December 21, 2024

I Peter 3.15 (NIV)

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 

Most people are not looking for someone with all the answers. They just want to hear from a fellow pilgrim a couple of steps in front of them on the journey. When all is said and done, evangelism is as simple as that.*

When I took the CPR certification class, it was clear to me that I would never be able to perform under the pressure of an emergency. I worriedly asked the instructor, “What if I do it wrong?” He said, “If you don’t do anything, they’re going to die anyway. Don’t worry about doing it wrong.”

Rather than fearing that we aren’t properly prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have, we should remind ourselves that people are going to hell if we say nothing; so worry less about saying the wrong thing. I say this, not to release you from the responsibility of preparing, but to defuse some of the pressure involved in speaking to the lost about Jesus. Yes, do be prepared to share your testimony. No, don’t worry about saying the wrong thing. Yes, be concerned about how you say what you say.

Peter’s caution about speaking with gentleness and respect is a reminder that you don’t have to be “on the defensive” to defend your faith. Very few of us enjoy being on the losing side of an argument so we get shrill and testy when we feel cornered. Stop thinking about it as a contest. If you think there must be a winner and a loser in your exchange with a lost soul, then you both lose.

Our behavior should be consistent with that of our Savior. No one ever walked away from Jesus feeling brutalized or disrespected.

Jesus was never mean to lost people. He was truthful but not mean.*

December 20, 2024

I Peter 3.3, 4 (NIV)

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment. . . . Instead it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

It’s our differences from the world that makes us attractive, not our similarities. If we look just as grungy as the world, what’s our draw?*

Some people get all caught up in the first part of these verses and get the idea that outward beauty is ungodly. As someone has observed, tongue in cheek, if Peter was prohibiting all “adorning,” he would be prohibiting clothing!* Surely we shouldn’t believe that Peter meant that it is wrong to look good. His goal was to caution us about our priorities, not to discourage us (women and men) from making the most of what we have to work with. And, as Peter points out, we all have more work to do than can be seen from the outside.

For myself, I am somewhat successful in putting on the mind of Christ in my attitudes, character, and behavior, but “the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit” seems unattainable. And yet, perhaps I am still focusing on the outward – not in regards to physical appearance but to personality. No one who knows me well would describe me as a gentle and quiet spirit. Honest and trustworthy, they might call me - but do they know the heart of me that only God knows? “To have a gentle and quiet spirit is to have a heart of faith, a heart that trusts in God, a spirit that has been quieted by his love and filled with his peace. Not a heart that is striving and restless.”*

Why, yes. That is me. 

No amount of finery can be a substitute for gracious Christian Personality.*

December 19, 2024

I Peter 2.12 (NIV)

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God.

A Christian should do good works, not to be seen of men but because we are seen of men.*

When my sister was a toddler, she got mad at me once and, having a limited vocabulary, she announced that I was “decent.” She did not mean it as a compliment.

 

In this world, I would like for people to speak well of me – but, if they can’t speak well of me, to at least speak the truth. I think this is what Peter is telling us. Your life can be a testimony even when it is being criticized and belittled. I read somewhere that early Christians were accused of being atheists because they didn’t believe in gods. By denouncing them for not believing in multiple gods, their accusers were testifying to the Christians’ belief in the one true God.

But Peter’s admonition is about more than how we look to the pagans and what they have to say about us. “See your good deeds” could also be translated “gain insight by your good deeds.”* We aren’t saved by our good deeds but we could lead someone else to salvation by them. The world is watching to see if we are authentic; to see if our walk matches our talk.

What insight might an unbeliever gain from observing your good deeds?                                                              

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

December 18, 2024

James 5.16 (NIV)

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

Whenever we pray together, God’s power manifests.*

That awkward moment at prayer request time when someone shares TMI . . . We’ve all “been there” but hopefully not “done that.” And, perhaps, you have witnessed the opposite extreme: you know someone is struggling with something in his life but he doesn’t speak up when given the opportunity.

When we hear the word “confess,” our first thought is probably of the step in the plan of salvation which requires that we confess to God that we are sinners. Maybe we even think of the practice of confessing to a priest. James is not referring to these or the kind of confession that brings forgiveness; nor is he calling for “indiscriminate airing of . . . every shortcoming.”* James urges us to participate in confession that heals.

“Confessing to one another” doesn’t sound like a group activity so much as a one-on-one experience, but a group can be an appropriate setting. Ask God for discernment in choosing the right person or the right group with whom to share your confession. The adult Bible fellowship class I attend on Sunday mornings is a great setting for learning the Bible but not so much for sharing personal concerns. It is a large group – from 12 to 25 people each week – and consists of men and women of various ages and levels of spiritual maturity and most of whom I don’t know well enough to be certain of their ability to keep a confidence. Plus, we have a schedule to consider.

 

On the other hand, the small group I facilitate is all women, with six to ten in attendance each week, and we have pledged that what is shared in the group stays in the group. In addition, we meet in a home and there is never any pressure to cut anyone off due to a shortage of time. It is a safe place for a woman to confess her sins and concerns and to have her sisters come together in prayer for her.

Do not let your search for the right setting discourage you. We are commanded in the Bible to confess our sins to one another and so we must! We are also commanded to pray for one another – and how can we pray for you if we don’t know that you have a need?

Assuming a burden of prayer for others lightens one’s own load.*

December 17, 2024

James 4.7, 8 (NIV)

Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.

When a soul sets out to seek God, God sets out to meet that soul.*

Notice the action words in this passage: submit, resist, come. The tense of these verbs in Greek indicates that they are things to be done and over with. You should submit and stay that way. Resist and never give in. Come and never go away.

Satan has an action word, too: flee. We underestimate Satan’s power and overestimate our ability to resist him. We’ve seen too many movies that have led us to believe that the powers of darkness are only special effects. But, if we submit and resist, Satan doesn’t just back-off - he runs away. Picture that! “Strong as . . . [Satan] is, God never permits him to conquer the man who continues to resist him.”*

And then there’s God’s action word: come. If we submit, resist, and come, God will come near to us. Do you realize how powerful our actions are if they can summon God to us, and send Satan on the run? 

We fight when we should run, we run when we should stand, we debate when we should look away, and we wonder why we suffer defeat.*

December 16, 2024

James 4.2, 3 (NIV)

You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

God will never bless a man in his sins.*

Some of James’ readers wanted things they couldn’t get (and shouldn’t have), even though they quarreled, fought, coveted, and killed for it. He doesn’t tell these people that they “have not because they ask not,” in an attempt to encourage them to pray. His message is, “If you are willing to do all that in an attempt to get what you want, are you really going to ask God for it?” And what if they did ask God for what they wanted? James says that whether they don’t pray at all, or whether they pray with wrong motives, they will not receive what they want from God. He is not a genie in a lamp to grant our wishes and fulfill our shallow dreams.

Are we as bad as they were? We don’t kill for what we want, but we do want what we want, don’t we?  Don’t we beg God to grant our wishes? Have you ever prayed for something you shouldn’t have – for bad things to happen to someone; to pass a test you didn’t study for; for things you don’t need but want really, really bad? Have you ever manipulated and schemed to make something happen?

Getting stuff from God is not why he invented prayer. Don’t misunderstand me - God wants to hear from us and he wants us to tell him what is on our hearts. But can you not see the difference between seeking God’s will and telling him what to do?* Can you see the irony in abusing or neglecting prayer when we “serve a God who generously gives all good and perfect gifts”?*

Selflessness remains a key to prayer power.*

December 15, 2024

James 2.13 (NIV)

Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.

Mercy stands higher than the law as the guiding principle of God's relationship with men.*

I find it challenging to show mercy to those whose problems are brought on by their own bad choices. My occasional opportunity to distribute groceries from our church’s food pantry has tempered my judgmental attitude somewhat. Meeting the people face-to-face has opened my eyes to this truth: Poor choices or not, hungry people are still hungry. Jesus didn’t stop to ask the needy how they managed to get themselves in their predicaments; he fed them. My sinful condition is a result of my poor choices. God does not roll his eyes and shake his head when he looks at me. He doesn’t remind me that if only I had listened to him, I wouldn’t be in the mess I’m in. He shows me mercy.

James doesn’t mention how we’re supposed to feel toward the one who needs our mercy. Many times (maybe most times) I have performed acts of charity without feeling very charitable. I just do it because it’s the right thing to do. But if I am going to follow the merciful example of my Savior, I believe I must learn to have his heart. I read somewhere that Jesus didn’t just feel sympathy for the hurting, he felt it in his gut.

It is alarming enough to realize that I am setting the parameters of my own judgment by whether or not I show mercy to others. How harshly am I going to be judged for the measure of mercy I feel?

His will is that you would grow into the likeness of Christ. Every day you live in Christ and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit should see a growing resemblance between your life and Christ.*