April 20, 2025

I Kings 1: 6 His father had never interfered with him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome . . . (NIV)

A wise parent uses every opportunity to teach children about God.*

Many good parents despair over where they went wrong when their children grow into adults who abandon the family’s values. And then there are children who turn out well even though they had bad parents. It’s a puzzling phenomenon, but you can be pretty sure what kind of adult a child will become if his parents never “interfere with him” about his behavior. The father in this passage: King David. The son: Adonijah, spoiled, good-looking rich kid run amok.

We could point fingers at David for his poor parenting skills. On the plus side, he surely provided for his son’s physical needs, and perhaps showed him what it was like to be a man after God’s heart. But clearly he neglected to provide the discipline and attention the young man needed. We might argue that the mother’s influence was a factor in Adonijah’s wild ways since his brother Solomon, who had a different mother, didn’t turn out so badly.

This verse has been in my “on deck” file for a very long time. I have scrolled past it a hundred times, intrigued but not inspired. Until now. That tells me that one of my readers needs to see this today. To you, I say: Do the best you can. Love your child. Interfere with him constantly. Pray without ceasing. Be a good role model. Don’t wonder where you went wrong - but never give up on your rebellious child, just as God never gives up on you.

When my children were wrong, I needed to correct them . . . when my children were lost, I didn’t correct them, I searched for them.*

April 19, 2025

Judges 2: 16, 19 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. . . . But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers. (NIV) 

Broken people mark every page of history, even Christian history.*

The book of Judges tells stories of heroes and anti-heroes. It is the history of a nation’s cycle of glory and shame as they fell from the heights of God-given victory over their enemies to the depths of depravity as they turned to idolatry. And back again for more of the same after the passing of the last old granny who still remembered what the Lord had done for them. 

As verse 16 says, the Lord raised up judges to save them when they hit rock bottom and called out to him for deliverance. With God’s help, these men (and one woman) performed some superheroic deeds – but sadly, very few of them ended well. Does that diminish the magnitude of their accomplishments? 

· Many years ago, a man – who was an elder, a Bible-school teacher, and church treasurer – asked God to help him find the right person for a job opening he needed to fill. Turns out I was that person, and my life was forever changed. Not long after, that man turned away from God. 

· When my boys reached middle school age, it became increasingly challenging to make them go to church. It was boring, they said. Until they made a new friend who changed their attitude. About the friend’s Christianity, they said, “He’s the real thing.” Today, my boys have grown into godly men but their friend turned away from Christianity. 

Of these two “heroes,” one has since passed away. I heard recently that the other one may have returned to church. In either case, their fall from faith doesn’t cancel out the good that they did in the days when the Lord “raised them up.” 

Before we get too judgmental about the Judges and the people they judged, let’s remind ourselves that God always uses imperfect instruments to accomplish his purposes – because that’s all he’s got to work with. Let’s pray that we remain faithful so that it can be said of us that we ended well. To the glory of God!

At the end of your life, your sin can be your exception.*

April 18, 2025

Titus 2: 9, 10 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. (NIV)

God doesn’t call us to “good enough.” He calls us to “best.”*

Paul was not a political activist. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ. No matter his personal views about the Roman government, his job was to change the world one person at a time, from the inside out. Here he addresses Christian slaves about how they could be a witness to their owners. Did he approve of slavery? We might wonder if he had an opinion about it at all – it was so ingrained in the culture of his day, and if he wrote anything for or against the institution, it never made it to his epistles. So, distracting social issues aside, what was Paul’s intended message to Titus in this passage?

In his letter to Titus, Paul offered helpful instructions in dealing with the diverse fellowship of believers on the island of Crete. The natives were from five distinct ethnic groups, while other residents included sailors, pirates, and a large Jewish community. Titus had to be quite the diplomat to accomplish his original mission, which was to straighten out unfinished business and appoint elders in every town (1: 5). Paul addressed several specific concerns, including the qualifications of elders; dealing with rebellious people; and relationships between generations and genders.

As for those slaves who had been converted to Christianity: they may have lacked freedom but they were not exempt from responsibility. Respect, integrity, honesty, trustworthiness – characteristics of a Christian which might not have been found in your average slave. Christians, however, are called to be above average, regardless of our station in life.

Paul’s advice regarding slaves is relevant to any of us who answer to someone else. No matter who you are or how lowly your position, you can be a witness. Jesus warned that we would not always be well-received, but it is still our job to make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. We do that with our lives as much as with our lips.

Our holy living is not just to please God but to attract others to him.*

April 17, 2025

I Timothy 6: 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (NIV)

Money talks. But it don’t sing and dance And it don’t walk.*

First of all, money is not the root of all evil – it is a root of all kinds of evil. Evil comes in many forms and has lots of different roots. Second of all, rich people aren’t the only ones who love money. A poor person’s love of money could be rooted in the evil of greed, resentment, or self-righteousness. Rich and poor alike have been known to wander from the faith in pursuit of money. 

How do we develop a healthy attitude towards money? Following Jesus’ example would be a good place to start. 

• Jesus didn’t have any money, but he knew he had endless resources. 
• Jesus didn’t condemn the rich, only those who oppressed the poor. 
• Jesus taught us to be charitable to the poor – which can only be done if we aren’t all poor! 
• Jesus said it would be hard for a rich man to get into heaven – but not impossible. 
• Jesus recommended storing up treasures in heaven rather than on earth. 

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be." Just because a person possesses great wealth doesn't necessarily mean that his treasure is what he has in the bank. Someone observed, “What really gives value to a treasure is the affection of the heart.”* As Paul told Timothy, those who have wandered from the faith in pursuit of money have pierced themselves with many griefs. Do not let money, the love of money, or the lack of money, come between you and the Lord.

Money will not last, but how we use it will matter for eternity.*

April 16, 2025

Ephesians 4: 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (NIV)

The church is the best expression of what God’s ultimate kingdom looks like.*

My body is not perfect. One leg is shorter than the other. My ears stick out. I have to wear glasses and I have had extensive dental work. And either I weigh too much or I’m too short. But for the most part, my body performs well as a unit. The church is a similar organism – imperfect yet functioning. 

The human body can limp along without some parts but many of our organs are crucial to sustaining life. The church has only one perfect and indispensable part: the Head, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4: 15). As for the rest of us body parts: 

• We must stay attached to the Head. 
• We are all part of the supporting cast that joins and holds the body together. 
• As each of us does our part, the body grows and builds itself up in love. 
• If one of us doesn’t do our part, the whole body suffers. 

In a human body, it is obvious when some of the parts aren’t meeting expectations, but there are internal components whose failure to perform might not be so noticeable – at first. These hidden parts are like those who serve in the church with little recognition but who provide essential support to the parts that get all the attention. Without them, the body suffers. No part of the church body should feel inferior to another. For a body to be perfect, every part has to fulfill its function. Continue to do your part - and watch as the body grows and builds itself up in love.

Man’s influence is often greatest where it is least acknowledged.*

April 15, 2025

Galatians 3: 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? (NIV)

God does not save us because of what we’ve done.*

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul addressed the slippery slope that the church was heading down. They were buying into the premise that converts had to become Jews before they could become Christians. So, he asks them, did you receive the Spirit while you were observing the law, or when you believed the gospel?

We know the answer to Paul’s question, and hopefully it was an “aha moment” for the Galatians. We may think we are safe from the dangers posed by the “Judaizers,” as these people were called, because we know better than to think we have to observe the law before we can become a Christian. But we have slippery slopes of our own.

Slippery slope number one: While we acknowledge that we are free from the restrictions of the law, most Christians are burdened by the fear that they will never be good enough. They work as if someone is keeping score and that the more points they have, the better their chances of getting to heaven. Bad news, folks. You aren’t good enough and your score will never be high enough to save yourself.

So slippery slope number two: Works can’t save us; faith alone saves us. This is true . . . but . . . “Hear” and “believe” are verbs. Action words. Our active participation is essential to our salvation. What about repentance? Can we be saved if we don’t repent? Is it not something we must do?

In his letter, James gives us comprehensive insight into the faith/works dilemma. In chapter two, verse 14, he poses two questions of his own: What good is it if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can such faith save him? In verse 17, he says that faith that is not accompanied by action is dead. In verse 18, he proclaims that he will show his faith by what he does. And in verse 26, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

Do we know what James is talking about? “Are you so foolish?” Paul asks in the verse following our text, “After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” We can’t be saved without faith and action, but they don’t actually save us. Jesus does. Only his scorecard has enough points to win in the contest against sin and death. 

His shed blood, death, and resurrection are the reasons I will be welcomed into Heaven one day.*

April 14, 2025

Acts 15: 37-39 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. (NIV)

God can use injustice as well as justice to accomplish his will.*

One of my responsibilities at my job with the elections office was to recruit and train the pollworkers who staffed the voting precincts on election day. Securing enough people for each polling place was challenging enough, but sometimes I had to deal with their personality conflicts as well. Many times when I received complaints about a worker, accompanied by the threat that, “If you schedule her to work with us again, we will all quit,” I would simply move the troublesome person to another precinct to work with a different group – and never hear another complaint about her.

Sometimes God’s purposes get accomplished in similar fashion. In this instance, Paul had a legitimate concern about Mark’s reliability as a traveling companion. Barnabas, on the other hand, was able to overlook the younger man’s past lapse in judgment and give him another chance. So Paul chose Silas and off they went to Syria and Cilicia, “strengthening the churches,” while Barnabas and Mark sailed for Cyprus. It all seems to have been handled as maturely and constructively as any disagreement could be.

Whether the break-up of Paul and Barnabas was God’s original plan or not, God was able to use it for his purpose. Two missionary teams could possibly accomplish twice as much as one. Meanwhile, Barnabas was able to mentor Mark; and apparently, Paul and Silas were good for each other. The results? New churches planted and lost souls saved.

Obeying God’s call requires us to abandon our comfort zone and rethink our plans. While divisions and contention among believers is distressing, God’s plans are bigger than our personality conflicts. I have seen him use a bitter church split, disguised as a church plant, and turn it into a thriving ministry. Was it his purpose all along? Only he knows!

Collections of apparently random events set us on paths we never would have imagined.*