October 4, 2024

Romans 1.12 (NIV)

. . . that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.

Nothing surpasses the joy of a spiritual friendship . . . little compares with spiritual friends.*

I facilitate a weekly small group Bible study for women. There is something about the dynamics of the group that allows women to feel safe and comfortable – so much so, that many have “spilled their guts” the very first time they joined us. At first, while I was thrilled that we were able to provide such a ministry to hurting women, I held myself aloof because I didn’t feel any need to unload – I preferred to take my burdens to the Lord. Many years before, I had gone through a period of testing in which the Lord taught me that he was all I needed. For whatever reason, he withheld the blessing of friendships from me until in my heart I no longer needed them.

But God is never finished with us! After teaching me that I didn’t “need” other people, God began to reveal to me that others needed for me to need them! Even though some women were willing to share their personal concerns with the group, there were others who weren’t so comfortable until after I became transparent with them. When they saw that their leader wasn’t afraid to share her concerns, they began to feel safe in opening up as well. And now we are mutually encouraged by each other’s faith!

If God is sending hurting people to you, maybe it’s because you have been where they are – and they need to know how God led you through your struggles. Let your experience be your testimony.

When we combine the counsel of trusted friends with our own reading of Scripture and connection to a church community, we are refusing insular thinking, accepting correction, and opening ourselves to growth.*

October 3, 2024

Acts 20.38 (NIV)

What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again.  Then they accompanied him to the ship.

Christianity is not a religion of stoical apathy, but of sanctified human affections.*

In order to inspire friendship of the depth depicted here, Paul had to have given much of himself to the people he ministered to. How emotionally draining this must have been as he traveled and allowed himself to care about the people. Surely it would have been easier for Paul to build an emotional wall to protect himself from the pain of caring too much. He could have continued to preach and to minister without so much risk to his own feelings. But Paul was just following the example set by our Lord. In Matthew 14.14, we are told that Jesus saw the crowd and “he had compassion on them.” Matthew, as one author writes, “is not saying that Jesus felt casual pity for them. No, the term is far more graphic. . . . Jesus felt their hurt in his gut.”*

If we are going to try to be like Jesus, then we must be less concerned with protecting ourselves from the pain that comes with caring about other people. We can go through the motions of the Christian life and even be effective, but until we love like Jesus loved, we will never have the abundant life he offers.

The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers . . . of love is Hell.*

October 2, 2024

Acts 18.6 (NIV)

But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

Until told otherwise, I will serve courageously in the place I am.*

No more Mr. Nice Guy! Paul had devoted himself to “testifying to the Jews” (Acts 18.5) but he’s over it.  In kingdom work, as in poker, you have to “know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em; know when to walk away and know when to run.”*

Paul doesn’t just walk away. He demonstrates his attitude by shaking out his clothes in protest. Some gestures are self-explanatory and almost universally understood. We don’t know where they originated but they are eloquent. In the case of this particular gesture, three of the four gospel writers quote Jesus as saying that if you aren’t welcome, shake the dust off your feet and move on. Paul obviously knew Jesus’ words – nor was this the first time he had ever had to resort to this behavior.  (See Acts 13.51.)

Along with this dramatic object lesson, Paul tells them, “Your blood be on your own heads.” This is not a curse but a statement of fact: their fate was in their own hands. (In fact, Paul was probably quoting from Ezekiel 33.4.) Paul didn’t stop caring but their rejection of the gospel was deliberate and he had done all that he could for these people. His ministry was Spirit-led, not emotion-driven.

How much time has been wasted on lost causes? As Christians, we hate to admit that someone is hopeless. And maybe we shouldn’t. But what we ought to consider is that we can’t be all things to all people. When you hit a wall in your witness to a person, perhaps you should move on and let someone else move in. Ask yourself, “Have I done all that I can?” If you have done all that you can do, you are done! Shake the dust off your feet and let God send in the next shift!

We spend so much time considering what we can do, we rarely stop to consider what God can do.*

October 1, 2024

Acts 17.25 (NIV)

“He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.”

Other nations were haunted by the unpredictability of their gods. Who could tell what would anger or please them? But because of the covenant, Israelites knew exactly what God required and where they stood before him. They had a basis for trust and security as a nation.*

Like children leaving cookies and milk for Santa Claus, idol-worshippers brought food offerings to their gods. In Isaiah chapter 44 is a humorous look at the absurdity of idolatry. In short, a man plants a tree, watches it grow, cuts it down, burns half of it for his cooking and warmth, and makes an idol out of the other half. “No one stops to think,” Isaiah says (I can just picturing him shaking his head). “Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

Paul could be thinking about Isaiah’s words as he continues in this speech to the educated Athenians, “He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else . . . God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him.”

Some religions today contain a component of providing for their god’s needs, rather than the other way around. But what could our God need from us? He doesn’t need us to carve him out of wood and cover him with gold. He doesn’t need us to move him from place to place or repair him when he breaks. Our God provides all our needs and all he wants from us is for us to reach out and find him!

He is the Lord of Creation, and not its servant.*

September 30, 2024

Acts 16.6–10 (NIV) 

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region . . . having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. . . . they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they . . . went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia . . . begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” . . . we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach . . . to them.

God is in charge of leadership, the destination, and the way church growth occurs.*

The people in the province of Asia, and in Bithynia and Troas, needed to hear the gospel as much as the people of Macedonia. There was no earthly reason for Paul and his team not to go to any of those places. But the doors to these mission fields were closed to them. Their “Macedonian Call” meant that they would trade one fertile field for another.

Modern missionaries sometimes have similar experiences. They have committed themselves to serving the Lord in a particular field, they walk through the doors that are open to them – and find themselves in a closet – a dead end. Perhaps God is only testing their commitment. Perhaps circumstances have changed during their preparation and God needs them elsewhere. Whatever the reason, God’s servants go where his Spirit leads them.

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

September 29, 2024

Acts 7.55 (NIV)

But Stephen . . . looked up to heaven and saw . . . Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face.*

Stephen was a disciple who, full of God’s grace and power, was performing wonders and signs. He stirred up opposition from among the Jews who “could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke” (Acts 6.10), until they persuaded some men to accuse him of blasphemy. He was brought before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish court), where according to the onlookers, Stephen sat there with his face “like the face of an angel” (6.15), while false witnesses were produced to testify against him. When the high priest asked Stephen if the charges were true, Stephen let loose with a history lesson, beginning with Abraham and ending with Solomon; then he tore into them for resisting the Holy Spirit and betraying and murdering the “Righteous One.”

The crowd, already in a nasty mood, became enraged to the point of madness. Luke says they “gnashed their teeth at him.”(7.54) They probably snarled and frothed at the mouth, too! As one writer wryly remarks, “The only calm person evidently was Stephen.”* When Stephen looked up to heaven and announced what he saw, his accusers went berserk! They drug him out of the court and out of the city to be stoned.

So what did Stephen see? Some think he saw a vision, but the Bible says that, while he saw the glory of God, he saw Jesus - not a vision of Jesus.  AND, he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. So, I wonder: Why was Jesus standing when he is usually depicted as sitting at his Father’s right hand? Could it be that he was standing to cheer Stephen on and to welcome him home? Jesus, who had been there/done that, surely empathized with the first person to be martyred for his Christian faith. He knew what it was like to be falsely accused and condemned to die. And he knows it will be worth it all! 

What a moving image! Will Jesus be standing by the throne in anticipation of my arrival?

I can only imagine what my eyes will see when your face is before me!*

September 28, 2024

Acts 4.29 (NIV)

“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.”

“Hurray . . . for adversity.”*

If you had just been in front of a judge (for the second time) and were ordered to stop what you were doing; and if you knew that as soon as you left the court, the officials would be plotting against you, what would you pray for? Honestly? I would pray for the Lord’s protection. I would (nobly) ask that the Lord touch the hearts of my enemies but I would be looking for deliverance.

 

Peter and John and their merry band were remarkable. They asked for more boldness, more power, and (essentially) more trouble!* It’s not as if they hadn’t already spoken boldly – that’s why they were in trouble in the first place. 

In Mark chapter 13, Jesus predicted their persecution and promised that the Holy Spirit would speak through them. He did not offer them deliverance from the trials ahead and they were fully aware that their persecution could end if their preaching ended.

I wouldn’t say that it is wrong to pray for deliverance from persecution. But how many times have you prayed to speak with boldness – even though you have never faced persecution? Could you ask for boldness even in the face of mere inconvenience?

American Christians often let our cultural environment dictate how openly we will publicly share our faith.*