Author: Tim Ehrhardt

I'm just a common ordinary pastor, chaplain, father, grandfather, and dog owner who loves the smell of a genuine leather Bible and the aroma of its message. I'm on a quest to track down the best Bibles, how to best read and use them, and to discover the encouragement inside.

Psalm 137

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            On this side of heaven is a life full of love and heartbreak, celebration and lament, encouragement and insult.  It is a spiritually schizophrenic existence of both a kiss of heaven, and a taste of hell.  We live in a fundamentally broken world that is currently being reclaimed by God’s kingdom.  So, our emotions run the gamut from fun happiness to sheer sorrow.  Either way, especially through the difficult stretches of our lives, Christians are to tether themselves to their true home:  heaven.
 
            “If I forget you, let my right hand go limp.  Let my tongue stick to my mouth, if I don’t think about you above all else.”  The psalmist was speaking of Jerusalem, the city that represented the presence of God.  Being exiled to a foreign land, the Israelites were not to forget their real home.  The reality, for the believer in Jesus, is that heaven is our reality.  This present arrangement is like camping in a tent – it is a temporary home, and not our permanent residence.
 
            It is easy to forget our true home, which is why we need continual reminders of eternity’s scope.  We are not to get too familiar with our current living conditions.  Simple acts like looking up at the stars at night and/or gazing into the vast expanse of the day’s sky while walking the dog can be tangible reminders that we are meant for larger things, for the embrace of heaven.  Put your life in the perspective of your true home, and build your treasure there.
 

 

            Sovereign Lord, may your blessing be with those who embrace heaven as a way to impact the earth and all its inhabitants.  Let me be in awe of your large kingdom work and prepare me for the eternal, through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Matthew 20:29-34

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            The word “irony” is a term used to describe an outcome of an event that is different from expectation.  For example, my family doctor’s name when I was growing up was “Dr. Fail.”  In today’s Gospel lesson, two blind men are healed by Jesus and can see.
 
            Please take a little time and read the short account over a few times and ponder these three ironic observations from the story:
 
·     —A large crowd followed Jesus, but only two persons are his actual followers.
·     — Out the large crowd, it is two blind men that actually see Jesus for who he is.
·     —The crowd following Jesus was actually trying to keep the two needy blind men from Jesus.
 
Although Jesus was surrounded by lots of people, he was attentive to two non-descript men.  He was listening for them.  He responded to them.  He touched them.  Listening, responding, and touching were the ways Jesus blessed people.  We, also, need to have our spiritual eyes wide open to see the great need of lost people around us who need our listening ear, our responsive selves, and our caring touch.  May it be so to the praise of Jesus.
 

 

Gracious Lord Jesus, you heal those who cry out to you.  Help me to be like you and be aware of those around me who need your healing touch so that they might know the wonder of following you.  Amen.

God Is Good

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created (James 1:16-18, NIV).
 
 
 
            God is good – all the time.  And all the time – God is good.  That statement is a bedrock foundation for the Christian faith.  Without a basic affirmation and belief of God’s goodness, our faith will experience cracks and not stand the test of hard circumstances and difficult situations in life.  Without the steadfast conviction that God is good, the alternative is that God is somehow fickle or even mean – that he does not really care about the problems we experience in life.
 
            Last week I had an experience I have not had in twenty years; I bounced a check.  First of all, it’s embarrassing because I didn’t have the resources I thought I did. It’s frustrating because you tack on the charge for your negligence. So, here I walk into the bank where everyone knows the pastor.  And I get to walk up and tell them that the pastor needs to clear up his insufficient funds.  A trial is like a bounced check. You feel stuck with a problem that you don’t have the resources to solve. The temptation is to rant to God: “Do you see me over here, God? Do you see what I’m going through? Are you paying attention? I’m about to bounce a lot of spiritual checks here. I don’t have the resources. I don’t have it emotionally. You’re rattling my faith, God. Don’t leave me in this mess.”
 
Those expressions of desperation you feel so awful about are in fact the exact truth that God has been trying to bring to your attention. You flat out don’t have the resources. He wants you to come to the place where you humbly get before him in a deeper way and tell him what he’s known to be true all along: you are in over your head and you need him.  Your poverty of spirit enables you to receive from God.
 
            When life is good, it is not a stretch to say God is good.  But it might be easy to slide into a belief system that thinks God is the problem when situations take a turn for the worse – that somehow God is the source of our trouble.  And if we have not been working on a relationship with God, we will have scant resources to draw from in a time of trouble.
 
            God is good.  God is not mean.  Every single good gift that there is in this world comes from God.  Nothing evil can come from God.  There would be no good in this world if God was not around.  God’s grace is constantly around us.  If his grace were not here, it would be like living in a dystopian novel.  It would be like a zombie apocalypse where everyone is constantly looking over their shoulders for the next evil thing to happen.  But, although there is evil in this world, it could be a whole lot worse if it were not for God’s goodness.
 
            People will typically question God’s goodness when they do not understand what is happening with something they do not like.  They want answers.  They want justice.  They want stability.  And when it does not come right away, they might question if God really cares.  But you do not need to understand everything about a situation to know that God is good.  “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).  Nothing can separate us from God’s love – not trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword – not any adverse circumstance that occurs in your life.
 

 

            God has good plans for his people, the church, because he is a good God – all the time – without changing like shifting shadows.  As long as we believe we have the resources and abilities within ourselves to do church ministry, it will likely either not happen or not occur with the blessing of God.  Only through the humility of dependence in a good God who gives good gifts is there true hope and faith.  World Communion Sunday reminds us that our good God is at work in people from all nations and ethnicities all across the earth, providing spiritual nourishment to us at his hospitably good Table.  Thank you, Jesus.

Lamentations 3:19-26

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Those who are regular readers of this blog know that I continually talk about the need to read and pray the Scriptures over and over again, slowly.  Reading our Bibles ought to be last thing we do in order to check it off our to-do list.  One of the reasons I believe so many Christians struggle today with how to cope with life in a difficult and changing world is that there is far too little contemplative and meditative readings of Holy Scripture.  Today’s poetry from the Old Testament is most certainly one of those Bible passages that really demands to be read several times with some thought, prayer, and flavor.  Here it is in the Contemporary English Version of the Bible:
 
19 Just thinking of my troubles
and my lonely wandering
makes me miserable.
20 That’s all I ever think about,
and I am depressed.
21 Then I remember something
that fills me with hope.
22 The Lord’s kindness never fails!
If he had not been merciful,
we would have been destroyed.
23 The Lord can always be trusted
to show mercy each morning.
24 Deep in my heart I say,
“The Lord is all I need;
I can depend on him!”
25 The Lord is kind to everyone
who trusts and obeys him.
26 It is good to wait patiently
for the Lord to save us.
 

 

Amen!