see esp. v. 51).

                The only purpose for the temple in Jerusalem that could not also be accomplished in local synagogues around the empire was the offering of animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins.  With Christ’s once for all sacrifice this was no longer necessary.  The age of the law was giving way to the age of the gospel, the good news of God’s kingdom.  That also meant there would no longer be any uniquely holy land, for people could worship in Spirit and in truth anywhere (John 4:24).

No, the apostles were not considering becoming servers in restaurants!  “Waiting on tables” was an expression that denoted either the distribution of food or money to poorer individuals in the early Christian community. 

Acts 6:1-6 is usually cited when Christians discuss church polity and the need for deacons or their functional equivalents to engage in ministries of practical helps, supplementing the more explicitly spiritual work of the pastors/elders.  But those formal offices would all originate some years later in the first century, even though the believers who created them may have reflected on this division of labor here as an important precedent.

The key principles applicable to all Christians involve staying faithful to one’s primary calling and giftedness in serving God and his people and delegating additional responsibilities to others whose call and gifts are better suited for them.

One Christian career counseling ministry encourages people to consider themselves fortunate if they enjoy at least 60% of what their jobs require them to do.  The complexity and volume of work inside and outside the church today makes a higher percentage than that unrealistic for many people.  But if our satisfaction level is dramatically lower, perhaps we are mismatched.  Circumstances outside our control may prevent us from changing what we must do, in which case we need to pray for God to grant us greater contentment with our current situation.  But if we have the chance to change our jobs or ministries, we probably should avail ourselves of the opportunity.

“He’s a good football player but he’s a horrible man,” the young adult daughter of a neighbor recently exclaimed loudly and passionately in our living room. No, not someone caught for steroid use. Not someone convicted of a violent crime.  Not even someone well known for being promiscuous. This non-Christian friend was referring to someone well-known in the NFL for being an evangelical Christian and sharing his faith publicly!

As we speak, one can be (illegally) arrested an imprisoned just for being a Christian in Morocco and Turkey. One can be executed for it in North Korea. In the first months of A.D. 30 in Jerusalem, the apostles were twice arrested and, in this passage, were jailed for preaching about Jesus in public. Hostility against Christ usually takes subtler and/or less drastic forms in the U.S., though the way things have changed in the last fifty years, who knows what persecution may look like here in another twenty-five?

The climax of this story in Acts is a remarkable one. The apostles rejoiced that “they had been counted worthy” of the suffering they experienced—suffering which was more one of public disgrace than physical pain. They hadn’t sought out persecution. They hadn’t deliberately been tactless. But then, as now, if believers are faithful in telling others their beliefs and convictions, rejection, estrangement and hostility will sometimes be the result.  Do we have the attitude that recognizes those experiences as being honored by God, even if shamed by the world?

Through the ministry of Peter, the paralyzed man was completely healed. From being the subject and object of poverty, he became the source of wonder and amazement. There are so many things that can “paralyze” us in life. Sexual and drug addiction, economic crisis, broken homes and bad upbringing, bitterness, sickness, poverty, etc. can paralyze us mentally and emotionally and limit our health and productivity. Jesus Christ can give us a second chance and He can turn around our life for good.

What does it mean to become like a child? Jesus gave the answer in the next sentence:  humbling oneself. Psalm 131 gives a touching picture of the humility of a child, embodied by the Psalmist, “my heart is not proud, nor my eye haughty . . . Like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is a weaned child within me.” The child is not too proud to crawl into his mother’s lap and rest. The child is dependent, admitting the need for love, security, and protection. As a result, the child is carefree in the care of the parent.  One study revealed that the average child laughs 400 times a day while the average adult laughs only 15 times. The pride of independence robs the “adult” of the joyful trust of childlike humility. 

As Peter Kreeft explains, “If we come to God with empty hands, he will fill them. If we come with full hands, he finds no place to put himself. It is our beggary, our receptivity, that is our hope.” Yet it is the poverty of emptiness that we fear. 

It is the rare individual who can accept the loss of a job, relationship, or dream, as the creation of an empty space that God can now fill. When I choose to accept my poverty, God’s grace rushes in and I find myself blessed. It is when I admit my thirst that the water of life refreshes me. When I acknowledge my hunger for righteousness, the Bread of life nourishes me. When I face the darkness of my own emptiness, the light of Christ illumines my way. When I am willing to let go of my life, Jesus gives me His.

Of course, in the more important things God does not fail. The provision of God is adequate for our pilgrimage. God does not fail to see, know, understand, care, love, and ultimately to work all things “in conformity with the purpose of His will” (Ephesians 1:11).  His love is constant, though sometimes unfelt. His presence is assured, though sometimes He feels far away. His plan is good, though sometimes we hurt.  For this present time we see dimly, mere faint outlines of all God’s purposes and plans. Yet we believe passionately that His ways are better and His thoughts are higher than our own.  Our understanding is not crucial. It is our faith in the person, the goodness, and the sovereignty of God that is the great, indispensable necessity. Many of us find ourselves pleading with the Lord as did the father of the demon-possessed boy in Mark chapter nine: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

The aftermath of the sudden deaths of Ananias and Sapphira is intriguing. We are not surprised at the fear that overtook those who learned of what happened (v. 11) or that no one else dared get too intimate with the apostles who wielded such power (the sense of “join” in v. 13). We probably shouldn’t be surprised at the “power evangelism” that resulted—i.e., more and more people came to Christ as a result (v. 14).

But what are we to make of the signs and wonders that ensued? Even verses 12 and 16 follow naturally from Jesus’ earlier empowering of his apostles to heal and cast out demons (Matt. 10:6). But healing by means of Peter’s shadow falling on sick people (v. 15)?

It’s probably important that Luke never says it was Peter’s shadow that healed anyone.  The people just believed that this would be an effective way of demonstrating their faith in the Christ that Peter proclaimed. Superstition ran rampant in the ancient Mediterranean world and almost all the accounts of other Jewish and Greco-Roman healing rituals involve “paraphernalia” of some kind. 

Thank goodness that God takes misguided faith of many different kinds and recognizes when it is truly directed toward Jesus, blessing people even in their ignorance. But this passage affords no precedent for similar shenanigans by those of us who know from throughout the Scriptures that faith and not magic is what leads to healing, and then only when it is God’s will.

What might motivate them to loosen their grip on their Christian faith? Other places in the epistle suggest such things as:

• Taunts and ridiculing from their neighbors
• Confiscation of their property
• Outright physical harm
• Ostracism from community activities.

So when they cast their lot in with Christ, their world changed. But it didn’t all change for the better. Now the question became: is it worth it to stay on the Christian path—to continue following Jesus when the costs mount?

And that’s the question that always confronts followers of Christ. What might be the costs of following Jesus in today’s world?

• Financial
• Social
• Job security
• Popularity
• Discrimination
• Time commitments

So, are the benefits of following Christ worth the costs? Notice how the writer of Hebrews answers that question in this section.

First: we have a high priest in heaven who is none other than the Divine High Priest himself: the son of God (4:14).

Second, though he may be deity, Jesus can empathize with all we’re going through, since he himself faced every human temptation (4:15). Jesus learned how to obey God through the hardships that he faced (5:8).

The writer makes a third point: Jesus, this heavenly high priest is merciful and gracious, and he will provide all the help anyone might need, even when the going is tough (4:16).

Jesus promises mercy and help—if we will come to him on his terms, not ours. When times are tough, we need to hang in there with Jesus. Is there a better place to be?

David was not yet king at this time. He was running for his life from Saul who determined to kill him. He was living cave to cave, depending on the gracious offer and acceptance of heathen rulers in the region. He had only a few supporters who chose to suffer with him and wanted him to be their leader. While David and his men were away, the Amalekites invaded Ziklag, attacked and burned it with fire. The wives, sons and daughters of David and his men were taken captive. How low can one get in life? As if living as a fugitive is not enough, David lost his family and the family of the people he loved to captivity. He was distressed and was at the verge of being stoned to death in the very hands of the people who sacrificed everything to protect him. If you were David, what would you do? “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”

When I am honest to God with my “whys,” just as Jesus was at His moment of greatest need, I will be given grace to pray with faith, the prayer of surrender, “Into thy hands I commit my spirit.” During one long “desert” season I felt the sting of the words of Psalm 31 as I prayed them, “I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind, I am like a broken vessel.”(v.12) Yet I found hope from the same Psalm as I continued to  pray, “my times are in Thy hand”(v.15) and “How great is Thy goodness”(v.19), thus realizing that I am safe “in the secret place of Thy  presence”(v.20).     

Nehemiah 4:9 reports that, faced with a looming threat of attack, the people of God “prayed to [their] God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.”  Consider this response through particular attention to the words “prayed . . . and posted.”

They prayed and posted guards. As is so often the case with biblical wisdom, the posture here is one of both-and, rather than either-or. They prayed and posted. They turned to God and they took action directly toward earthly opposition. They acknowledged their reliance on God and they accepted appropriate responsibility.

Very often—most of the time?—our response to a challenge or threat is best one which combines humble, prayerful resting in our Father with responsible, deliberate action. To be sure, there are times when such action is simply not possible, and all we can “do” is pray. And, when this is the case we should never minimize the value of “only” praying. However, when responsible, deliberate action is possible, this can be a grace-filled accompaniment to prayer. Indeed, it can be an extension of, perhaps even another form of, prayer.

One of the most troubling passages in Acts narrates the sudden deaths of Ananias and Sapphira.

We may stress that the word translated “kept back” in verse 2 can mean “swindled ,“ and the only other time it appears in the Greek Bible is in Joshua 7:1, when Achan keeps plunder for himself that the Lord had forbidden. He too was executed for lying about what he kept for himself. Probably both sins posed serious threats to the purity and even the existence of the fledgling communities of God’s people in each context. We may point out that Ananias and Sapphira were not struck down for not giving all but for their lies, even to God, the Holy Spirit. We may note that “Satan has so filled your heart” (v. 3) was an idiom that does not refer to literal demon possession and that nothing in the passage suggests the couple was eternally damned, merely physically put to death.

But still the passage proves troubling. Surely each of us commits sins at least this serious more than once in our lifetimes. Why pick on this couple? Probably that is the wrong question to ask. Why not pick on all of us? Interestingly, the very reason we sense the account to be overly harsh is because most of the time God exercises grace and not justice. Never ask God to be fair with you; that’s a request for damnation! Praise him for his lavish grace that only rarely implements such stringent but perfectly deserved punishments.

Our songs, literature, and sermons often express sentimental magnificence, but theological falsehood. It is uncommonly easy to believe and teach what we want to believe rather than face the naked, sometimes brutal, scriptural truth.

The truth is that God does not instantly and always meet all wants or needs of Christians. Such thinking about God is incorrect. We must surrender such erroneous notions. God is not a cosmic nursemaid who can be manipulated to keep us comfortable and happy. Like the apostle Paul and innumerable others, we must learn to live with deprivation and necessity, crucial ingredients in God’s design. The true Christian teaching is: “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). We must refuse to be deluded into thinking that life here and now is the wonderful life. The wonderful life is the one to come after this one is over. Now we see “but a poor reflection” of reality (1 Corinthians 13:12), but God is in control.

Washington, our first president, wrote that any nation that disregards “the eternal rules of order and right that Heaven itself ordained” could not expect God’s blessing. Lincoln asserted that the evil of slavery and the calamity of the civil war represent punishments inflicted “for our presumptuous sins.” Woodrow Wilson insisted that the nation would prosper only if the Bible’s “eternal principles of right and wrong, of justice and injustice and of civil and religious liberty” were embedded in the nation’s laws. Toward the end of his presidency Dwight Eisenhower warned that “a materialistic America—bereft of spiritual purpose—would be a rudderless ship of state” that ultimately would crash in “the fury of international storms and internal decay.” And Ronald Reagan cryptically asserted, “If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”

Today our nation—blessed by God more than any other nation in history—confronts many daunting challenges and a dangerous world. May we fervently pray, as several of our presidents did, that God mercifully will bring spiritual renewal, revival and reformation in our day (2 Chron. 7:14).

It’s tragic how unwilling to work together for the good of the people the two political parties in this country are at the moment. It’s downright shameful when Christians on the right or on the left show no difference in their rhetoric or behavior from the politicians.

The earliest church in Jerusalem had its problems. But concern for the needy was not one of them. Centuries later, this passage, combined with Acts 11:29, would inspire Karl Marx’s manifesto: “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” It is debatable whether or not Marx gutted the heart of the model when he tried to legislate it, rather than allowing it to remain voluntary. But clearly he eviscerated it of its power when he tried to remove God from the model altogether.

Before we stop working for good legislation, we must remember that the federal government expends dozens of times the amount of money on the needy every year than all churches and parachurch organizations put together. There is little sign that Christians are prepared to pick up that much slack. But churches and believers must find ways to do much, much more than we are currently doing. If our ministry of proclamation is not to keep on meeting with the widespread cynicism it currently receives in our culture, our ministry of compassion will have to multiply considerably.

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

The young man, a highly skilled vocal musician, stands at a microphone. The music begins. He sings, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white... ” A voice from the control room yells, “Cut!” The man in the shadows behind the glass leads the musician through an explanation of why singing that Jesus loves the red children might not be socially acceptable in the Christian context. It has to do with peace pipes, native religion, and savages. “White and yellow, black and white.” Cut again. Yellow brings up ideas of communism. Now it’s “White and white, black and white.” You probably know what comes next—“Cut!” Then, “White and white, white and white.”

I show this video clip in one of my classes. It’s easy to laugh and be offended when the issue is race or ethnicity. Maybe even if it’s gender. But what about if we’re talking about Jesus loving the homeless, prostitutes, alcoholics, Goths, or those with dreadlocks, tattoos and body piercings? Would you welcome them into your church? Does Jesus love even them? The way they are?

Come check out my church, Scum of the Earth, and you’ll find the answer is yes. Jesus loves the children of the world. Even them.

I recently led my student mentoring group in a case study about a new seminary graduate with the luxury of selecting between two job offers—comparable calls to ministry at two very similar churches. We discussed what criteria should be used to choose, and the issue of feelings came up. If both churches are healthy, if both fit one’s own gifts and calling well, in fact if the only noticeable difference between the two is that one presents a challenge that creates a certain anxiety in the prospective pastor, while the other one elicits just a sense of peace and comfort, should those feelings tip the scales in favor of the latter ministry opportunity?

After awhile, our one Chinese student jumped into the discussion with some passion. “We wouldn’t even be having this kind of conversation back home,” she insisted. “Everyone who goes into ministry knows the potential for suffering for Jesus. Even if a particular option produced a current sense of peace, no one would assume that would last!”

The twelve apostles were more like contemporary Chinese than American Christians in this respect. They praised God for their preservation and release after their arrest, but then prayed that this not deter them from speaking boldly about Christ. How often do we pray for God’s Spirit to show us how best to enter the front lines of His battles, the places that make us feel the most insecure, rather than the most comfortable, so that He can be most glorified?

Calvin places this psalm’s setting in the midst of Absalom’s rebellion—the son usurping the father’s throne. As a result, David has nothing left except…one thing: a desperate desire for God. This is what it means to be a person after God’s own heart. 

Having lost everything, David doesn’t curse God. Instead, he wants God. 

Having been betrayed by family and friends, he doesn’t blame God. Rather, he seeks God.

Having been confronted by merciless human ugliness, he doesn’t forsake God. He longs for the beauty of God.

We must pause for a moment here and accept the reality that David was a real human person—more like us than different. In the context of this Psalm, David experiences betrayal. What must that have felt like for David? Surely, when he found out he must have been angry and hurt—the kind of hurt that can sting for a lifetime and screams for revenge. But David didn’t wallow in his pain, nor did he strike back in bitterness. He simply turned to the God he knew could not betray him.

What sort of a person had he become that he could “disregard all other interests” and seek God alone? How did he manage in the midst of absolute poverty to pray the absolute prayer? We must also pause to ask the question, “Is this the kind of person I would like to be?”

The question was not a question of an individual, it was a group question: “When they had come together they asked Him…” If you’re a teacher, and the whole class asked you a question that represents the feeling and perplexity of a nation, you would take it seriously. To understand the disciples’ question we need to comprehend the historical context of the Jews and listen to their question with empathy.

The disciples were taught about the kingdom of God before and after the resurrection. These are people who had seen Lazarus rise from the dead, the blind eye opened to see, the lame walk, water changed into wine, the storm calmed and Christ walking on the water. Most of all, these are people who saw the empty tomb of Christ and interacted with the resurrected Christ for forty days. Yet still, they had questions lingering in their mind.

The question of the disciples has to do with a common hope. The question is loaded with deep sadness, religious sorrow, intense earnestness, hunger for freedom, emancipation from economic depravity, and the pain of years of suffering and humiliation. It was a national security and individual well-being question. Without getting a clear and affirmative answer, they still determined to serve their savior. To grasp the impact of their work, read the book of Acts and Christian history. You and I are only a few of the beneficiaries of their obedience. Are you waiting for a blue print of your life from the Lord, an answer for your questions, or will you serve him even in the midst of uncertainty?

My daughter’s bed, an antique store buy, kept falling apart, and a friend offered to help fix it. I loaded the bed, drove to Bill’s house, and pulled around back to his garage. As the door went up, there, spread in front of me in seeming disarray, were Bill’s tools. You could tell they were loved and well used. It didn’t take Bill long to diagnose the problem, figure out a solution, rummage around to find the right tools, and successfully finish the job.

This experience led me to reflect on another friend. Like Bill, he had invested a lot of money in tools. Unlike Bill, this friend had them all organized in drawers, on shelves, and hanging in neat rows on pegboard. Bill’s tools were grimy, spread around on tables, in boxes, and on the floor. But Bill’s tools were used and had been part of many helpful projects. The other guy’s tools were clean, neat, and probably seldom used for the purpose for which they had been made. This guy was a tool collector.

God, through the Holy Spirit, has given each of us spiritual gifts. These are tools to be used in ministry for others, for the sake of Christ’s Kingdom. Do you minister in your local fellowship, using your tools for the benefit of others? Or are you a tool collector, merely hanging your gifts on pegs or keeping them tucked away in drawers?

It’s sad to watch how Christians tend to teach a lot about submission to the government when the politicians or party for whom they have voted is in power but say very little about the topic when the opposition wins. Nothing in the Bible allows such a distinction. On the other hand, there is plenty of scriptural precedent for disobeying the government when it demands that people directly contravene God’s laws. We see it with the midwives in Moses’ day defying Pharaoh’s orders to kill the baby Israelite boys, with Daniel refusing to bow down to idolatrous statues, and here with the apostles refusing to abide by the Sanhedrin’s ban on speaking about Jesus.

How many Christians today would scarcely be inconvenienced by such a ban because they never talk about Jesus to non-Christians in the first place? Too often we have surrendered the public square to unbiblical prohibitions. Separation of church and state does not mean public schools cannot or should not teach about religion. Businesses have no right to interfere with what their workers talk about to each other so long as they are productively meeting their contractual obligations. Sometimes we may have to disobey orders not to speak about Christ. But we can disobey civilly (in both senses of the word!)—politely, explaining tactfully why we must do what we do. If we already have a track record of being the most devoted, hard-working employees, we may even win some respect in the process.

The Sovereign God Has Communicable Attributes

The sovereignty of God did not make Him unapproachable or incommunicable. Sight, hearing, speaking and doing are ascribed to Him.

God is indeed Jehovah, who condescends to the level of His people, and who reveals Himself in a human manner; but from the very beginning He is also Elohim, far exalted above every creature. He has the ground of existence in Himself, Ex. 3:13; Is 41:4; 44:6; He is eternal, Deut. 10:14; Ps. 89:6,8; invisible, Ex. 33:20,23; unpicturable, Ex. 20:4; Deut. 5:8; since He is without form, Deut. 4:12,15.

Our God also can see our situation. He can change our circumstances. He can listen to our cry. Because God can hear and act, Scripture puts strong emphasis on prayer. The Bible says, “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.” Hannah knew the power of prayer and the God to whom she was praying. 

Leonard Ravenhill said:

“One might estimate the weight of the world, tell the size of the celestial city, count the stars of heaven, measure the speed of lightning, and tell the time of the rising and setting of the sun—but you cannot estimate prayer-power. Prayer is as vast as God because He is behind it. Prayer is as mighty as God because He has committed himself to answer it.”

How is your prayer life? If you don’t know how to meet with God in your closet, you’ll miss His presence, power and influence in public.

Why would Paul divest himself of every earthly asset and then call them garbage? He gives one strong, but simple reason: the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ! 

He knew that Jesus was either everything or He was nothing.

He knew, in the words of a psalm he had prayed many times, that, “A day in your courts is better than a thousand outside.” (Psalm 84:10)

He knew, in the words he himself wrote in 2 Corinthians 4: 6-7, that those many things were only “earthen vessels” and that Jesus was the “treasure” of incalculable value. Paul defied the insane human tendency to venerate the vessel and neglect the treasure. Vessels are necessary, but only to carry the treasure. This is true of our physical bodies as well as of our institutions and organizations.

Can you imagine how silly it would be to receive as a gift a priceless masterpiece, only to hang the box on the wall instead of the painting? As ludicrous as it is to value the box over the masterpiece, it is even more so to value any “earthen vessel” above the Jesus treasure that it contains.

Is Jesus my treasure? The best way to answer that question is to ask another: Do I value Jesus as my source of wisdom and strength for every aspect of my life?

Jesus had chosen twelve men to be his closest disciples. They were sent out two by two to preach, teach, heal, and do warfare with demons. Upon their return, Jesus noticed how tired they were — probably fatigue in every part of their being, especially physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Today we would say they were on the verge of burnout.

What did Jesus do? He most likely commended them for the fruit of their hard labors. They were not then sent back out to continue the work. Jesus instead recognized their need for rest. The twelve needed to alone with Jesus in a quiet place. To be recharged through time spent with each other and especially in fellowship with God-in-the-flesh.

The lesson for us is critical. We have been called and gifted for service. We find our satisfaction in doing for God. We teach, preach, serve and witness. We’re on boards, committees, leadership teams, and are members of classes and small groups. As leaders we want more from our people and as people our leaders want more from us. When, though, do we stop, rest, and get away to a quiet place with our Lord? If it was important enough for Jesus, it should be important enough for us. Yes, keep on doing for God, but don’t forget to take time to be with God.

It was almost midnight one evening in the late 1970s.The televangelist quietly and reverently invited those in his viewing audience who had chronic pain due to an injury to take a Bible, place it over the body part that was hurt and pray to God for healing. He offered a prayer they could echo that clearly gave God the glory for any healing that might occur. 

My aunt, who had walked on a poorly reset, multiple fractured ankle for years, taking the equivalent of a half a bottle of aspirin in painkillers daily, figured it couldn’t hurt to try. She did what the televangelist suggested. Nothing happened, so she hobbled off to bed. The next morning when she woke up and braced herself for the first bit of pain she would feel when she put her weight on her bad ankle, it was gone. She lived another 15 years and no pain ever returned. As a result, she became more active in her church, with a more vibrant faith than she had had in years.

Many TV healings seem to be more about glorifying the evangelist than God. I wonder how many are real. This one was different. It is the most direct contemporary equivalent I know of to this story in Acts, in which Peter deflects attention from himself to Jesus (v. 12). We cannot demand that God work this way; if He did it often, it would no longer be miraculous. But neither dare we ever doubt that it is possible.

Hannah was a barren woman. Her distress and anguish were so obvious, her husband, Elkanah, had to ask her about it saying:

Why are you weeping?
Why don’t you eat?
Why are you down-hearted?
Am I not better than anything you need in this world?

The Scripture is explicit about the cause of Hannah’s sorrow: “The Lord has closed her womb.” Like many married woman, she would like to have children and establish a family. But she can’t; the Lord closed her womb. At that time, and even in today's technologically advanced age, Hannah’s problem has no solution. What God has shut, no one can open. What He undoes nobody can fix.

Why did God give children to Pinninah yet withhold His blessing from Hannah? Why did He not allow Moses to live more years when he was pleading for an extended life but then gave Hezekiah 15 more years? Why did God love Jacob but hate Esau? Why did God deliver Daniel from the lion and his friends from the fire, but allow others to be “tortured, stoned, sawed in two, faced jeers and flogging, persecuted, and mistreated”? Our answer is: God is sovereign and He does what He will.

So often in the history of the church, the physical and spiritual dimensions of the gospel have been torn apart. One wing supports personal piety; another, social action. Jesus always kept them together. Peter, here in Acts, has learned from his master.

It is unlikely this soon after Pentecost that Peter was destitute. He may just not have had any money on him as he replies to the crippled beggar. What he offers the man, however, is not salvation instead of finances, but healing. He is still operating in the physical realm.

The effects of the healing are twofold. The man can now work for a living rather than depending on charity. Peter has addressed the man’s socio-economic needs better than a gift of money would have. But the man is so grateful for this miracle that it affects his spiritual life, too. He leaps around, praising God. Luke stresses this point by saying it twice in back-to-back verses (vv. 8-9).

Whether after a catastrophe like the earthquake in Haiti or simply as a response to the ongoing needs of the poor nearby, we must replicate all the dynamics of this account—material aid in ways that will most help long term, offered as part of a verbal witness to Jesus so that others might trust in him also.

Martha was fuming about dinner; Mary was feasting on every word that came from the mouth of God (Deuteronomy 8:3; Luke 4:4). Martha was troubled by many things; Mary chose the one thing. Martha was distracted; Mary was focused. Martha responded to Jesus in the light of the circumstances; Mary responded to the circumstances in the light of Jesus. Martha told Jesus what to do; Mary listened for what Jesus wanted her to do. Martha left Jesus to go to work; Mary left the work to go to Jesus. Martha initiated for Jesus; Mary responded to Jesus. Martha spoke to Jesus; Mary heard from Jesus. Martha was dutiful; Mary was devoted.

Because Mary chose to sit as a disciple, she received the affirmation. Because she embraced the “one single duty to gaze upon the master one has chosen and to listen,” Jesus proclaimed that Mary had chosen the one thing necessary, the “good portion,” that would not be taken away from her. The Psalmist declared the Lord to be his portion forever (Psalm 73:25-26). “Mary’s good portion” is the Lord himself! That is why it can never be taken away.

Mary, like the old Psalmists, chose to “set the Lord continually before [her]” because her heart knew that “the nearness of God of is my good” (Psalm 16:8; 73:28). She chose the one thing not because it was good for her, though it was, but because it was good. Friendship with Jesus is life, not something added in to make my life better.

My daughter is making plans to complete her Master's degree in Jerusalem. She is excited for the opportunity to study theology, Hebrew, and Jewish history in the very places where Jesus lived and ministered. The two years, though, will end quickly. She will then pack up and return to the U.S. Christine’s call is not to stay as a student. The chapter of life set apart in study must and will lead to a role where she passes her experiences and learning on to others. The degree program is important but there is an end goal. For Christine it is a Ph.D. and a teaching faculty position.

The calling to come and then to go was modeled by Jesus. Twelve men were handpicked by Jesus to be His closest disciples. The first part of their calling was to come and be with Him. This was a time of training through the spoken word and through a modeled life.  The call was not though to merely remain with Jesus in an inward focused, fortressed, communal setting. Jesus called the disciples to be with Him and then to send them out.

This two-fold calling is ours as well. We are to be in relationship with Jesus in order to go out as mature, empowered ministers of grace and truth. Both are important. Both are required.

Spiritual writer, Henri Nouwen, reverses this order, suggesting that solitude leads to silence, which then in turn leads to obedient, God-honoring action. Upon reflection this arrangement makes eminently good sense. Solitude is the state of interior stillness that disposes the heart to listen to God and receive him into our hearts. In Nouwen’s words, “We have to fashion our own desert where we can withdraw every day, shake off our compulsions and dwell in the gentle, healing presence of our Lord.”

From this furnace of solitude in which God is engaged and prayer nourished, we are enabled to control the tongue and speak from a posture of wisdom and strength. Out of silence nurtured in solitude speech is born that is judicious and edifying. Anabaptist Johann Arndt wrote, “If a person wishes to speak well he must learn to be silent.” Jesus modeled this relation. Spending hours in deep communion with his heavenly Father the Lord then spoke life-changing sentences with conviction and power. May we do so as well.

O God, I long to live my story as a full participant in your great Story of redemption and freedom. Amen.

Galatians 2:1-5
Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us—we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you.

Scripture has much to say about the power of the tongue. When misused and left unbridled, the tongue can cause profound damage to the lives of its hearers: it oppresses the poor and needy (Ps 12:6), it brings destruction (Pro 10:14), it promotes violence (Pro 13:2), it invites ruin (Pro 17:20, 26:28), it spreads poison (Rom 3:13, James 3:8), it sows strife and discord (Pro 18:6, 21:9), and it even brings death (Pro 18:21). In other words, it affects its victims deeply and often irreparably.

The righteous tongue on the other hand produces results that reflect the very nature of God. A tamed and instructed tongue reveals divine wisdom (Pro 10:31, 18:4), it brings health to the body (Pro 16:24), it interrupts strife and conflicts (Pro 26:20), it keeps its owner from trouble (Pro 21:23), it authenticates godly leadership (Mal 2:7), it confirms one’s eternal salvation (Phil 2:11), it supports peace and unity (1 Peter 3:10-11), and it promotes life (Pro 15:4, 18:21, 1 Peter 3:10). 

What a powerful tool God has given each one of us. How we use this tool is left to our own discretion. We can choose to build up or to tear down, to bless or to curse, to unite or to divide, and to heal or to hurt; the choice is ours. With the gift of speech comes great responsibility. Let us choose to imitate God and to create a world that is impacted powerfully and positively by the Word of God so that the Kingdom of God may be established in our midst.

Consider the following threefold approach to prayer. Effective prayer first of all is entered by composure. The soul that is distracted and anxious finds it difficult to connect with God. One way of quieting heart and mind is by reciting quietly the powerful name of the Lord Jesus. Secondly, effective prayer is experienced as communion. Here we push into God’s presence and engage him heart to heart. This aspect of prayer powerfully renews the one who prays. Finally, prayer is expressed as conversation. We listen attentively to God’s gentle Spirit and respond with confession, praise and adoration.

The late Norwegian author, Ole Halesby, wrote: “Prayer is an attitude of our hearts to God. As such it finds expression, at times in words and at times without words, precisely as when two people love each other. In the soul’s fellowship with God in prayer, there are things which can and should be formulated in words. But there are things for which we can find no words.” C. S. Lewis likewise commended holistic prayer. “Petition, asking for things, is a small part of prayer. Confession, and petition are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence, vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine. In prayer God shows Himself to us.”

When in a state of despair and chaos, the Israelites knew that turning to God carried important benefits. Time and time again, after the Israelites cried out to God, the Lord answered their cry. Throughout their history, God raised up for them anointed leaders who provided stability and security for the whole community. While in Egypt, God raised Moses to deliver His people out of bondage.During the Israelites’ wilderness wandering, God groomed Joshua to replace Moses, and after conquering Canaan, God provided judges to lead His people and to bring them to a place of safety and peace. 

Although God wanted to be their ultimate Leader, Judge, Provider, and we can even add ‘their Everything’, the Israelites thought they needed a visible and touchable figure who spoke their language and identified with their human struggles. Over and over again, God recognized their cries of desperation and provided leaders upon whom He placed His anointing and His seal of approval. Without the strength and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these leaders could never have participated in delivering God’s people nor lead them into the plan God had for them.

Throughout Scripture, God promises that He will never leave nor forsake His people. Regardless of circumstances, of location, of offenses committed, God’s eyes are always on His people. His ears are always open to their cry. He is forever faithful to deliver, even when situations seem impossible to our human eyes. As the people of God, we are invited to turn to Him in times of trouble and to thank Him in times of peace. What a faithful Friend we have!

Twenty years after the end of the cold war and the fall of the Soviet Union, it’s amazing how readily political candidates or legislative proposals can be labeled “Communist” by their opponents, who have nothing remotely approaching first-hand experience with the real thing. But what about the earliest church in Acts 2?

Verse 44, quoted above, must be kept in context, including the context of 4:32-35. There we learn that “no one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had” (v. 32b). Personal property was clearly retained but it was not hoarded. Verse 34 shows the goal that was attained, for awhile at least: “there were no needy persons among them.” 

Acts 4:35 is one of the two verses that inspired the wording of Marx’s Communist Manifesto. The other is Acts 11:29. The result was “from each according to his ability to each according to his need.” The problem was that Marx tried to remove God from the picture and to legislate these principles. Arguably, it is only people indwelt by God’s Spirit and doing so voluntarily who could ever implement anything like this. 

But is this model even on our radar screens? European welfare states were uniformly inspired by these same Christian principles, even if it is largely secular politicians who put them into practice today. We may disagree on the methods of implementation, but is helping the poorest, especially fellow Christians, at least at the forefront of our concern?

Astronomers have tried for millennia to understand the meaning of stars, their movements, composition, purpose, and exact location. The heavens are like an artist’s canvas. From morning till night, they morph from one shade of blue to another. They display magnificent pink sunrises and end the day with glorious multicolor sunsets. The heavens speak to us unceasingly, from morning until night.

Shortly after I became a believer, I had an experience that enabled me to appreciate the heavens in a new way. I remember walking out of my apartment building, and as I looked up to the skies, I became acutely aware that God’s eyes were looking down upon the earth. I walked several blocks, glancing at the skies after every few steps, and the realization that I could never escape God’s eyes gripped my heart. It was as if I could read a huge G-O-D written in the heavens. His presence was almost tangible. Since that incident, the skies have never looked the same to me.

The two verbs (participles) in Psalm 19 text suggest much drama and audible activity coming from above. These verbs imply continuous chatter, relentless communication, endless story-telling, and persistent attempts to reveal to humans the glory of God and the majesty of his creation. God speaks to us in many ways. According to Scripture, God’s heavens serve as agents of revelation and channels of communication. Are we listening to what is God saying?

Instead of ruing his circumstances David reached out to the God he knew and served. Acknowledging God as his deepest desire (vv. 1-2), he cried out, "I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water" (v. 1). Most of us in similar straits would seek physical relief: for water, shelter and rest. But David longed for God as a dehydrated traveler searches for water in a desert.

David, moreover, confessed God as his supreme delight (vv. 3-8). Thus he acknowledged, "Your love is better than life" (v. 3) and "I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods" (v. 5). David recognized God and his loving kindness as his highest good. Communion with God satisfies the wildest hunger and relieves the heaviest heartache.

Still pursued by wicked men intent on killing him, David confessed God as his sure defense (vv. 9-10). He was fully persuaded that God would protect his life and deal justly with his enraged foes.

Brennan Manning summarizes the longing of the redeemed heart well. "From the first moment of our experience our most powerful yearning is to fulfill the original purpose of our lives—'to see Him more clearly, love Him more dearly and follow Him more nearly.' We are made for God, and nothing else will really satisfy us."

A  new year has arrived. People hope for a better future. They make resolutions about self-improvement, most quickly broken. We hope for a world we will like more by trusting in political processes, economic systems or religious institutions. Some still think humanity is inherently good and can solve its own problems. Many believe in technology as a Savior.

Things were little different in the first-century Roman empire. The emperors were called “Lord” and “Savior,” announcing the “good news” of peace and prosperity their reigns would provide. Greek philosophers dreamed of a more democratic era, while religious cults proliferated worshiping other gods. Jews stood out as odd, believing in only one God, and one you couldn’t see or visually represent.

In  this world, during the Pentecost harvest festival in Jerusalem late May, A.D. 30, a Jew named Simon Peter declared to throngs from all parts of the empire that a self-styled rabbi executed fifty days earlier by the ruthless Roman regime was not only alive again but ascended to heaven as Israel’s liberator and Master of the universe. To most, the message was incredible, but the miracle of everyone hearing the disciples speak in their native languages led some to believe.

1,980 years later, over two billion people profess belief in this Jesus. Only God knows how many are true Christians. Those who are have received complete forgiveness of sins (v. 38). No other religion or worldview even claims to be able to do this, much less has ever delivered. Now that’s worth celebrating any new year.

1. Memorize and meditate verses or even chapters of the Bible. Over many years, I have put verses on small cards that I carry around with me and read when I have time. See Psalm 119.

2. Read and reread biblical books, using various translations. Don't adopt a "favorite verse" approach to the Bible. Read it for what it is, difficulties and all. In fact, consume it and let it change you. Eugene Peterson writes wonderfully about his in Eat This Book.

3. Employ a good Study Bible, such as The NIV or TNIV Study Bible, The Apologetics Study Bible, or The Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible.

4. Pray through the Bible during prayer times. This keeps your mind from wandering. The Psalms are particularly meaningful here, but all of Scripture can be a focus for prayer and meditation.

5. Bring the Bible into your conversations in a natural and intelligent way. You need not even announce that you are quoting a text. Simply say it or paraphrase it.

6. Cut out things that take time away from Bible reading, meditating, and memorizing: TV watching, video game playing, oversleeping, reading junk books and magazines, and surfing the Internet. See Psalm 90.

7. Listen to an audio Bible while driving.

8. Try to become a "walking Bible."

If you put these kinds of suggestions into practice, every year will become your “Year of the Bible,” since God’s word will become “living and active” in your life (Hebrews 4:12).

Probably Pilate did not wait to hear the answer. But to those who would listen, Jesus replied, “If you hold to my teaching … Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free (Jn 8:31-32).

As Jesus prayed to his heavenly Father, he said, “I gave them the words you gave me … your word is truth” (John 17:8, 17). The source of Jesus’s teachings was the omniscient Designer of the universe.

We discover truth in statements that align with:

• assenting to the truth of his teachings, turning from our prideful ways and finding peace in trusting our living Lord.
• reveling in being set free from the power of temptation and lesser religious, social and political would-be lords and masters.
• loving his truth, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor 13:6).
• finding joy in becoming progressively more like him in our character, and in testifying to the truth.

Spiritual formation is being formed by the Spirit into the image of Christ. It is the Spirit’s work, in the Spirit’s way, and in the Spirit’s time. The Spirit keeps us free and fruitful. When we draw our life and strength from the Spirit we are freed from the sinful desires that arise from human weakness (5:16). When we are led by the Spirit we are freed from the need to earn and perform (5:18). We are even freed from trying to be virtuous by the guarantee of fruitfulness (5:22). 

Holy Spirit, empower me to follow your leading and grow your precious fruit within me.  Amen.

The deadline is approaching. Two paths lie ahead, and I have to choose between them. Both seem like good opportunities, but neither is clearly the better option. How do I decide? Flip a coin? Pray and then flip a coin? We intuitively suspect there must be a better, more God-pleasing method. But what of the apostles casting lots—rolling the sacred dice if you like—to choose between Matthias and Joseph Justus to replace Judas within the Twelve?

There was, of course, Old Testament precedent. The Urim and the Thummim, used by the priests, may have been black and white cubes drawn randomly from their pockets, but we’re not sure. Gideon offered two different fleeces before the Lord to help determine his will. Christians today often look for “random coincidences”—a song they hear on the radio about New York while trying to decide between moving there or to Boston. Some even open the Scriptures at random to look for help, as if the Bible were a magical amulet.

The most important point about Acts 1, however, is that it comes right before Acts 2! Soon Pentecost will offer a far more reliable guide for decision making—the Holy Spirit. He, and not lot casting or its equivalent, will be the source of guidance for God’s people from that moment on.

In 1979, archaeologists unearthed a small silver amulet with the biblical Hebrew text of Numbers 6:24-26 (Aaron’s blessing) from a concealed burial chamber in Jerusalem. This artifact provides the earliest biblical Hebrew text ever discovered. The amulet measures 1 x 1¾ inches. It was carefully rolled up, and was probably worn as a piece of jewelry around the neck, or possibly as a good luck charm belonging to a superstitious or religious individual. Since the message inscribed on the amulet is a divine blessing, it is possible that the piece of jewelry served to invite blessings on its owner and ward off the possibility of any misfortune.

Every word of this beautiful text is heavy with theological significance. The first verb (brk – “to bless”) echoes God’s promise made to Abram when he was called out of Ur of the Chaldees. God promised that He would bless him and make him into a great nation. The second verb (shmr – “to keep”) reveals God’s protection for his people. And in the light of Psalm 121:4, we are guaranteed that God keeps watch over his people twenty-four hours a day since He never slumbers nor sleeps. The third verb (’wr – “to cause to shine”) reminds us of Moses’ encounter with God on Mt Sinai. So radiant was his face that he had to wear a veil over his head so as not to overwhelm the Israelites with the brightness of glory of the Lord. The end of Aaron’s blessing invites God to impart on his people peace, wholeness, healing, completeness, and quietness of heart, mind, and soul.

Lord Jesus, just as I have placed my full confidence in you for my eternal destiny, help me to live my 9-5 real life by faith in You who lives within me.  Amen.

Galatians 2:19-3:3: For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing. You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?

The first degree of love, Bernard asserted, is that we love ourselves for our own sake (cf. Matt. 22:39) as valued persons created in God’s image. Bernard called this immature love, or love of self for self. He noted that we push onward to the second degree of love, namely, that we love God for our own sake, or for the blessings and consolations he brings into our lives (cf. Psa. 50:15). This Bernard called prudent love, or love of God for self.

A higher or purer love, however, beckons believers on the journey. The third degree of love is that we love God for God’s sake, transcending the consolations of God to engage personally and intimately the God of consolations (Phil. 3:10). Bernard called this unselfish love, or love of God for God. The fourth and final degree of love, Bernard noted, is that we love ourselves for God’s sake. By this he meant that mature pilgrims experience God’s ravishing love at a deep level (cf. Eph. 3:17-19).  Bernard called this perfect love, or love of self for God. This fourth level of love offers a foretaste of the perfect love Christians will enjoy eternally in heaven. Where are you on this marvelous journey of love?

When I was a boy a stray dog came from some unknown place and decided to live with us. We named her Barnacle because she attached herself to us. Barney was the gentlest of dogs. We would dress her up in clothes—which she didn’t like—but she always came back for more.

One day Barney was run over by a truck. Her hind legs and body were crushed. I rushed out with a pillow to put her on so we could take her to the vet without hurting her so much as we moved her. When I reached down to help her on the pillow she bit me! Why did she bite me? Because she was a vicious dog? No. She bit me because she was hurting so much.

Over the years I have learned that, like Barney, when people hurt they tend to bite. We often ignore the hurt and condemn the bite. But that accomplishes nothing except the feeling of rejection on the part of the biter. What a biter needs is grace for the hurt, not condemnation for the bite. When we help with the hurt we help with the bite.  We must look beyond the fault to see the need.

In 1 Peter 5:7, Peter tells us how to respond when we are overwhelmed with the cares of life: “Cast your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

First, we acknowledge that we will have anxiety. Anxiety is the uneasiness and apprehension that can range from feelings of mild tension to absolute panic surrounding concern for self and others facing an uncertain future.

Second, we remind ourselves that we have a God who cares for us. Jesus reviews the Father’s care for creation in Matthew 6:25ff and tells us that the Father knows our needs and cares for us deeply.

Third, we respond to the cares of life by casting them on God. The word translated cast is used of the disciples throwing their cloaks on the back of the donkey that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

What a beautiful picture of us responding to the cares of life by placing our anxiety and worries in God’s arms and letting them stay there!

The blogworld is abuzz with predictions about 2012 as the year of the end of the world.  A new movie turns this prediction into an apocalyptic doomsday thriller.  It seems like people can’t go more than a few years without setting new dates.  Even Christians get caught up in the excitement, despite hundreds of failed prophecies about the return of Christ throughout church history.

Jesus explained that no one, not even Himself in his voluntarily accepted limits of knowledge, during the incarnation, knew the “day or hour” of his return (Mark 13:32).  But some interpret this to mean that we can know the week, month or year!  Acts 1:7 gives the lie to this notion.  “Times or dates” employs the two broadest terms in ancient Greek for periods of time—chronoi and kairoi.  Even to claim that one knows one is living in the last generation, or the last century, would violate Jesus’ teaching here.

Jesus was getting His disciples ready to carry on His mission without Him being physically present on earth any longer.  It was the forty-day period between His resurrection and ascension.  He knew it would be easy for them to take the wrong tack and start to try to guess when He would return.  Instead He wanted them to be his witnesses wherever they went through the power of the Spirit (v. 8).  Dare we do any less?  Maybe if we fulfill the Great Commission, we’ll have time to speculate about the timing of the end.  But not before then!

After the Israelites had received the law at Mt Sinai, journeyed in the wilderness for almost 40 years, settled in the land of Canaan, and received their king from the Lord, they found themselves entangled in a web of confusion and oppression at the hand of their Philistine neighbors.  Unable to bring about their own deliverance, the Israelites reacted as they had done numerous times before—they cried out to the Lord, acknowledged their sins, and sought to be rescued by their Deliverer.

The Israelites knew they had done evil in the eyes of the Lord.  They had broken the first and most important of all the commandments—You shall have no other gods before me (Ex 20:3, Deut 5:7)—and for this, they experienced the continual severe harassment of the Philistines.

God had promised to Moses and Joshua that He would go before them and destroy their enemies. Had He forgotten to deal with the Philistines?

God promises us peace and joy. Yet reality reminds us that we are still living in a fallen world, where obstacles, inconsistencies, inconveniences, and conflicts plague our daily lives.  God’s promises are yea and amen to the glory of God, but some of these will be completely manifested only in the kingdom of heaven. Let us be steadfast, patient, wise, and determined to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives, even in the midst of difficulties.

Triune God, help us as your followers to live in the same love and unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen

Galatians 6:1-5

My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.  Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves.  All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become a cause for pride.  For all must carry their own loads.

If there be fault on our part, we admit our wrongs, repent of them and receive God’s gracious forgiveness. Moreover, we should view the challenge as an invitation to full surrender to God. Although total abandonment is threatening, as C. S. Lewis noted, “God cannot bless us unless He has us.” In addition, we should trust God in the sense of relying on his Word and persistent prayer rather than leaning on our fickle feelings. In the words of the prophet, “Let those who walk in the dark, who have no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on their God” (Isa. 50:10).

Let us also recognize the value of hardship and suffering in God’s providential economy. As Jesus “learned obedience through the things he suffered” (Heb. 5:8), so trials refine and strengthen our character. God often accomplishes his greatest work in our lives not in times of prosperity but in seasons of poverty. It will be helpful also to walk through challenging circumstances with a spiritual friend who will support us in our struggles and uphold us in prayer. Finally, reach out to others in their time of need. By so doing we not only contribute to their welfare but also discover our own spirits uplifted and enriched.

Joseph’s brothers went through a roller coaster of emotions when they realized that Joseph was standing before them. The events of Genesis 37 flashed before their eyes. They remembered hating Joseph to the point of selling him to traveling merchants. Now, the tables were turned and Joseph had the upper hand. Realizing their plight, fear gripped their hearts and confusion set in. They felt deep guilt for their actions of long ago, and then, the blame game began to unfold...Who would take the responsibility for the events of the past?

Joseph, a man chosen by God to save his people during a time of severe famine, turned away from unforgiveness, forsook the opportunity to retaliate, and chose not to hold a grudge against those who had hurt him so deeply. He was able to do so only because he recognized that God had orchestrated the events of his life. He could have been bitter and taken advantage of the situation, but motivated by the love of God, Joseph had compassion on his brothers and extended grace to them. For years, Joseph had yearned for the moment when he could be reunited with his family. Finally, it had come!

As human beings, we see events from an earthly standpoint, generally oblivious to God’s plan and input in our situations. Long before Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he had recognized that God’s hand had been in the seemingly unfortunate circumstances and the regrettable outcome of earlier sibling rivalry. When the opportune moment arose, Joseph revealed what he had pondered in his heart during his years in Egypt. God had a plan and a purpose for his life, a design that his brothers had not grasped. God is to be trusted! Only He can bring his plans and purposes to pass.

British evangelical, Peter Toon, observes that “psychologically formative reading provides a delightful respite from the dry labor of discursive meditation.” May our delight be like that of the prophet Isaiah who wrote:

“The Sovereign LORD has given me an
          Instructed tongue,
To know the word that sustains the
          weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
          wakens my ear to listen like one
                    being taught” (Isa. 50:4)

Enraged at the sight of the Israelites worshipping and dancing before a golden calf, Moses took the tablets of stones that contained the Ten Commandments, and threw them on the ground at the foot of the Mt Sinai (Ex 32:19). After witnessing idolatry and debauchery from the very people whom God had recently delivered from horrendous bondage, Moses was unable to contain his fury. He destroyed the precious tablets of the covenant, cremated the golden calf, and challenged the Israelites to repent of their evil deeds. Shortly thereafter, God called Moses back into his presence and gave him an opportunity to vent his frustrations and to intercede on the behalf of those who had transgressed.

Although God was not pleased with the behavior of the Israelites, He was not about to give up on them. He instructed Moses to carve a second set of tablets and, with His own finger, He inscribed once again the commandments He had given to Moses during his previous excursion to the top of Mt Sinai.

Out of anger, we break things, people, and ourselves. Out of anger, we lose control and mar the image of God in us and in others. Yet, God, who excels in restoring and healing what is broken, is always ready to provide a second chance. God commanded Moses to carve a new set of tablets like the first ones, with the purpose of redeeming what was lost and with the intention of restoring what was near and dear to His heart.

“Like the first ones!” God had formed the first tablets and written on them with His own fingers. In Exodus 34, Moses carves and God restores what was broken. Once again, Moses becomes the hand of God and a divine instrument of reconciliation. Even leaders can count on second chances!

God of grace, keep us centered in the good news that this life in Christ is a gift from a loving Father, not a performance for a squinty-eyed critic.  Amen.

Galatians 1:3-8

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!

Paul knew these universal fears when he prayed that the scope of Christ’s love for the Ephesians might overwhelm any doubts seeping into their souls. He wrote to them:

“I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19, The Message)

Using the language of measurement—breadth, length, depth, height—Paul acknowledged a fundamental desire to know for sure how much Christ loves us. Ironically the desire to define the scope of God’s love often reflects a deep skepticism that anyone can love someone else completely, that is, with absolute selflessness. In other words, we have a hard time believing that Christ’s love has no boundaries, no endpoint.

It’s risky, believing someone loves us. Perhaps we aren’t loved as much as we hoped. But Paul knew that Christ’s love has no boundaries. You can’t measure the dimensions of Christ’s love because it has no beginning and no end. In Romans 8:38-39 Paul reflected on the impregnability of Christ’s love for us. “I’m absolutely convinced,” he wrote, “that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.”

There’s no reason to ever doubt Christ’s love for you. That certainty will change your life.