Category: Devotional

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How Do We Experience Peace?

Colossians 3

15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:15-17, NIV)

The Daily DAVEotional

If you haven’t noticed, we are experiencing an epidemic of anxiety in our country. The American Psychiatric Association’s annual mental health poll indicated a sharp rise in anxiety levels among American adults.

Young adults are even more likely to report high levels of anxiety these days according to a Pew survey cited in this article.

There’s even been a popular book written about “The Anxious Generation.” In this book, author Jonathan Haidt argues that smartphones, social media, and helicopter parenting has contributed to an increased level of anxiety and depression among today’s youth.

Experiencing peace seems as elusive as sighting a unicorn.

So how exactly can we experience peace?

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul gives some insight into experiencing peace.

The first thing he says is that we should let peace “rule” in our hearts. The Greek word for “rule” means “arbitration”. The idea is that peace should govern our hearts.

Ok. But how do we do that? It’s not like most people can turn peace on and off like a light switch.

Fortunately, there are some key words in this passage that help us to understand a potential pathway to peace.

Three times in this passage, Paul uses the similar words “thankful” (verse 15), “gratitude” (verse 16), and “thanks” (verse 17).

Philippians 4:6-7 is perhaps the most oft-quoted passage regarding peace. Paul says,

6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

It’s interesting to note that in this passage, Paul also talks about thanksgiving. When we share our anxieties with God, and we do it with an attitude of thanksgiving, Paul says that we will experience the peace of God in a way that transcends our understanding.

I might not be able to manufacture peace on demand. But I can choose my attitude and what I will allow my mind to dwell on.

Paul tells us to be thankful  and to offer up our anxieties to the Lord in prayer with an attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude.

Something happens when we choose to be grateful. You see, we can’t be grateful unless we stop and think about the things we should be grateful for. Doing this refocuses our attention on God’s goodness and it gets our minds off of the negative thoughts that are the root of our anxieties.

My wife and I recently saw the movie “Soul on Fire”, which is the real-life story of John O’Leary, who, as a child, suffered burns over his entire body when he accidentally set his family’s house on fire. It’s a powerful story of identity, redemption and forgiveness.

As an adult, John decides he can use his story to make a difference in the lives of others as a motivational speaker.

In one of his first speaking engagements he finds himself talking to a group of hardened criminals in a state prison. His main message is about the importance of gratitude. He then invites the prisoners to share something they’re grateful for.

At first, nobody speaks. They’re mostly skeptical and wondering what they’re even doing there. Finally, one prisoner stands up and says:

“I’m grateful for prison, because if I wasn’t here, I’d be dead. And here’s what else I’m grateful for:

    • Heat in the winter.
    • Air-conditioning in the summer.
    • Three square meals a day—no cooking, no dishes.
    • A clean bed every night.
    • Laundry service—I never had that on the outside.
    • Medical care, even if it’s basic.
    • A library full of books I never read before.
    • Time to think, really think about my life.
    • Brothers here who get it, who share my struggles.
    • Letters from my kids—I miss ’em, but they keep comin’.
    • The chaplain who prays with us.
    • Fresh coffee in the morning.
    • Outdoor rec time—blue sky, even behind fences.
    • A job, Payin’ a little, but it’s honest work.
    • No bills pilin’ up.
    • Safety from the streets I ran on
    • Programs to learn skills, like anger management.
    • Holidays with visits from family.
    • Music on the radio—reminds me of better days.
    • Clean water, hot showers.
    • Counselors who listen without judgin’.
    • The chance to apologize to folks I hurt.
    • Faith groups—Bible study saved my soul.
    • Exercise yard—keeps me strong.
    • Mail call—somethin’ to look forward to.
    • No more chasin’ highs that wrecked me.
    • Rules that keep me from hurtn’ others.
    • Dreams at night—hope for what’s next.
    • Laughter with the guys—ain’t nothin’ like it.
    • This talk today—remindin’ me gratitude changes everything.
    • And God… for second chances.”

Later in the movie, John is struggling, feeling sorry for himself and the situation he’s in. He can motivate others through his speaking but, like us, he often struggles to apply the principles of his own TED talk.

There’s a scene where he visits his family. His dad is in a wheel chair, suffering from the effects of advanced Parkinson’s disease. And yet, his father is joyful, positive and at peace.

John asks his father, “How can you be so positive?”

His dad responds “John, how can I complain when my life is so good, when I’m just so blessed?”

John is confused. He’s thinking, “how can you see yourself as blessed when you’re in this horrible condition?” It’s really a victim mentality. And we all can tend towards this, can’t we?

His dad then elaborates on his gratitude, listing reasons like the extra time he has for reflection, the deeper family bonds he’s developed, his appreciation for caregivers and the empathy he’s developed for the struggles of others. Gratitude has enabled him to transform his limitations and potential sources of anxiety into sources of joy and peace.

There is no doubt that we live in a complex and chaotic world that’s filled with challenges that can produce anxieties of all kinds – health, job, finances and family issues, just to name a few.

However, even though we can’t produce peace in our hearts on demand, we can choose to be thankful and grateful for the good things that God has provided for us. If we make this our regular pattern, our lives will be less anxious and we’ll begin to experience more peace in our hearts.

 

By the way, you can read my review of the movie Sarah’s Oil here.

 

Did you enjoy this post? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to like, leave a comment below, and share it with your friends or on social media if you found it helpful or interesting. Your support keeps the conversation going!

 

Reflection

What are the things creating anxiety in your life right now? What keeps you from sharing those things with the Lord?

What have you found helpful in your own life to get your mind off of your problems and anxieties and onto the positive things in your life?

If you were to create a list of things you’re grateful for, like the prisoner did, what would be on your list? What are the things in your life that you can express gratitude for?

 

Photo by Tom Shakir on Unsplash

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Game Over, Man!

2 Kings 6

8Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”

9The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” 10So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

11This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”

12“None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

13“Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” 14Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

15When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked.

16“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

17And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

18As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Strike these people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

19Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria.

20After they entered the city, Elisha said, “LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria. (2 Kings 6:8-20, NIV)

The Daily DAVEotional

In the blockbuster movie “Aliens”, Bill Paxton plays Private Hudson, a brash loudmouth whose main contribution to the movie seems to be one of comic relief.

With typical military bravado, private Hudson talks tough and acts macho, but when things go sideways, he panics.

At a critical juncture in the movie, Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, and her rescue crew seem out of options. It’s at this point that private Hudson provides the above meme-worthy response that has been repeated millions of times by movie-lovers in countless scenarios over the years.

When I read this account in 2 Kings, I imagine Elisha’s assistant acting like the Private Hudson character.

The context is simple: the king of Aram was at war with Israel, and yet, whenever he mobilized his troops for an offensive, Elisha would warn the king of Israel of their exact location and plans.

After several iterations of this scenario, the king of Aram, embarrassed and enraged at being made to look like a fool, brings together his inner circle, hoping to sniff out what he thinks must be a mole.

Amazingly, when one of his officers tells him that there is no mole, but that Elisha knows his plans as if he is right there in his bedroom when he speaks, the king takes him at his word.

The first thing I find interesting is that the king of Aram believes his officer. In our modern culture, we are so desensitized to the possibility of the supernatural that we wouldn’t even entertain this option. Certainly, there must be a traitor in our midst! That is the only logical conclusion.

But the king of Aram believes that Elisha certainly must be the problem, so he orders that he be found and captured. The text doesn’t give any indication of what he intends to do with Elisha when he’s captured but it’s certainly not a dinner invitation.

It’s at this point that we reach our “Game over” scenario. Elisha’s assistant gets up early and discovers that the entire city has been surrounded by the armies of the king of Aram.

The text doesn’t indicate the tone or exact disposition of the servant, but clearly there was panic. I imagine Elisha’s assistant channeling his inner Private Hudson when he says, “Oh my Lord, what should we do?”

Game over man.

Those guys are out there.. They’re going to get us.

We’re going to bite it here on this rock.

While Elisha’s assistant is melting down in full-Private Hudson mode, Elisha is the perfect picture of calm, cool and collected. The reason is simple: he knows something that his assistant doesn’t – that there’s an unseen world at work that changes the equation and reverses the odds.

Elisha tells his servant not to worry. “There are more with us than with them.”

He then asks the Lord to open his servant’s eyes to see the reality of the spiritual realm.

The text doesn’t tell us how Elisha’s servant responded when he saw the hills filled with horses and chariots, the literal armies of heaven ready to do battle on Elisha’s behalf. But I suspect there was a sigh of relief.

“Game not over man!”

“THAT’S what I’m talking about!”

Interestingly, Elisha doesn’t call on the armies of heaven to vanquish the Aramean army. He doesn’t need to. Instead, he asks the Lord to blind his enemies, at which point Elisha tells the invading army commanders, essentially, “These are not the droids you are looking for.”

Elisha then leads them to Samaria, a safe distance away, where they no longer pose a viable threat.

Elisha was God’s prophet, endowed with supernatural abilities that are not normative. We may not be able to blind our foes as he did, but that is not the point of the story. The big idea is that there is a spiritual realm that exists. We are either unaware of it, like Elisha’s assistant, or we acknowledge it, as Elijah did.

There is yet a third option. Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) used to say that most Christians are practical atheists, those who say they believe in the supernatural, but live as though it doesn’t exist.

Sadly, I believe Bill Bright’s statement is still true of many Christians today.

 

Did you enjoy this post? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to like, leave a comment below, and share it with your friends or on social media if you found it helpful or interesting. Your support keeps the conversation going!

 

Reflection

When it comes to the supernatural realm, are you more like Elisha’s assistant, unaware of and unconnected to the spiritual realm, or are you more like Elisha, aware and connected?

Bill Bright described many Christians as practical atheists – those who claim to believe in the supernatural but live their lives as if it doesn’t exist. Why do you think many Christians live as if the spiritual realm doesn’t exist or has little impact?

Describe a time when your eyes were open to the reality of the spiritual realm.

What are some things you can do to avoid reacting like Private Hudson when you’re faced with a situation that seems bleak and out of control?

 

 

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Oh, How Quickly We Forget!

Judges 3

1The LORD left certain nations in the land to test those Israelites who had not participated in the wars of Canaan. 2He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. 3These were the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the hill country of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. 4These people were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the LORD had given to their ancestors through Moses.

5So Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, 6and they intermarried with them. Israelite sons married their daughters, and Israelite daughters were given in marriage to their sons. And the Israelites worshiped their gods.

7The Israelites did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. They forgot about the LORD their God, and they worshiped the images of Baal and the Asherah poles. 8Then the LORD burned with anger against Israel, and he handed them over to King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim. And the Israelites were subject to Cushan-rishathaim for eight years.

9But when Israel cried out to the LORD for help, the LORD raised up a man to rescue them. His name was Othniel, the son of Caleb’s younger brother, Kenaz. 10The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge. He went to war against King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram, and the LORD gave Othniel victory over him. 11So there was peace in the land for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died. (Judges 3:1-11, NLT)

The Daily DAVEotional

The book of Judges is a history of the Israelites immediately after taking possession of the land of Canaan and after the death of Joshua.

The book chronicles the struggles the leaderless Israelites experienced politically, militarily and spiritually.

The Israelites had been commanded to drive out the people of the land, but we learn in Judges 1:19 that “they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots.” Though not explicitly stated, the implication is that the Israelites lacked the courage to finish the job because they feared the military superiority of the other people. They lacked the faith that God could help them defeat an enemy that appeared to out-match their military strength.

So instead of occupying this land with a clean slate, they find themselves co-existing with these other people groups who don’t share their values and who don’t worship the Lord. This is not a good start to this fledgling nation.

Here in chapter 3, we learn that the Lord allowed some of these people groups to remain in order to provide an avenue to teach warfare “to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle.”

In other words, there was a strategic purpose that these other peoples weren’t displaced all at once. The Lord wanted the next generation to learn how to fight in battle and He also wanted to test them to see how obedient they would be to the commands that had been delivered by Moses.

Sadly, they utterly failed the test. They began to intermarry with the peoples with whom they were co-existing. Not surprisingly, they soon began to forsake the Lord by worshipping the gods of these foreign nations.

In His righteous anger, the Lord allowed the Israelites to experience divine punishment in the form of marauders and local foreign rulers becoming their overlords. In this case, they became subject to an Aramean king for 8 years.

The pattern in Judges is cyclical. The Israelites prostitute themselves by forsaking the Lord and worshipping foreign gods. God allows them to be raided and subject to others until the Israelites finally cry out to the Lord for mercy and for relief. The Lord then raises up a judge, a military leader who is empowered by God to rescue His people from their enemies. But soon after being delivered, the cycle repeats as the Israelites return again to their foreign gods, bringing retribution from a new source.

Here in chapter 3, we see the start of this pattern that repeats throughout the book. What I think is most interesting is who the first judge is that is raised up to rescue the people from the Aramean King Cushan-rishathaim.

The text says that Othniel was raised up as Israel’s first judge. Now if the name Othniel seems familiar, it’s because he was mentioned back in Joshua 15 and also again in Judges chapter 1.

Caleb offered his daughter Acsah in marriage to anyone who would attack and capture Kiriath-sepher, a village in the Judean hills that later became known as Debir. We learn that Othniel stepped up to the challenge, captured the city and won the hand of Caleb’s daughter.

Translators are not completely clear on the relationship between Othniel and Caleb. It’s not clear from the original text whether the phrase “brother of Caleb” refers to Othniel or Kenaz. Either translation is possible. Hence, Othniel was either Caleb’s younger half-brother (same mother but with a different father, Kenaz) or he was Caleb’s nephew (with Kenaz being Caleb’s younger brother). Whichever is the case, we know for certain that Othniel, though younger than Caleb, was a contemporary. In other words, they lived in generally the same era.

But here in the beginning chapters of Judges, Joshua has died and it’s likely that Caleb has died too. Othniel, however, is still around. The point is that this is less than one generation removed from the death of Joshua and the Israelites are already forsaking the Lord.

Joshua, before his passing, had urged the people in Joshua 24, to “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve….But as for me and my household we will serve the LORD.” And now, just a few short years after his passing, the Israelites have already forsaken the Lord to chase after foreign gods.

There are a number of relevant takeaways from this story. First, we see the consequences of disobedience and a lack of faith. The Israelites lack of faith in facing an enemy that is perceived to be stronger leads to a co-existence that has long-lasting and far-reaching implications. These people, who were supposed to be displaced, became a thorn in the side of the Israelites for centuries.

Secondly, despite all their good intentions in Joshua 24, where they swore up and down that they would serve the Lord and not chase after other gods, we see that the apostasy of the Israelites comes rather quickly, during the actual lifetime of those who had been involved in the initial conquest of the land.

We don’t need to look too far to confirm that this is the nature and the pattern of people with respect to loyalty and allegiance to the Lord. During my life-time, we have seen the exponential erosion of the influence of the church on our culture.

Just as the Israelites of the Judges era were influenced by the cultures around them, so we today see that many Christians are more influenced by the gods and ideas of the culture than they are the God of the Bible and its values.

The process of “deconstructing” one’s faith has become popular today as people wrestle with the differences and disparities that exist between the biblical narrative and the secular worldview that dominates our culture. (See my post “Dealing with Doubts about God” for a deeper dive on this idea of deconstructing one’s faith.)

For some, the process of deconstruction leads to a complete abandonment of God and the faith. It seems almost commonplace these days when we hear of a prominent Christian leader who has “left the faith”.

For others, deconstruction leads to a re-imagining of God – what I call “Salad Bar Religion”, which is simply a syncretic, or progressive version of Christianity in which God is completely redefined in such a way that suits my preferences and is less offensive to the culture around us. (See my post “The Recipe for Salad Bar Religion” for a deeper explanation of this approach).

There is no doubt that cultural forces make devotion to the one true God extremely difficult. The first step to avoiding our own spiritual apostasy is to recognize that we, just like the Israelites in the time of the Judges, are not immune to these same outcomes, if we are not proactive to take steps to safeguard ourselves from those ideologies and philosophies that would seek to draw us away from the one true God.

So how do we safeguard ourselves?

That’s probably another full blog post but maintaining a strong spiritual community is a must, as well as developing a strong foundational understanding of the nature of God, which will enable us to more easily identify the many false gods being promoted by the culture.

Did you enjoy this post? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to like, leave a comment below, and share it with your friends or on social media if you found it helpful or interesting. Your support keeps the conversation going!

Reflection

What are some examples in your own life of people you have known who, at one time, seemed like strong Christians, but who now don’t believe at all, or have opted for an alternative view of God that isn’t biblical?

What do you think are some factors that can more easily lead to people abandoning their faith or redefining it in a way that is no longer faithful to God as revealed in the Bible?

What are some of the cultural forces or ideas that challenge your beliefs? How have you addressed those challenges, doubts and questions?

There were a couple of steps mentioned at the end of the blog to help safeguard ourselves from being taken captive by the ideologies of the culture. What are some other ideas you have for protecting yourself spiritually from being a spiritual casualty in your devotion to God alone?

 

Photo by Eric Smart: https://www.pexels.com/photo/lest-we-forget-tombstone-2233388/

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Who is this Melchizedek Character?

Genesis 14

17As Abram returned from his victory over Kedorlaomer and his allies, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18Then Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought him bread and wine. 19Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing:

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

Creator of heaven and earth.

20And blessed be God Most High,

who has helped you conquer your enemies.”Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered. (Genesis 14:17-20, NLT)

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hebrews 7

1This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against many kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. 2Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had won in the battle and gave it to Melchizedek. His name means “king of justice.” He is also “king of peace” because Salem means “peace.” 3There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.

4Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized how great Melchizedek was by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. 5Now the priests, who are descendants of Levi, are commanded in the law of Moses to collect a tithe from all the people, even though they are their own relatives. 6But Melchizedek, who was not even related to Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. 7And without question, the person who has the power to bless is always greater than the person who is blessed.

8In the case of Jewish priests, tithes are paid to men who will die. But Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on. 9In addition, we might even say that Levi’s descendants, the ones who collect the tithe, paid a tithe to Melchizedek through their ancestor Abraham. 10For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s loins when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him.

11And finally, if the priesthood of Levi could have achieved God’s purposes—and it was that priesthood on which the law was based—why did God need to send a different priest from the line of Melchizedek, instead of from the line of Levi and Aaron?

12And when the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. 13For the one we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members do not serve at the altar. 14What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned Judah in connection with the priesthood.

15The change in God’s law is even more evident from the fact that a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has now come. 16He became a priest, not by meeting the old requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. 17And the psalmist pointed this out when he said of Christ,

“You are a priest forever

in the line of Melchizedek.”

18Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. 19For the law made nothing perfect, and now a better hope has taken its place. And that is how we draw near to God.

20God took an oath that Christ would always be a priest, but he never did this for any other priest. 21Only to Jesus did he say,

“The Lord has taken an oath

and will not break his vow:

‘You are a priest forever.’”22Because of God’s oath, it is Jesus who guarantees the effectiveness of this better covenant. (Hebrews 7:1-22, NLT)

The Daily DAVEotional

One of the great themes of the book of Genesis and really the whole Bible, is the Abrahamic covenant, which is introduced in Genesis 12 and is repeated again in Genesis 15. In this covenant, God promises to bless Abraham, so that he, through his descendants, would be a blessing to the nations. This promise sets the backdrop for God’s biblical redemptive plan, which unfolds throughout the Scriptures.

In the chapters that provide the filling for this Abrahamic Covenant sandwich (Genesis 13 and 14), Moses tells the story of how Abram and Lot decide to separate, mainly because they both had grown their personal wealth so much, there was no suitable land that could accommodate both of them with all of their flocks and herds.

Now that Lot is no longer under Abram’s protection, he finds himself the innocent victim of what amounts to a local political rebellion. The end result is that Lot, along with others, is taken captive by a local ruler who did not take kindly to the uprising of his subjects.

Abram gets wind of the situation and launches a rescue operation, which is highly successful. Not only does he get Lot back, but he retrieves ALL of those who have been captured, along with all of their possessions which had been looted.

On his way back from victory, Abram encounters a local king named Melchizedek. To the unschooled reader, Melchizedek seems like just another insignificant local political leader with a name that’s hard to pronounce. There really isn’t much reason to think this guy is that important to the overall biblical narrative, until of course, you get to the book of Hebrews.

Everything we know about Melchizedek comes from just 3 verses in Genesis 14. Here is what we know:

    • Melchizedek was the king of Salem, which means “king of peace.”
    • Melchizedek was also “king of righteousness” since the name “Melchizedek” means “my king is righteousness.”
    • Melchizedek was a priest of the most High God – he apparently followed the one true God.
    • Melchizedek blessed Abram
    • Abram gives Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he recovered. He paid a tithe to Melchizedek.

Here’s a guy who gets a mere 3 verses of attention in Genesis but then later, is a major source of discussion for 3 chapters in the book of Hebrews. What is really going on here?

If you know anything about the book of Hebrews, the theme is the idea of “Better”. The author advances a series of arguments to show how Jesus is better.

Better than what?

Better than everything!

Jesus is better than angels. Jesus is better than Moses. Jesus is a better priest because He belongs to a better priesthood. Jesus offers a better sacrifice because Jesus’ sacrifice is built on better blood.

Everything about Jesus is better. Including the fact that Jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant.

Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were beginning to forsake their new faith in Christ in favor of reverting back to their Jewish religious practices. The author pens his letter to demonstrate why that is not advisable. I’ve written about that in my blog post “Better Than…” as well as another post “A Better Sacrifice”.

In this section of Hebrews, the writer uses Melchizedek as an illustration to make the argument that Jesus is the author of a better covenant.

How exactly does he make his case?

The author first demonstrates that Melchizedek was greater than Abram. He does this by pointing out that Melchizedek blessed Abram and also received a tithe from Abram. He argues that the person who blesses is always greater than the person being blessed and the person who receives a tithe generally has a higher status than the person paying the tithe. Hence, Melchizedek is greater than Abram.

If Melchizedek is greater than Abram, then he’s also greater than Levi, who came from Abram. The writer points out that even though Levi, who is the basis for the Old Testament priesthood, was not yet born, his seed was within Abram when Abram paid the tithe to Melchizedek.

We know also that Melchizedek was a priest of the most high God just as Levi was. But since the Levitical priesthood had not even been implemented yet, Melchizedek’s priesthood must be of a different order. This order is different in one very obvious respect – this priesthood allowed kings to function as priests. This was not allowed in the Levitical priesthood which kept the roles of priests, who were the mediators, separate from the roles of kings, who were the rulers. (See my post, “Whatever Became of Sin?” to see an example of what happens when a king tries to perform priestly functions in the Levitical priesthood system.)

The author then gives another reason for the superiority of Melchizedek’s priesthood over Levi’s – Melchizedek’s priesthood is eternal while Levi’s was temporary.

The author reasons that alhough Melchizedek was a real person, his genealogy is not mentioned anywhere. We don’t know where he came from and there is no mention of him after these few verses in Genesis 14. It’s as if he never died.

The writer uses this as an analogy of sorts. Melchizedek appears on the scene out of nowhere and since we have no record of his death, it’s as if he lives on forever. Melchizedek, therefore, is a priest forever.

The argument then is that Jesus’ priesthood is more like Melchizedek’s priesthood than it is like Levi’s.  How?

Jesus descends from Judah, not from Levi. Therefore, Jesus is not even eligible to be a priest within the Levitical system.

Also, Jesus is a priest AND a king, just as Melchizedek was.

Finally, Jesus’ priesthood is eternal, just like Melchizedek’s appeared to be. Unlike Levitical priests, who died and had to be replaced by new priests, Jesus lives on forever and therefore is NEVER replaced.

We’ve already established that Melchizedek is greater (better) than Levi and since Jesus’ priesthood resembles Melchizedek’s not Levi’s, it logically follows that Jesus’ priesthood is better than Levi’s.

And because Jesus’ priesthood is better, the covenant which He introduces must also be better. So why would you then go back to the Old Covenant which was clearly inferior?

So there you have it. Melchizedek, who is just a blip on the screen in the Old Testament, becomes a central figure of the New Testament.

In theological terms, we say that Melchizedek is a “type” of Christ, which simply means that his existence and what we know of him figuratively resembles what we know to be true of Jesus. Hence, even though it may seem, on the surface, like Melchizedek is just a hired extra in the background of a major Hollywood movie scene, he turns out to be much more important than that. His mention is made to prefigure the coming of Jesus.

Now you know.

Did you enjoy this post? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to like, leave a comment below, and share it with your friends or on social media if you found it helpful or interesting. Your support keeps the conversation going!

Reflection

What has been your understanding of Melchizedek before reading this blog? Who did you think he was and what importance did you think he had to the overall message of Scripture?

What do you think are some of the reasons the audience of the book of Hebrews may have been forsaking their faith? What are some things that can tend to draw you away from the faith and back into your former lifestyle?

Of the characteristics of Melchizedek that resemble Jesus, which one stands out to you the most and why?

Jesus is the author of a better covenant. The old covenant was based on the Law. How would you explain to another person that the new covenant is better than the old covenant? What are some of the ways that it is better?

 

AI image of Abram paying a tithe to Melchizedek created by Grok

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What is Required to Bear Fruit as a Christian?

John 15

1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 15:1-8, NIV)

The Daily DAVEotional

Have you ever wondered what the Christian life is all about? For many people, living as a Christian has been reduced to a series of religious activities, such as attending church, being in a bible study and serving in various ministry capacities.

While these activities aren’t bad, Jesus is clear that the goal of the Christian life is to “bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

So how exactly does one “bear fruit”? HINT – it doesn’t happen because of our religious activities.

In John 15, Jesus gives a picture of fruitfulness by describing the relationship between a vine and its branches.

Being in a more agrarian society, Jesus’ audience likely would have understood the analogy in greater depth than we might, given that most of us probably didn’t grow up on a farm and may never have had much experience with vines or vineyards.

Nevertheless, it’s not a complicated concept to understand. Similar to a tree trunk, which gets its nourishment from a well-developed root system and then delivers it to the branches, a vine is the source of nourishment for the branches that are connected to it.

The key to bearing fruit for a branch is staying connected to the vine. If a branch is disconnected from the vine somehow, it will not produce fruit. Jesus emphasizes this point with the phrase “remain in me”, which he repeats six times in these eight verses.

What does Jesus mean when He says to “remain in me”?

The greek word used here is the word “meno”, the primary meaning of which is to stay in a given place, state or relation. Other words that help define the word “meno” are abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, and stand.

To remain in Jesus means we are to stay relationally present with Him. That word “dwell” evokes an image of Jesus being present with me in my living room, in my car when I’m driving, at my work place, when I’m out and about, when I’m hanging out with the guys or when I’m alone with no one around me to see what I’m doing. In short, I’m aware of Jesus’ presence in my life wherever I’m at and whatever I’m doing.

You don’t have to be a viticulturalist to know that the natural outcome of a branch that is connected to a vine is fruit. If there is no fruit, you know there is a problem somewhere. The same is true in our spiritual lives. If there is no fruit in your spiritual life, there is a problem.

So what are the problems that might result in a lack of fruit?

Verse 2 says that He “cuts off” branches that don’t produce fruit, while He “prunes” some branches that do bear fruit so that they will be more fruitful.

The Greek word that is translated as “cuts off” in the NIV, and “takes away” in the NASB is the Greek word “airo” which literally means “to lift up”.

In a vineyard, some branches would end up on the ground and would not have access to sunlight. These branches would grow but they wouldn’t produce grapes. Jesus is saying that branches that were lying on the ground would be “lifted up” so that they would have access to sunlight and thus would be able to bear fruit.

It’s easy to think we’re connected to Jesus because our lives are filled with religious activities, but remaining with Jesus means that I understand that He is the only source of spiritual life. He is the true vine.

As part of our fallen nature, we all try to fill the needs and cravings in our life in inauthentic ways, whether it’s work, hobbies, money, entertainment, sex or whatever. None of these avenues can truly satisfy us. Only Jesus can provide TRUE spiritual life and nourishment that satisfies and fulfills.

So if you’re not bearing fruit, perhaps it’s because you’re not depending on Jesus alone as your true source of spiritual nourishment and fulfillment. Jesus wants to lift you up out of the dirt and bring you into the light of His word and His truth so that you can begin to bear fruit.

Another possible reason we may be experiencing a lack of fruit is that we need to be “pruned”. Jesus says that He (God the Father) prunes every branch that does bear fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

The word that is translated “prune” is the greek word “kathairo” which means “to cleanse, to prune.” Vinedressers would routinely clean and wash the branches on the vine to rid them of pests that might destroy the leaves and interrupt the fruit-bearing process.

If you’re lacking fruit in your life, perhaps you need Jesus to cleanse you. In other words, maybe there is a sin issue that is keeping you from being fully dependent on Jesus and as a result, is negatively impacting your ability to bear fruit in your life.

Are you starting to get the picture? Jesus wants us to bear fruit, just as a branch connected to a vine would produce fruit.

But we are unable to produce fruit on our own. Only Jesus can produce fruit. We bear fruit if we simply stay connected to Him in a dependent relationship.

If we are lacking fruit, it is likely because we are depending on something apart from Jesus to provide fulfillment in our lives.

Did you enjoy this post? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to like, leave a comment below, and share it with your friends or on social media if you found it helpful or interesting. Your support keeps the conversation going!

Reflection

What are some of the inauthentic ways you seek to fulfill the needs and cravings in your life?

Describe a time when you realized that you were not producing fruit? What was happening in your life? What caused you to realize that you were not fruitful?

What are some practical ways you can seek to remain in Jesus? How do you demonstrate your dependence on Him?

What do you think spiritual fruit is? How do you define it? What does it look like in your life to produce “fruit”?

What are the religious activities you are regularly involved in? In what ways are these activities helping you grow in your dependence on Jesus? How can you avoid falling into the trap of thinking that these religious activities alone will produce “fruit” in your life?

 

 

Photo by Zachary Brown on Unsplash

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What Does it Mean to Walk in the Spirit?

Galatians 5

16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

(Galatians 5:16-26, NASB)

The Daily DAVEotional

The letter to the Galatians was written to a church that was struggling with Jewish legalism. Some Pharisees who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah were telling the Galatians that it wasn’t enough to believe in Jesus to be saved; they were teaching these recent Gentile converts that they must also adopt all of the Jewish legal rituals as well. Basically, they were telling them that they needed to convert to Judaism if they wanted the Jewish Messiah to be valid for them.

This was a huge controversy in the early church. The issue revolved around what is necessary to be saved. The essential question that needed to be answered was, “do Gentiles have to become Jewish in order to accept Jesus as their Messiah?”

This controversy became so polarizing that the early church convened a Council to address the issue and decide on the matter. I wrote about that in my blog post “A Pivotal Council in the Early Church”. The summary is that the early church leaders unanimously agreed that Gentile converts did not need to become Jewish in order to be saved. Jesus was enough and adherence to all of the Old Testament rituals and legal requirements was not necessary.

That didn’t stop these false teachers though from infiltrating churches and spreading their skewed version of the gospel, which was not really good news at all.

In this section of his letter, Paul is expounding on his argument that following the Law could never save anyone, which is why Jesus came in the first place.

We really have only two choices when it comes to salvation. We can seek to gain God’s favor through our own human efforts, our flesh, or we can seek God’s favor by following the Spirit. Paul says that these two options are diametrically opposed to one another and they yield completely different results.

In fact, the only way one can experience real transformation is by following the Spirit, or, as Paul puts it, walking in the Spirit. What exactly does it mean to walk in the Spirit?

There are three words and phrases in this passage that give clarity to the idea of walking in the spirit.

In verse 16, Paul says that if we “walk by the Spirit” we “will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” The NIV translation is slightly different, encouraging us to “live by the Spirit”.

What comes to your mind when you think about going on a walk? Typically, I think about a relaxing walk in nature or on the beach or in a serene location with my wife or a trusted friend. The idea is that there is a connection and a reliance on God when we are walking with Him.

The second word that gives clarity to walking in the spirit is in verse 18, which says “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.”

The Holy Spirit is a guide. He leads us. I think about being on a hike in a national park where there is an experienced guide leading us along a path. Because they are familiar with the terrain and all of the trails, they serve as a leader, showing us the way to our destination while alerting us to dangers and pitfalls along the way.

The third word that gives clarity to “walking in the Spirit” is in verse 25, which says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Interestingly, the word “walk” in this verse is not the same word used for “walk” in verse 16. The NIV translates it this way:

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

This word translated “walk” in the NASB is translated “keep in step” by the NIV. The word is really a military term that describes soldiers as they are marching together.

If you’ve ever seen a military parade, or even a marching band, you know that there is a leader, a drill sergeant or a drum major, who is giving commands that others follow. There is a rhythm and a synchronicity that exists between the leader and the followers.

Walking in the Spirit is a conscious act whereby we, as followers, willingly put ourselves in a subservient position, taking our cues from the Lord as our companion and guide. We don’t resist or question His orders and directives, but we keep in step and rhythm with where He’s going and what He’s doing.

Paul says that the natural result of walking in the spirit is that we will bear the fruit of the Spirit – our character will begin to transform, taking on God’s selfless character instead of the selfish, ungodly character that our flesh produces.

Reflection

How is life like a walk?

Think about a time you went on a relaxing walk. Who was with you? Where were you? What words would describe your emotions and your demeanor.  What made it so refreshing?

What does it mean to be led by someone? What is required on our part in order to be led by someone else?

What characterizes soldiers as they march? How do you think you can “march” in step with the Spirit?

 

Photo by Henry Xu on Unsplash

 

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Is it Unbiblical to Teach That Salvation is About “Accepting Jesus”?

John 1

10But although the world was made through him, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. 11Even in his own land and among his own people, he was not accepted. 12But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan—this rebirth comes from God. (John 1:10-13, NLT)

The Daily DAVEotional

I’ve been a Christian for a long time and ever since I can remember, I was told that becoming a Christian, or getting “saved” was simply a matter of “accepting” Jesus into your heart.

Not too long ago, I saw the above photo from one of my Facebook friends who regularly shows up in my feed. I respect Voddie Baucham as a teacher so I was curious about the context of the quote that seems to indicate that the idea of “accepting Jesus” is unbiblical.

Is it true that the New Testament nowhere mentions salvation being about “accepting Jesus”?

I think the short answer to that is NO.

John 1:12 is the most clear verse that would challenge that assertion as John states:

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. [emphasis added]

Now to be fair, my Scripture reference is from the New Living Translation (NLT) which is the only translation I’m aware of that uses the phrase “accepted him.” Most other translations, including the NIV, King James, NASB, ESV and others, all use the phrase “received him“. So I suppose it’s possible, if you exclude the NLT, that one could argue that the Bible doesn’t say anything about “accepting Jesus” when it comes to salvation.

In my mind, though, this could be considered theological nit-picking. It seems apparent to me that the words “accept” and “receive” are synonyms. So why make the argument that salvation has nothing to do with “accepting Jesus”?

Honestly, I could not find a link to the sermon in which Dr. Baucham made the quoted statement, so it’s hard to know exactly what he’s getting at or why he felt compelled to make the statement in the first place.

The problem sometimes with sound-bite quotes is that you don’t always get the context and so the quote can appear to be saying something entirely different than what the author was really intending to communicate.

I can say, however, that in my many years of ministry, this is not the first time I have heard someone make a statement like this. So I’ll address the statement as I’ve heard it shared from others, not necessarily from Dr. Baucham’s perspective, which, as I’ve stated, I was not able to clearly determine.

In my experience, the argument that salvation is not about just “accepting Jesus” is often made by those who are seeking to address the problem of spiritual mediocrity within the church.

An overwhelming number of people claim to be Christians and yet, as we look around at the landscape of our culture, it’s hard to imagine that there are really that many people who legitimately ARE Christians. In other words, the lifestyles of most people do not seem to indicate that most people are indeed Christians.

So what is the problem?

Some people would argue that a major problem is in our evangelistic message – that we are not calling people to repentance but instead, we’re peddling a soft message that requires little to no commitment. Note that Dr. Baucham’s quote appeals to the need to “repent and believe.”

The argument is that if we tell people that salvation is simply a matter of “accepting Jesus” into their life, we’re giving them the impression that being saved is merely a verbal transaction where, if we say the right words, and “ask Jesus into our hearts”, we can escape the punishment of hell and then go on our merry way doing whatever we were doing.

This kind of approach, the argument goes, lacks commitment and ultimately is not transformational. Instead of producing mature believers whose lives reflect Jesus, it produces worldly people who think of themselves as Christians simply because they said “the sinner’s prayer.”

The oft-suggested solution to this perceived problem is to refrain from telling people that salvation is about “accepting Jesus” and instead, communicate that it’s about a higher level of commitment that requires repentance.

As I see it, there are two problems with this solution.

The first problem is that the idea of “accepting Jesus” logically includes the idea of repentance.

Repentance literally means to turn and change direction. One cannot legitimately accept Jesus while maintaining the view that they can earn their salvation through their own good works.

Accepting Jesus is NOT just saying some prescribed prayer. It requires an attitude of humility that recognizes we fall short because of our sin and that Jesus is the ONLY one who can offer forgiveness through His shed blood on the cross.

Accepting Jesus, or receiving Christ, means that we accept the free gift of salvation that Jesus offers to all people. How do we do this? Ephesians 2:8-9 says that we do this by faith.

What that means is that I literally change direction (repentance). Instead of my former course where I trusted in my own good works to earn God’s favor, I now choose a new course, where I place my trust in Jesus alone to provide forgiveness and to save me from the penalty of my sins.

There’s a second problem with the solution of saying we should refrain from saying that salvation is about “accepting Jesus”. The second problem is that even if we were to stop talking about “accepting Jesus” and even if we were to convince everyone to use the different language of “repent and believe” in our evangelistic presentations, there is no reason to believe that the outcome would be any different than it already is.

The reason for this is because spiritual mediocrity in the church is largely a reflection of the hearts of people rather than the specific wording of the evangelistic messages that are being promoted.  Mark 4 tells us that there are 4 different soils that represent the different heart attitudes of people who hear the message of the gospel. (See my blog post: Which Soil Are You?)

Sharing a message of “Repent and Believe” to a person who has a hard heart, rocky heart or thorny heart is likely to yield the same result as sharing a message of “Accept Jesus”. Regardless of the specific verbiage of your message, the outcome will be the same, because it is already determined by the heart condition of the hearer.

Please note that I’m not saying that our evangelistic message and approach doesn’t matter. Our message should be biblically correct. However, the idea that one biblical approach  will produce better results than another, equally biblical approach is wishful thinking and places too much emphasis on the sower for the results.

There is no silver bullet message or approach that will guarantee the hearer will become a fruitful Christian.

In addition, since we know that spiritual mediocrity among professing believers has been a problem since the outset of the church, it stands to reason that it’s an issue of discipleship more than evangelism. The issue was addressed repeatedly in the New Testament and has been a source of controversy for 2000 years. We’re not likely to see a change in this phenomenon, though we should certainly do our best to disciple believers to maturity, just as the apostles did.

(See my blog post: Why Some Christians Never Grow)

The most important thing we can do when communicating with a non-Christian is to give a clear and understandable explanation of what Jesus is offering. (See my blog post: What Does it Look Like to Follow Jesus?)

I think it’s clear that linking salvation to the idea of “accepting Jesus” is not unbiblical, as long as we help the hearer understand that accepting Jesus involves repenting of our sins and believing in Jesus as our one and only Savior.

Reflection

What has been your understanding of the idea that people must “accept Jesus” in order to be saved? What are they accepting?

What do you think are the main reasons why some Christians don’t grow? How should we change our evangelistic approach to ensure greater fruitfulness among believers?

Do you agree with the statement by the author of this blog that mediocrity among professing Christians is more a result of discipleship than evangelism? What are your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing?

How can we disciple others to greater levels of maturity and fruitfulness? What steps can be taken? What resources do you think are needed?

 

Photo is a screenshot from a Facebook post at Voddie Baucham’s Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10221114209364128&set=a.1532880861226)

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Can a Psalm Refute Buddhism?

Psalm 94

1O LORD, the God to whom vengeance belongs,

O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice be seen!

2Arise, O judge of the earth.

Sentence the proud to the penalties they deserve.

3How long, O LORD?

How long will the wicked be allowed to gloat?

4Hear their arrogance!

How these evildoers boast!

5They oppress your people, LORD,

hurting those you love.

6They kill widows and foreigners

and murder orphans.

7“The LORD isn’t looking,” they say,

“and besides, the God of Israel doesn’t care.”

8Think again, you fools!

When will you finally catch on?

9Is the one who made your ears deaf?

Is the one who formed your eyes blind?

10He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you?

He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing?

11The LORD knows people’s thoughts,

that they are worthless!

12Happy are those whom you discipline, LORD,

and those whom you teach from your law.

13You give them relief from troubled times

until a pit is dug for the wicked.

14The LORD will not reject his people;

he will not abandon his own special possession.

15Judgment will come again for the righteous,

and those who are upright will have a reward.

16Who will protect me from the wicked?

Who will stand up for me against evildoers?

17Unless the LORD had helped me,

I would soon have died.

18I cried out, “I’m slipping!”

and your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me.

19When doubts filled my mind,

your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

20Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side—

leaders who permit injustice by their laws?

21They attack the righteous

and condemn the innocent to death.

22But the LORD is my fortress;

my God is a mighty rock where I can hide.

23God will make the sins of evil people fall back upon them.

He will destroy them for their sins.

The LORD our God will destroy them.

(Psalm 94:1-23, NLT)

The Daily DAVEotional

Psalm 94 is a cry and appeal to God for justice.

Apparently, there were evil people taking advantage of others and they appeared to be getting away with it.

Why is there no justice?

How long will we have to wait to see the wicked punished?

These are the questions the psalmist is asking.

Some things never change. We’re still asking those same questions today because there’s no doubt that evil still exists and that evil doers often seem to go unpunished.

There are two different ways of dealing with this perceived injustice:

The first way is to say God must not exist. This is the argument the atheist makes and it’s highlighted in verse 7:

7“The LORD isn’t looking,” they say,

“and besides, the God of Israel doesn’t care.”

The atheist uses the reality of evil as a primary argument against the existence of God. I wrote about this in my blog post “Does the Existence of Evil Disprove God” based on Psalm 75.

The atheist’s line of reasoning goes something like this:

If God exists, He would care about evil and He would do something about it (presumably, He would eliminate it). Since evil still exists, either God doesn’t care OR He’s unaware of it. Either way, God must not exist.

Verse 7 focuses on the premise that God doesn’t care about evil or He’s unaware of it. The conclusion is that God must not exist.

The second approach to the fact that evil exists and evil doers often go unpunished is to recognize that God will deal with justice in His timing. This is the approach the psalmist takes:

He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you? (verse 10)

Judgment will come again for the righteous. (verse 15)

God will make the sins of evil people fall back upon them. He will destroy them for their sins. The LORD our God will destroy them. (verse 23)

The psalmist is not happy that evil doers seem to go unpunished, but He does not so quickly conclude that God must not exist.

You may be saying to yourself, “this is all well and good, but what does this have to do with refuting Buddhism.”

That’s a good question. This psalm says nothing about Buddhism, which would not even come into existence as a religious ideology for another 500 years after the writer penned this psalm.

So what’s the connection?

In December of 2023, I read a post on X.com from Nancy Pearcey (@NancyRPearcey), who had made a benign post quoting a section from the book “The Rise of Christianity“ by Rodny Stark. The quoted section was highlighting how Christianity introduced a revolutionary new ethic of love that was unique amongst religious ideologies of the time.

A person replied to the post questioning the idea that Christianity came up with anything that new or revolutionary. The poster claimed that Buddhism, and other Eastern philosophies had been preaching universal love for centuries.

This sparked an exchange regarding some of the principles of Buddhism and how it fails as a religion and philosophy to adequately explain reality.

You can trace the whole exchange here  (which I highly encourage), but the exchange connects with Psalm 94 in this way:

Pearcey was explaining that Buddhism, like any religion or philosophy, has to be evaluated on its ability to adequately explain reality.

The point was made that in Buddhism, ultimate reality is not a personal being but an impersonal essence or force. Because WE are personal beings, Buddhism has no way of adequately accounting for where humans came from.

This psalm actually refutes Buddhism in verse 9, which says:

Is the one who made your ears deaf? Is the one who formed your eyes blind?

The principle is that the creator must have the same capabilities as that which is created. How could something that could not hear or see create something with ears to hear and eyes to see?

Since we are personal beings, whoever, or whatever created us must also be personal. Since Buddhism does not teach or believe in a personal creator, it cannot adequately explain our existence. In the Buddhist system, an impersonal force or essence somehow produces humanity – personal beings. This defies logic.

The psalmist has no knowledge of Buddhism, which would not exist for another 500 years. But the psalmist is aware of the skeptics’ argument that denies God. He calls the skeptic a fool (verse 8) and offers up the simple apologetic proof for God’s existence in verse 9.

This one-verse proof demonstrates that God must be personal. And since Buddhism denies a personal creator, Psalm 94:9 actually refutes Buddhism.

Reflection

When thinking about the fact that evil exists and evil doers do not always face timely justice, which of the two approaches are you most likely to take – to deny God’s existence, or realize that justice will eventually come in God’s timing? Explain your choice.

What convinces you most that God exists? 

How do you explain the existence of evil to those who are skeptical about the existence of God?

What is your reaction to Psalm 94:9 and the apologetic argument that because WE are personal beings, God must also be personal because the created thing cannot be greater than that which created it? Is this argument convincing to you? Why or why not?

 

Photo by RKTKN on Unsplash

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How Do You Prepare for God’s Final Exam?

1 John 5

11And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12So whoever has God’s Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life.

13I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13, NLT)

The Daily DAVEotional

When I was in college, on the last day of instruction for every class I ever took, someone would ask the professor what was going to be on the final exam.

It makes sense. Everyone wants to know what is going to be tested so they can adequately prepare for the test. Can you imagine not having any idea how the instructor was going to evaluate your knowledge and progress?

Nobody studies for a test by just guessing what will be covered on the exam and how they will be evaluated. It’s actually quite foolish.

And yet, this is exactly how many people approach life.

According to Pew Research in December 2023, over 70% of Americans believe in an afterlife, while over 60% of Americans believe in hell.

(https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/12/07/spirituality-among-americans/)

How exactly though does one determine whether they will go to heaven or hell?

In my many years of ministry, I have engaged with thousands of people regarding issues of spirituality and the afterlife. When asking people the question of whether they think they will go to heaven when they die, I found that most people think they will make it. But when asked the follow-up question of how God decides who makes it into heaven and who doesn’t, most people aren’t quite sure.

It’s interesting to me that most people aren’t sure how God decides who makes it into heaven, but they’re fairly certain that they will make it to heaven.

This is because people overwhelmingly believe that getting into heaven is a matter of being a good person and most people think of themselves as good.

But is this how God evaluates a person’s eternal destination – their goodness? And if so, what is the threshold of “good” that is needed? What kind of goodness score must one get in order to pass the test and make it into heaven? How would a person even evaluate their own level of goodness?

You would never study for a final without knowing what is going to be on the test and how your grade is going to be tabulated, but concerning one’s eternal destiny, which is a far more important outcome than your grade in a class, many people simply guess and make assumptions about how God evaluates them.

Fortunately for us, we don’t have to guess how God evaluates eligibility to enter heaven. He doesn’t make us wonder what His standards are. Here in 1 John 5, He tells us quite explicitly how He decides. In fact, we’re told that we can KNOW for certain whether we have eternal life or not.

What is the standard? It’s not what most people think. It’s not goodness, which is really just a subjective spectrum that most people have erected in such a way that no matter what bad things they have done, they think of themselves as good.

According to this passage, eternal life is based on the Son, Jesus. Those who have Jesus have eternal life. Those who do NOT have Jesus don’t have eternal life.

This standard is actually a lot easier to evaluate than some subjective idea of goodness. You either have the Son or you don’t. If you have the Son, John tells us that you can KNOW that you have eternal life. You can be 100% certain.

But if you don’t have the Son, you can be 100% certain that you don’t have eternal life.

The question for us then is how do we get the Son? Stay tuned.

Reflection

Do you believe there is an afterlife? What does the afterlife look like? What is the source of your information about the afterlife?

How do you define goodness? What makes a person “good”? How do you think God defines goodness? How good do you think a person needs to be to make it into heaven and live with God for eternity?

If you were to die tonight, how sure are you (on a scale of 0-100%) that you would make it into heaven and live with God for eternity? How would you rate your chances?

This passage says that eternal life is based on the Son, Jesus. How do you think a person can “have” the Son? What do you think is involved in getting the Son and having eternal life?

 

Photo by RDNE Stock project: https://www.pexels.com/photo/teacher-proctoring-his-students-during-an-examination-7092593/

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It’s Good Friday….what’s so good about it?

Christians around the world are celebrating Good Friday. But what’s so good about Good Friday?

I’ve written about this before, and you can read about it in my post “What Makes Good Friday “Good”?”

The truth is that while Easter Sunday is one of the most celebrated holidays in the Christian faith, what happened on Good Friday cannot be overstated. Understanding the significance of what Christ accomplished via His death on the cross might be the most important theological concept for Christians to understand.

Essentially, Jesus’s death pays for our sins (see my post mentioned above), the veil in the temple is torn (see my post “The Significance of the Torn Veil”) and access to God is finally granted (see my post “Access Granted!”)

Good Friday is a solemn day to reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. It’s important to recognize the brutal suffering Jesus endured as He was beaten, tortured and ultimately crucified, all on our behalf. What Jesus endured was on our behalf. It should be me on that cross, not Jesus.

Scripture is clear that the effects of Jesus’ death were immediate. Hence, we don’t have to wait until Sunday to celebrate what Jesus secured for all believers on Friday – namely, that sin has been fully atoned, we are completely forgiven and we have free, unobstructed and direct access to God Himself!

Reflection

Why do you think Good Friday is referred to as “Good Friday”?

What do you think Jesus accomplished via His death on the cross?

How do you typically observe Good Friday? What traditions do you practice that you’ve found to be helpful for reflecting on the importance of this day?

If you read the 3 different articles linked in this post, what did you find most helpful or challenging to your understanding?

 

Photo by Wim van ‘t Einde on Unsplash