The Daily Devo with Steve

This section is a little harder to read it is a referencing some events and issues that we can't really know about, but have to just kind of discern. But, it speaks of idolatry and sounds like it is addressing an issue whereby these Corinthian Christians were mixing some of the pagan worship practices with what Paul had taught them, and they were really starting to distort some of the message and the mission. And we do this too, we twist things and we adapt our practices, but it is so important that we hold to the fundamental truths at the root of our faith. And Paul speaks of temptation, and he rattles off another one of my favorite verses there in 10:13: 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man (there isn't anything that I am experiencing that isn't common, that isn't experienced my many others...that is comforting for me). God is faithful (isn't He? I mean, can I really think of a time when God hasn't done exactly what He says He would do in scripture? No...), and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (and He may allow the temptation to come upon me...but He is there, and He provides a way out, a way to endure...and He wants me to see it as a test, as a rep on the weight machine...He wants me to hang in there to the finish line, to win the race in yesterday's analogy). Really good stuff. So strong and so encouraging. And that's my prayer this morning...that I would be pure in what I belief, in what I hold to in terms of my faith...to the gospel. And I pray that I would be strong in the face of temptation, that I would see temptation as a test, and that in framing it that way I would be motivated to endure it and to overcome it. Frankly, when I see temptation in that way, when I simply get my mind right about it, it loses so much of its power. It is funny how that works.

This chapter is largely about Paul defending his work and the work of the other apostles, and it seems like he is defending their right to earn some money and make a living as evangelists. This is an important topic, but for me, the part that really jumped out at me this morning is between v19 and the end of the chapter. In verses 19-23, we see a great mantra, in a sense. I am going to read it: 19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Paul really likes these statements where he states his limits and his personal boundary...we have talked about 6:12. where he says, 12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything; and this is similar, where he says he is free, but that he has bound himself to servanthood. That is awesome. And that's OUR calling...to bind ourselves, of our own free will and out of love of what's been done for us, by Christ, at the cross, to serve others, to love others. We are called to love others because of Christ's love for us, and not because they do or don't deserve it. We are called to be in the world...to adapt to their needs, to meet them where they are...all said so well by Paul in this text. In the world, not of the world - focused on expanding our influence for the sake of Christ...that is our calling in this world. And then we get to some of the more famous verses, which I will also read: 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. Remember back in the introduction, part 2 of background, when we said that during this time there was an athletic event call the Isthmian Games? These were like the Olympics, second only to the Olympics and popularity, and they took place right there in Corinth. And we said that Corinth didn't have shelter for all the people who would flock to see these, so they would utilize tent makers. Well, Paul and his hosts, Pricilla and Aquila were, wait for it...tent makers, and they were right there in the midst of all of this action. They positioned themselves in the middle of the action so they could gain influence. This language we see here in these verses is Paul's doing exactly what he is teaching...he was leveraging culture to make his case for Christ. Am I leveraging my influence and my resources for Christ? Am I following Paul in that way? Great thoughts for today!

This is a great little section that addresses an issue that we germane to the church, is mostly foreign to us, but is universally applicable in our daily living. Paul is addressing the church regarding the food they eat. There were so many competing religious ideas of the day and there were crazy religious eating rules and even some pagan food rituals, and everyone was trying to figure out what they could and couldn't eat as they were starting a life of following God. Paul really cuts straight to the heart of the matter - food doesn't make us clean, Jesus' blood does. Food doesn't help us or hurt us in God's eyes. The caveat to that is this...we are called to bring others to Christ, to be a witness to others of Christ's saving Grace. To the extent that our food selection hinders that, we are to monitor our intake. In all of Paul's letters, we see this theme pop up often - that we are to consider the effect we have on others, and on our witness. That is a powerful idea. If the food we eat offends someone else's religious beliefs, will that attract them to us? No. What about drinking alcohol? What about drinking alcohol in front of an alcoholic? It isn't the thing, it is the impact of that thing that matters. The elegance of this ideal is that is requires us to think of others, which means it requires ‘love' from us. Imagine that. And, look at the verse in this chapter: “Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.” Paul is telling us that we can't lean on our knowledge of what is and isn't allowed, we have to lean on the love we have for others, and what we know about what they need. It goes back to his idea in 6:12, “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.” Is what I am doing, is how I am living inviting for the sake of God's message about Jesus, or am I living in a way that distracts from that purpose? Great, great question for today.

This section was a little confusing in how it was worded, and how it was answering a question or two that we aren't privy to and can't fully discern. But, the big take away from this for me is just how well balanced Paul is on this topic of marriage. Paul is clearly teaching how Jesus taught - that there aren't really very many black and white ‘rules', but there are boundaries to our lifestyle, and God is ultimately about our hearts, not our actions. Paul isn't saying marriage is good or bad, or that sexual relations (within marriage) are good or bad, but he is expressing that the benefits of not marrying are really that we are able to have a single-minded focus on God's calling on our own life. When we get married, we have a new responsibility - we have to keep our spouse's ideas in mind in order to love him of her well, and that divides our focus. None of that is hard to argue against. We need to be thinking about our lives and our commitments that way in general - asking the question, “How does this contribute or take away from me focus on God?”. That's a great little question to pray through from time to time.

Great little passage today...come as you are is essentially the message. And that's a great son that I haven't listened to in a while, by David Crowder. We are all called to God at different points in our lives, in different states, and with different conditions, but God doesn't care about that - He just calls us forward. He calls us to put down what we are carrying. He doesn't ask us to change. He doesn't ask for circumcision, He doesn't ask for a certain behavior, He doesn't ask for us to reach a certain level of purity or care...just come. Come taste the Grace, as Crowder says in his song. Paul is is writing to address the misconceptions about circumcision and to clear the air for these Jewish Christians and non-Jewish Christians to be able to worship together. He is writing to make sure people understand that God doesn't call us to all be pastors either. God just calls us. And our calling is our own unique experience between us and God. I am already enough, because it isn't about me. You are enough, because it isn't about you either. God has called us because HE is enough...He is enough to take us as we are, to use us as we are, and to grow us starting from right here, right now, into the person He wants us to be. It is a beautiful idea to start the day with today!

The start of this chapter has an interesting comment from Paul, “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote...”; so we can see that Paul was actually writing in response to them. And, we've already learned that this letter is actually likely to be the second letter that Paul wrote to them rather than the first (we just don't have that first one)...so there was some on-going coaching going on here. In antiquity, some people had a deep admiration for certain practices, often legalistic in nature, including celibacy, and authors seem to think that is the nature of the question. Paul makes every concession to their point of view. He agrees that celibacy is ‘good', and he points to some of its advantages. But he regards marriage as ‘normal', and though there are some advantages in celibacy, there is a greater completeness in marriage in Paul's mind. The other question that appears plausible to have been asked is about sexual relationships and whether a married man and woman are allowed to engaged in that manner...Paul obviously feels so. And then the rest of this section really comes out of the one-ness, the wholeness, that a married husband and wife share together. I don't see this as much a teaching on the topic of divorce as I see this a teaching of the picture of marriage. Look, we are sinners and divorce was destined to happen from the beginning, and I don't by into the legalistic viewpoint that people are bound to stay together, or to never remarry, or to really much of any...Paul says it here, that we each have our own calling. It think this is a picture of the implications of marriage, that a husband and wife have come together and that there is some extent to which that almost can't come apart, or at least it isn't meant to be that way. For me, the question that comes to mind as I am reading this is this - “Am I really ‘all in', meaning, have I really given myself completely to the needs and the desires and the visions that my wife has?” If I am being honest, I can't say ‘yes' to that...I have work to do. And, Paul is clearly getting at this idea that a husband and a wife have that as their commitments to each other - completeness, and selflessness. Another morning of strong words from Paul...there is plenty to come in this application section of our reading of 1 Corinthians.

Flee...don't mess with, don't play around the edges, don't get close to the line...flee from sexual immorality. We have talked about this many times in our morning readings, that some things are things that we can work on, that we can pray our way through, that we can exert will power over...and others are better suited to go into the category of ‘flee'. Sexual immorality falls into the this flee category. Another way to think about these kinds of issues is in terms of appetite. Those thing for which we develop an appetite, for which we develop a craving or a yearning, and that tend to cause us to move away from others and into hiding; those are the same sins we should flee. And notice another element that Paul introduces, that sexual immorality is a sin against our own body - and that however we want to understand what he is actually communicating, it is unique. For me, it all goes back to this first verse of this reading, “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. (ESV). Another translation says it this way, “I have the right to do anything,” you said - but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” - but I will not be mastered by anything. (NIV) However I look at this...I think an important question for consideration today is this - “What has mastered me, or what is in the process of mastering me, that I need to consider, that I need to address, and that I need to pray for either the courage to flee or the will power to manage?” Another great takeaway for us from Paul today!

If you have read this passage, you know that this is about Paul addressing this group regarding some disputes that have apparently ended up in public courts. For some context and background, according to my study Bible, in Paul's time people could not bring cases against those who were superior to them socially (e.g., son versus father or slave versus master). As a result, the elite used the court system to display their superiority over others. Juries were also influenced by the social or political status of an individual, making it difficult for the marginalized to obtain justice. This would have also made it a little silly for these people, living under a Christian worldview and faith, to go to court and hope for a reasonable outcome. Effectively, the system was rigged against them. Now, we don't know much else about this, but we can kind of infer that there must have been a bunch of this going on, and we can assume that there was a fair amount of it that was fairly frivolous or Paul wouldn't have been addressing this. Here is another thought on this though - think about the courts for a minute; are courts charged with doing what's ‘right' or what's ‘legal'? Obviously it is the latter. Having been through a divorce, and a specific type of divorce with specific circumstances, I can definitely attest to the fact that the courts aren't supposed to apply any real moral lens to what they are doing...they are just applying the law. Perhaps Paul is putting a message out there that we shouldn't be dealing with legalities and legal limits, our issues should be addressed through a moral lens first. Think about how unappealing this ruling might be for some people, “Bob, yes, Mike did wrong in that he stole from you. Here is what we are going to do - Mike, you are going to ask for forgiveness and Bob, you are going to extend it.” That is not what Bob wants, especially not in a state of anger. And Mike probably doesn't want to ask for forgiveness. But, if these two were to really explore that process and were to explore reconciliation, that would probably end the issue more times than not. Now, obviously, not all issues can be settled this way, and there are issues of murder and more serious cases and all of that, but MUCH of what is in our court system today is likely this kind of stuff...petty issues that the church should be able to handle if believers come in faith, ready to live out their faith, and seeking reconciliation rather than revenge. The courts are a place where people seek revenge in today's world...I have to think that was somewhat similar to Paul's time in a lot of ways...in some ways, people never change because sin was around then as it is now. So, my question for today...am I living subject to God's commands? Really? Or do I take what's convenient and leave what's not, and then look for ways to leverage the Bible for my benefit? That's what so many of us do as believers, we use the Bible as a whip. This is a great thought to consider and to pray about today.

The rest of this chapter, which we started a couple of days ago, gives more color to the idea of judging those inside the church and those outside of the church. Paul makes a point that I think is so important - that as a body of believers, we are responsible for judging those INSIDE of the church, and NOT those OUTSIDE of the church. Here is a subtle way to think about this that - you ever sit in church and hear the pastor talking about something, and you thought, “I know someone who ought to hear this...”...ever think that? Well, perhaps it is ME that should be hearing it. It is so easy to look at others and to think about how what is being taught would be useful for others, but God wants to talk to us. We are responsible for us. And, the church that we belong to is responsible for caring for us, for holding us up and challenging us to grow, and for judging us who are members of the body. Just as our individual focus shouldn't be on ‘others who need to hear this message', as a church, we shouldn't be thinking about judging the world, we should be thinking about how we can inspire our members to grow, how we can walk beside and support members who are participating in that growth and how we should be more direct in intercepting those who are in silent rebellion. Here is the challenge though - it is sometimes (not always) hard to know if someone is really trying to grow and develop as a believer or not. That said, it is much easier to know that about ourselves. A healthy body of believers is a body that is self-aware and personally motivated to get better. And this brings us back to a big part of the importance of small groups, life groups, Sunday school, or whatever you want to call it. It is important that there is a ‘church within the church' where there can be enough ‘being known', enough intimacy, that we can be personally challenged. It is a common misconception that we aren't supposed to judge others...that's not the whole truth. God calls us to judge the insiders, not to judge the outsiders. And, if we want a great example of how to do it, Paul is providing it hear. Paul is saying, “Follow me, do as I do...and if you don't want to move in that direction, we love you, and we'll be ready for you when you come back and decide to move in that way.” Strong stuff!

We are focusing only on a few verses this morning, because there is a very important idea being communicated. The background on this situation is movie-worthy...there is a small group of Christians gathering together and meeting, and like all churches they have sin festering inside of the church. I say ‘like all churches' because all of our churches are full of people and people sin. And what's happening here is that there is a young guy who is sleeping with what seems to be his father's wife, which is likely his step-mother or his father's ex-wife (not his birth mother though). And, again, sin is sin and we all commit sins, and all sins are bad...but the issue here is the optics. Everyone can see this sin, everyone knows about it - heck, Paul even knows about it and Paul is miles away without Internet or Facebook to hear about it. The problem is that this is the very thing that makes it difficult for Christians to be attractive and inviting to outsiders...outsiders look at what's going on and what Christians proclaim to be all about and immediately see the hypocrisy. Now, we all know that both Christians and non-Christians commit sins of all kinds, and we all know that Christians don't claim to be sinless, but some sins (like this one) are an obstruction to the mission of the church, which is to bring people into the faith. Further, different sins (while ALL offensive to God) require different remedies. Paul is suggesting that the church send this guy out and let him do his thing, to love him from a distance instead of IN the group, so as to not hinder others from coming to Christ. Paul ISN'T saying throw him out and forget him. Paul isn't saying that this guy is any less a person and any less deserving of forgiveness and grace...Paul is saying that UNTIL THIS GUY COMES BACK OF HIS OWN FREE WILL, we should let him walk in the direction that he is already heading. That's the judgement Paul has placed on him. And here is where the church and Christians get into trouble...we tell the world that affairs are wrong, and people on the outside see us ‘judging them' in that sense, and if we don't do the same with our own folks INSIDE of the church, we will be nothing by hypocrites. Again though, there is a difference between asking this guy not to come back to their gathering until he repents of his sin and shunning him, dropping him from your life, and withholding forgiveness. And, we don't know anything more than what's in these couple of verses, but we have to assume this has been going on for a bit and that initial discussions about this, and attempts to stop this, have been unsuccessful. So, we are down the road with this thing. The point of today is that judgement INSIDE the church is important - we should have enough love for each other and enough mutual respect to hold each other accountable to the standards to which we are all committing. It isn't that we should hold each other perfectly accountable, it is that we should hold each other accountable to moving in a direction of growth. And as soon as someone knowingly moves in the other direction, they should be approached, and it should be addressed...at least that is what Paul seems to think.

In today's reading, which is pretty strong and pointed from Paul, here is the verse that really jumped out at me: 10 “We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.” When we peal back the onion on this verse a little, there is an idea that speaks to me. When he says fools, “we are fools for Christ's sake”, looking at various translations and the interlinear literal translation, I am left thinking what Paul is communicating is that the ‘we', meaning ‘he and his teaching cohort', live a life of “Yes God, now what would you have me do?” vs. the Corinthians to which he is speaking who live a life of “What do you want God, so I can consider it?”. Paul is a fool for Christ in that he is fully bought it, he's given Christ a blank check over his life, and he'll follow where Christ leads, he'll jump when He says jump. When he says that these Corinthians are wise in Christ, I believe he is saying that they KNOW their stuff, they KNOW about the resurrection and about Jesus and about God, but they aren't bought in...they haven't given Christ their checkbook. Or, we could use a car analogy - Paul is in the passenger seat of his own car with Christ in drive of his life...the Corinthians have Christ in the passagner seat. Subtle difference in orientation, big difference in outcomes. This is a GREAT idea to pray about, and a great idea to consider for ourselves...who is in front of the wheel in my life? Is Christ in the driver's seat in some areas, but not all? Great, great thought! And then Paul goes on to say that he is weak and they are strong, that he is disrespected and shamed and they are honored. What is implied here is that Paul is saying that he is being disrespected and shamed by culture, and that these folks are held in high esteem by culture...not by God. In other words, they are worried about what culture thinks about them, not what God thinks. This is another fantastic idea to ponder...and we talked about this yesterday when we asked this question: “For whose benefit, to further whose mission, am I making this decision, God's or my own?”. Another way to ask this question would be, “Whose honor am I seeking...God's or my own?”. All great questions. All challenging questions. The Lord's Prayer, which is something I have been working on recently with my daughter, actually has this idea built into it: “.Our Father in Heaven, let the glory be to you. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”, in other words, “God, you are God, I am not...you are in control, you made the world, and you deserve all of the glory...you have given me everything I have and you can take it away in a moment. I know you have a plan for my life, and just pray that I would have wisdom to get a glimpse of it and the courage to come alongside of your mission and your vision while I am here on earth...I know that's my best shot at real joy in life.” That is the same as saying, “Jesus take the wheel”, or “Jesus, yes...now what would you have me do.” Paul is giving us a great example of being an imitator of Christ, and asking that we follow him in that.

In the first couple of verses, there are some things apparently going on in the original Greek that unlock some depth and meaning here. In the world of slavery, there were the slaves that did the lowest form of labor, which was essentially like grunt work. Then there were slaves that were basically in more of a management role, overseeing the work and directing the work so as to make sure things went smoothly for the master. In these lines, Paul is using that ‘master slave' kind of word, to indicate to these readers that they were entrusted by God and empowered by God, but that they were also accountable to God at the same time. And, at the same time, Paul is addressing a very common tendency that these readers and this culture had, to be overly concerned about their worldly appearance. In another word, their ‘reputation'. This is as true of us today as it was of them then, that we care far too much about that as a culture. And lastly Paul tells the readers that He hasn't spent any time considering himself, judging himself in that way, or caring about what the culture says of him. For me, in reading this, the thing that I am going to think about throughout the day is this idea of reputation...of really letting go of what others think about me. For me, this isn't an area where I have a tremendous struggle, but I would be foolish to think that I am immune to the influence of others' opinions. I can learn from Paul here, and I can be inspired by his message to trust God for my identity, and to look at God to get my cues as to how I am doing. Paul is a great example of someone living on-mission, and staying on-mission. He calls us to the mat on this - to be stewards of the blessings and the message that we've been given. It begs this question of us as we are making decisions in our daily lives, “For whose benefit, to further whose mission, am I making this decision, God's or my own?” Great reading this morning, and strong words from a great example to follow.

God is going to do what God is going to do, with or without you. God will reward us for our participation in His vision for our future...some how, some way. In the end, I think that's really the gist of what I read this morning. Paul wonders through a bit of a restatement of the topics from chapters 1 and 2 here in chapter 3, and I have read it 4-5 times and haven't really come away with anything to which I feel all that compelled to dive into like I normally do. These two truths are definitely embedded in this text though, and we see these same ideas scattered across scripture in various places and in various ways. We don't know what hangs in the balance when we take a step forward in our faith, when we take God up on His invitation for us to join Him in our journey. That's an amazing reality for us. This morning, I am going to stop early and I am going to pray a little more, a little longer, and I am going to give God the extra time that I haven't used in writing and journaling. Perhaps that's what He wanted from me today. See you tomorrow.

This is a somewhat short chapter with 2 distinct themes. The first theme belongs to the first 5 verses and it continues from the last chapter in addressing eloquence of speech, and how Paul felt very strongly that we should hold to the main ideas more often than not when preaching...the fact that Christ was crucified. Now, I am not suggesting that this is the only topic that should be covered on Sundays and in small group teaching sessions...and I don't think that's Paul point either. I think Paul is communicating that we need to fight to keep the main thing the main thing. Last reading we talked about divisions in the church, and denominations, and those arise largely on the ares of discussion that AREN'T the main thing. It isn't he resurrection that divides the Baptists and the Presbyterians or even the Protestants, Catholics, and Assyrians...these differ in the small things. But we've allowed the small things to define us. I think that's Paul's point - we are missing the point. On this, I think Paul has a great point. As I said yesterday, I have yet to come across a non-Christian believer who has told me that the reason they are NOT a Christian is because they have thoroughly investigated the claims of the resurrection and has decided that they aren't true. It is always something else...and that is exactly what Paul was wanting the church to avoid. And then he gets into the topic of the spirit, which spills into tomorrow's reading as well...but this is a heavy topic. I will let tomorrow's potentially get into the more ‘thorny' spiritual stuff, but today I want to point out a simple takeaway idea from what Paul is saying, something I have heard said many times during my reading and studying. That is this: “If you'll do as God says, you'll see as God sees”. It is a simple idea that I think kind of gets at some of what Paul is communicating here - that God has placed a spirit inside of us, His spirit, at the point that we accept Christ, and that spirit guides us in our lives from that point on. We can be in-tune with it, or we can miss it, but it is there. These folks, in Paul's mind, received that spirit, but they haven't leaned into it and led their lives in a manner that positioned them to be led by it. That's what Paul is getting at with them. That's what he is getting at with us. So that's the question for me to day. Am I praying like this: “God, please give me your wisdom and show me what to do”, at which point I am subtly and subconsciously thinking “...so I can decide if that sounds good to me and then I will do it if it does”; or am I praying “God, yes, I will do your will...no what do are you calling me to do?”. That second prayer is WAY more vulnerable and WAY more in-keeping with Paul's view here that we are spiritual beings to be led by God. And I will tell you, it is both freeing and scary to pray that second prayer. Sometimes, I will just pray this, “God, I want to want what you want for me life...I really do...please help me to get there”. That's an honest prayer, way more honest than the first one...and it is me telling God that I am messed up and I know it. But I have seen God answer that prayer in my life...He has shown up to help my heart to change. That's my prayer today!

Verse 18 is really interesting to me - Paul says that the Words of the cross are folly to those who are perishing, who are dying...and I think it is meaning those who are falling away from God and living in the world; destined for eternal death. But these same words have power for those who have turned to God. And, you know, that is so true in my experience. When I opened my heart to God, I started to hear things communicated in His word, I started to be able to see things I didn't see before. When we turn to God, we are able to hear from Him for the first time. This is a great little nugget of truth to get this section of reading going. And the remainder of this chapter is brilliant...just brilliant. Paul is arguing about how Jews want signs and Gentiles want wisdom and that these groups think these are the ‘proof' they need to believe in God. In reality, God has given both and both groups have obviously missed them. And, further, God did something in the world that runs counter to their ideas, that runs counter to our worldly wisdom, that makes it so obvious that God is Who He says He is, that it can't be missed. I mean, wisdom says dead people stay dead. If you want a sign, what more do you want than a man was obviously dead and then was seen walking around amongst friends, after proclaiming it would happen ahead of time. What other signs to you want other than the hundreds of prophecies that were given in the Jewish Old Testament that were fulfilled in Jesus? The Jews couldn't accept this as their sign because, get this, their traditions say that dead people can't rise from the grave. And the world says Jesus can't exist because dead people can't rise from the grave...science has shown that to us. But, if God created science, is He really going to be bound by it? Wouldn't it make sense that His proof would be something OUTSIDE of science rather than inside of the bounds of science? What other sign would you want other than something so obviously ‘of God' than that? I think Paul is trying to shake these Christians awake and say, “Guys, this isn't that complicated...Jesus was dead and now He isn't, and we are therefore, as believers, charged to live the life He taught because He is obviously God.” And, of course, he is communicating one other idea, “...and guys, this life that you are living ain't it.”. Such great stuff from Paul in this chapter. Just so well written.

When you read this text, it is obvious that there are divisions popping up in the church, and that various leaders are being followed and it seems like they are almost being idolized. We know the point isn't that these leaders are set up on a pedestal, but that God would be honored and glorified and worshipped, so we know there is an imbalance. Thinking about denominations - let's first identify the positives. Christians, and all people, like to belong to groups. We like being a part of something bigger than ourselves. We like connection to others. We like when our beliefs are aligned. And, we know that there are areas of our worship where we don't have definitive answers as to ‘how' to do things based on scripture alone. A classic example is baptism. If we just look at this one element of Christian religious practice, we can find a myriad of methods and practices that have been adopted by different groups. And that's just ONE element. If you Google “Christian Denominations” and go to images, you will see some great charts and graphs that show how things have progressed over time. And, the thing is, that looks (to me) kind of negative, because it looks like there is so much division. But, in another sense, it means that wherever you land in your faith journey, and whatever I believe and however I want to practice my faith, there is likely to be a group that I can be a part of and feel that sense of unity. Think of it this way...since it is March Madness season...people are fans of college basketball while holding to different ideas about how certain rules should be changed, whether college athletes should or shouldn't get paid, and whether having various leagues and divisions are better than others...but we love college basketball, and those arguments we have about those nuances are because we want to make it better. Perhaps denominational Christianity is somewhat akin to that. Obviously though, there is a negative side to all of this as well. I think the MOST negative result to all of that division is that it doesn't look great to those outside the faith. It looks like division. It looks like chaos. It definitely looks confusing...heck, it is confusing for most of us as well. It doesn't look ‘inviting'. We may be able to agree to disagree and still love each other inside of the Christian community, but that doesn't change the fact that those outside of the community just see division.

The biggest theme that I can spot that really flows through this entire section of this letter is that we aren't to serve our religious practices, our traditions, and our bodies. We are to live lives that direct our bodies to reflect our love for God and for those around us. There were so many ‘hollow' practicing Christians who would go through the motions and try to check the boxes and get God on their side rather than trying to orient their lives around living on mission for God. And that hasn't really changed today...in fact, I know I am guilty of that at various degrees and at various points in my life. It is a natural thing to be be self-centered and self-serving and to try to do just enough to get God on our side but to do what we want to do, when we want to do it, and with whom we want to do it. But Paul is really teaching us through this second half of Corinthians that life is about more than that...it is about actually transforming our minds to a life of service to God rather than service to self. It isn't easy, but it is the point that Paul is driving towards. Throughout the rest of this letter, he shows us how our faith can be expressed through physical action as it relates to the foods we eat, to how we do ministry both avocationally and vocationally, how we can live ‘in' the world but not ‘of' the world, and how we can live out our faiths in our marital relationships as well. There is a ton of stuff in here that we can use and apply in our lives and we'll really dig into this stuff when we go back through this more methodically. The last thing I will say is that we see Paul mention this idea yet again of follow me and do what I do instead of watch me and do what I say. I think this can be overlooked really easily, but it is so important. We should live our lives in a way that invites people to follow us. We should know that our lives are an example. Our faith is caught more than taught...meaning, people are going to decide what they think about the Christian faith based on how we act. Too many times people, me included, are Sunday Christians in that we tend to put on the Christian face for one day each week and then go about living our lives in a manner that doesn't reflect our faith. If our faith isn't constantly challenging our lifestyle, we aren't growing. We should have a dull ache within us as we consider this thought, “If I REALLY believed what I say I believe, then I probably would do ____ or wouldn't do ____”. Our faith should be informing and shaping our lives continuously. Paul is showing us various ways in which we can apply that idea throughout the rest of Corinthians with this morning's reading. Tomorrow, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and we'll dig in deeper!

Here are some talking points and topics I pulled from the first 7 chapters of this read-through. Paul really starts off taking a jab at the way church was being done, and it sounds a LOT like denomination type stuff that is a part of our church ethos even now. He talks about how some followed one teacher and some another...you know, I really think this is something worth looking into and it may be that I spend some time on this. Are denominations antithetical to the faith Jesus gave us? Really interesting stuff. Then he talked about living spiritually vs. living in the flesh and this is a study that could last a lifetime...or, that really SHOULD last a lifetime. He then expands on that by discussing talking vs. doing, about being an example and living by leading vs. being a hypocrite. Strong, strong stuff. When we get to chapter 5 - he says that he has already pronounced judgement on this group of believers, about an almost incestual relationship, and he shows us when and who we are to judge as a church. This is a really important chapter for the church. He talks about how all things are ‘lawful', not all things are ‘helpful'. And this goes straight to the heart of the book that I just read, “Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets”, but Andy Stanley. Paul is teaching that we should, essentially, use wisdom and God's will as our guide, not the legal and moral boundaries. If we are talking about those boundaries, we are already in trouble and headed the wrong direction. And I love that Paul goes on to teach that we are only to live the life God has given us...our own journey, our own life, our own unique calling. I am not accountable for the life you life, nor am I judged in comparison to you, nor you me...we each have a unique calling. And Paul doesn't say this, but my life certainly has taught me that I may never know the impact that MY faith has on you, and yours on mine, but our faith is our story and our greatest contribution to this world. When we follow God, we do the most impactful living possible. That's a great message. Tomorrow we will pick up in chapter 8 for our read through of 1 Corinthians.

As we ease into this, it is important to remember that Paul was raised in a devout Jewish home, he was a Pharisee by training, and he was both Greek and a Roman citizen. So, he was very well equipped to understand the culture of Rome and or Corinth. In terms of 1 Corinthians, this letter was written about 18 years after Jesus' resurrection and Acts 18 lays out some background on when Paul came to Corinth and Priscilla and Aquila. It seems like this is the place where Paul's ministry really pivoted from the Jews to the Gentiles there in Corinth. There were thought to be around 100 people in this church there in Corinth. Paul stayed in Corinth for about a year and a half and it was about 2 years later, after leaving Corinth, while Paul was in Ephesus, that this letter was actually written. Corinth was one of the most important cities in the ancient world. In 146 BC, the Romans decimated the city and it laid bare for about a hundred years until Julius Caesar issued a decree to rebuild it in about 46 BC. Roman soldiers were given land there, Greeks flocked there to rebuild it, and immigrants from all over landed there because of its central location between major shipping lines and Rome in general, and Egypt and North Africa. The population was about 100,000 people, 5 times bigger than Athens, and Corinth was about 100 years old when Paul showed up. Interesting tidbit; when people wanted to sail around the peninsula just south of Corinth, The currents and the winds were so bad that what they would often do he's come in and dark on the South side of Corinth, unload all of their cargo from the ship, have some of the crew carry or push the cargo across the 4 mile bridge that was the width of Corinth, and they would sell the ship around the peninsula empty to avoid shipwrecks, or at least to protect the cargo if there is one. Sometimes they might even try to pull the boat itself across the land to avoid the journey around the Southern tip. This was a busy place, metropolitan, a place where slaves could earn their freedom and become wealthy, a melting pot of cultures, and there was even an athletic event called the Isthmian Games. These were like the Olympics, second only to the Olympics and popularity, and they took place right there in Corinth. And Corinth didn't have shelter for all the people who would flock to these - they would utilize tent makers. That puts Paul and his hosts, Pricilla and Aquila, in the midst of all of that. In fact, Paul apparently witnessed at least one of these games while he was there in Corinth, and it is thought that this influenced some of Paul's writing; think about 1 Cor 9:24. That sounds like it draws from that setting, athletic games, doesn't it? So, it is easy to see that Corinth really resembles America in a lot of ways. And it places this letter, and the second, into a context that really applies to us. I am looking forward to diving into this tomorrow!

To start off on the background of Corinthians - there is no good reason to think that Paul isn't the author of these letters. Originally we think there were 4, but we only have 2 of them. Corinth was an economic hub of this time period, in the early to mid 50s AD. It sat in the center of a major sea-bound thorough-fair, which made it a center of various cultures and peoples; it was very diverse. Corinth was also a center of entertainment - at this time, one of the things that was popular was ticketed events to see orators who would teach, entertain, and philosophize. When Paul got to Corinth, he befriended Priscilla and Aquila who were tentmakers by trade and who took Paul in as he launched his ministry. Later Paul bumps into Apollo, who was a skilled Christian apologist as well, and finds out that Apollos had been in Corinth around the same time as Paul. So, there was definitely some action in Corinth at this time in terms of the spreading of the Christian faith. In terms of the purpose of this letter, Paul had planted a church there and he was writing to them. By ‘church', I am meaning that he has gone and taught and a group of believers had formed and started meeting regularly to discuss the teaching and to examine their lives against the faith they were professing. It is probably much more like what we would call a small group or something like a kind of Sunday school than a ‘church'. At any rate, it sounds like things weren't going all that well and that Paul had received communication about this, and about confusion from a previous letter he had sent to them, and that prompted Paul to write to them again in a more thorough manner - in this letter, he was giving instruction on how to apply their faith and to live a God-centered life. The church in Corinth was plagued with an arrogance and an underlying tone of abuse as it relates to that free will that is given to Christians by way of God's Grace. I use the word abuse because the people were essentially using the gift of Grace as an excuse to live the way they wanted rather than a motivation for living the way God would have them live. In this way, and in so much of these letters to this church, I see parallels with how many of us treat God's Grace. That makes these letters very relatable and applicable to us. The way the letter is set up, Paul leads us through this letter that is divided into 5 sections, addressing 5 themes - divisions, sex, food, the gathering, and the resurrection. And with each one of them Paul does the same thing, describing an element of the Gospel and then leading us through how to apply that truth in our lives. Tomorrow morning, I am going to continue working through background before doing the read-through of Corinthians, and I will work through a study on 1 Corinthians from Lakewood church that Joel Osteen's brother, Paul Osteen, does...it looks really interesting and I stumbled upon it this morning when doing some research for this - should be interesting. The link to that is in the show notes below if you are inclined to watch it. https://youtu.be/iDzKPAofh8c

We've gotten through Andy's framework for making decisions now, and the book, and here are the 5 questions he presents: Am I being honest with myself, really? What story do I want to tell? Is there a tension that deserves my attention? What is the wise thing to do? What does love require of me? Something that I think makes sense to ask ourselves before we venture into this questions would be this: “What decision am I trying to make, and am I open to the truth about this decision?”. I think we sometimes knowingly make wrong decisions and we don't want to know the truth about them. But, I think it is sometimes easier to ask this questions, “Am I open to the truth?” before we even get into discovering the truth that question number 1 will draw out. But, either way, these are our questions. This is a heck of a framework. I have used TextExpander to create a template with this 5 questions and, from now on, anywhere I type “@5Q” on a page these 5 questions will appear. I will commit to using them in my life as a part of my daily decision making. I can't see how this wouldn't be helpful and illuminating over time. As always, Andy's book was really good, well written, succinct, and powerful. Tomorrow, I am going to start reading between background on 1 Corinthians. I am going to start down the path of deep-diving into these letters from Paul to the church of Corinth. See you then, and hope you enjoyed this book as much as I did.

What does love require of me? This is the relationship question. This is a question that really tugs at your heart if you ask it honestly. And here's why...it is a much more subjective question. If you REALLY want to make this question difficult, then you must tie in another element, which goes like this: “Knowing what I know about Jesus and the love He gave to me, what does love require of me?”. Ouch. And, look at this, there is ample suggestion of what love actually is if we open up scripture to what is often referred to as the wedding or love chapter: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. So, we know these: Love is patient and kind Love does not envy Love is not arrogant or rude Love doesn't insist on its own way (ouch) Love isn't irritable or resentful Love doesn't rejoin in wrongdoing, but in truth Love bears all things - the good and the bad, it believes through those things, it hopes in those things; it endures Love never ends Now, that's a list. But, back to our question, what does that list, if that's the example we are following, what does THAT require of me? Talk about a heck of a standard...that's hard. Imagine if everyone asked that question when plotting their choices in life. Wow. That would be unbelievable.

The maturity question - “What is the WISE thing to do?”. Notice the subtle brilliance in this question - it isn't “What can I get away with?”, or “What is legal?”, or “What is permissible?”. In fact, Andy expands on it and makes this into such a powerful question as written: “In light of my past experiences, in light of my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing to do? Or, given what I know about me, what I have experienced and learned in life - given what I want for myself and for my future and for the future of my family - what is the best choice, the wise choice? Great, great question. Immediately coming to mind while was reading this was a passage from the New Testament, from 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Notice the apostle Paul's comments in 1 Corinthians 10:23: “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. I can almost see this same line of thinking, this same question, buried in his comments. Poor decisions are like dog poop in the yard - if you aren't careful you'll not only step in it, but you may actually bring it into the house. It just goes with you. This question forces us to face the very things we are trying to ignore in my decision making process. This question is personal...we could just as easily restate the question with the emphasis on the YOU vs. elsewhere and create an emphasis on that element - what is the wise thing for YOU, for ME, to do. The point of this question is this - if we avoid doing what is unwise, we will certainly avoid doing what's wrong. If we avoid doing what is unwise, we will avoid regret. Wow, what a strong question.

Is there a tension that deserves your attention? That's the question for this chapter; the conscience question. Of the questions, I think this, or the next one maybe, is perhaps the question that requires the most courage. I think that's the case because this one often isn't quite so obvious...and this one requires some thought many times. In order to ask this question, we have to be willing to pause and to consider opinions counters to our own. That's another way of saying that it requires humility. Here is what happens, at least for me - get into decision-making mode and it is like a brief high. I get excited to get a decision done and to move on. And, once I start in that direction, I want it done, and I typically go into a mode of confirmation bias; that is, I have already kind of made the decision in my mind and now I am looking for ways to confirm that I am right. I am no longer a detective, but I am member of the defense counsel. I become a defense attorney for my idea. And, it is true with alcohol as well as with anything else...intoxication desensitizes our instincts. Not only alcohol - all kinds...we are intoxicated with the idea of being right, with being done with the decision as a whole, with moving forward or moving on. And this lust or intoxication for progress removes that edge in us; that edge that can hear that subtle, “ah-ha...maybe you should consider this thing”. And while our emotions shouldn't drive the proverbial train, and we shouldn't be steered solely on the basis of our emotions, our emotions SHOULD be heard. This is the step in the process where we are intentionally tapping into them...into that internal voice that's trying to tell us something. It is amazing how our minds can relate ideas that are sometimes seemingly unconnected, and it can provide this internal warning. This is about pausing to at least consider that internal nudge. And here is another thing I have noticed in my own life - that ignoring our internal nudges long enough also desensitizes us to them. If we ignore that emotional tug, the next time it doesn't tug as hard. And the next time, even less. And eventually we don't feel it at all. And that's how good people start doing bad things without really connecting their actions to their beliefs...they have become desensitized because they ignored their intuition too long. That's a bad place to be...and it definitely sets us up to make poor choices over time. And, this is another reason intentional and productive relationships are so important...they can counter this erosion, and they can help to restore it and to keep it in check. The same intuition that sends us that nudge loves when a friend of ours confirms that they are seeing the same thing, and it just helps that intuition to be affirmed and to stay sharp. Bottom line for today - let that “something”, that internal nudge that is in you bother you - listen and look; examine it. At least be sure you know WHY it is there before you move forward.

What story do you want to tell? What a great question - Andy calls it the Legacy question. We don't think of our lives as stories, and we don't think about how our private decisions don't remain private...they become part of your story, and the story of those coming after you. Some day, you want to be able to tell your story; ALL of it. You won't want to skip any chapters. But it is so hard, in the moment, to keep this perspective. Just as we saw in the last chapter with Confirmation Bias tainting our ability to see reality, to see truth, here we have a hard time keeping the bigger perspective, keeping in mind that we are going to one day see our lives as a story that we are going to want to tell, and we struggle because of another psychological bias called focalism. Focalism is just the tendency to get hyper-focused on this one thing, this one moment. It is when all of our ability to imagine what could be and our ability to see the big picture gets essentially taken over by a focus on the here-and-now; in the moment. And the beauty of this question is that it is almost impossible not to see the bigger picture when we ask this question...what story do I want to tell? One thing that is difficult with this concept is that, with most stories we watch on TV or read in books, we get to the end and we lose sight of what it was like, in the moment...we are tainted by hindsight. But the next time you are reading through a book or watching a show, see if you can think to yourself, right here and now, this is when the story is being written. See if you can get yourself to think about what's been and what's to come, in the context of the moment. It can be a habit that translates into our personal lives then as well...we just need to form the habit of asking this question, in the moment. And, the question is so good, it doesn't need a ton of explanation...it just takes to into the right mode of thinking. Andy tells the story of Jospeh, and I have heard him talk about this many times...it is a GREAT illustration of this idea. The story can be stopped at multiple points and you can see this idea both being leveraged (in Joseph's life) and being ignored (in the lives of most of the other characters in the story).

The first question, the integrity question, as Andy calls it, is this: Why do I do this, really? Why do I want this, really? Why did I do that, really? You rarely have to sell yourself on a good idea. Further, you rarely have to justify a good idea to yourself. Justifying is just akin to ‘just-a-lying'. And it is even a little more sinister than that - most of us aren't REALLY on a truth quest; we are on a confirmation quest. We want to be right more than we want to be true. Our best version of ourselves finds a way to seek and apply truth rather than preference. That's a huge idea! Why do we do this? Psychologists say that we have a hard time with this, with telling ourselves lies, is because of confirmation bias. Think about abortion and gun control. You and I already have opinions on these, and every time we see something that CONFIRMS our opinion, we key in on it, and when we see something to the opposite of what we believe, we can creatively forget it or ignore it, without trying very hard! This plays into the topic of the last book I read as well - we talked about the Christian faith vs. atheism. The reality is, smart people have found a way to be on both sides of the discussion, and with good reason. The point we should take from the book is that we shouldn't feel like we are idiots if we truth in God's existence and in the story of Jesus - there is evidence for that. But, whichever way we decide, the truth is that we tend to identify and adopt evidence that supports our view, and we ignore the other. This is the issue between Democrats and Republicans - just as it a problem internally with ourselves. The reality is that nothing changes until we are completely honest with ourselves. Andy says that the 3 areas where people tend to have the biggest regrets are purchases, relationships, and habits. Andy calls this the 3 D's - Dumb purchases, doomed relationships, destructive habits. He makes a great point - if a sales person used on you, the same pitch YOU use on YOU, you would be appalled. Think about how you justify your purchasing decisions - “If you don't like it, just donate it.” Or, “This is the same as the one you already have, except that it has this one extra thing...”. Or, “Come on, you've been working hard, you deserve this.” Ever said those to yourself? Sure you have...we all have. But if someone else said to me, that would almost be offensive. Let's not give ourselves slack on this! And we do things like this, we justify things like this with relationships and habits as well. Relationships and habits are so similar, but they are typically more on-going and behavioral than the purchases, which tend to be more impulsive decisions, for most people. Think about this - you can't talk your way out of a problem that you behaved your way into. And, the thinking that led you into the problem isn't likely to be the thinking that leads you out of it. We have to cut through the noise and get clarity in order to change - and change requires full and unbridled truth. Dishonesty fuels addictions of all kinds. Great, great chapter - and a great question. Why am I doing this, REALLY?

This book has a simple premise; our decisions determine our story. Further, our decisions determine our legacy, and trajectory of the lives of those coming along behind us. And we know this - private decisions have a public outcomes; our personal decisions won't forever be personal. The decisions we make really do matter. Even the seemingly trivial ones often compound and become part of the bigger story. Andy didn't say this, but in listening, I thought about this as well - we make TONS of decisions. Tons of them. And we get tired and fatigued...that is actually a thing in the executive coaching world - decision fatigue. So a framework like we are going to explore can help to automate decision-making in a way that forces us to filter the decision and not just plow through on autopilot when we are tired. Andy also gave us one of my favorite quotes of his: most people don't decide to ruin their lives intentionally, but most people don't plan NOT to. Let me say that again, but it is so strong - most people don't decide to ruin their lives intentionally, but most people don't plan NOT to. These questions are part of a plan NOT to ruin our lives. And we all know this, that we may not be good at sales, but we are all good at selling ourselves. So, when should you pause and use this framework? Whenever we start selling ourselves. Whenever we start selling ourselves we should pause and work through these 5 questions. And why is that? Because rarely do we have to sell ourselves on a good idea! Here are the 5 questions: Am I being honest with myself, really? What story do I want to tell? Is there a tension that deserves my attention? What is the wise thing to do? What does love require of me? These are so simple...yet they are so illuminating if you really think about them. I have already created a template for journaling and I am going to commit to using this framework, literally through writing, as I make decisions over the next 30 days, even on seemingly trivial decisions, just to be sure I turn this into a habit for myself personally.

I really enjoyed the reading of God's Not Dead, and I think I am going to do one more book reading before I dive into the next few Bible readings. I have a book I have been wanting to go through called “Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets” by Andy Stanley. I will start that tomorrow and I assume that this will be a quick read, as his books are normally quick and really good. Today though, finishing up this Proverbs reading, a couple things jump out at me. First was verse 29: “Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.” What jumps out at me is how obvious this instruction is - that we aren't to pay people back. The verse preceding tells us not to be a witness against our neighbor without a cause, but this verse steps it up...don't repay evil with evil. We see this sprinkled throughout Jesus' teachings as well, that we should leave vengeance to God, and that once we've claimed Grace for ourselves in accepting Jesus, then we've also disclaimed our right to hold others to a standard to which WE aren't being held. It is interesting to see this in the Old Testament context. But think about it purely from a position of wisdom, taking Jesus out of it for a moment...when we are worried about revenge, what are we really doing? We are getting hyper-focused on (a) ourselves and (b) hurting someone else. There is no way to live in love if you we are (a) focused on ourselves and (b) trying to hurt someone. If we are acting in love and truly for THEIR benefit, then we can approach them and can seek correction, but that takes dealing with ourselves and our own issues first...and that's an entirely different thing. This is wisdom because this is reality - that vengeance hurts us in the end. The second thing that jumped out at me were verses 33 and 34, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” This got me thinking about something I have heard often in personal development circles, that you can tell the size of a person by the size of the problem that really compels him, or that really gains his attention. I think we can fall into a trap on both sides of this - that we can be so busy with things in life that we miss the important things, and similarly, we can be so laid back and so uninvolved and unproductive that we are constantly focused on trivial things. There is a balance that we want to find. I tend to be stuck in the former personally, which is no better than that latter...we would be wise to monitor ourselves in this way, and to make sure we are in balance in this area.

Jumping back into Proverbs as I set my sights on the next reading, we get back to where left off previously with chapter 24; there are two things that stuck out to me this morning. First is verse 12, “If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?”. I think we are all masters of deception - especially to ourselves. And it is easy to claim we didn't know something or we didn't realize something while, in our hearts, that isn't entirely true. The writer here is reminding us that we need to go deeper with ourselves...when we are tempted to wiggle out of something with this excuse, “I didn't realize that _____”, we should pause and ask ourselves, “Really?”...or, “Did I REALLY not know that?”. We should realize that God doesn't call us to be perfect, but He does value authenticity, or ‘realness'. If we can't catch ourselves in these little traps and tendencies, we can go along unchecked for a long time, lying to ourselves and creating a narrative that seems right to us but that is not reality. That's when we check-up, way down the road, and we starting wondering, “How did I get here?”...and it's because we ignored this little truth, then that one, then another one...and so on. Little lies and little bits of self-deception, its like death by a thousand paper cuts. And the other thing that jumped out to me this morning is in verses 17 and 18: 17 “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, 18 lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.” Now, obviously we aren't talking about an enemy in the context of like a war...I mean, let's not take this to an extreme. I feel like the author is talking about something more like this - that guy against whom you are always competing at work, who seems to always get the recognition and the rewards...or the person you know, of whom you'd have to admit you are jealous (remember our last verse, don't lie to yourself!), and who always seems to have it all work out...or that person who's life just generally seems to be so perfect and put-together...whoever THAT person is for you, that pulls out your jealousy, of whom you are envious in one way or another...that person who you view in competitive light in that way, who isn't someone you'd call your enemy but who really kind of ends up being that in your mind...that's who we are talking about. And, all of the sudden, he or she fails...she falls on her face and things are perfect anymore, and in your immediate reaction when you find out, you have a little moment of relief, or of celebration, a little ‘yesssss' moment...I think that's what the author is talking about. and if that's in you (and we all have that in us to varying degrees), that is proof that I have work to do on myself; on my heart. We are called to love others, and love for another can't exist in the heart that celebrates when someone fails...it just isn't possible. We have to be on high alert when we see this in ourselves, and we have to be brave enough to call ourselves out, confess that, then change. I think the author is confronting the sin of jealousy here, and this is just a vicious sin that hides in our hearts and is easy to miss. I think this ties into verse 12 as well, because this is one of the easiest sins to which we can cling and be unaware, that we can fail to see in the mirror. Great verses this morning!

Text is here: http://www.stevecanderson.com/journal-entries…

This is the last full chapter of thought, and Brooks makes a clear point - Christianity is growing here in America, and around the world, and it is really interesting; nominal Christianity (traditional and rigid religious practicing Christians) is actually shrinking, but evangelical Christianity (faith based on wisdom, truth, passion, and philosophy) is growing. Another way to say it would be, faith that is based on ‘the Bible says' is shrinking, but faith based on research and thought is growing. This is a good thing; the growth side at least. The problem is that those with a faith based on ‘the Bible says' is hollow and brittle, and these people are a victim of an institutionalized faith that hasn't prepared her people well. There are countless stories of people coming to faith in Jesus, and there are so many different paths people have taken to great there. But what we seem to miss are the volumes of people that come to faith through examination. That is, there are many people who actually come to faith through science, through philosophy, and through which the very lines of argument that many ‘the Bible says' Christians leave. The takeaway for me from today, and kind of pulling the contents of this book together as a whole, would be that faith based on research and science and investigation is strong and is it is achievable and even reasonable. It just requires some effort on our part.

Chapter 9 Summary: http://www.stevecanderson.com/journal-entries/gods-not-dead-rice-brooks-chapter-9

Today's reading is really more about the Bible itself. It is looking at some of the textual criticisms that have come up over time, and some of the common critiques of the Bible that people use in justifying their antithetical position as it relates to its validity. The thing is, this is an easier chapter in my opinion, as any kind of a real study of the Bible's origins and assembly leads to one reasonable outcome - this collection of writings is a miracle in-and-of-itself. There just aren't great arguments that the Bible, as a whole, isn't a very reasonable representation of historical and revelational events. People can and certainly will always argue about the spiritual element of the Bible, the fact that there is a God and there are supernatural themes and events, but no one has been able to bring a credible argument against the work as a whole. All of the issues that arise in such a critique are fleshed out with just a little textual criticism...in fact, most people who are skilled in textual criticism have accepted that the Bible as a whole is pretty well defended. Rice presents great arguments in this chapter about seeming contradictions one finds in scripture, about the assembly of the Bible, about timelines and history and all of that - it is really good. For me though, I have spent a lot of time resolving this particular issue in my personal studies. If you haven't, this is a great, great read, and a chapter well worth the time. My big take away from today's reading is more reflective...I am moved this morning; moved by the Bible itself, and that I am able to sit here and admire it, hold it in my hands, read it and gaze back into time by opening this thing up. It truly is a miracle that is often overlooked. I mean, when we understand all that had to happen for this thing to be right here in my hands, it is amazing. Great reading this morning.

This chapter is really on the validity of Jesus' story from the Bible - did Jesus exist, did He do all the things that the Bible says He did? Was He a man, myth, or Messiah? Ironically, this is the most easily confirmed historical truth from the Bible - that Jesus was a man who lived on this earth starting around 2020 years ago, that he was highly influential on the people with whom he associated and who later became proclaimed disciples of his, he was eventually hung on a cross and died the death of a hardened criminal by the Roman authorities under Pontius Pilate, and he was seen a few days later by numerous people...numbering in the hundreds. To all of that there is very little debate anymore. And the irony is that THESE truths are rarely the center of discussion when it comes to debating the existence of God and the validity of the Christian faith, and they are ultimately the only points that REALLY matter. Anyone who takes the time to really look into the life and death of Jesus with truth in mind can't help but come to the conclusion that the story of Jesus is real. It isn't really up for debate at this point. We can debate the identity of Jesus I supposed, we just can't debate the authenticity of the factual elements from scripture...history corroborates the places, the people, and the timelines. That leads to another thought - if history corroborates the places, the people, and the timelines, what does that mean of the people who wrote the Bible (the over 60 authors, 7 or 8 of them from the New Testament after Jesus' life, death, and resurrection); were they all crazy? They are the ones who claim these events from history that we can't deny, and they draw the conclusion from these events that Jesus' is God's Son, in a sense, God Himself...are they nuts? That hundreds of people claimed to have seen the risen Jesus and go along with their claims, when there would have been a VERY easy out on the grounds of not seeing Jesus, is amazingly strong evidence of the resurrection. What else explains the resurrection? That's a question atheists really have to contend with and answer...and arguing that Jesus never died doesn't fly; history refutes that too strongly and non-Christian scientists concede that point as well. But what then?

Today's reading starts off by talking about the meaning of life...and this is really one of those readings that can make your head hurt if you really think about it hard enough! Then Brooks turns to evolution, which is where I am going to start, and then I will spend the majority of the time commenting on the meaning of life stuff...Brooks comes back there in his writing as well. Here is the bottom line on the evolution thing - there are a lot of similarities between various species of animals, including man and ape, but there are still some very different elements and, from what Brooks is saying, and credible scientists will admit that there is a genetic leap to get from one species to the other. It LOOKS like evolution might explain the difference, but there are a few pieces of the puzzle that just haven't been found and can't be explained. He explores several of them, and this is one of those chapters that I would categorize as GREAT to read and to have ready - you won't remember everything, but you will remember that you were thoroughly convinced that evolutionary science is a long way from being explanatory about human life. And I have to say, sometimes that is the key with this apologetics stuff...finding a place where you can find truth, and being able to simply return to it later when you have questions. It is like building a library for your faith. Great stuff. Now, turning to the topic of “meaning”...he makes a good point, is there any coincidence that the great selling book of all time, apart from the Bible itself, is Rick Warren's “Purpose Driven Life”. Just think about this for a second...why is that? There is a cynical answer - that there are enough Christians in the world who have, as a population, purchased the book in large enough numbers to make that happen, and that is surely part of the explanation. But I know several people who are not practicing Christians, even atheists, who have read the book...it is an easily-approachable book, and it has a lot of great principles that are fairly easy to take and run with in life, and it makes for a great surface level exploration of the Christian faith. I am positive this book has impacted the world as a first step for people to test the waters on the Christian faith. But again, the question, “Why?”. It is clear, people live life in a quest for meaning. And, there is no way around the fact that my two COVID-kittens aren't doing the same thing, neither are yours, and neither are any other animals. Love, beauty, emotion, religion, meaning, purpose - these are either all human fabrications or we have had these placed into us by a creator.

And, let's just grant, for the sake of argument, that Darwin was right and that all animals were evolved from a single organism, a single cell. There is still a problem, in fact, a problem that Darwin himself cited and didn't even claim an answer to - “Where did that first cell come from?” Imagine getting a text from someone random...you've gotten one of those before. It looks like this: “aiojernasroineaoneandepomamd”. But imagine the text you got looked like this, “Hey, guess what, I won the lottery.” What's the probability that you would get THAT text randomly? And I don't mean someone sent it to you by accident, meaning to send it to someone else...I mean, you got that text because someone was sitting on their phone and it sent that...how random would THAT be? Well, that's something like a billion times more likely than the probability our DNA formed just like it in order to make life happen. Think about that for a second. Said another way, from the book Evolution from Space by Hoyle and Wickramasingle, the probability that life could originate out of nowhere with all of the right combinations of chemistry and physics would be similar to a tornado blowing through a scrapyard and piecing together a Boeing 747, gassed up and ready to fly. That's funny to think about! Mathematically, the probability is something like 1 to 10^40,000,000,000th. I don't even understand that number. Irreducible complexity - destroys the argument that evolution slowly and methodically pieced together life by proving that there are many organisms that can't exist without multiple irreducible minimums in terms of complexity. Think about this...you go to Ikea and get a new piece of furniture, which you will know has to be brought home and assembled by you...a joy of Ikea shopping. What's the likelihood that that you could ditch the directions and randomly piece things together and take them apart and try a new order for this process each time, and then end up at the final product? And you have to remember this...you can't do this with a sense of knowing that this is a book shelf, of a chair, because this is random. You would have to do this with absolutely no sense of the end game. It might be easier to think of it this way...imagine you were given all of the parts of that Boing 757 and you were told to put it together, no instructions, no computer or Youtube for help...go. That just isn't going to happen. And, in your assembly, when you recognize that your 100th decision used a piece that you later figured out needed to be used in your 2,000,000th decision, you'd have to take it all apart and start over again. I mean, come on...that's the same argument that naturalism is making. And recognize that there is a difference between evolution within species and evolution from nothing...I mean, people seem to be getting taller, and animals around the world are adapting to changes in the climate and the world...that's totally fair, but that is different than saying no life evolved into some life and we are just the 100 trillionth iteration of that process. Both the evidence from the telescope and evidence from the microscope point to the evidence of God. The bottom line for today is this - there is no credible evidence that points to the fact that there is a common ancestor vs. a common designer; it is perfectly scientific and reasonable to be a believer in God and in the story of Jesus. You can rest in that conclusion firmly. And, if you want to feel more secure in your faith, you can do so be leaning into science; you don't have to run away.

Quick pause in our reading of God's Not Dead, just for today, diving back in tomorrow morning. Today I wanted to get into God's Word directly, so I am picking up where we left off in Proverbs. We see 3 distinct themes and sections in these few verses - a command to honor your mother and father, a reminder that the adulteress lies in wait and ready to pull us into a trap, and a sobering reminder of the trap of alcohol (pun intended). It feels a little like a punch in the face this morning! I loved this verse, 23 says, “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” . What a great reminder as to the value of wisdom. Likewise, it places a value on honoring wisdom as well...leaning into it, applying it. Very strong. And then the reminder that adultery is a trap...it is rampant in our society, or at least it seems so. The best part of these 3 verses is the 1st verse, “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.” It sounds to me like the father is saying that the son shouldn't follow our societal advice, which is to ‘follow your heart', which has to be about the worst advice ever...or, at least, the worst advice if you want good relationships. Multiple places in the Bible tell us that following our heart is a bad idea, and that our hearts lie to us. Our hearts can be great guides in aggregate, over time, and when measured against God's truths. But our hearts as a compass...bad idea. I love that the writer starts with ‘give me your heart', aka, let me be your guide, and then moves to wisdom about the issue, basically pressing this issue as a wisdom issue and something that isn't a ‘feelings' issue. Strong stuff again. And lastly, the writer addresses the ‘drunkard'. I have written in here, a few weeks ago, that had fallen into a pattern of overconsumption and that I was committing to being free of it for a period of time. I did that, and I realized that God must have been leaning in on me, because I got the message. Moderation really is an important thing. Most things require moderation to remain good things...it is just one of those things about life that seems to re-prove itself time and time again. For some people, this is a ‘flee' issue, for others, moderation. The most important thing is to know which of those two you are, and then being comfortable with that reality. Some great truths today...strong stuff!

Blog Entry

Here is the reality confronted in this chapter - that evil exists. We all know it does, so that's not a secret or a revelation. The struggle is to understand the tension between evil in this world and an all-knowing, all-loving, life-creating God. But there are a couple of bedrock ideas from this chapter that I think really stood out to me, and that I want to reiterate here in my journaling. First is the reality that without God, and I mean a god of some kind here, then there is no good or evil...morality isn't a social construct, it is a theological one. Or think of it this way, there is no ultimate good or evil unless it is termed that from a being outside of this life...because, otherwise, your good is yours, your evil is yours, and mine is mine. At best, if good and evil aren't arranged from a being outside of this life, then good or evil is simply a product of ‘might makes right'. And think about this...if we all do what we want, when we want, with whom we want, we all ultimately destroy this world. Order and peace can't exist without submission to a truth that we should serve the greater good...that we should love others. Without God, evil and good are opinions. Just look at nature...nature operates purely in this fashion, and it is held in balance by this very reality. You would have to admit, in your heart of hearts, that you have something in there that is different, that you have a vision for your future, a sense of ought and ought not, and a yearning to and longing for ‘more' from life...the existence of that very sense (which is often what we term ‘the spirit') is a fantastic argument for God, and by extension for moral order under God's rule of what is good and evil. Second, Brooks makes this argument that I think is really awesome, that what God did in the beginning was to create love. And God created love by giving us a choice...a choice to love or not to love. Because, think about this, you can't be forced to love someone, or to be loving...you can DO loving things, but to love experientially, we have to have freedom to choose NOT to love. What is ‘not loving'? Well, not loving could simply be termed - evil. Evil is the antithesis of love. So one way to think about all of this is that God didn't create evil so much as he named it. But the bottom line is that we all are benefited by love and we desire love...it is a human thing to want to experience love. And, I am not talking about just romantic love here, but love in general. Joy, happiness, satisfaction, and all of those good things can all generally be rolled up under the term ‘love'. Love is the thing that makes all positive emotions possible. And love can't exist without the opposite, just as light can't exist without darkness. So it is short-sighted and one-sided to say that God created evil...God created choice, which is the characteristic unique to human kind, and in doing so He created the opportunity for us to choose love or evil. The evil in the world around us is our own doing. And God is working a plan to redeem the world from this evil. That's what history and Jesus and the Bible all teach us. And that brings us back around to the idea that you and I can complain that God isn't redeeming the world quickly enough or in the right way, but that's like telling Leonardo de Vinci that he improperly painted the Mona Lisa. It just stands to reason that the God that created the universe would probably understand how best to redeem it...and your opinion, my opinion, about that topic likely isn't highly useful. What a great chapter this morning...my head hurts!

In chapter 2, Brooks really starts taking aim at the notion that science and faith are direct competitors in terms of explaining how life came to be. He says, and I would certainly agree with this, that atheists tend to really try to lay claim to ‘reason' - meaning, there is a notion that is embedded in culture that ‘intelligent' people tend to flock towards science, and that it is ‘cute' to cling to faith, but that there really isn't any explanatory power in faith in terms of how the world and the universe came into being. Side note, there is a great documentary called “Is Genesis History” that I would recommend watching, it is really good, and it punches holes in this idea some as well. The reality is that science hasn't (and I believe can't) answered all of the questions we have about creation and the universe. In fact, as time has gone on, big holes have been punched in the widely accepted evolution narrative. I would go so far as to say that it is deteriorating in many ways, whereas history is daily being made and discovered in the world of Christian faith. But, besides that...one thing that I think is SO important, and that Brooks may get to in the coming chapters, is that we ground our faith on the right thing. We can chase these arguments down into various rabbit holes, and that's fun and all...but we have to keep the main thing the main thing. What is THE main thing? We profess to believe that a man named Jesus came to this earth about 2000 years ago, that He lived a blameless life, that He was falsely executed as a criminal, that He was placed into a tomb and 3 days later was seen walking around in living form by hundreds of people. We believe that this proved that He was who He said He was...the Son of God. That's what we believe. So, as fun as it is to play with this creation stuff, we have to remember that THAT is the main thing. And science has had an incredibly difficult time refuting that...it has had no luck. The best arguments science has produced against THAT narrative is like the turtle analogy from yesterday, basically, “Well, we know the turtle was alive (ie, we know Jesus came and went), and we can't deny that he is now sitting atop the fence post (ie, and we have a hard time refuting that people saw him after His death), but we are going to assume that something other than the obvious happened (ie, we are going to try to come up with ways to refute whether or not Jesus was ever actually dead, or that someone was pretending to be Him and tricked everyone, or everyone who saw Jesus was hallucinating, etc.)...we can't deny the turtle was on the fence post and we can't deny that Jesus came back, but we CAN come up with various explanations that don't involved someone putting the turtle on the fence post or Jesus actually being the Son of God. And heck, if you give people long enough (like 2000 years), they will come up with some creative solutions to this puzzle. Bottom line - our faith isn't blind faith...there are elements that can't be seen, sure, but there are plenty of rational, historical, and scientific elements as well. And, besides that, is it really reasonable to assume that all reasonable people are atheists and that all religious people are fools? That's a very egotistical position for an atheist to take. Just because we don't fully understand how something works doesn't mean there isn't a creator. Science isn't opposed to God.

Chapter 1 Summary: http://www.stevecanderson.com/journal-entries/gods-not-dead-by-rice-brooks

I am doing something a little different for a couple of weeks. I love reading God's word and studying God's word in the morning, and while that it true, it is also true that I am in a season of life where I have 30-45 minutes for devotional time in the morning. At the same time, I love reading as well, and I would like to read some books about our great faith. So, for the next few weeks, I am going to be reading a chapter a morning in this book that was recommended to me, “God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty”, but Rice Brooks. Apologetics is a favorite topic of mine, so this will be a fun journey. I will journal and comment along the way as I normally do, and I will try to pull takeaways from the reading, as always. I am sure there will be references to scriptures and all of that as well, so we'll chase things down the rabbit hole and have a good time with it. Here is the bed rock passage for this book: 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. We just studied this passage within the last few weeks. We know that Peter was addressing suffering to a group of Christians spread out across what is now Turkey, and that he was urging them to be prepared to account for their faith. Now, I want to be fair - there are people who are gifted apologists and who can stand toe-to-toe with amazingly skilled debaters and skeptics (Tim Keller and Andy Stanley come to mind), but we aren't called to that. We are called to be reasonably accountable, at least that's my belief...Peter doesn't qualify his statement here in 1 Peter 3:15. But, based on everything I have ready, a reasonable level of accountability certainly seems fitting. In fact, we talked a couple of weeks ago, when reading this passage, about a method of discussing what we believe that I think does exactly that. In this opening section of the book, the introduction and chapter 1, we see a few topical issues discussed and I think that most important one, to me, is this idea that one of the primary tools that atheists have is this ability to set up a false dichotomy between science and faith. Now, before I go into that more, let me be clear about what I am saying and what I am NOT saying about atheists here - MOST atheists are not actively assaulting the Christian faith and Christians, and they aren't running around trying to oppress our beliefs. When we talk about pushing back against them, we need to remember that most non-believers are just like most believers...they just walk around with a set of beliefs that they haven't really ever tested. So we shouldn't villainize atheists in our minds...sometimes these apologetics books will feel a little like that, and that's not the intent. The intent is to attack ideas, not people.

This is a longer chapter, so I definitely had to break this into two parts. Today one verse really jumped out at me: 12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge. I don't know that what I am thinking is necessarily what the author was intending, but as I was reading this I loved the progression. The first part, where we are urged to let our hearts be applied to instruction, sounds to me like it is saying allow ourselves to be shaped and modeled, and be disciplined to take wisdom and put it to work in our lives. It sounds like a subtle nudge to action instead of a nudge to hearing. It is the second verse where we are urged to hear and to find wisdom. In other words, the author is breaking it into two pieces - hearing and doing; listening and applying. I love that. It is easy to read the words of Proverbs and be swept away by their gravity and the wisdom that often seems so obvious, but it is entirely another thing to APPLY those words in our lives. Application is the key though. We have to hear AND do. We can't listen our way to wisdom. Ironically, or not, I have found that faith is grown in much the same way...we read and we study, but then we have to go our and actually love people, take a step forward in faith that God will give us strength in the moment, and we have to BE Christians to FEEL God's Grace. In that way, growing our wisdom and growing our faith are very similar. And a part of me wonders if that is part of the plan that God designed. It's funny how that works.

Just an interesting note, today we are starting the reading in Proverbs which we're not written by Solomon. It's interesting, but right out of the gate they pacing in the structure of these Proverbs are slightly different. Here is the verse that jumped out at me today: 28 Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set. Interestingly, it is basically repeated in the next chapter and verse 10: 10 Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, 11 for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you. These are very simple and straightforward versus, essentially just warning us against stealing land from others. In these times, these landmarks would be how property lines were drawn many times. So, moving a landmark was stealing. On a fairly unrelated note, it just got me thinking about “cutting corners“ in general; it has me asking the question, “Where in my faith am I not really holding myself accountable to the truth?” Moving a boundary line/landmark a few feet it's such a small crime that it's almost not with mentioning. However, if you do that little bit of stealing often enough, eventually you've stolen a lot. At some point, it is a big deal. The same is true of cutting corners in our faith. If we don't hold ourselves to the truth 100%, aren't we effectively lying to ourselves 100%? So, this morning, I'm gonna spend some time challenging myself with this idea and with this question.

It is always fun to open up Proverbs and start looking at all of these little zingers...that amazing one-liners. it is difficult to pick just two or three for some extra focus and attention as well. Nonetheless, here we go. One of of them was easy because this is literally one of my top 2-3 verses in all of scripture. We looked at this a couple of weeks ago: 3 The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. What's so great about this is that it is worded so succinctly...the wise person is a person who sees danger and flees from it, he isn't the person who sees it and plays at the edge. He flees it. The simple, or the fool, is someone who doesn't do that...he plays at the edges of it, or he runs right into it. And I love this...it doesn't tell us that he dies...just that he suffers. The fool plows face first into danger and in some way will suffer for it. And that's the trap with temptation; it often isn't sudden and pronounced, the punishment...sometimes it creeps up on you until you realize that all of your choices are now bad choices. You wake up and you are surrounded with chaos...you are suffering for it. Great, great verse! The next one that caught my attention was verse 10: 10 Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease. Another comment I have made is that the last few years have been the most stressful of my life. During that time, I have lost some of ‘me'...I have generally been less joyful, less playful, less optimistic and less of upbeat than I normally would be. I have just been less ‘me'. In that, I have become more cynical as well, and I have become more of a scoffer than I was before. This verse reminds me that I want to monitor myself as I am getting my stress resolved and while I am getting myself more ‘back to normal'...I am encouraged and motivated by this verse to NOT be the scoffer in others' eyes...I don't want anyone to think about me in this way, that driving me out of their company will resolve some of the tension in the group or the organization. I don't want to be the scoffer and the source of the struggle. Just a great reminder about being self-aware. Then, for my 3rd verse, I love this reminder about raising kids. There are two verses directed at this topic in today's 16 verses, but this one was a great reminder to me: 15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him. It is great to remind ourselves that our kids are one day going to face the world. And the world is tricky - as verse 3 says, a fool can move forward without immediate consequence but one day will reap what he sows. It is just the way of life. And, the world often doesn't punish immediately and harshly...the world often punishes by way of compounding. It is often just the last straw that breaks the camels back in the real world, and when things fall apart you are left wondering how you got here. We have a duty to help our kids realize they have veered with much more immediacy. We have a duty to help them to develop a sense of where the edges are, where the struggles come into play, and how to deal with them. We can't blow past this and hope for the best...this requires intentionality and hard work. Let us not run from this responsibility and from discipline that is fit for their age and stage of life. Great reminder here.

Looking at this chapter and looking back at what I wrote in the read through, which is the following and which I am going to simply reiterate today: 2 Peter‬ ‭3:8-10‬ ‭ESV “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (something I have noticed about myself is that patience over time is amazingly difficult...I mean, delayed gratification is a skill that takes time to develop, and one thing reading the Bible REALLY demonstrates, when we read the whole story, is that God has an amazing ability to wait and let things play out and then intervene at the right time...after we've thought that 2, 3, or even thousands of the right times have already passed. Perspective is one of the great gifts of reading God's Word). The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you (I love that...not ‘slow', but ‘patient'...allowing things to develop as He plans, over time, in His time), not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” (Being in the financial planning world, one thing I have noticed is how language can sometimes be completely off-base. Death is one of the common places I see this...people will say that “he died suddenly and unexpectedly”...you know, very seldom is death completely ‘expected'. Even people who've been waiting on death for some time end up ‘suddenly' passing most of the time. Usually there is a goodbye that is missed, a final kiss or a farewell that is lost...death is a thief in that way, striking unexpectedly on all but very seldom occasions. I love the reminder here that God's next demonstration, God's coming again, will feel like that. We should live in expectation and in preparation. Frankly, I don't know anyone who's lived a faithful life who has regretted it...perhaps I don't see enough people who've reached the end of life to have heard someone express that feeling...but I bet that's a very uncommon position to take, to say that a faithful life was an unfulfilling life.) The one thing that I would add goes back to yesterday's reading, and it is this idea of being curious for truth as we open God's Word. Today, we read in 2 Peter 3:1-2 that Peter wants to stir our minds up with reminders of predictions past. I was doing a little digging, it according to the website reasons.org, there are about 2500 prophecies or predictions in scripture about the future. What is amazing is that based on their research, 2000 of them have already come true. Now, we can argue about little predictions and I am guessing some of the coming true events are less convincing than others, but that is still 2000...I mean, 200 would be a lot...but 2000? Wow. We can rest easy that though we don't know what's going to happen in the future, God does...and God has things under control. Tomorrow we'll dive back into Proverbs again for a few days and then we'll pick our next study.

For me, today, tone is one of the active one of the 2 words that come to mind. Peter's tone is strong and firm and direct, and Peter is certainly coming in hard on false teachers and false teachings. History has really proven out that these false teachings will eventually get fleshed out - God is cited as doing so in several direct examples today. It is hard to miss Peter's message on this today. For me though, the second word that comes to mind is vulnerability. This really isn't directly tied to Peter's letter, but rather, it is something I am inferring from his letter. Peter doesn't tell us that these false teachers are leading others astray because they have educated themselves relating to the gospel and are convinced that what Christians say happened, that Jesus' life, death and resurrection, was a lie...they didn't take on false teaching with that motivation. They took on false teachings with a motivation to appease their passions and their wallets. These folks seem to have found a system whereby they could do what they wanted, when they wanted, and with whom they wanted, and they could even get rich in the process. However, they figured out that Jesus' message wouldn't support this way of living, so they went about trying to construct a system that would. They were likely adding a little here, taking away a little there, etc...and they were shaping Jesus' message to fit their agenda rather than coming to God with their hands and minds open. And, the reason I say that the word ‘vulnerability' comes to mind is because we all do this. We all do it, at least just a little bit. We may be as subtle as to avoid just one little topic of idea from the Bible, like tithing or no sex before marriage (as examples), and with just that little bit of avoidance we can do what we want because we are otherwise living mostly righteous lives; or so we feel, when we look around and compare ourselves against others - which is a whole different issue. Or, we may read the Bible and go to church but avoid smaller group settings where we know our sins will be exposed, thereby shielding ourselves from judgement. Or, we may even completely walk away from our faith because we can't reconcile our lifestyle with our faith and we just find it easier to walk away. Whatever it is, we are all vulnerable to this - we are all vulnerable to looking at the world with an agenda in mind, to find what we are looking for. We are equally vulnerable to reading God's Word with something in mind to get from it...looking to confirm a message rather than to find God's Will. Today is a great reminder to me to be curious, that curiosity is an essential part of our faith. Further, today reminds me that we must be open to God's correction of us, and humble enough to receive it from those whom God has placed into our lives.

I thought this was a great verse this morning, verse 4...it starts off my acknowledging that God has granted us His own promises. Now, it doesn't elaborate on this, so I just have to kind of think to myself, “What are God's promises to us?”. Well, for one, His presence...He promises His presence. He also promises His saving Grace, as well has His return, which is a big part of Peter's letters that we've been reading. For the most part, those are the real promises of God. So, turning to to rest of the verse, it goes on... “so that through them you may become gpartakers of the divine nature, hhaving escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire”. This is great - we are promised presence and Grace from God, and His eventual return, and through those promises we can partake in the divine nature. It appears what Peter is doing is contrasting what many Greeks had believed, which was that they could actually become gods, and what God ascribes to be true, that you can partake in some of God's nature and blessing through your faith and trust in Him. But my favorite part is the last part, where it says “having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire”. The reason I love that is become it is a great reminder...the reason we have pain, the reason we struggle and we suffer, the reason for hunger and for death and for war and for famine and all of the other tragedies and indecencies of this world is the same thing...our sinful nature. That's why good things happen to bad people - because of sinful nature. Peter isn't getting into a deep apologetics discussion here, but this one subtle comment is really powerful. At any rate, now we get to the part I keyed off of yesterday, verses 5-7. In these verses, Peter uses what is known as sorites, which is a literary style that is like a staircase...this leads to this leads to this leads to this, and so on. As we read these verses, we can see this clearly, and this would have been a familiar philosophical style of his audience as well. 2 Peter‬ ‭1:5-9‬ ‭ESV “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So, for me, here is what I am thinking as I read these verses. That I need to first supplement my faith (which is my understanding and my knowledge about God) with virtue - virtue in this context really means excellence in our terms. But what is excellence? Well, it is knowledge paired with self-control, which leads to steadfastness and then to godliness (so now I am living a life consistently moving forward in being more like God), and then I will show brotherly affection and then pure love. So, ultimately, when I am living a life that is based on love, I am living as I have been called. And then he goes on to say that if we are living out these qualities, this keeps us from being held back from knowing God more fully. Or, said from the opposite vantage point...to the extent that we aren't living out these qualities in our life, we will struggle to understand God. Ultimately, I think what Peter is getting at here is that we can study God and we can understand God on paper, but to KNOW God, to truly EXPERIENCE God, we have to live more like Christ. We can't know God unless we try to walk in Jesus' shoes. That's strong.

2 things really jumped out at me while glazing over this letter in its entirety this morning. First would be: ‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:5-10‬ ‭ESV “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” ‬‬ Now, I am not going to spend much time on this today, because this is up for our reading and discussion tomorrow. But I love these progressions like this, these ‘do a and then b and then c' type things...Paul does this a few times, and I love that Peter did it too. But, again, we'll talk about this one tomorrow for sure! And the second on that I loved this morning was this: 2 Peter‬ ‭3:8-10‬ ‭ESV “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (something I have noticed about myself is that patience over time is amazingly difficult...I mean, delayed gratification is a skill that takes time to develop, and one thing reading the Bible REALLY demonstrates, when we read the whole story, is that God has an amazing ability to wait and let things play out and then intervene at the right time...after we've thought that 2, 3, or even thousands of the right times have already passed. Perspective is one of the great gifts of reading God's Word). The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you (I love that...not ‘slow', but ‘patient'...allowing things to develop as He plans, over time, in His time), not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” (Being in the financial planning world, one thing I have noticed is how language can sometimes be completely off-base. Death is one of the common places I see this...people will say that “he died suddenly and unexpectedly”...you know, very seldom is death completely ‘expected'. Even people who've been waiting on death for some time end up ‘suddenly' passing most of the time. Usually there is a goodbye that is missed, a final kiss or a farewell that is lost...death is a thief in that way, striking unexpectedly on all but very seldom occasions. I love the reminder here that God's next demonstration, God's coming again, will feel like that. We should live in expectation and in preparation. Frankly, I don't know anyone who's lived a faithful life who has regretted it...perhaps I don't see enough people who've reached the end of life to have heard someone express that feeling...but I bet that's a very uncommon position to take, to say that a faithful life was an unfulfilling life.) Great lessons today...great perspective.

Evidence suggests that Peter was executed under the reign of Emporer Nero, and this likely served as kind of a ‘farewell' speech from Peter. It was addressed to the same group of people as his first letter. Peter directly addresses 3 different objections or challenges to the faith that were apparently being made there in these communities, which serves as a great point of discussion for us. First was this idea that the apostles made everything up...that Jesus was just a figment of their imagination and creation. Then Peter argues against the second objection, which is an argument that there actually won't be this final reckoning where Jesus returns again, and that people won't REALLY be accountable for their choices in the end. Side note - the motivation for this argument from these corrupt teachers is the same as the argument that people generally make when they follow this line of argument...they are trying to justify their behavior. We know from this and other sources that these teachers were making a bunch of money and were sleeping around in very inappropriate ways, so they were no doubt having a lot of world fun and hoping not to have it catch up with them; we do the same thing ourselves. Peter really goes after this idea using historical Biblical lessons as sources and examples. Peter doesn't want us to use Grace as an excuse to live free of judgement...there is a difference between freedom from using Grace for the sake of living recklessly vs. using Grace to empower us to live for God...that's really where Peter is driving with that. And lastly, Peter addresses the argument that this final judgement isn't coming because it has been supposed to come for generation after generation and has never actually happened...they argue, “Why would it happen now?”. And Peter does something really interesting and really powerful as the counter to this argument...he offers perspective. Instead of asking “Why now?”, he essentially asks a question for rhetorical pondering of “Why is God taking so long?”, which is a question we can carry around with us and think about. And he reminds us that something dosn't come from nothing, that creation is really pointing at a Cretor, and that we can't just look blindly past that. We have to remember that our human conception of time is really distorted in that it blinds us to God's conception of time. As a note, some see the differences in style between 1 Peter and 2 Peter as reason to doubt Peter's authorship. In reality, Peter has a secretary or someone who actually recorded his teaching for him, and it is much more likely that this was a different person rather than the author (Peter) being different. This would be a much simpler and much more likely explanation. Assuming this is true, this was likely written, as I said in the beginning, during the reign of Nero and likely in the mid-60s. Tomorrow we will do the read-through...this will be a great one!

Today we come upon one of my favorite pairs of verses, 1 Peter 5:6-7: 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. I love this verse because it reminds me that I am to take my struggles, I am to take my pain, I am to take the hurt I feel, everything I am feeling that is pain-related and I am to send that God's way...I am to push that up to Him and struggle with Him; He is the only one who can fully take it in stride and to whom is was designed to go anyways...and it reminds me that He loves me, He is there for me, He will comfort me when I do that...and that is what He desires. Frustrated with my work - take that to God. Frustrated with the relationship with my wife, or my with my kids...take that to God. Frustrated with my life in general, and my repeated struggles with sin and shame - take that to God. That is humility...taking it and laying at God's feet and admitting, I would even add ‘out loud', and leaving it for God to work on. And we do this because (a) God is really the only one who can ultimately do anything about it, and (b) because God cares for us and desires this from us. That is a part of having relationship with God. I love this invitation from Peter. And then one of the greatest encouragements and reminders of God's presence as Peter goes on in the next few verses, in 1 Peter 5:8-10: 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. It is the reminder that the devil is lurking and looking for a victim, and one little crack or one little stumble and he will insert himself into our lives. We can't ever think we've won the battle...the struggle with temptation and with sin is a perpetual struggle in this life, and we have to accept the reality that it never ends. Otherwise, we get complacent. I am fairly certain that with the exception of people leaving the church because the church didn't love them and appreciate them and made them feel judged, the number one reason people jettison their faith is just fatigue...it is that they are worn out trying to live rightly. It is easier to live how we want and to just live for momentary happiness...at least for a while. That's one of the devil's greatest tricks...living for ourselves rather than God is typically ‘in the moment' just easier. But, this goes back to that hard-easy principle we've discussed several times...when we do what's hard in the moment, life eventually starts getting easier. When we do what's easy in the moment, life eventually starts getting harder. We are going to experience hard and easy, and we get to choose the order in which we experience them...it is an interesting thing to realize and to appreciate about life. Great message to close our 1 Peter this morning. Tomorrow is the background on 2 Peter, then the read through, and then we'll dive in as always.