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.

2 Peter 3:8-13

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Sometimes, from our puny human perspective on things, it seems as if God is doing nothing.  Evil consumes the world in all kinds of insidious forms:  human trafficking and the sex slave trade; corrupt governments with no concern for the welfare of its nation’s citizens; oppressive regimes that rule on the backs of the poor; terrorism with no regard to innocent life; Christians displaced from their homes and martyred for their faith; human rights violations in all kinds of sweat shops and dangerous working conditions – and that is just to name a few – not to mention what we personally might be facing in the hard circumstances of life.  We might wonder why God seems so silent in the face of such injustice.
 
            It is into such concerns that the Apostle Peter wrote to a group of struggling believers in Jesus who could not rectify their present difficult situation with the promise of God to act justly.  In fact, Jesus was supposed to return and make everything right.  Where is he?!  Peter’s response:  “Dear friends, don’t forget that for the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years is the same as one day.  The Lord isn’t slow in keeping his promises, as some people think he is.  God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.”
 
            The seeming inactivity of God is really him showing patience and forbearance, graciously and carefully reaching out in the darkness so that more and more people can be saved from their empty ways of life before it is too late.  Where, from our angle it seems like a lack of concern, from God’s perspective is a show of incredible grace.  The Lord will return.  Until then, we are participate with him in showing grace and love to those who need the light of Christ, even if it means we must endure some of the evil muck of this world.
 

 

            Patient God, you show steadfast love even when I am slow to recognize it.  Enable me to be patient and endure to the end.  Bring more and more people under your benevolent rule, and reach the unreachable with your massive mercy, through Jesus Christ.  Amen.

1 Timothy 1:18-20

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “Some people have made a mess of their faith because they didn’t listen to their consciences.”  Most people really know better.  They didn’t just wake up some morning and decide that being an alcoholic would be a good decision, or that spending more money than they possess would be just fine.  They didn’t make a snap decision that God wasn’t there or doesn’t really care.  Their consciences let them know well before they ended up in exorbitant debt or with a DUI that the daily choices being made were not wise.  Faith is either built up or torn down; there is no neutral ground to it.  And it doesn’t occur quickly.  Faith either slowly erodes over time or it is consistently built by listening well to the conscience and following its counsel.
 
            Listening to the conscience requires stopping long enough to hear it.  The conscience is malleable; it can be seared into impotence through constant busyness which presses on with no heed to substantive thought.  We don’t want to hear it.  We have things to do, and have no time for this conscience thing.  But in the end, if we ignore it, we will be ruined.  Our faith will be a mess.  Eventually, there will be no faith left to hold onto.
 
            But if, like Martin Luther facing the crucial decision about whether to please people or God, our consciences are held captive to the Word of God, we will speak and act with integrity and truth.  There will be peace, even if circumstances are difficult, because we have done the right thing.  The real test of character is doing what you know you should do, even if it is hard, inconvenient, or not what you really want to do.
 

 

            Faithful God, you stand at the nexus of my schizophrenic spirituality where I wander in and out of making wise and foolish decisions.  Help me to listen well to the conscience you gave me.  And let it be informed by your Holy Word in all things, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

John 10:11-21

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  I grew up on an Iowa farm.  Although we never had any sheep on our place, I had friends with sheep.  When I was a boy, I actually played a lot with the sheep.  I think sheep get a bum rap when it comes to smarts.  I’m not convinced sheep are near as dumb as people make them out to be.  I think the distinguishing character of sheep is that they very skittish.  They scare easily.  And when they become afraid they make really stupid decisions, like running at full speed head first into a brick barn wall and knocking themselves out.
 
            Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  When the sheep get scared, Jesus is committed to bringing them in and keeping them safe.  Hired hands are not near as devoted to the welfare of the sheep.  But Jesus is the Good Shepherd who owns the sheep and does whatever it takes to provide for them, protect them, and be present with them through leading them in green pastures and keeping wolves away from them.  Jesus gives his life for the sheep.
 
            We are such skittish frightened people.  Just look at your friends’ Facebook posts for today and see how many of them have some sort of fear at the core of it.  Go to church and observe how much discussion there is which is based in the fear and uncertainty of the future.  Notice how much your co-workers fret about their jobs and families.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  None of the stupid decisions we make out of fear freaks out our Lord because he gives his life for the sheep.  He will not abandon us.  And it is this most basic theology of the person of Christ that we all need in order to relax enough to make sound and wise decisions in our present circumstances.
 

 

            Jesus, you are the Good Shepherd.  I will follow you and will not run away out of fear because I know that you are caring for me every minute of the day, and watch over me every minute of the night.  Amen.

Rejoice in Hard Circumstances

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” (James 1:2-3)
 
The book of James in the New Testament of the Bible was written to a group of Christians struggling to make their way far from their land of origin in an alien country.  If you put yourself in the position of these Jewish Christian refugees, leading off with this kind of an exhortation seems a bit over the top.  Telling them to consider their situation as pure joy is a really hard pill to swallow.  I am not sure what the believers were thinking when they first heard this from James, but they must have thought the guy was crazy.  These are people who have experienced not only hard things, but have felt the brunt of living in a broken and fallen world.  To tell hungry families with no wealth or status who were wondering where their next meal is coming from that they ought to consider their situation as pure joy may seem strange, even calloused. 
 
            But James was looking to fortify the believers with some important truth.  When we get a cut or a laceration, the first thing that needs to happen is to apply peroxide to the wound so that there will be no infection that results from the injury.  It might seem insensitive because to get peroxide in an open wound stings like nothing else.  But it has to happen.  It is a necessary part of the coping and healing.  James actually cared enough about the people to tell them what they absolutely needed to hear right up front.  Without a positive, godly, and wise perspective on their situation, they would not make it.  Infection would set in and destroy the fledgling church.
 
            Suffering in the form of spiritual peroxide is absolutely necessary.  To just say what itching ears want to hear helps no one.  Suffering is a significant part of the Christian life.  God never promised anywhere in the Bible that life would be and should be all bunnies and unicorns.  In fact, he promised just the opposite – that everyone who wants to live for Jesus in this present broken world will have a hard time.  It is not a matter if you will face the testing of your faith; it is a matter of wheneveryou face trials.
 
            But the good news is that through the adversity God is producing in his people patient endurance, which is necessary to the development of our faith.  We can only become mature Christians through adversity, by having our faith tested in the crucible of hard circumstances.
 
            Faith is not a neutral or static thing.  Faith is an active dynamic thing that is always either developing or degenerating.  Without spiritual peroxide, faith will degenerate and become putrid.  Eventually, gangrene will set in and something will have to be amputated.  If you do not want to experience that, then we will need to learn how to experience joy in the middle of hard things.
 
            It seems to me that one of the tragedy of today’s American church is that we can live a trivial, blasé, and superficial existence as believers in Jesus Christ and get away with it because we have the ability to be independent, self-sufficient, and hold our own.  We don’t really need the church.  We say we need God, but then turn around and live our lives as if he isn’t even there.  The peroxide that we need in our lives for this day and for this time is that we are doing everything but exercising spiritual disciplines that would put us in touch with Jesus.  Church is optional.  Reading our Bibles is not a matter of life and death.  Prayer only happens if I want or need something, and is not a means of connecting with Jesus.  Giving and service happens if I have any discretionary time and money. 
 

 

            The Christian life was not meant to be easy!  It is challenging, it is hard; and, in the middle of that it can be invigorating and joyful.  Yes, joyful.  This is where our brothers and sisters throughout the world who undergo adversity to their faith every day can teach us.  Americans might have the money, but others have a unique spiritual depth of faith forged in the fires of resistance to governments and cultures that actively put them to the test.  And, despite their hardship, many know the joy of living for Jesus, while far too many in the West live dull depressed lives devoid of real faith.  Let us pray boldly for one another so that together we can realize a genuine faith in Christ that glorifies God and edifies his church.