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John 8:1-11

06 Jun

Painting: La Femme adultère “The woman Taken in Adultery” by Lorenzo Lotto

8 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

John 8:1-11

Dear God, I don’t think this story gets enough time. It’s quite remarkable. My wife and I were talking about something last night and this story came up. I can’t remember what we were saying or the context in which we talked about it, but she mentioned this painting by Lorenzo Lotto to me. It gave me an interesting thought: What would it be like to follow this woman after she left Jesus that day? What was the rest of that day like for her? So I decided to take a little creative break from my 1 Samuel series and spend a little time with this woman this morning.

First, I want to back up and set the context. There was a festival going on in Jerusalem when this happened. It was the Festival of Shelters (John 7:1-10). I Googled that festival and found it was a seven-day commemoration of the years the Israelites spent in tents in the wilderness. That made me think of the book I read last year, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs. I remembered he had done something that seemed to line up with this so I looked it up. He called in the “Feast of Ingathering–or Sukkoth.” His description seems to indicate it’s the same thing and he said Orthodox Jewish people still celebrate it by building huts and sleeping in them (he was in New York City so he had to build one in his living room). So that’s the context. An annual festival in Jerusalem where a lot of extra people are in town. In fact, this is part of the story when Jesus’s brothers told him to go to Jerusalem and show himself off and he told them he wasn’t going to go, but then he went secretly until starting to teach in the Temple halfway through the festival.

Now, back to this passage. After I read it this morning, I had some thoughts. Let me stress here that ALL of this is my speculation and there is a great likelihood that I’m completely wrong about it. With that disclaimer said, I wonder what the previous 12 hours were like for this woman and then what were the next 12 hours like. What were the circumstances under which she was caught? Who was she? Was she the one who was married to someone else or had she slept with someone who was married to someone else but she was single? Was she a prostitute? In that culture, if she was a prostitute, would they have cared? I believe there were a lot of prostitutes running around and sleeping with married men so my guess is that she was the on who was married and caught. Perhaps her husband caught her that night before and brought her to the Temple for punishment for stoning.

It occurs to me as I write this that this could have been Jesus’s own mother, Mary, when she was pregnant with him. Wow! What a thought. The husband could easily have been Joseph, taking her to the Temple for judgment and stoning. But “Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.” I wonder if Jesus had this same thought that morning. If this had happened to his own mother while she was pregnant with him, it would have been a disaster.

As I’m sitting here (and I think I’m going to have a lot of disjointed, random thoughts this morning), I wonder why stoning was the chosen method of execution for so many sins. Was it because it wasn’t a hands-on approach? Back then, I suppose their options were to physically touch the person and kill them with some sort of blade or do something from a distance like throw stones or shoot an arrow.

Now that I think about it, the Jews under Rome didn’t have the right to execute people (that’s why they needed Pilate to sign off on Jesus’s execution). Was there an exception for stoning? I just Googled that too. Apparently, to compare it with modern American law, there were federal crimes (crimes against the Roman Empire) and state crimes (in this case, crimes against the Jewish religious law). Jesus’s crime was a federal crime because he claimed to be king while adultery or Stephen’s crime in Acts would be against Jewish law and could be executed by the Sanhedrin.

So back to our story. There’s a festival. I’m guessing that the woman’s husband catches her sleeping with someone else during the festival (maybe in someone’s special tent?) and takes her to the Temple for judgment and execution. Lots of anger. Lots of fear. As I’ve heard said in movies and other places before, “Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.” (City Slickers) So perhaps this woman had a reason to not be faithful to her husband. I don’t know. But now she’s here, and she must be both terrified and humiliated. Regretful too. What’s going to happen now?

Then Jesus shows up in the Temple and starts teaching halfway through the Festival. I won’t go into the days he spent talking and everything he said, but, suffice it to say, the Pharisees were none too pleased. Then, on the last day of the festival, what John describes in John 7:37 as “the climax of the festival,” Jesus did one last big provocation about being living water. The Pharisees apparently sent the Temple guards to arrest him but they didn’t. Nicodemus, one of my heroes, tries to defend Jesus with, “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” and he gets jumped on and accused of being a Jesus defender: “Are you from Galilee, too?”

So now our scene takes place on the morning after the festival. Everyone might be a little hungover. This woman might have gotten caught up in the revelry of the night. And now she is standing in front of Jesus. The men (there are likely few if any women present) are simultaneously indignantly ready to stone her and wondering what it would be like to have sex with her (let’s be real, some of them were thinking that–that’s probably the most confident I am about any guesses I’ve made this morning), and she watches Jesus through a bowed head out of the upper part of her peripheral vision. What’s he going to do. So he bends down to write on the ground.

Here’s a new thought. Maybe he bent down to write on the ground so that she could see what he was writing. Maybe he wrote it for her. We assume he was writing to her judges and accusers, but maybe her face was so downcast that he knew this was the only way to communicate love and a new life to her.

So we know this next part. He stands up and affirms they are right that she should be stoned according to the law of Moses. But then he makes an interesting statement that (and again, this is a brand new thought to me) indicates humans don’t have the authority to commit capital punishment: “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” This statement could be applied to any sin such as murder that we think deserves the death penalty. As sinful creatures, do we have the authority to take a life–even the most heinous life, as the result of a crime? Wars are different animals that I won’t get into right now, but in this area, I think it helps convince me more than ever that capital punishment does not align with Jesus’s teaching.

So now everyone eventually admits they aren’t able to live up to the standard Jesus has now set for capital punishment and walks away, leaving only the woman, to whom Jesus famously says, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” She says no, and he closes the scene saying, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” End scene.

So what happened next? That’s the first thought I had last night when my wife brought up this story. What was the rest of her day like as a forgiven woman? Was her husband one of the people who dropped his stone and walked away? Did he divorce her? Did she have to move in with a friend? And what was the state of her heart from that day forward? If it was a long-term affair, did she break up with the guy? Did she take her freedom from her sin and turn over a new leaf? Did she earnestly start to follow you? Who did she become as a result of this absolution from her sin?

Father, I am not without sin. I have no stones to throw. Jesus taught such a unique…what’s the word I’m looking for? He taught a unique perspective on who we are as humans and who you are as God. Oh, Father, help me to “go and sin no more” and to offer this same opportunity of your unique perspective on who we can be through following you to others. Help me to make this the evangelism that brings your kingdom into this world and drives the hell out of people.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 6, 2025 in John

 

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John 3:10-21

26 May

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should [c]not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

John 3:10-21

Dear God, following up on the impromptu prayer I did last night in the chapel, I want to talk a little about the book I finished reading: What is Jesus was Serious about Judgment? by Skye Jethani. I’ve been curious about Skye’s view of how Jesus would address everything from treating people fairly and forgiveness to heaven and hell and what the cut-line is for either destination.

And to be clear, I’m not sure how much stock I put into Jethani’s theological position. I think we are all wrong and none of us can know exactly what life will look like on the other side. Of all of the possibilities, Jethani’s view could be it. If I were putting money on a theological position given all of the options different teacher’s have, I’d put my money most closely to his. I tend to really agree with a lot of his positions. But the truth is, I simply don’t know. I simply don’t know. I am certain there will be a sorting one day. Jesus was clear about that in several parables. But what happens to the goats? It’s a hazy mystery to me. I hope they don’t really suffer for all eternity. As Jethani put it, that does not seem like proportional punishment for the crimes committed.

But I also think the temptation is to get too wrapped up in heaven, hell, the apocalypse, etc., and we forget to live in justice now. Jesus did care about justice in the here and now. And, frankly, although I read the book in order and didn’t skip ahead to the heaven/hell chapters towards the end, I was still distracted by their existence and looking back I don’t remember much of what his other real points were. So let me go back and look at the table of contents to see if that will help some thoughts stick out. Here are some elected chapter titles:

  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then evil empires will always misunderstand God’s justice.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then God hears the cries of the oppressed.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then experiencing oppression should give us compassion for others.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then evil will consume those who practice it.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then just laws will lead to community flourishing.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then true worship lifts up Christ by lifting up the oppressed.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then a heart far from God lacks mercy, not emotions.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then justice is about our identity, not the other person’s.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then God can be both merciful and angry.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then mercy and justice are partners, not enemies.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then justice alone won’t rescue us from our sins.
  • If Jesus was serious about justice, then God’s mercy comes with a condition.

Everything else starts getting into your wrath and how that will ultimately be handled, and I don’t want to go there this morning. I just want to sit with how I handle justice in my life. How I handle mercy.

I think the place to start is my own sinfulness and how I handle that. Before I can look at the speck in my neighbor’s eye, I need to look at the log in my own. And the more I truly address my own sins, failures, and foibles, the more empathy and mercy I have for others. To whom much is given much is required. I have been given a lot of mercy. Should I not give a lot in return?

Father, help me to find that line between mercy and justice. There should obviously be consequences for sin. David paid terrible consequences for his sin even though you loved him and cared for him. You forgave me. You even carried your path to Jesus through the woman he stole and murdered for. Maybe you did that more for her than him, now that I think about it. You had choices. You chose the victim to redeem through Solomon and his line. Nice. Help me to love victims, love sinners (who are sinners themselves–we all are), and carry your mercy into this world.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 26, 2025 in John

 

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James 1:16-25

25 May

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:16-25

Dear God, I was watching a video this morning, and I heard a man say something interesting. He said something to the effect that anger is always masking some other emotion. Maybe it’s sadness or fear, but anger isn’t the emotion itself. That’s a thought that’s going to fester. I thought of that when I read verse 20 of this passage: “…for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Assuming that wrath = anger, it feels like I should stop and think about this statement in this way as I consider this whole passage.

So let me go back and start at the beginning of this passage:

  • Verse 17a: Every good and perfect gift is from you. In the previous paragraph, James is saying that you are not a source of temptation for us. No, instead you bring good and perfect gifts to us.
  • Verse 17b: I’m not sure I’ve ever noticed this before. You are always the same. You are unchanging. As James describes it, you are the source of light so your don’t shift like shadows. What a beautiful analogy. I like that.
  • Verse 18: The whole “born again” idea is amazing. Taking us back to your original creation when you looked at us and said, “It is good.” Taking us back to Genesis 1 and 2, and not starting with Genesis 3. Thank you for this amazing opportunity.
  • Verse 19: This is a fairly popular verse for people to quote: “Be quick to listen and slow to speak.” We usually leave out the rest because it’s not convenient. And here’s where I want to look at the other emotions that might be driving my anger. James tags onto the listen/speak part of the sentence, “…and slow to become anger…” When I am quick to wrath, what is the emotion behind it. As I sit and think of times I have held a long grudge, it’s usually betrayal. I am hurt because I cannot trust, and I usually lead with trust. And it doesn’t say I can’t get angry, but that I shouldn’t be quick to anger. So I’m not saying I shouldn’t be angry about the betrayals, but I need to be careful and prayerful about how I respond. No, maybe I need to sit and think about the times when my anger flares up quickly. I don’t think I can think of a pattern right now, but please help me be mindful of any time my temper flares quickly and to start to piece together a patters. Reveal this to me, Holy Spirit.
  • Verse 20: Anger doesn’t bring about a righteous life. Oh, how I see this displayed online. There is a woman who recently became a donor at our clinic, and while I don’t spend hardly any time on social media, whenever I’ve been there for a particular reason and happened upon a post of hers, it’s usually filled with anger. I wonder if she can see it. I wonder if there is some way that being involved with our nonprofit might bless her and help her to let go of her anger. If there is something I can do to bless her and others in this area, please show me how.
  • Verse 21: “…receive with meekness the implanted word…” I’m preaching later about the parable of the sower and how we need to make our hearts a place where your seeds can be planted and your fruit can grow. How do I give you good soil? Part of it is what James says here: “…lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness…” Then the seeds of your word can have space to grow.
  • Verse 22: Take the word you plant and be a doer of it. I heard some discussion yesterday about spiritual formation training and how it can have a tendency to steer into isolation for the believer and keep them from getting out and putting their love to use. And let the doing of what you have give us to learn be part of us really internalizing it and growing. Going back to the plant analogy, it reminds me of the peach trees for our region. The peaches need a certain amount of stress to be the best. They need X number of “chilling hours” while they are dormant in the winter to be good when they bloom in the spring. In the same way, I need to be challenged at some level in order to best internalize what you are teaching me. If I just sit in my home and think great thoughts, but I never put anything to work, what I have I accomplished. It’s like writing a parenting book after having never been a parent. I have some great thoughts, but until I’ve had my thoughts personally challenged, how can my counsel be of use to anyone else or even myself?
  • Verses 23-25: These kind of reiterate the point I just made about verse 22. If it’s just an intellectual exercise, then I will likely never change. But if the intellectual part gets challenged and refined through application then it will get woven into the fabric of my being.

Father, for the next three and a half hours, I need to be right in the middle of your presence. I need you as close to me as is possible. I am going to be preaching and I need it to be you. I need your Holy Spirit to simply flow through me as I get up to share your word with these people. Prepare their hearts this morning. Prepare my heart too. Make some good soil for us to receive your seed, and then help us to be doers of the word you plant in us. Holy Spirit, I need you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 25, 2025 in James

 

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“You Are Everything” by Matthew West

24 May

“You Are Everything” by Matthew West

I'm the one with two left feet
Standing on a lonely street
I can't even walk a straight line
And every time you look at me
I'm spinning like an autumn leave
Bound to hit bottom sometime

Where would I be without someone to save me
Someone who won't let me fall

You are everything that I live for
Everything that I can't believe is happening
You're standing right in front of me
With arms wide open, all I know is
Every day is filled with hope 
'Cause you are everything that I breathe for
And I can't help but breathe you in
And breathe again
Feeling all this life within
Every single beat of my heart

I'm the one with big mistakes
Big regrets and bigger breaks
Than I'd ever care to confess
Ah, but you're the one who looks at me
And sees what I was meant to be
More than just a beautiful mess

Where would I be without someone to save me
Someone who won't let me fall

You are everything that I live for
Everything that I can't believe is happening
You're standing right in front of me
With arms wide open, all I know is 
Every day is filled with hope
'Cause you are everything that I breathe for
And I can't help but breathe you in
Breathe again, feeling all this life within
Every single beat of my heart

You're everything good in my life
Everything honest and true
And all of those stars
Hanging up in the sky
Could never shine brighter than you

You are everything that I live for
Everything that I can't believe is happening
You're standing right in front of me
With arms wide open, all I know is
Every day is filled with hope
'Cause you are everything that I breathe for
And I can't help but breathe you in
And breathe again, feeling all this life within
Every single beat of my heart

You are, oh, you are.
Jesus, you are
You are everthing

Songwriters Matthew West and Sam Mizell

Dear God, I normally copy and paste lyrics when I do songs like this, but this time I really wanted to sink into this song and worship you with the words so I typed them out. I need some worship time. I feel like I am spinning a little. With some personal struggles combined with preaching in the morning, working alongside my wife tomorrow afternoon with a couple about to get married, teaching a Bible study Monday night and then officiating a funeral on Wednesday, I have a all of these things swirling through my head. How will I manage them? How will I do you justice in all of this? The answer: Stop and worship. Make everything in my being about you. Worship you. Take my eyes off of all of this and just fall into you. Let you do it through me.

To be clear, what I am experiencing is first-world problems. You have given me so much. I was listening to a podcast earlier today and this pastor was talking about exhorting his congregation to make a practice of observing Sabbath, and he got feedback from some that they would love to, but they cannot because they are working two jobs to make ends meet. From his view of the world, choosing to observe the Sabbath was a choice that his “internal Pharaoh” would have to grant, but he realized that a lot of people live with an “external Pharaoh” that compels them to ignore Sabbath.

Another good thing I heard today as I listened to another podcast was the importance of not teaching the secondary benefits of Christianity as our motivation for worshipping you. And I’m not talking about prosperity gospel heresy, but even making the motivation to worship you and live a life of discipleship be attaining the fruits of the Spirit. Yes, that is a side-effect, but I’m here right now not for that. I’m here right now simply because I love you. I’m into you. I first followed you almost 46 years ago. I’ve been intentionally discipling in one way or another for 38 years. Can I see your fruit in my life? Absolutely. Is that why I’m here? No. I’m here because I simply love you.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, inhabit me. Inhabit all of my being. I feel like I’ve been broken this week. I feel like you’ve been melting me and molding me. Now fill me to overflowing so that you might overflow onto those around me. All for your glory, oh, Lord. All for your glory.

I pray this in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 24, 2025 in Hymns and Songs

 

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James 3:13-18

19 May

13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.

James 3:13-18

Dear God, the fruits of the Spirit are interesting. What do we do with them when we see them in someone who does not have faith in you? TV characters like Ted Lasso. Even an interview I saw with Jay Leno last night led me to see him as a kind person who tries to forgive slights and move on, although in Mr. Leno’s case I couldn’t help but wonder if it wasn’t a survival mechanism he developed over time.

But what James is describing here is kind of Paul’s Fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23. The first thought I had when I read this passage this morning is that this is how I know you are a loving God. Proximity to you brings about these fruits. The closer I get to you the more loving I am. The more patient I am. The more forgiving I am. If you aren’t these things, then I wouldn’t be drawn to them as I get closer to you.

Father, I am grateful for this time with you this morning. I plan to try to be in this moment with you as much as possible. Holy Spirit, walk with me today. Help me to know how to love the Father. Jesus, teach me. Thank you for everything. Father, thank you to you as well. I love you, my Triune God.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 19, 2025 in James

 

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Acts 14:8-20

18 May

8 While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting 9 and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed. 10 So Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking.

11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!” 12 They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and that Paul was Hermes, since he was the chief speaker. 13 Now the temple of Zeus was located just outside the town. So the priest of the temple and the crowd brought bulls and wreaths of flowers to the town gates, and they prepared to offer sacrifices to the apostles.

14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening, they tore their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting, 15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings—just like you! We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. 16 In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, 17 but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.” 18 But even with these words, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them.

19 Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. 20 But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

Acts 14:8-20

Dear God, I know I’ve read this story before. So how could I forget it? I guess there’s only so much place for things in my memory, and this one didn’t make the cut. But it is such a wild story! Such a wild story.

But I guess it reminds me of the mob mentality I talked about yesterday. What is it about us that is so susceptible to the group think and peer pressure of others? These people in Lystra have preconceived notions about religion, and when they see a miracle they apply that to the situation as a collective. Not even Paul and Barnabas themselves can disabuse them of their mistake. Then some persuasive men show up and talk the crowd into stoning them. It is reminiscent of Jesus’s triumphal entry on Sunday and crucifixion on Friday.

I guess this is a reminder for me to question everything. Absolutely everything. I know some people I truly respect and love who have a completely different view than me of the current political landscape in the United States. They celebrate what I grieve and they grieve what I celebrate. There are still areas for our Venn Diagrams overlap, but on some really core issues we are miles apart. So who is part of the mob mentality and who isn’t? Or are we all in different mobs, deceived in different ways?

Now that I think about it, the passages in the Gospels that describe passion week and this passage here never say that they crowds at the beginning of the stories contain the same people as the crowds at the end of the stories. Maybe we are all part of a mob and we don’t realize it. Maybe it’s human nature to find comfort in group-think.

Father, open my eyes so I can see this. Open my mind and heart and reveal the lies I believe to me. The main thing I need you to show me is how to love you better and how to love people around me better. If I can stick to those two things then the rest will fall into place. At least, that is what Jesus promised me. All of your other laws fit under those two. So I worship you. You are God. You are my absolute authority. You are my King. Let your Holy Spirit guide me moment to moment today. Show me where I am wrong and make me quick to repent. I offer myself to you. Help me as I teach this morning. Keep me from heresy. Keep me from leading anyone in the wrong direction and away from you. Use me today to lead others at least one step closer to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 18, 2025 in Acts

 

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“The End of the World will be Livestreamed” by Russell Moore

12 May

Dear God, I was listening to the weekly short thought of the week or whatever they call it from Russell Moore at Christianity Today this morning. The episode is called “The End of the World will be Livestreamed,” and he talked about a novel from the early 1970s called Love in the Ruins by Walker Percy. Apparently, this novel pretty presciently foretells of a time in America that is now seemingly much like the one we are in now. I need to go back and listen again, but what I really liked is the resolution for the main character. In the midst of everything just falling apart, with the left dedicated to its progressive agenda, and the right diametrically opposed to the left’s agenda there is no room in the middle. There is no middle. One must choose side. So the society starts to collapse. The are left states and right states. Left cities and right cities. Ne’er the twain shall meet.

But then the main character, a lapsed Catholic, walks by a church or something (I need to check out this novel and read it for myself) and hears an invitation to just follow Jesus. In the midst of everything: “Follow me.” That is the ultimate resolution, I believe, for the book the way I heard Moore describe it (and I might not have heard him correctly). But I liked the idea that this man just started doing his one little part in your creation by being one of your created billions of people by starting to follow you. Forget the right. Forget the left. Forget the wisdom of this world. Just follow you.

Right now, I see all kids of things happening in this world that I simply cannot affect. I was reading about the continuing civil war in Sudan that I’ve been hearing about for decades. I cannot imagine the pain those people are in. Oh, Father, relieve their pain and bring healing. I think about the immigrants living around me who wake up in fear of being pulled over or an agent coming to their home. Oh, Father, comfort them and give them a good, healthy path forward. I think about my friend whose husband is gravely ill. Oh, Father, heal, comfort, guide, and love them. Don’t let this pain be wasted. Make it count. Be glorified in their lives. I think of my friend mourning the loss of his wife. Oh, Father, comfort him. My job isn’t to fix the Sudan, immigration, my friend’s husband, or even help my other friend to no longer mourn. My job is to follow you, and love those who are withing my reach. That includes the men I will love this evening through the Bible study we will do. Most of these men are on probation and feel forced to be there. Help this to change their lives. I give my service to you, Jesus. I will follow you. Lead me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 12, 2025 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Disturbing Thought on Saul

11 May

Dear God, I had a disturbing thought about Saul as I thought about him when I woke up this morning: Did you just use him and then discard him for David? How could it have gone differently for Saul? I thought about this because it is obvious from Saul’s origin story that he wasn’t built to be king outside of his height. Later, when you’re picking David, you are clear that outward appearance doesn’t matter, but what’s in the heart does. Well, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of depth of character in Saul. Even though he is a head taller than anyone else around he just doesn’t seem up to the job.

So that’s my human brain. Then as I sit here with you and I work this out with the Holy Spirit, I’m reminded that your strength is made perfect in our weakness. In Saul’s case, there were times when you filled him and caused him to prophecy. In the next chapter, we will see that your Spirit will fill him and he will lead people into battle. He had ever opportunity to succeed if he would just find a way to lean into you and not make an idol out of his new position as king and the lineage it would leave for his family.

My wife and I were talking over breakfast about the worship service he did without Samuel that cause you to be so angry with him. I told her that it seems like others got away with a lot more than Saul did. She said, “How we worship matters.” I liked that. How I worship matters. How I lean into you matters. Even this morning, how I pray to you now, teach Sunday school later, and then worship with my wife after that matters.

Father, maybe you are using me and my life. Maybe you are sometimes asking me to do something that is beyond me so that I will simply lean into you instead of expecting to just get it done myself. And sometimes it might look for feel like I’ve been set up for failure, but I will lean into you and trust you. If you need to use me for a period and then have me move aside, so be it. Just help me to see what that time comes so that I can do it as worshipfully and humbly as possible. And since it is mother’s day, I want to just bathe my wife in prayer before I close this prayer journal. Love her. Help her to feel loved. This is a day of sorrow in so many ways, but I pray that your Holy Spirit will fill her and lift her. Raise up people around her who will love her and buoy her. Give her peace. Give her joy. Give her you. Help me to give her what you need her to have from me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 11, 2025 in 1 Samuel

 

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1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

07 May

12 But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, 13 and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. 14 We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. 16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit; 20 do not despise prophetic utterances. 21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

Dear God, there’s almost too much here to think through, but it’s all so good. I almost need to see it in bullet-point form:

  • Honor leaders in the church
  • Show leaders in the church wholehearted love.
  • Live peacefully with each other
  • Warn the lazy
  • Encourage the timid
  • Care for the weak
  • Be patient with everyone (emphasis mine)
  • Don’t let anyone payback evil for evil (That’s an interesting one. The focus isn’t just on me not doing it, but that I shouldn’t let others do it.)
  • Do good to each other and to all outside of the church as well
  • Be joyful
  • Pray without ceasing
  • Be thankful regardless of the circumstances
  • Encourage and nurture the Holy Spirit
  • Be open to prophecies, but test them
  • Keep good in my life
  • Actively stay away from evil

See. I was right. There were 16 admonitions in those verses. And they are so good. Help me to carry at least a few of these with me today.

Father, right now, I want to thank you for last night. It wasn’t my best night, but I think it was a good night for you. And that’s great. I wasn’t “on” or really polished, but I think the entire event was able to bring glory to you and inspire people in their faith. Let it be. And I want to also mention this. I learned last night about a friend and dear woman whose husband has a cancer recurrence. Oh, how this sank my heart. For him. For her. Holy Spirit, move in his body. Heal. Comfort. Guide. Do the same for my friend. Comfort her. Encourage her. Guide her. Love her. Minister to them both through your Holy Spirit and even directly with angels who will comfort them. Draw them into the middle of your heart. Be glorified in their lives so that all who know them might see you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2025 in 1 Thessalonians

 

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John 21:18-25

04 May

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” 19 Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He *said to him, “Follow Me!”

20 Peter, turning around, *saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” 21 So Peter seeing him *said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” 22 Jesus *said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” 23 Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”

24 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they *were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself *would not contain the books that *would be written.

John 21:18-25

Dear God, I want to sit with John towards the end of his life for a moment. He could have sat down and told these stories for someone to write a long time ago. He could have done it immediately. But he didn’t. The end of John actually gives us, or at least I think it gives me, a little image of him sitting on the Island of Patmos deciding to get all of this down before he died (I know there are debates about when he wrote this, but I’m sitting with the “old John” as the author).

What’s always struck me about this book is that almost a third of it is spent on the Last Supper and that it ends so abruptly. Why not finish Jesus’s earthly life or end on a more grand scale. Matthew ends with the “Great Commission.” Mark and Luke end with a quick reference to the ascension (although Luke also starts Acts with a more detailed description of the ascension). But John just tells this story about Peter’s restoration and conversation with Jesus. It’s almost like the last thing he wanted to do was ensure everyone knew that Peter was the leader.

It makes me think of the stories that involve just Peter and John. The two that come to mind immediately where it’s just the two of them without James is when they run to the tomb, John gets there first, but Peter goes in first. Then there’s the story in Acts of the time they are walking about the fountain, the beggar cries out to them, and Peter answers, “Silver and gold have I none…” The common denominator in these stories is that Peter is the leader. Peter is the one willing to go into the tomb. Peter is the one who speaks to the beggar. Even during the Transfiguration, Peter is the one who is foolish and tries to say something in the midst of the amazing situation. And John loved him.

I think John loved a lot of people. I think he loved Nicodemus since the first story of Nicodemus is gentle,, and every reference to Nicodemus after that is flattering towards him. I think, to a certain extent, he loved Pilate. In my opinion, he paints the most gentle image of Pilate of any of the gospels. And he loved Peter. He knew the story of Peter’s betrayal of Jesus was out there. He wanted to make sure the restoration picture was out there too. He’s the only one who tells it.

Father, as I search for a takeaway for myself today, I think what I see is the need to love really love people. John is generous in how he portrays others to us. Help me to be that generous as I portray people I know to others. Help me to build up. And that includes people I don’t like or people who are against me. Help me to be generous of spirit to them. Help me to be kind to them. Help me to love them. Help me to give them the benefit of the doubt. Help me to be curious and not judgmental. Help me to not be jealous, but instead to delight in their good.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 4, 2025 in John

 

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