Tag: Jesus

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Bible

Their Eyes Were Opened

In the Bible, Doctor Luke records the interesting account of two disciples forlornly walking down the road after Jesus’ death — and after hearing the incredible report that he is no longer dead.  They are confused and dismayed.

Things with Jesus didn’t turn out as they expected — or wanted.  What did it all mean?  What were they to do next?

Then a third person joins them on their journey, asking what they are discussing.  They relate the recent events.  Then the stranger begins explaining what it all means — and how it was all predicted long before by the prophets.

Fascinated by what he is sharing, they invite him to supper, at which time “their eyes are opened” and they realize it is Jesus!

This idea also occurs much earlier in the Bible, in fact in Genesis.  As soon as Adam and Eve did precisely what they had been told not to do, their eyes were also opened — and they realize that they are naked.

Just as our eyes can be opened to the knowledge that we don’t measure up to God’s standard, our eyes can also be opened up to Jesus as the solution.

Are your eyes open?

[See Luke 24:13-35 and Genesis 3:1-7.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday.

It is the day that we remember Jesus’s sacrifice so that we could be made right with God.

For many people, Good Friday is a solemn day, in which we take time to gratefully recall how Jesus was mistreated, abused, and ultimately killed — for our benefit.

The intensity of this is powerfully captured in Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie, The Passion of the Christ.  If you’ve not seen it, today would be an ideal time to do so — and if you have seen it, maybe it’s time to watch it again.

Fortunately, the story doesn’t end with Jesus on the cross or even buried in the tomb.  In two days we will joyfully celebrate Easter, commemorating when Jesus overcame death, painting the picture of what is in store for all who follow him.

It is on knowing what happens next, that I can say, Happy Good Friday!

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

The One About the Fig Tree

Have you ever heard the story about Jesus and the fig tree?

Jesus is heading into Jerusalem and is hungry.  Seeing a fig tree, he searches its foliage for something to eat.  Finding nothing, he seems to get a tad irritated, declaring that it will never again produce fruit.

The fig tree withers and his disciples are amazed.  Jesus uses this as an opportunity to teach them about praying in faith (Matthew 21:18-22, Mark 11:12-14, 20-26).

I agree with that lesson; it is astonishing, remarkable, and encouraging.

However, I also have a secondary thought about this story.  The purpose of the fig tree is to produce fruit.  When Jesus finds no fruit, he dismisses it and the tree dies; his disciples say that he cursed it.

As followers of Jesus, we are also supposed to bear fruit.  If we do not bear fruit, will Jesus dismiss us as well?

This is a sobering thought and one that is reinforced when Jesus says that he is a vine, we are his branches, and he cuts off all branches that don’t bear fruit (John 15:1-8).

If this leaves you a bit flummoxed, balance this concern with the assurance, found in the next verse, that Jesus loves us (John 15:9).

So, pray in faith, produce fruit, and know that you are loved.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Here I Am

A reoccurring statement in the Bible is “Here I am.”

This was often said to God when he calls out or speaks to one of his children.

  • Twice, when God called to Abraham, Abraham responded with, “Here I am,” (Genesis 21:1 and 22:11).
  • Abraham’s grandson Jacob had similar experiences.  Once an angel came to Jacob in a dream (on God’s behalf) and another time God spoke to Jacob in a vision at night.  Both times Jacob replied by saying, “Here I am.” (Genesis 31:11 and 46:2).
  • Some 400 hundred years later, God spoke from the midst of a burning bush and Moses said, “Here I am,” (Exodus 3:4).

Abraham, Jacob, and Moses were all expectantly ready to listen to God.  We need to do the same.

Later Jesus said, “Here I am” in obedience to do the will of his father, (Hebrews 10:7-9, which is quoting the prophetic text in Psalm 40:7).

Lastly, this phrase is spoken to us by Jesus.  He says,

“Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me,”(Revelation 3:20).

Jesus is saying that he is ready for us; he is waiting; all we need to do is open the door for him.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Lessons from the Life of John Mark

There is an interesting story that begins in Acts 13.

God tells the church to commission and send out Barnabas and Paul to other cities, telling the people they meet about Jesus.  They do this, taking with them John (also called, John Mark or just Mark).

The thing is, God didn’t tell them to take John Mark; he apparently doesn’t belong there.  This is borne out later, when John Mark deserts Barnabas and Paul to return home.

Later, Barnabas wants to give John Mark a second chance (an example of mercy), but Paul says “no” (an example of justice).  They part company over this disagreement, each going their separate ways. 

This might seem like a bad thing, but it turns out to be a good thing, as they are then able to cover twice the ground, doubling their effectiveness and outreach.

For John Mark, his story ends on a positive note, too, with him and Paul later being reconciled (an example of grace) and Paul esteeming John Mark as his fellow worker and as being useful to him.

This is a great lesson in life.  Despite making mistakes along the way, we can still finish well.  John Mark did and so can we.

[See Acts 13:2-3, 5, 13; Acts 15:36-41; Colossians 4:10, Philemon 1:24, and 2 Timothy 4:11.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Is God a Republican or a Democrat?

I have Christian friends who are staunch, conservative Republicans.  When they read their Bible, they see God as a conservative Republican.  They cannot comprehend how anyone who follows Jesus could be or think like a Democrat.  Their views are found and substantiated in the Bible.

I have other Christian friends who are staunch, liberal Democrats. When they read their Bible, they see God as a liberal Democrat. They cannot comprehend how anyone who follows Jesus could be or think like a Republican.  Their views are also found and substantiated in the Bible.

Unfortunately, both these groups read their Bible through the filter of their preconceived notion of politics, focusing on those verses that confirm their views, while glossing over or skipping those passages that confront their predetermined and intractable ideals.

This doesn’t just happen with politics, either.  If we are not careful, this is always how we read the Bible, giving great prominence to those sections we agree with, while dismissing those that challenge our theological expectations and spiritual status quo.

We need to — we must — take off the blinders and cast aside our filters, instead reading the Bible with an open mind, focusing precisely on the parts that don’t align with our preconceived notions and preferences, which are anathemas, and that cause us confusion or even anger.

It is in truly considering all that the Bible has to say that we will have a chance for real understanding and spiritual growth.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Justice or Mercy?

I have a friend who pursues justice; she wants everything to be fair.  The bad thing about absolute justice is that it leaves no room for mercy.  In many ways, justice and mercy are opposites:

  • Mercy is getting off with a warning, while justice says you deserve a ticket.
  • Mercy is having a test question thrown out, while justice says you got it wrong.
  • Mercy is receiving probation, while justice says you deserve jail.
  • Mercy is getting a second chance, while justice says there are no “do-overs.”
  • Mercy is being permitted to retract your chess move, while justice says “sorry, you took your hands off it.”

In a paradox of Godly proportions, God is both fully just yet full of mercy.

Justice says that an imperfect person cannot be in the presence of a perfect God, while mercy through Jesus allows us to do so anyway.

Thank God for his justice and his mercy—and for paradoxes!

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

How Much is Enough?

How much money is enough when you give to charity?

When considering gifts to God, that is a difficult question to answer.  This is because God’s economy functions differently than ours.  This is aptly illustrated in the following story:

Jesus notices the rich people giving gifts to the temple treasury.  Apparently, they would make a big show of this, to call attention to themselves and their “generosity.”  (Think of dropping 100 pennies into the Salvation Army kettle at Christmas time, versus slipping in a dollar bill.)

After their loud and showy performance, a poor widow shuffles up and meekly drops in two pennies.  We might wonder what two cents could do, but Jesus remarks that she was the most generous all, giving all that she had.

It seems that God is more concerned with our attitude about giving then he is with the amount that we give.  That’s how things work in God’s economy.

[See Luke 21:1-4.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Is This a Test?

The Bible is chocked full of strange and perplexing tales.

One such story is when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. What father in his right mind would kill his son? However, Abraham is intent on obeying God regardless of the cost.

Three days later we find him up on a mountain, with Son Isaac tied up and laying on the alter. With a knife in hand, Abraham raises his arm, ready to plunge the dagger into Isaac. Just then, God says in effect, ”Wait, don’t do it; I was just seeing if you would really obey me.”

Wow, that was close. Then God provides a ram to be sacrificed instead of Isaac. Abraham proved himself faithful to God, and Isaac was spared.

Fast forward several centuries to Jesus. Jesus is himself getting ready to die; he is going to be sacrificed. Surely, he knows the story of Abraham and Isaac; every Jew knows that story.

I suspect he is wondering if his loyalty and obedience to God are being tested just like Abraham, for he says, ”Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

However, God didn’t say, ”Hold on, this was just a test of your obedience”; there was no one else to take his place. It was Jesus’ job and his purpose to die for the wrongs of the world in order to make us right with God.

Jesus obeys; Jesus dies; we live.

[See Genesis 22:1-14 and Luke 22:42.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Entertaining Angels

As followers of Jesus, we are encouraged to be generous and giving. Hospitality is part of that. Sometimes when we show kindness to others, we will never know the affect of our actions. 

As an encouragement in being generous and giving, Paul writes, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”

This is an interesting thought. Of course, we would never know if it were to happen.

However, the Bible provides a story that confirms this idea of serving angels. Three men come to visit Abraham. He offers them food and respite. Somehow he realizes that one of them is God (likely Jesus), but it is not until later that we learn the other two are angels.

No indication is given that Abraham ever comprehends the true identity of the other two visitors.

The two men (angels) leave, going on to Sodom to visit Abraham’s nephew, Lot. He, likewise, offers generous hospitality to them, even to the point of begging. There is no hint that Lot ever realizes the men are angels, either.

Even so, they save Lot twice, first from the men of the town and later from the destruction of Sodom.

Certainly we should be diligent in entertaining strangers—we’ll never know what might happen.

[See Hebrews 13:2 and Genesis 18-19.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.