Luke 15-16 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Luke 15:1-16:31.

“What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses” (Luke 16:3-4).

I know this kind of fear. Sometimes, like the unfaithful steward, it is because of my own mistakes. Sometimes it is just because of the hand life has dealt me. Fear procrastinates. Fear paralyzes. Most of our fears never come to fruition. The ones that do, usually happen because our fears cause us to act in such a way that our fears come about.

How do we deal with that? We do what the steward did. We do something. He faced his fears. He came up with a decision and he started to act. If you fear that you bounced a check, don’t cower in that fear. Do the action of balancing your checkbook and find out. If you fear that you have some sickness, don’t hide from the doctors in fear. Do the action of going to the doctor. You may find out you don’t have it. Then you can move on without fear. You may find out that you do have it. If so, now you can start dealing with it. If you fear that you won’t be a success, don’t isolate yourself in your fears. Start getting input on how to be a success and then take action each day.

Action is the enemy of fear. Take action and watch most of your fears melt away.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? You can leave your input by clicking here.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Today’s reading is 1 Thessalonians 5:1-28; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12.

“For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2).

I spend too many days worried about what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, next decade. A friend calls it crazy-making and that is an accurate description. I can make myself utterly crazy with fears and worries about what might happen in the future with my finances, my family, my work.

What helps the most is remembering that I might not even see tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, next decade. The Lord’s coming will be like a thief in the night. It might well be like a thief tonight. Why ruin today worrying about a tomorrow I may never even see?

I’m not saying I don’t give consideration and make plans for the potential future. It would be ungodly to spend all the money I have now and not save some to be able to eat tomorrow. However, there is no need to let tomorrow ruin today. Today I need to simply get closer to Jesus because by the end of today, that may well be all that matters.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Ephesians 3:1-4:32.

“Be angry and do not sin; do not let he sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27).

Many of us learned the #1 rule of dysfunction as we grew up.

RULE #1: Don’t Feel

Few of our parents meant to teach us this rule, but it gets passed on pretty often. Perhaps we gathered that the only legitimate feelings were our parents’ feelings. If we didn’t feel as they did about things we were punished, scorned, belittled, lectured, yelled at. We learned quickly to get rid of those feelings. Even in churches this rule gets passed on. Almost without thinking the rule is taught that Christians are supposed to always feel great. “How are you doing?” we ask someone. “Great!” the other says. “Couldn’t be better,” another says. “God’s blessing my socks off,” says a third. We wonder what is wrong with us for feeling lousy, angry, sad, hurt. But we refuse to let them see our supposedly unChristlike feelings.

But wait. Look again at what Paul says. He doesn’t say, “Don’t be angry, it is a sin.” He says, “Be angry and do not sin.” Anger is not a sin. It is simply an emotion. Anger happens. So does sadness. So does hurt. So does fear. So does regret. So does guilt. So does shame. These feelings are not sins. We don’t have to hide them. Certainly, none of these feelings is a justification for sin. Just because I’m afraid, hurt, sad, or angry doesn’t mean I get to yell at my wife and kids, calling them names, beating them. That would be sin. But the feelings themselves are okay.

But I must not let the sun go down on these emotions. I don’t think that means I have to eradicate these emotions before I go to sleep. I’m not always sure that is possible. Rather, I think I need to express these emotions in a proper and healthy way as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the stuffed emotions will come out in sinful explosions or in sinful escapes later.

It’s okay to feel. But be honest with your emotions. Define them to yourself and share them with those closest to you so you can work through them without sinning.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Luke 19:1-20:47.

What was wrong with the third servant in Luke 19:20-21. “Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.”

Fear.

He was a afraid of failure. He was afraid of His master. He was afraid of the unknown. He allowed his fears to cripple him. He was so afraid that he wouldn’t be successful and therefore that his master would punish him, that he didn’t do anything.

Here is what amazes me. He allowed his fear of punishment to so cripple him that he incurred punishment. The very thing he was so desperately trying to avoid, he caused.

That is exactly what I do sometimes. I get so wrapped up in my fears and I try to make sure my fears don’t happen, then I actually cause them to come true.

What did the servant need to do? First, he needed to get into reality. Instead of living in the fantasy of his fears of what the master might do if some unknown thing happened in some unknown future, he needed to live in the reality of the day. Second, if he was ignorant of how to use the mina, perhaps he could have asked the servant that was producing ten minas or the servant that was producing five. Instead of living in the shame that he didn’t already know how to do what they were doing, he could have simply spent some time with them and learned from them. Third, he could have at least done something. Instead of living in the fear that it would be the wrong thing and that would cause the end of the world, he could have done something and if it was a mistake, learn from it to do better before the master returns. Let’s face it, do we honestly think the 10 and 5 mina producers only had success the whole time the master was gone? Of course not. That just isn’t the way life works. They made some minas and lost some minas and when the master returned they returned what they had netted.

Wow! That is exactly what I need to do today. I need to quit living in the fantasy of my fears about some potential future that hasn’t even happened yet. I need to spend time with people who have what I want and learn how they are getting it. Instead of being paralyzed by the fear that I’ll do the wrong thing, I just need to do something. If I don’t take these approaches, I will likely cause the very punishment I’m trying to avoid in the end.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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

II Timothy 1 is actually a great comfort to me. 

Perhaps I’m reading too much into it. However, in this chapter it appears to me that Timothy has been having some struggles. He has been dealing with some fears regarding doing his work as an evangelist. Paul is lifting him up and encouraging him to stay on track.

Paul lets Timothy know about how much he has prayed for Timothy. He reminds him of his legacy of faith. More than that, instead of shaming Timothy for any seeking lack of faith, Paul affirms he knows the faith really is there. Timothy just needs to rely on it. He reminds Timothy of the miraculous gift of the Spirit he has through the laying on of Paul’s hands. That is, Timothy is not alone but the Spirit is working through him therefore he does not have a spirit of fear but a Spirit of power, love and self-control. He reminds Timothy that there is no need to be ashamed of the suffering of the Lord or of Paul. This suffering is no reason to think Timothy has ended up on the wrong side. Rather, he is on the winning side and needs to join in the suffering because despite all the suffering, Jesus Christ can be trusted with what Timothy and Paul committed to Him, that is, their souls.

This gets into II Timothy 2, but Paul reminds Timothy of the grace that is in Jesus.

Of course, all this information is really good. However, what comforts me the most is knowing I’m not alone. Even a great evangelist like Timothy had times of struggle. He had times when he needed to be provoked to love and good deeds by the likes of Paul. How easy it is for me to hit moments of despair because I don’t have a 24/7/365 powerful motivation to do what is right and do my work. Sometimes I have fears and struggles with preaching the truth, talking to others about the gospel and just generally doing the work of the Lord.

Don’t misunderstand, this chapter doesn’t give me permission to wallow in that. Rather, it simply lets me know that I’m not a loser because I have struggles. Rather, I’m like every other person who works in God’s kingdom. We all need encouragement at times. We all need to be stimulated, stirred up, spurred on and provoked. I may have struggles, but those struggles don’t mean I’m lost. They just mean I’m still living on earth. 

Therefore, this passage has a twofold help for me. First, I see that Timothy went through what I go through and I don’t have to feel alone. Second, I can also read Paul’s encouragement and be provoked to love and good deeds myself.

Hope this encourages you as well.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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