Bible

The Word of God

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“God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.” (Hebrews 4:12)

I mentioned earlier that I’m really good at collecting Bibles and carrying them around. I like to talk about the Bible and read books about the Bible, but I don’t really read the Bible as much as I should.

Only the Bible is transformative. The commentaries, as insightful as they are to me, are not living and active. The books on doctrines and theology are not inspired and God-breathed the way his Word is.

Sometimes, that Word cuts deep. It’s described as a two-edged sword. I heard a pastor say that means that it cuts both going in and coming out. If you want a safe, nice book that leaves you the way you were when you picked it up, I certainly do not recommend the Bible. Not if you’re serious about really digging into what it says.

It’s no good to read the Bible if you’re not willing to do what it says. I am as guilty as anyone for reading the Bible for information and not for transformation. If I don’t do what it says, then reading it does me no good. As that same pastor has said many times, “If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it.”

So that’s what I want. To not only read the Bible, but to live it out. A friend of mine once said that you’re the only Bible some people will ever read, and they may only read you for 5 seconds. So it’s important to be living out the Word in such a way that others can see.

Just a thought.

 

A Plethora of Bible Translations

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I collect Bibles. I probably have too many already, but I can’t stop.

I’m trying to get as many different translations as possible. I have everything from the old King James Version to the very contemporary Message translation.

Recently, I picked up a New American Bible, which is a Catholic Bible which the extra apocrypha books added. It’s almost like a Director’s Cut of the Bible.

I’m looking for a full American Standard Version Bible with both Old and New Testaments. For some reason, it never caught on when it came out in 1900 and it’s next to impossible to find one. But not impossible. And yes, I am up to the challenge.

I personally think it’s good to read from more than one translation because none of them are perfect. Plus, you get a better idea of what the original authors were trying to get across.

I’d go with the New American Standard for word-for-word accuracy, the New Living Translation for readability, and the Message for its unique rendering of Scripture.

But as I heard somebody say, as long as it starts with Genesis and ends with Revelation, you can’t go wrong. The point is not to waste time looking for a perfect translation that doesn’t exist. The point is to find a Bible that fits you and then read it.

I’d be lying if I told you I read my Bible every day for hours and hours. I carry around my Bible and talk about it and read books about it way more than I actually read it. It’s fine to read commentaries and books about the Bible, but the Bible is the only book that is living and active and God-breathed.

So I will make a deal with you. I will read my Bible more and I challenge you to do the same. It doesn’t have to be for five hours straight the first time, but if it’s for five minutes here and five minutes there, that’s a start.

And as I heard a pastor say, all God needs is place to start.

 

 

The Trouble With Tribulations

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Before I start, let me throw out this disclaimer. I am not an expert on eschatology and I don’t by any means have Revelations figured out. I think when it comes to millennial and tribulation views, there are wise and godly people on all sides of the spectrum. I’m just offering my own thoughts on the topic, based on the sermon I heard today.

The pastor says that when he comes to a problem, he wishes God would pick him up and toss him over to the other side where he can breathe a huge sigh of relief that that problem is over. God isn’t like that. He walks you to the very problem and proceeds to walk with you through it so it never has dominion over you ever again.

I think when it comes to God’s people and tribulations, the pattern is that God doesn’t protect his people from them, but rather through them. Revelation 14:7 talks about the multitude clothed in white robes who have come OUT of the tribulation. You can’t come out unless you first go in. So many blessings are given to those who endure, not those who escape.

Again, I’m not trying to be dogmatic. There’s a whole lot about Revelation that makes my head hurt and makes me want to lie down for a while. But I do know that the main point isn’t when we get raptured or how the timeline works, but that in the end Jesus does come back and set everything right. The happily ever after ending isn’t just at the end of fairy tales and children’s stories. It’s at the end of the Book of Revelation, too.

I like the old joke that goes like this: I’m a pan-millennialist because I firmly believe that everything is going to pan out in the end. And I have Bible verses to back that up.

 

Do You Want It?

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I have a question for you that I heard tonight, but first let me give you a little bit of background before I dive in to the deep end.

Job was a man of integrity. God called him “a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.” Integrity is when your actions match your words. It’s what you do for someone who can’t really benefit you in return. It’s what you do when you’re alone or when you think no one is watching.

God allowed Satan to test Job by letting him take away Job’s possessions, house, family, and –finally– his heath. Job was able to say, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Even when his own wife told him to curse God and die, Job responded that he should accept not just the good from God’s hand, but also adversity.  He had integrity.

My favorite is one I heard describing integrity as derived from the word integer. As in a whole number, opposed to a fraction. In other words, your life isn’t divided into how you act in this scenario with this group of people versus another scenario with a different group of people. You are whole. A good definition is “ The quality or condition of being whole or undivided; completeness (from thefreedictionary.com).

The question I have is this: how much do you want God to say about you that you are a man or woman of integrity? How much do you want to be known for that? How much do you really want to put pleasing God above pleasing people?

OK, I cheated a bit. That’s actually three questions. Or you could consider it The Question Trilogy, since trilogies are all the rage in movies these days.

Do you want it enough to be thought of as ridiculous and foolish by your peers, friends, family, and co-workers? Do you want it enough to separate from the majority who are willing to compromise when its convenient and fudge the facts to make themselves look a little better? Are you willing to be honest even when it hurts?

Honestly, right now. I can’t say that I want that. I want to want that. Most of the time, I want to be liked way more than I want to be upright. I want to be admired way more than I want to be a man of integrity.

As a pastor once said, all God is looking for is a place to start, however small that is. If you start with a hesitant agreement with God to be that man of integrity, God will honor that and grow that desire in you until it becomes your passion.

You just have to start.

I Am Rahab

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I am Rahab. I am what is known as a prostitute. A hooker. To put it bluntly, a whore. I make my living on my back. It’s a profession as old as time, but also a way of living that fills me with shame.

Then I meet two strange men. Something in me compels me to let them in. Right away, I can tell they’re not looking for a companion for the night. They don’t look and sound like people from the town I live in.

I ask them where they’re from and what they’re doing here and they start talking about being a people chosen by this god they call Yahweh. It’s so unlike all the other stories about gods that I’ve ever heard that I am instantly hooked. Right away, I know that if trouble comes, I want to be on their side.

The more they talk, the more I think that maybe this God who turned a bunch of ragtags into a nation can somehow turn my life around. Maybe this God of Israel is God. Period.

So I agree to their plans and hide them. I even lie to the soldiers about them. Surely this God will forgive me if He knows I’m doing it to save His people. I’ve agreed to help them and to let them out by a secret way from my window on the outer part of the city wall by a scarlet rope.

I know why they’re here. They’re here because Jericho is a wicked city and God has told His people to destroy it. I know that they will bring death. So I plead for my life. I plead for the life of my family.

They tell me that if I hang a scarlet cord from my window, the same one I used to save them, they will spare me and all my family who are inside. Me and my family will be spared.

I’m telling you this because I am a part of a famous genealogy. You may not know this, but from my line will come David, King of Israel, and later (and best of all) the Messiah Jesus. Because of my small acts of courage, I get to be a part of bringing the Savior of the world to the world.

If you look in the book of Hebrews, you will find my name. Specifically in the 11th chapter, better known as the Faith Hall of Fame. I’m living proof that God can save the lowest of the low. Not even a common whore is beneath the reach of God’s love.

If God could save me, He can save anyone. And that includes you.

I am Rahab, and I am the beloved of my Abba.

Baggage Part III: Trials Turned to Gold

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I’ll admit that I am addicted to comfort too much of the time. I don’t want to step outside my comfort zone too often.

But I keep thinking about the believers in Thessalonica. They only had Paul and Silas for a few short weeks. They were new converts, yet they still managed to turn their world upside down.

The big takeaway for me was how they endured persecution and ridcule, but how that endurance and trial turned into perserverance. That perserverance turned into character, which led to a hope that nothing and no one and nothing could quench.

What you’re going through will end, but your story won’t. Who better to talk to someone struggling with alcoholism than a recovering alcoholic? Who better to help someone cope with the loss of a child than someone who has walked the same road and cried the same tears? Who better to help someone deal with doubt and discouragement than you after you’ve been through a dark night of the soul when you felt hopeless and alone, but finally saw daylight at the end of your trial?

I love the quote from a movie I saw that said that only those who have lost can truly lead. Only those who have been hurt can help bring healing. Only those who know how they have messed up their lives and what Jesus save them from can truly love well and lead well.

It’s all about loving well. It’s not how religious you can talk or how well you keep the rules. It’s not about how convincingly you can point a finger at people and expose their faults. It’s about how you can be a vessel of God’s love and love people right where they are for who they are.

I’m not really good at loving well, but I’m getting better. Those rare moments when I did love well were moments when I forgot about me and let Jesus take over.

My prayer is that you learn to embrace your story, even the painful parts, and help others to find the good in their stories, too.

Above all, may we all learn to love well.

Why Fairy Tales Last

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I saw Snow White and the Huntsman, based on the fairy tale, tonight in the theatre. I think for me there’s still something about a fairy tale well told that still tugs at my heart strings.

It’s more than just a damsel in distress. Or at least I think so.

We’ve all at some point pricked our fingers on a spindle or taken a bite of that apple. Suddenly, we find ourselves dead inside and out.

You and I need to be rescued. We need Someone strong and brave enough to fight for us. Someone who’s not afraid to die for us.

That’s the Gospel in a nutshell.

I love the story where Tolkien finally wins C.S. Lewis over when he tells him that the Gospel is a myth, but at the same time, a true myth.

I read a book recently that spoke of the Gospel as a tragedy, a comedy, and a fairy tale. The last third of the book made my heart come alive inside my chest. The idea of the Gospel being a fairy tale come true is something most of us have never thought or dreamed of, but that’s what it is.

We get the Rescuer. We get to be Princes and Princesses, royal children of the King of the Universe. And we get the happily ever after (read the last chapter of Revelations if you need proof).

That’s why fairy tales will never, ever go out of style.

A Letter to Kim Kardashian

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image

Kim,

I don’t know if you will read this or not. Realistically speaking, I’m pretty sure you won’t, since you probably don’t have time to read blogs by people you don’t know who aren’t famous. But if by some extremely remote chance, you happen to stumble on this quaint little blog, I hope you know I’m rooting for you.

I know a lot of people will look at your decision to start a Bible study and question your motives. They will say you just want to hook up with Tim Tebow or give some other reason why you can’t legitimately want to read God’s Word for its own sake.

I am not one of those.

I hope you read the Bible and find all that God has for you in there. I hope you find God’s love letter to His people, including you, and how much He loved His people and what great lengths He undertook to win back His people lost to sin and death.

I hope you will find that true beauty is in what God says about you, not what some magazine or television producer says about you. God says, “I made you and that makes you beautiful, because I made you in My image.”

I hope you will know that Jesus loves you just for you, not because of what you do or what you wear or who you know. I hope you can find joy in the fact that Jesus looked at you in your worst moments and thought you were still to die for.

I hope you fall in love with God’s Word and want it more than anything else. I hope you are transformed by what you read and that every time you read the Bible, you put it down a different person than when you picked it up. More than that, I pray you will take what you read and live it out in compassion for the needy and love for those whom God loves.

I hope you understand that no matter what you’ve done in the past, God has a purpose for you. He can work in and through you to do some pretty amazing things that will blow you away.

Like I said before, I’m rooting for you and hoping you find the peace you’re looking for.

Signed,

A Ragamuffin who is just trying to tell others about the grace of God that he’s found

PS It’s still not too late, no matter how messed up your life seems right now. Jesus can still turn your mess into something beautiful.

More Thoughts on Fighting From Victory (And not For It)

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chariots of fire

I normally don’t do follow-up blogs to ones I have posted. Kinda like the line about not repeating this ever again or something like that. Did I mention my brain is a little fuzzy this evening?

Someone posted a comment on my blog that got my attention. I failed to mention or say correctly that we should pray for strength. Absolutely. We should pray that God will strengthen us with power through His Holy Spirit.

It seems to me that sometimes we should claim the power that is already in us. The Bible states that the power that raised Christ from the dead is in us. It is in us because the risen Christ is in us.

The power that my sin couldn’t overcome. The power that death could not conquer. The power that the grave couldn’t hold down. That kind of power.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t pray to be strong, but rather that God would be strong through me. I want to be a vessel that God pours through, that God loves through, that God comes through.

Sometimes I know how I want to say something in my head and for whatever reason, it doesn’t quite come out in print. On a side note, I have become quite familiar with the taste of shoe leather for as many times as I have put my foot in my mouth and said really dumb things. That really makes me feel like a heel.

Pray for strength. Yes. Claim the power of the risen Christ in you. Yes. The point is that you don’t have to live defeated and downtrodden. You can live in victory because the Victor lives in you.

That’s what I am praying and claiming for myself and for all of you tonight. May God’s peace rule your hearts tonight, friends!

Thoughts on Fighting From Victory (And not For It)

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chariots of fire

Today, God reminded me of something I knew but had forgotten. Lately, I’ve been praying for peace and stronger faith and for strength to overcome temptation and negative thinking.

I think what God was reminding me was that I already have these things in Christ. In Christ, I have everything I need for life and godliness, as it says in 1 Timothy. So maybe instead of praying for peace, I will claim the peace that passes all understanding.

Instead of praying for stronger faith, I will claim the promise that when I am weak, Christ is strong and that His strength works best in my weakness.

Instead of praying for the power to overcome temptation to anxiety and negative thinking, I will claim the verse that I can take every thought captive and take it to Jesus and leave it there. I’m not saying that I can claim a Bentley in faith and I will receive it. I am saying that God says to those who lack wisdom, to ask.

God says to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, and keep wrestling with God until He blesses you. The victory is won. The enemy is a defeated foe. Never forget that. Death no longer has the final word and the grave is only a temporary resting place. Jesus holds the keys to death and the grave and hell.

Live out of the victory that’s already yours and fight from it and not for it. Believe in faith the promises of God not only for yourself, but for those around you.

Pray strong for someone when that person can’t pray for themselves.

Above all, if we are the winning side, we should be the most joyous, grateful people on the planet. Our thankful hearts will be what gets the attention of the world around us who is still looking for meaning and hope.

They are waiting to see someone whose testimony is not just talked out, but walked out, too.