Today’s reading is John 11:1-12:50.

Once again, Jesus hits me right in the heart. I’m reminded of the statement I’ve heard: “It’s none of my business what others think of me.”

Here’s how John said it: “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God” (John 12:42-43).

We look back on these folks with disdain. Yet, do we not sometimes do the same? Perhaps we believe in Jesus but we don’t tell a lost friend because we fear they will reject us. Or perhaps we’ve studied something in the Word that our brethren don’t generally believe and we won’t share it because we are afraid they’ll kick us out of the church or write us up in a paper. The problem with this, of course, is if we are wrong, we don’t get the correction we need until it is usually too late. On the other hand, if we are right, we aren’t actually helping anybody.

But back to the mantra I shared at the beginning. I think many Christians will balk at it. But think, why does it really matter what folks think of you? This statement is not intended to say don’t worry how you live. It doesn’t say it is none of your business what God thinks of you. It’s none of my business what others think of me.

Here’s the point. If I’m doing wrong, I can put on the mask and get you to think that I’m wonderful. I may receive all kinds of glory from you. That won’t change that I’m not going to receive glory from God. However, if I’m doing what is right, you may despise me. I may never receive glory from you. You may be judging me in your heart as an awful person. However, that won’t change that I’m right with God and will receive glory from Him. So, in the end, it really doesn’t matter what you think of me. What matters is what God thinks of me. Why then should I let worry about your like or dislike of me cause me to get into an unhealthy obsession about our relationship or about impressing you? Instead, I should simply strive to please God in our relationship and let your thoughts of me be between you and God.

Does this mean I don’t have to be nice to you or considerate? Of course not. But why am I nice and considerate? Is it because I want to impress you so you’ll like me? No. It is because God has said I should be compassionate, tender-hearted, kind, and forgiving (Ephesians 4:32). This is the right thing to do, not to get you to like me but to please God. If I focus on pleasing God, I’ll live toward you as I ought. If, however, I focus on pleasing you, I will probably not live toward God as I ought.

For some of us, this is a real struggle. It’s not that we don’t care about God, it’s just that somewhere along the way we picked up an unhealthy habit of needing approval. Thus, we filter all our decisions through what will this decision make so and so think of me. I’m not exactly sure how to overcome this unhealthy obsession with what others think of us. But I think it begins with remembering no matter what anyone else thinks of us, God loves us. As we read earlier in John’s gospel, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” When we are seeking man’s approval, we are looking for true love in all the wrong places. Rest in God’s love. Only then can you really love others and accept what love they are willing to offer or survive despite the love they withhold.

Remember today, it’s none of your business what everyone else thinks of you.

***Question: How do you focus on pleasing God instead of man?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:19.

Yesterday I learned about being willing to test my own heart to see if I’m in the faith. Today, I think it is interesting that Paul wrote, “For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity of any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

I’m certainly no Greek scholar and I rarely try to make any arguments or points from the original language for that matter, because I think it is so easy to make mistakes in that way. However, I can’t help but notice the parallels between this verse and the one that stood out to me yesterday. In 2 Corinthians 3:5, the statement was to test ourselves to see if we are in the faith. In this one, Paul says God tested them and found them trustworthy. The words for test are similar. The words for “the faith” and “entrusted” are similar. I’m not saying these verse go together. I’m really just explaining why the verse jumped out at me today.

Yesterday, I learned I should be willing to test myself. This one talks about God’s testing. Interestingly, the root Greek word translated “approved” and “tests” in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 is the same as the root word for the word “search” found in Psalm 139:23, “Search me, O God, and know my heart!”

Anyway, all of that is just interesting background to Paul’s point that really impacted me today.

Why do I speak? To please men or to please God? This can easily be a problem for me. Sometimes I spend more time trying to impress men than just doing the right thing with my preaching. No doubt, this can be a gray area because I also think it is important to the very best I can do in order to glorify God by honoring Him through my effort. However, when I’m truly honest, I have to say that sometimes my motivation is not, “I have to work really hard on the presentation because that shows honor to God.” Sometimes my motivation is, “I have to work really hard on this because I want people to think I’m an awesome preacher.”

Where this becomes really dangerous is when the desire to please men shifts from just trying to do an outstanding job of presentation, to actually changing God’s message because I fear people might not like it. I think it is just as wrong to preach the truth from a motivation of trying to impress men, but I commit two wrongs when my desire to impress men also causes me to change God’s message.

What does Paul remind me today? God is the one who is searching my heart. The grievous ways in my heart are defined by God’s will, not by what is pleasing to man. I need to ask Him to search my heart and remove every grievous way because I want to please Him, not in order to impress men with my spirituality or my ability.

So, I got the double whammy two days in a row. I need to be willing to test myself and I need to remember that it is God who tests me. He is working to approve me and help me grow. I need to recognize the hardships, the refining fires (however they come) are not simply meant to see if I have a bad motivation but to highlight any improper motivation and help me remove that.

My prayer, “God, please keep the refining fires coming. Left to myself, I will strive to impress and please men. Please, search my heart and see what grievous ways are there. Bring them to the top so they may be easily removed. Thank you for testing me.”

***Question: How do you thank God for His tests?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is 1 Corinthians 10:1-11:34.

1 Corinthians 10:31 gave me something to think about today, as usual. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Once again I’m reminded what my motivation is to be. My motivation is not do all so I can be rewarded. My motivation is not to be do all so I can look good. My motivation is not to be do all so others will think I’m awesome. My motivation is not to be do all so I can scrape by. My motivation is not to be do all that I want. My motivation is not to be do all that I can prove is lawful. 

My motivation is to be do all to the glory of God. Even some things that are lawful may not glorify God in some circumstances. That is the whole point of this chapter. It was lawful to eat those meats offered to idols because since the false gods were false, someone waving his hands over it and saying it was dedicated to Zeus didn’t matter. Nothing about the meat was changed. However, if someone was expressing how grand it was that it was meat offered to Zeus and giving it to me, then I need to refuse so that the person won’t think I honor Zeus. I especially need to take care around weaker Christians who don’t yet grasp how the nonexistence of Zeus makes the religious ritual of no effect. 

Everything I do must be for God’s glory. That will impact how I talk to my wife. Does it glorify God for me to be disrespectful, selfish, arrogant, and prideful in my attitude toward her? Does it glorify God if I respond with angry outbursts and malice? Of course not. That will impact how I raise my children. Does it glorify God for me to berate, belittle, and neglect my children? Of course not. That will impact how I drive. Does it glorify God for me to flout the laws of the land, respond with road rage at others mistakes, drive carelessly as if I own the road? Of course not. That will impact how I eat. Does it glorify God for me to be a glutton, using food as an escape from my feelings or from reality, eating myself into an early grave? Of course not.

Do you get the picture? I need to ask before every action, “Does this glorify God? ” If I can’t give an enthusiastic, “Yes,” then I need to back off. I don’t need to turn my choices into laws for everyone else. I simply need to make sure that I am fully convinced I’m glorifying God in everything I do, all day long. He deserves it.

***Question: How do you glorify God all day long?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is 1 Corinthians 8:1-9:27.

1 Corinthians 9:18 caught my attention today. “What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may preesnt the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.”

Wait a minute. That is no reward. That is the action that ought to be rewarded. Or at least so it seems to me. Yet, that demonstrates the great difference between me and Paul. Too often, I’m doing special things because I expect some greater reward. “God, I’ll do this great work because I want to get this great reward.” But Paul thought differently, he so wanted to be part of God’s plan that his reward was getting to be part of God’s plan.

I need to learn to want to do God’s will so badly that just getting to do it is a reward in and of itself.

***Question: What do you enjoy about getting to do God’s will?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is I Peter 3:1-4:19.

I Peter 4:2 hit me today because it goes right along with some thoughts I’ve had over the past few weeks based on a book I’m reading (get ready for it, here it comes, look out it’s an associate link), The Practice of the Presence of God by Nicholas Herman, more commonly known as Brother Lawrence.  

My family and I have a running joke based on Marita’s recent experience teaching 4th-7th graders in our congregation’s Bible class program. One of her great frustrations was trying to ask “why” discussion questions and receiving the most common answer, “So we can go to heaven.” It has become our running joke to ask questions in our family devotion time or in conversation and respond, “So we can go to heaven.” Of course, for most of us, that is likely the ultimate answer for all of those why questions we ask. Why do we do what we do? So we can go to heaven.

Now please don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say. I hope we all have the goal of going to heaven. However, can we consider a better motivation for our daily actions? I Peter 4:2 doesn’t say, “So as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but so we can go to heaven.” Instead it says, “So as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” 

Nicholas Herman (“Brother Lawrence”) suggested we not do things in order to go to heaven, receive blessings, or get some other reward. Rather, perhaps our motivation ought simply be to do what we do because we love God and it is His will. Certainly, God welcomes those who surrender their lives to Him into heaven. I Peter 1:3-5 demonstrates that an inheritance is waiting for us who are protected by God through our faith. However, if that is our motivation, I think we lose sight of what is important. In fact, when that is our motivation I think we will naturally get into a checklist mindset that says, “Alright, what must I do to go to heaven? How far do I have to go? Do I really have to do that?”

On the other hand, if my mindset is simply that I love God and I want to do everything I do because I love Him and it is His will, there are no limits on what I will do for Him. Further, I’m not trying to earn anything from Him by doing it. I’m simply trying to draw closer to Him. Isn’t that what He deserves? He is the Creator. He is the Savior. 

Again, there is nothing wrong with the goal of heaven. I think we can see Paul demonstrate that goal in Philippians 3:7-11. I just want us to consider another great motivation that needs to be part of our spiritual journey with God.

***Question: What do you do on a regular basis to draw closer to God?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is II John 1-13; III John 1-15.

For years, I’m told preaching was focused so much on obeying and serving the Lord it merely filled folks with fear that they could never actually be saved. Gratefully, preachers, teachers, and Christians in general have begun to recognize the importance of love, grace, and mercy.

However, I fear that in the knee-jerk reaction to the preaching of hellfire and brimstone that caused so many to lose heart and abandon the faith too many are going so far the other way that there are more proclaiming faith, they just don’t have saving faith. Today we hear repeatedly that Christianity is just about love. Sadly, so many act as if this love is just having a warm fuzzy in their heart when Jesus is in the air. As long as they have great feelings about Jesus, they think they are good with God.

II John 6 says, “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.”

Love is extremely important. No doubt, love is attitude and feeling. However, we must remember we can’t claim to love God without striving to submit to His commandments. Loving God means walking according to His commandments. 

I hope you have wonderful feelings about God. I hope you have a good attitude about serving God. But remember, loving God means actually doing what He wants not just whatever you want.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

Poor Peter. No doubt he was miserable. He had done the very opposite of what he promised. Would he ever step up to the plate and be a sacrifice for Jesus the way Jesus was a sacrifice for him? Would Jesus even let him back into the fold after his betrayal. Yes, it was a betrayal as much as was Judas’ betrayal. He had verbally denied Jesus three times, calling down curses and taking oaths. He abandoned Jesus after promising to fight alone for him if he had to. Now Jesus was back. I imagine Peter could hardly look at Jesus in the eye.

However, Jesus pulls him aside and let’s Peter know there is a place for him in the kingdom. He let’s Peter know there is a job for him in the kingdom. He let’s Peter know that he will grow and keep his promise, he will sacrifice himself for Jesus.

There is an interesting textual occurrence here that we miss in the English. I know some think I make too much of this and I hope they add their thoughts into this discussion. But I’ll share what I get out of this.

In John 21:15, when Jesus asks Peter if he loves him, the author used the Greek word “agapao.” When Peter responded, “You know that I love you.” The author chose the Greek word “phileo.” This does not mean that Jesus asked, “Do you love me?” and Peter responded, “You know I like you very much.” Both words meant “love.” But these words had a different coloring. “Agapeo” is a selfless, ready to serve at all costs love. “Phileo” is an intense affection based on constant relationship. “Agapeo” means I’ll do anything for you. “Phileo” means I esteem you above everything.

Can you see why Peter might have balked at using “agapeo”? He loved Jesus, but his actions had already demonstrated he wasn’t able to do anything for Jesus. Peter wasn’t quite ready to say what Jesus said, but he did love Jesus. I have felt like that. I love Jesus, but my actions show I’m not quite there on the sacrificing part yet. Do I love Jesus enough? That has to be in Peter’s mind.

Jesus’ first question was “Do you love me more than these?” I have to think that was in reference to the apostles based on Peter’s earlier claim that even if all the apostles fell away, he would die for Jesus. Peter was humbled. He couldn’t say that. However, he did love Jesus.

So Jesus asked a second time, this time without reference to anyone else around. It was just, “Do you love me?” (agapeo). Peter again responds, “Yes, Lord I phileo you.” Even without the modifier, Peter has been humbled. Not only will he no longer brag about his greater love than anyone else. He can’t bring himself to say he would do anything. He is weak and small and he doesn’t think he can make it.

Finally, Jesus says, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you phileo me?” Peter was grieved that it was brought to this. But he responded, “Lord, you know everything, you know that I phileo you.” Jesus gave Peter a mission–”Feed my sheep.” In other words, “Peter, you are not called to make the ultimate sacrifice yet. If you love, just feed my sheep.” But then He provides the ultimate for Peter, “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” In other words, “Peter, you didn’t make the ultimate sacrifice a few days ago. Right now you think you won’t ever be able to do it. But I’m telling you, you will. You will grow. You will keep your promise.”

The great lesson for me is that Jesus accepts us where we are. We don’t have to be the ultimately mature disciples to be on Jesus’ side. If we simply devote ourselves to Him, He will grow us. Our love will increase. With each passing day, our sacrifice will become greater. 

If Jesus would accept Peter back, He will take us and use us as well. And He will help us grow. 

Take comfort.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS: If you would like to read or hear more about this and more about the lessons I learn from this occurrence, check out the sermon I presented to the Franklin church at the following link.

If Jesus Would Take Peter Back…

I thought about titling this post “Second Verse, Same as the First.” The ends of Hebrews 2 and Hebrews 4 make almost the exact same point. I’m sure there is some scholarly name for this kind of parallel. Whatever we might call it, the point is clear that the Hebrew writer wanted us to turn to Jesus when we were tempted. He can and does help.

However, there was another point in the reading that jumped out at me. I don’t want to be too negative today, but for some reason Hebrews 4:1 struck a chord with me. In the ESV it reads, “Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.”

This verse was certainly not written by 21st century mainstream religionists. There are two key points in this verse that just don’t wash with modern mainstream “Christianity.” First, the suggestion that some who had become Christians might fail to reach the promised rest in eternity. Second, that we should fear the possibility that even though we have become Christians we might not reach the promised rest.

Now, I have no desire to propagate a fear-mongering approach to Christianity. I don’t think our service to God should be governed by fear. After all, perfect love casts out fear according to I John 4:18. Clearly, God does not expect fear to be the main motivator of our service.

However, having said that, here is this verse smack in the book of Hebrews. What should we do with it? Well, we certainly shouldn’t ignore it just because it doesn’t fit with modern sensibilities and the desire to be religiously popular. We need to recognize how it fits within the greater biblical context. The point is, while fear is not the governing principle of motivation in our lives, we need to understand that if we let the Bible’s teaching on grace so cloud our minds that we think we can just live how we want, we had better be afraid. 

Certainly, because of God’s grace, we who love God (interpret that, keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome-cf. I John 5:3) have no need for fear. However, if we think God’s love and grace for us means we can live without loving God (see above definition again), then we had better fear because we will not enter the rest.

The fact is, as unpopular as fearing God is today, a healthy dose of godly fear is a good thing when we keep it in its proper perspective. Love and fear God today and you will be walking the right path.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC