“Oh, That My Words Were Recorded” (Job 19:23-27a)

On November 9, 2025November 5, 2025 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

“Oh, that my words were recorded,
    that they were written on a scroll,
that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,
    or engraved in rock forever!
I know that my redeemer lives,
    and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
    with my own eyes—I, and not another. (New International Version)

The biblical character Job expressed a feeling that all of us, at one time or another, have likely felt: Longing for someone to actually hear our voice, our words of grief, listen to them, and not let them fall into oblivion as if we were alone on this earth.

Job was hurting like no one before or after him. His grief was palpable. His pain was deep and intense. Not knowing what the heck was going on, he had zero understanding of why complete calamity came upon him.

Job’s family was killed, all but his wife. He lost all his earthly possessions to either theft or disaster. And his body was wracked with painful sores that covered his entire body. He was as miserable as one person could be. It was grief stacked upon grief.

In that misery and pain, after losing everything, Job didn’t want his words to be lost. He wanted them to be heard and remembered. Job needed to know that his voice was real, that he was not just speaking into the air.

This gets to the heart of what every grieving person likely wants: For someone to listen to their story of loss – for that story to be heard, listened to, and taken seriously.

I know the feeling. And I know it a bit more intimately than I would like to.

In this past year I was diagnosed with a health disorder that prevented me from continuing to work in a job I absolutely loved. This precipitated a move to another state to be near family. And there are many more losses and griefs to go along with all the changes in my life.

Going through circumstances that we neither asked for nor wanted is hard, especially when it involves significant losses. Without facing our grief, like Job did, we may end up losing ourselves and becoming lost or stuck in that grief.

Rather than me blithering on about the need for vulnerability, I myself will be vulnerable. One of the ways I accept, cope, and transcend hard stuff is through journaling. Here is a portion of my journal from today, unedited:

“I can feel myself sinking down toward the abyss. The darkness is beginning to overwhelm me. Everything – the changes, the transitions, the grief, the state of all things – is too much.

“Lord, have mercy.

“And so, I write, in the hope that my grief and big feelings of loss and of lostness will somehow fade into the background – not the foreground – of my life. Yes, it’s all a part of me. A very important part. And I never want to disavow it. Yet, it is only a part, and not the whole of me.

“Maybe that’s the thing I need to know and remember this day – that grief is not all of me; doesn’t define me as a person; and need not rule my life. There is some sort of ‘sweet spot’ in all this, in which I vulnerably and forthrightly acknowledge and talk about my grief without stuffing it away into an internal junk closet. But also, I do not necessarily focus on it as if grief is all that I am.

“Rather, I’m (like all other people) a complicated soul made up of many moving spiritual and emotional parts.

“It is ironic that a guy who once talked to grieving people on a daily basis is now grieving the loss of no longer talking to grieving people on a daily basis. Yet, here I am.

“One of the reasons I derived so much fulfillment from doing grief work with others is that it is so very much needed! I live in a society where everyone wants you to be okay, likely because they themselves are so very uncomfortable with grief and don’t know what to do with it. So, many people simply want everyone to be ‘normal,’ whatever the heck that actually means.

“Loss is painful, and no one (including me) wants to hurt. But the pain won’t go away magically. I (and everyone) must face the hurt, walk into and through the pain in order to feel better.

“To open-up to the unique pain of loss is the only way to realize emotional healing. In order to move on, we’ve got to stop trying to move on. Instead, let it out.

“In writing this I’m reminding myself what I’ve told hundreds of patients and parishioners who were going through their own unique circumstances of painful loss. Strength is found in embracing weakness, and not by trying to soldier on as if loss doesn’t bother me. It’s okay to grieve. And it’s okay to grieve any sort of loss. It’s more than okay; it’s absolutely needed.”

Eternally righteous God, merciful judge of all the living: In your love you called us to share the glory of Christ. Strengthen our hearts in every good work and word, so that we may be steadfast in your ways and always believe your truth. Amen.

Are Your Ears Being Tickled? (2 Timothy 3:14-4:5)

On October 19, 2025October 16, 2025 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have known sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but, having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. (New Revised Standard Version)

It’s only human in wanting to hear only those things we like to hear. Rarely do any of us purposely seek to listen to another voice which is contrary to our likings. This may be why we exist in such a polarized world; we simply have no intention of listening to any sort of opposing view on anything.

We put our fingers in our ears to stop hearing things we don’t want to hear; and conversely, we surround ourselves only with people who tell us what we want to hear.

The Apostle Paul would say that we like our ears tickled.

One of the hardest things to hear is that sometimes we need to hear hard things.

There is no spiritual growth, and no Christian maturity, apart from the willingness to hear what we need to hear, rather than to always hear what we want to hear. All of us need to keep developing our listening skills.

I would argue that one of the reasons there are umpteen Protestant denominations in this world is that groups of people don’t really want to listen to one another. We’d much rather insulate ourselves; label ourselves as right; and declare that everyone else is worldly and wrong, or an antichrist and a terrorist.

But that sort of thinking will not do for the Apostle Paul. It’s one of the reasons he took the time to write to his young protégé Timothy.

Paul’s letter to Timothy is filled with exhortations and warnings about making sure the church is ethical with their words; avoids useless and profane speech; holds to sound biblical talk; and stays away from speaking erroneously about apostolic teaching.

In other words, church folk must keep their life, their doctrine, and their speech in line with the words and ways of Jesus – even when we encounter hard words from our Lord and his apostles.

Listening to what we need to hear, instead of always what we want to hear, is a significant way of maturing in the Christian life.

We choose to listen to hard things, and things we don’t necessarily want to hear in order to connect with God and others; and to compassionately understand what they’re saying to us.

We need not be at the mercy of our own reactivity. Knee jerk reactions only breed ignorance, not spiritual growth.

Since listening is a skill to develop, that means we need a lot of practice doing it. We can begin by listening to Scripture; embracing the sort of faith which it advocates; and following the examples of godly persons, like the Apostle Paul.

In Timothy’s case, faith was learned and nurtured through the examples of his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois (2 Timothy 1:5). Their compassionate and beloved way of life displayed an embodied source of sound teaching.

There was a whole lot more going on with the godly examples than catechism classes and Sunday School lessons. Their teaching effected a deep and enduring desire to follow the example of godly living.

Every believer needs helpful examples and models, whether they are family or not. The truly Christian person is one who allows the inspiration of Holy Scripture to manifest itself in their life in profoundly powerful ways which brings transformation, not just information.

And whenever these godly persons are together, making up a Christian community, then there is wise discernment in carefully listening to what is right, true, good, and just. Gossip is jettisoned. Lack of evidence is not ever entertained. Rather, encouragement and spiritual nurture take hold.

Christians with the inspired text in the very marrow of their souls faithfully call out deviations and departures from godly scriptural speech. They hold to righteousness and embrace the good. They love mercy and exhibit humility in all things.

Holy Scripture was not a collection of facts for Timothy, but was engrafted into his mind and heart so that what came out of him was faith, hope, and love. Christians like Paul and Timothy had a well-rounded spirituality which was attuned to following Jesus and nurturing the faith of others.

Paul lovingly and confidently exhorted Timothy (and his congregation) to go diligently after Scripture, so that it could do its work within them. They were to speak out the gospel of grace, no matter the situation.

Believers are to liberally use apostolic teaching to convince, rebuke, and encourage each other toward the righteousness of God.

Everyone is to work together in practicing holiness, proclaiming grace, and promoting a way of life rooted in the life of Christ.

Everyone is to avoid flocking to leaders who only tell them what they want to hear. They are to instead flock toward humble and wise leadership who possess time-tested teaching – not pithy slogans and promotions of hate.

Reliable true-blue teaching understands perseverance, long-suffering, honesty, and fidelity to Christ’s words. The truth is stated plainly, and thinks of others. There’s no get-down-and-dirty pride; no posturing nor slick salesmanship.

Timothy cared nothing about getting as many social media followers as he could. And he wasn’t so insecure as to want everyone in his congregation to like him. But neither was he calloused by forcing his way on everyone. Paul taught him better than that.

Paul’s instruction took hold with Timothy by cultivating a genuine spiritual growth that is organic and patient, rooted in love, that can always hearken back to the faithfulness of Christ and the apostles.

It is profoundly sad to me how many persons have left the church. And yet, I understand why. There are too many pastors and elders and deacons who are driven by their own selfish desires for power, control, money, and personal followers. That stuff is a sure prescription for people to get hurt and disillusioned with Christianity, let alone the church.

The Apostle Paul wanted to see leadership which reflects the grace by which he himself had been saved. Furthermore, Paul was devoted to being a mentor in helping others like Timothy and Titus to live in ways which exhibit the grace and mercy of Christ.

A hard teaching is really only hard wherever there exists a hard heart. We all need ever-expanding and softening hearts which are receptive to the voice of Holy Scripture.

What’s more, we need non-itchy ears which listen to the voice of God and the voice of hurting people who need the gospel of grace.

We need godly leadership who knows the difference between truth and being a jerk.

Where are you in your own faith walk?

O God, Spirit of righteousness, you temper judgment with mercy. Help us to live out the covenant which is written on our hearts so that when Christ returns we may be found worthy to receive your gracious presence. Amen.

Love Never Fails

On October 15, 2025October 10, 2025 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality BlogLeave a comment

“When we ask whether someone is a good man, we are not asking what he believes, or hopes, but what he loves.” St. Augustine

I believe there are few things in life which have sustainability and permanence, things which make the world go ‘round. Love is one of them; maybe even the greatest of them.

Love Language

And yet, in the English language, we really only have one word for “love.” That strikes me as curious and interesting.

I enjoy language and languages, as well as the use and smithing of words. One observation I’ve made about language is that any particular society, culture, or nation has several words for whatever is important or valuable to them.

For example, Indonesia has seven different words for the one English word “rice.” Since rice is so vital to the life of the people, it makes sense that they have several words to bring out all of the various nuances of “rice.”

By contrast, the West simply places adjectives in front of “rice” when needed (i.e. white or brown or jasmine). So, what does it say about us, about me and my fellow Americans, when we have only one word for “love?”

We certainly have plenty of words for “money.” It does little good to even use the word “money” unless one is speaking in very general terms. Americans make liberal use of words like “stocks and bonds,” “cash,” “checking and savings accounts,” etc. We even have several words for institutions which handle money: banks, savings and loans, credit unions, and mutual organizations.

Indeed, what does it say about us that we have a plethora of words for money? What’s more, in contrast to our one word for “love,” what does this tell us about Western society in general?

No wonder that American society has a love problem. Even when we borrow words for love from other languages, we seem to transform it into something else.

The Greek word “phileo” is engrafted into many of our English words such as philosophy (love of wisdom); philanthropy (love of humanity); or Philadelphia (brotherly love).

Often the last thing on our minds about the city of Philadelphia is an association with love; philanthropy is widely understood as being generous with one’s money (there it is again!); and few people think of love when describing philosophy.

Please know that it’s not my purpose to rant about American culture. I just want us to think about how we tend to use the word, and the implications of that use.

Oftentimes, I find that my own understanding of the word tends to be in contrast with so many other uses of “love.”

St. Augustine and Love

I admit to being influenced most heavily by St. Augustine and Holy Scripture. Augustine was enamored with love. That’s likely because he knew what it felt like to be on the outside of God’s redeeming love in Christ. For Augustine, love explains everything. Love is to be our true nature, and the proper direction of everything we say and do in this world, insisted Augustine.

Augustine, of course, derived his understanding from Jesus – especially from the New Testament Gospels:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:37-39, NIV

Unless there is love, we go nowhere – which is precisely what seems to be happening in our world today. Apart from love, there are no social problems which can be alleviated; no wars which will stop; and no rights and respect extended to particular people. Without love, peace and happiness are nothing but a pipe dream.

It is imperative that we have a robust understanding and practice of love. If we don’t, I believe that we are ruined, no matter how savvy or powerful we are.

Designed For Love

People are designed for love; it is our very purpose. And if we go against our basic inherent design, it will be like disrespecting gravity itself by walking off the roof of the house in the wrongheaded belief that I won’t get hurt.

Fullness of life (and fullness of any religious practice) comes only through love. In Christianity, it is clearly understood that God is Love with a capital “L.” Thus, we were created in love, stamped with the image of God’s love, and expected to love one another.

Love is so ubiquitous throughout the Bible that listening to a biblical sermon on love every day for the rest of your life would not exhaust love’s height, depth, breadth, and width within Scripture.

It is an understatement to say that love is the goal of religion, the purpose for being, and the best expression of human community.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6, NIV)

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14, NIV)

Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)

Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:8, NIV)

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight… (Philippians 1:9, NIV)

The thing about love is that it can either get choked-out, or it can flourish. Love gets suppressed by attaching ourselves to things rather than people. This is a gross misuse of our capacity for love. A radical detachment from stuff may be necessary in order to gain relational connection.

On the other hand, by learning to direct our love toward God and neighbor (and, by the way, our neighbor is everyone we encounter) we begin to discover the peace of being in sync with the way the universe is wired.

We need salvation from our own worldly self. For it is this false self which the devil can so easily deceive and woo us from attachments to God and neighbor. In other words, we must be saved from ourselves, because left to ourselves, there is no hope for us.

To be lost is to be fooled by my own ego that the false self is the true self. To live and love in God is the essence of the true self.

That means humility, gentleness, peaceful relations, mercy, and purity characterize us. If it doesn’t, we’ve been fooling ourselves by believing that peace can only be achieved through unconditional winning; and that I am not responsible for my neighbor’s welfare and well-being.

Here’s a little test of where you might be in your false self/true self, and in your actual ability to love: The more importance you attach to your own ideas, your own abilities, and your own work, the more you will find yourself building up the very idea of you. This inevitably comes out by condemning other people and becoming judgmental of most things they do. If we are continually critical of others, we have lost sight of love.

The true self, however, recognizes and remembers that I am made in the image and likeness of God; that God is my very reason for existence; and that, therefore, love is my true identity because God is Love.

That’s right. Love is your genuine true character, deep down. The late Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, got it right when he said:

“If I do anything or think anything or say anything or know anything that is not purely for the love of God, it cannot give me peace, or rest, or fulfillment, or joy.” Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation

This is one reason why it’s so important to love my neighbor. Since God’s love is truly within me, hardwired into my very existence, this love can come to you and me from any person, any direction, any time.

Love comes not only directly from God, but also indirectly by means of the jewel of love placed within the other person I am encountering.

For it is only in love that we at last can become real. If we feel unworthy of love, we will probably feel that other persons are not worthy of it either. This is where hate is born, and why it manifests itself so hideously in a politics of hate where large groups of people are simply labeled as “monsters” or “evil.”

But that’s really only a projection of how the person feels about themselves. And the only way out of it for the hateful person is to know that they are loved – irrespective of one’s worth.

If and when we become out of sorts, it is best to come back to love. Which means returning to my first and original love, God; and to the love that I actually have for the people in my family and my life.

Maybe it’s high time we start inventing all sorts of new words for love in the English language. Because, after all is said and done, Love never fails.

“Your Faith Has Made You Well” (Luke 17:11-19)

On October 12, 2025October 9, 2025 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

*Jesus heals ten lepers, with one returning to give him thanks*

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’s feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? So where are the other nine? Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Ten persons seeking healing called out to Jesus. And they got it. Yet, those persons were much more than passive receivers of healing. And Jesus was more than simply a giver.

Even though the lepers had heard about Jesus, they did not personally know him. It seems that – from their perspective – they had a chance encounter with Jesus. When they least expected a healing, a healing happened.

They called out to Christ, recognizing who it was that had entered their village. There was enough faith present for the diseased persons to make themselves known to Jesus – to expectantly put themselves out there and cry out for a healing to happen.

If you think about it, the power of any healing is really in the connection of being seen and heard in crying out to Jesus.

Although the healing of a person can come through a wondrous miracle, healing most often happens by the beautiful act of mutuality and participation. That is, the healer and the one in need of healing encounter each other with the willingness to both give and receive.

It’s in real human connection that healing happens. And it’s more than a physical cure; it’s also a healing reconnection of persons who were once isolated from the community. In other words, the healed person no longer needs to be on the outside of society, but can once again be a full participant in neighborhood and community.

Faith is central to what happens in the healing process. We all have some agency in realizing our own healing. We need not be passive spectators just wishing for things to be different.

Our anxiety and/or discouragement of present circumstances can move to a different place. We can discover relief through participating in social activities, taking walks in nature, and other modes requiring us to actively make a meaningful connection.

It requires faith.

Where faith is present, relational interaction and participation happens. In this context, a healing can occur. Rarely, if ever, does healing happen in complete isolation from others.

The fact that Jesus declared to the cleansed leper, “your faith has made you well,” indicates the mutuality of the healing encounter.

Let’s keep in mind that it takes at least two in order to have a healing: the healer and the healed one. Both participate together in the healing.

What’s more, when Christ heals, he heals without prejudice or favoritism.

In my front yard is a large ash tree with broad and expansive boughs. It is the ultimate shade tree. The tree’s name is Bob (I have a tendency to name trees, especially the ones I enjoy daily). Bob and I share the similarity of being created by the same Creator; and we both glorify God by simply being who we are created to be.

For Bob, he provides shade to people and animals without prejudice or favoritism. Anyone who comes under his great limbs can enjoy his shade. All that is needed for the protective and enjoyable experience of Bob’s boughs is a person under him.

Although it is appropriate to highlight the need for gratitude and praise in today’s story, the narrative itself builds to the climax of faith, of a participatory experience between Jesus and the leper(s).

And it did not matter if the persons healed were lepers, Samaritans, or even miscreants. What mattered was the faith-dialectic of the healer Jesus and the ones to be healed. All may enjoy the grace of divine shade if they move to becoming participants together with Christ by merely coming under his mercy.

I find that many people get hung-up about faith. We often make faith either too simple or too difficult. We create an overly simplistic faith when it becomes a completely passive affair of just waiting on God, or expecting someone else to heal me. We make faith a great difficulty whenever it becomes all about our level or amount of faith through the strenuous effort of intense prayer and contacting umpteen prayer chains.

But more or less prayer, more or less work, more or less of anything misses the point – because even a puny amount of faith will do, if it moves toward Jesus and seeks the participatory experience of a divine/human relation.

There is a cost to healing. It requires participation, relationship, and most of all, the humility to be seen and heard, instead of trying to control some sort of process to get the healing I want.

We call this genuine participation faith.

When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Your faith has made you well. (Luke 17:19)

In your love, O God of all, your people find healing. Grant that the pains of our journey may not obscure the presence of Christ among us, but that we may always give thanks for your healing power as we travel on the way to your kingdom; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit are one God, now and forever. Amen.

Rev. Tim Ehrhardt

Author: Tim Ehrhardt

“Oh, That My Words Were Recorded” (Job 19:23-27a)

Are Your Ears Being Tickled? (2 Timothy 3:14-4:5)