Bible Verses

Equal in God’s Sight

The apostle Paul had a problem in the province of Galatia. The -L Jewish Christians in that area held tightly to many of the Old Testament laws and tried to impose them on converts to Christianity.

They were especially concerned that all men be circumcised. Some of the Galatian legalists argued that Paul was not really an apostle and was using his teachings on grace and freedom to help persuade nonbelievers to convert.

In his letter to the Galatians Paul wrote to free followers of the gospel from the bonds of legalism. Galatians 3:28 is a strong statement for equality and the laying down of comparisons.

It places all believers on level ground before Christ based on their belief in him and not on any works they have done or will do. Christ loves and receives them just as they are, without the need to perform in order to win his approval.

How wonderful it must have been for the early Christians who were Greeks, slaves, or women to hear this teaching in Galatians.

What about us today? Do we claim that all are saved by faith alone but then regard people based on their performance or their status in society?

Do we even damage ourselves with comparisons to other Christians whom we view as more accomplished or more significant than we feel we are? Do we wonder if Christ really thinks as well of us as he does of others?

Our culture thrives on comparisons. Advertisements—designed to appeal to our desire to shine above everyone else, to win, to get the guy or girl who is the most popular, to be the envy of everyone we pass—continually bombard us.

But the quest for this kind of recognition is endless. There is always someone else who is prettier, richer, and more talented. In the Christian world, there are always people who work harder, give more, and do more.

Can it really be that Christ loves us equally, saves us totally by his grace, and frees us to be who God created us to be and not a “better” version of someone else?

Paul declared that this grace is real and is ours. When we accept this blessing, we are not only free to stop comparing ourselves unfavorably to others, but we are also free to value them for who they are. Our differences don’t disappear but they no longer separate us.

In Paul’s day, it meant that the circumcised Jewish believer and the uncircumcised Greek believer were both saved if they believed in Christ and he loved them, regardless of this physical difference.

A slave could accept Christ and embrace the spiritual freedom that salvation brings, even if he remained a slave.

That same equality is ours today.

Father, help us to see ourselves and each other as you do.

You Are Not As Smart As You Think

If you read the sermons of Old Testament prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel, you’ll find plenty of verses that begin with that scary three-letter word: woe.

A psychotherapist might say that these prophets suffered from some kind of psychosis, depression, or dissociative disorder. But the Bible has a different explanation for their often hard-edged pronouncements.

God called prophets to convey his messages to the world. Some of these messages indicated God’s frustration with the ways humans repeatedly mess up their own lives.

One of the human failings that shows up throughout the messages of Isaiah and the other prophets is the sin of intellectual pride.

God doesn’t have any problems with people being smart. After all, to begin with, it was God who created brains.

What does trouble God is when the people he created think they’re so smart they can live life without any help from him? If this scenario sounds familiar, that’s because it’s part of a recurring pattern.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve decided that they could disobey God’s commands about not eating the fruit of one particular tree. Through their act of intellectual pride, humanity’s first couple introduced sin to the entire race.

God banished this prideful archangel from heaven. Today, he is known as Satan.

Pride—and its close relative, rebellion—appears frequently in the pages of Scripture. It was there when the ancestors of Noah built the Tower of Babel.

It was there when the Israelites created a golden calf and worshiped it instead of God.

It was there when David had an illicit affair with Bathsheba and killed her loving husband to hide his shame.

And it was there when a disciple named Judas took thirty pieces of silver to snitch on Jesus.

It’s not that God wants people to be stupid.

In the early 1900s, a famous evangelist named Billy Sunday said: “I don’t know any more about theology than a jackrabbit knows about Ping-Pong, but I’m on my way to glory!” Actually, God is fine with learning, scholarship, and intelligence.

It’s just when we think we’re smart enough to go it alone that we cross the line and experience woe.

Father, thank you for giving me an amazing mind, and for the grace to know I’m not as smart as I think.

A Gentle Evangelist

For a number of years, I was a rather zealous evangelist. I actively shared my faith and participated in a weekly witnessing program at my church.

Sometimes I remember those days with heartfelt grief. Certainly, a lot of people prayed to accept Jesus with me, but my aggressiveness put off a number of others.

I felt so sure of my message, but I often shared without sensitivity. I grieve over the ones who didn’t understand Jesus because my bravado got in the way.

I used to talk a lot about not hiding our lights under bushels (Matt. 5:15), but I was guilty of presenting the loving light of Jesus in a way more akin to blazing neon.

Many Christians are in the spotlight today expressing their opinions on a wide range of issues: abortion, homosexuality, family values, and politics. Is the light that others see focused on Jesus and his gift of salvation or on other issues?

I remember being at a political meeting several years ago where non-Christians expressed great concern about the views of Christians.

It made me sad that no one mentioned the God we serve or his Son. They understood little about the Jesus we follow.

This verse from 1 Peter contains three primary points: set apart Christ as Lord; always be prepared to give an answer; and do this with gentleness and respect.

In the past, I focused on the second point.

But oh, the power of a word spoken with the sensitivity of the Savior. Jesus was no weakling who wimped out if someone opposed him or argued with him.

But he was gentle (Matt. 21:5), even when tried and wrongly convicted.

I think the ability to be gentle and respectful to people who do not yet know Jesus comes from the command at the beginning of this verse: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.”

With Christ as Lord of our hearts, we comprehend our own fallenness and the graciousness of Jesus to have died for us.

We are able to look at others with compassion instead of condemnation, because we know that we are just as they are: guilty but forgiven.

Jesus gives us the power to speak in ways that convey his love and woo doubters to him. It is only after people feel loved that they are able to hear words of conviction that lead to change.

And the power of words spoken with tenderness and respect helps to usher listeners into the forgiving presence of the Savior.

Father, thank you for calling us to you with the gentleness of Jesus.

Roots Of Righteousness

HEY weren’t preachers or priests? In fact, they weren’t official representatives of any particular religious tradition or group.

But when four famous young musicians named John, Paul, George, and Ringo traveled to India to study something called transcendental meditation with a guru named Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, people knew the world was undergoing a spiritual revolution.

Ever since the 1960s, a time of growing popularity for centuries-old Eastern religions and newfangled New Age cults, many people have assumed that meditation is a non-Christian practice.

But as this psalm shows, God has been encouraging his followers to meditate on His Word for millennia.

There are 150 Psalms, which are poems designed to be sung with musical accompaniment. The idea of meditating upon God and his Word actually appears throughout the Psalms and through much of the rest of the Bible.

Much of the time, many of us are going in a dozen different directions at once. Our hearts are torn, our minds are divided, and our prayers are fragmented and superficial.

Meditation helps us go beneath the surface of our jumbled, overactive minds and tap into the richer veins of God’s love and mercy.

Many people find that silence and solitude make it easier to meditate. Finding silence in the twenty-first-century world isn’t always easy, but it helps if you can turn off the TV for a few moments.

Solitude can be equally elusive at times, but some people find that taking a brief walk in a park gives them a few moments of the precious isolation they need. (The fact that the backdrop is God’s beautiful creation doesn’t hurt either.)

God wants you to meditate on him, but that doesn’t mean you have to go live in a monastery.

Here’s how Thomas Merton, one of the twentieth century’s most famous monks put it: “Not all men are called to be hermits, but all men need enough silence and solitude in their lives to enable the deep inner voice of their own true self to be heard at least occasionally.”

Meditation is a God-ordained way of doing this. And if we practice it regularly, we will discover the deeper roots of God’s righteousness.

Father, help me slow down enough to be alone with you and listen to what you have to tell me.

Better Than A Marathon

Many First World countries are in a bit of a fitness frenzy. Exercise programs on television abound from the wee hours of the early morning until the midafternoon.

Fitness clubs of many varying types dot the landscapes of most cities and towns. Books and videos on diets and workouts reside on numerous shelves in stores and appear on computer screens linked to many sites.

One of the motivations behind these physical pursuits is to beat the aging process. Certainly, an improved quality of life is one benefit of working out, but many fitness programs play on our desire to live longer.

We are told that we can add years to our lives with faithful regimens of exercise, and studies do seem to show enhanced and longer years for the physically active.

Exercise has power.

This verse from 1 Timothy tells us that holiness is of even greater value. It tells us that the power of godliness impacts “all things.”

Perhaps the parallel between physical fitness and righteousness holds true when it comes to the working of muscles to maintain a desired state.

A physically fit person will lose his lean form if he neglects exercise. He may be in tip-top shape one day but finds his muscles turning to flab if he goes from playing football to watching it on television.

Spiritual fitness is subject to the same kind of buildup or deterioration. No matter how mature we may be, we need to practice the disciplines of the faith that build spiritual muscle.

Prayer, Bible reading, meditation, worship, and fellowship are some of the ways that we gain and maintain spiritual health.

This verse in 1 Timothy tells us that godliness pays off in big ways, even bigger than the physical benefits of exercise.

Perhaps the most obvious benefit is that we grow closer to God. By being with him and reading His Word, we enlarge our wisdom. That, in turn, leads to making better choices in all areas of our lives.

Our thinking becomes transformed as we grow spiritually. We see life from God’s perspective and not through the lens of ungodliness.

We are able to resist temptation because our discipline in being obedient to God is fine-tuned. And so we don’t suffer the consequences of falling to the wiles of the tempter.

Most of all, we become more like Jesus. We reflect his light in a dark world and touch others with the power of his love—truly the healthiest thing we can do.

Father, help us to work on both our physical bodies and our spiritual souls.

Our Way To God

We need always balance the exhilarating good news of Christianity with the harsh realities of its strict limits and urgent responsibilities.

Jesus came to earth to free us from the bondage of sin, but he also commanded us to “go and sin no more.”

Salvation introduces us to a new life in Christ, but this life also requires that we pick up our cross and follow Christ in a life of service.

Likewise, this passage from John is a good news/bad news proposition. The good news is that Jesus is “the way and the truth and the life.”

As a result, humanity’s long and often fruitless search for fulfillment and meaning finds its answer in Christ, who shows us in his life and his words all the incredible riches that God has for us.

On the other hand, if Christ is the way, those who decide to go another way lose out. “No one comes to the Father except through me,” he said, indicating that all other religious traditions and spiritual paths are dead ends.

How could the God who loves the world not save all the people of the world? Theologians have wrestled with this question for centuries.

Some have described salvation as a big party. The party is open to anyone who cares to come, and colorful invitations have been sent personally to everyone on earth.

When it comes time for the party to be held, millions upon millions of people will turn out and have a wonderful time.

But not everyone will show up that day. Some people will get the invitation but throw it on a stack of mail and never get around to responding.

Others intend to come to the party, but various problems will prevent them. In one case, someone’s car might break down along the way.

In another case, a family illness or emergency might take attention away from the party In more than a few cases, people will simply oversleep or forget all about it.

If you’ve ever thrown a party, you’ve probably heard your share of reasons why someone didn’t show up. But you didn’t hassle those who had other things to do.

It’s a free world, and unless they had promised to bring the sodas or chips, they were free to stay home if they wanted.

The same goes for the big, glorious party God has planned for us in heaven. He’s been spending an eternity getting things ready. He even sent his only Son to deliver the invitations.

Who knows who will be at God’s grand party when that day arrives? At least we know he tried to invite us all. It’s up to us to exchange bad news for good.

Father, I thank you that I have been able to hear and respond to your words of life. Help me invite others to your heavenly party.

Pain That Heals

Just about everyone who has ever used a hammer has mistakenly hit his own thumb.

For most of us, doing this once or twice is enough, and we take better care the next time. But pity the poor person who repeatedly hits himself with a hammer.

Paul’s wise words have much to say about the emotional and spiritual pain so many of us seem to inflict on ourselves.

As he saw it, there are two kinds of inner pain: the pain that leads to life and the pain that leads to death.

We all cause pain to ourselves and others. Some of us do it fairly regularly, and some of us don’t even know when we’re hurting someone. But regardless, there’s more than enough pain to go around.

What Paul was trying to tell us is that godly sorrow is the kind of pain that causes us to take stock of our lives and change course so we don’t experience it again.

This kind of sorrow leads to repentance, a word that appears throughout the Bible and means “to turn back.”

The person who hits his thumb with a hammer and says, “Ouch, that hurts,” then decides to find a more productive way of driving nails has repented.

He has turned back from his old practices and decided to try things a new way.

But the person who doesn’t mend his ways, and instead keeps hammering away while his thumb turns into a throbbing mess, is following a course that Paul said will lead to death.

Unless you’re a professional carpenter or builder, your main problem in life probably doesn’t have anything to do with a hammer.

Maybe it’s your ego that you swing around like a blunt instrument, hitting everyone around you and causing pain.

Or it may be that your weaknesses and desires are what get you in trouble.

You want to do the right thing, but you succumb to temptation, breaking the bonds of trust and love that are so important in human relationships.

Regardless of what your particular vulnerability is, Paul’s words teach us an important lesson.

Pain isn’t the main problem we face in life, but rather it’s how we’re going to react to life’s plentiful sorrow and suffering.

If pain and sorrow are simply small roadblocks in our path, and we decide to speed over these bumps on the way to our destination, it’s likely that pain will be our constant companion in life and we won’t learn its valuable lessons.

But if we receive pain as an important message from God and re¬pent, our sorrow and frustrations can lead us to life.

Father, thank you for the powerful way pain can bring us to our senses. Use the pain I experience to lead me to life.

Faith Takes Practice

This verse is a familiar one for me. I have often read it while in the midst of a trial and tried to claim it as my own.

Unfortunately, there have been many times when contentment has eluded me and worry has resided in its place.

There are two words that stand out when I try to unravel how to experience this kind of contentment: secret and learned.

I know Jesus, have accepted him, and seek to follow him in my daily life. So why does contentment sometimes seem so difficult to grasp? I think that I rely on myself more than on God.

When I try to make life work well and don’t succeed, I continue to wrestle with solving my dilemma on my own.

Oh, I pray and read my Bible. I say that I believe God is in control of everything, but I live as if I am in control.

Instead of doing what I can and leaving the rest to God, I worry and manipulate to change circumstances. I miss the secret of contentment by being busy fixing instead of abiding and resting in my relationship with Jesus.

This is such a difficult thing to do because it seems passive, even irresponsible.

I know intellectually that I experience his power when I am weak (2 Cor. 12:9-10), but I often short-circuit that power with my own efforts.

Paul’s secret was to let God be God in his life. It was to trust in Christ to the extent that he fretted not when he was in jail or shipwrecked.

The other word that stands out to me is learned. So often when reading Scripture, I expect to be able to immediately apply what I have read. The word learned tells me that Paul didn’t experience this contentment right away either.

In Romans 7:21-25 Paul confessed,

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

For in my inner being, I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

We, like Paul, persevere in our learning to be content. The secret is in relationship with Jesus, the learning comes with practice.

Father, thank you that you are a patient God.

Walking The Ancient Path

Many people act as if their favorite two words were new and improved.

We seem to believe that newer is always better than older, that the way we do things today is superior to the way we did them in the past, and the way we do them tomorrow will be even better still.

It is true that some things work more efficiently now than they did before.

The world’s first multipurpose electronic computer was a thirty-ton monstrosity called ENIAC that consisted of some eighteen thousand vacuum tubes and miles of copper wiring.

ENIAC was created in a Pennsylvania lab in 1946, and when it was turned on, the lights of Philadelphia dimmed.

By 1971, all of ENIAC’s computing power could be squeezed onto a tiny silicon wafer the size of a postage stamp.

The ways we record and play music have changed, too. Few people today play 78-rpm records, 45-rpm singles, or 12-inch vinyl albums.

Even cassette players using magnetic tapes are on their way out, having been replaced by digital compact discs, which can cram more than an hour’s worth of music onto a platter that’s less than five inches in diameter.

Granted, our technology has improved over the years. But has human life made corresponding progress?

People still suffer illness and die. Medical science has prolonged our lives and devised new treatments for many common ailments, but life still has an ending and a beginning.

And no science known to humanity has been able to decrease the amount of greed, anger, jealousy, or cruelty in the world.

When it comes to Christianity, churches have been evolving ever since the time that Jesus’ first disciples gathered together to remember his death and resurrection.

In the twentieth century, the Pente¬costal Revival, the Charismatic Movement, the Jesus Movement, and the Seeker-Sensitive Megachurch Movement have reinvented the way people do church.

But behind all our efforts at improvement, God is an eternal, unchanging force who hasn’t changed the basics of what it means to worship him.

Older isn’t always better, but newer isn’t always better either. Before you jump on the latest religion bandwagon, stop and think.

Find out what has gone before and compare the new approach to the old. And if new proposals seem like shallow attempts to be hip or relevant, stay with the ancient paths that believers have walked for millennia.

God, you’ve been around forever. Help me to cling to the things that are truly good in your sight, and not just the things that are new.

He Walked In Our Shoes

Before I was widowed I would look at some widows and evaluate how they grieved. Maybe one cried all the time in public and another forever talked about her loss.

While feeling sympathetic, I also made judgments about issues unknown to me.

Then my own husband was killed. I was thirty-four years old with two young daughters. It was a shocking reality I cried every day and many nights for months. But I seldom cried in public.

One Sunday morning as I was walking into church, a woman came up to me and grabbed me by the shoulders. “You must grieve!” she shouted as she shook me with an angry force.

I had no time to respond as she walked off in a huff. As I steadied myself I went on into the sanctuary and sat down, still shaking from the encounter. What in the world made her so angry at me? I wondered.

Several weeks later a friend of that woman’s told me that my lack of public crying had some people thinking that I wasn’t grieving. Some people even wondered if I felt bad at all.

I thought of all the tears I’d shed and was astounded that anyone could think I didn’t grieve. But the people who were judging me were doing the same thing I had done myself before being widowed.

There is a saying that warns us not to judge others until we have walked a mile in their shoes.

In fact, some of the greatest comfort I received in those early days of widowhood came from women who had been widowed themselves. They could identify with me. They understood, firsthand, how I felt.

Over the years I have been asked to meet with widows for that same reason: they want to talk to someone who has been in the same place they are. We share a pain and therefore, a deep understanding.

Jesus, the very incarnation of God, shares that same identification with all of us.

The difference between his temptation and our own is that he is without sin.

He doesn’t look at our weaknesses the way I used to look at grieving people. He understands and sympathizes.

He comes alongside us and gives us an example of how to be tempted but not sin: feel the pain of life that can tempt us to sin in order to find relief, but choose obedience and turn from the temptation.

Father, we thank you that you sent us a Sympathizer in the Person of Jesus.