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.

Colossians 2:6-15

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment


            My wife is always good about speaking with children in a way that is uplifting, encouraging, and dignified.  I have learned from her that bending down to talk with kids, taking an interest in their words and lives, and paying careful attention to them solidifies their sense of worth, identity, and belonging.  How we treat kids in the family, the church, and in public can make a huge difference in the trajectory of how they will grow up.
             One of the most fundamental of all Christian truths is that we belong to Christ.  We are his children, and God has given us everything we need for a solid awareness of our true identity.  The follower of Jesus is a person who has moved from the realm of being in the world to the sphere of being in Christ.  The Christian’s knowledge, understanding, and sense of identity are vitally important because we as people live up to how we view ourselves.  
Today’s New Testament lesson is dense with the teaching of who we are in Christ.  We are to walk or follow in Christ; we are rooted and built up in Christ; we have been filled in Christ; we have a spiritual circumcision in Christ; we have been raised in Christ to new life; we are triumphant in Christ.  All this is meant to saturate us with the richness and security of being in the realm of Jesus Christ.
Take ten minutes today and focus on one of the phrases or words from these verses.  Think about its meaning.  Ponder how it makes a difference in your Christian life.  Then decide what you will do with the insight God gives you.  Finally, share it with a friend.  In all these ways we can push the truth of our identity firmly into our souls and live into the reality that we belong to Christ.
Gracious God, you have brought me from death to life, from being of the world to being in Christ.  Solidify my sense of identity with Jesus, and release that self-knowledge into loving practice toward others.  Amen.

1 Timothy 6:11-21

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Today’s New Testament lesson could not more pertinent for contemporary Christians.  These verses come as the conclusion to the Apostle Paul’s letter to a young pastor in Ephesus, Timothy.  The epistle is filled with encouragements, exhortations, and warnings of how to go about conducting ministry.  Paul left Timothy with some pointed instruction to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.  These are the qualities that ought to inform every practice in the church and the Christian life.  Paul also goes on to say that he entrusted Timothy with a sacred trust, to guard the message of faith in Christ given to him.  This good news of forgiveness and grace through Jesus must be continually upheld because there will always be others distorting and diluting this wondrous salvation.
 
            These two exhortations, to both pursue and to guard need to be held together at all times.  To only pursue virtuous practices apart from guarding the message will cause slow erosion and compromise of the faith entrusted to us – to only guard the gospel without any attention to the pursuit of godly virtues will lead to ornery and combative attitudes and behavior that completely undermines the very gospel we seek to uphold.
 
            So, then, we must fight the good fight of the faith keeping in mind what and why we are fighting.  We are battling for the hearts, minds, and souls of people who need the life-giving message of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.  We are to carefully apply the poultice of grace to the incredible need of the world’s people, using all the virtues of righteousness and godliness at our disposal.  Badgering, bullying, and bludgeoning people with the truth are unbiblical because it ignores the virtuous practices that are integral to faith.  On the other hand, love without careful gospel proclamation misses a central thrust of Paul’s letter to Timothy.
 
            We are to make sure we are fighting for the right things, through always upholding the faith delivered to us through sacred Scripture, and through always using love and gentleness in everything we say and do.  Pursue and guard; think about both words today as you interact with a variety of people, and see what God does in and through you.
 

 

            King Jesus, Lord of all, help me to keep your commandments in ways that are consistent with the gospel of grace so that your church is encouraged and your world is blessed with both the message and the medium.  Amen.

Luke 4:16-30

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Jesus was the hometown boy of Nazareth, the rising star who was putting the small village on the map.  He walked into the synagogue on the Sabbath with the people all watching with pride, their chests puffed with delight over one of their own making it to the big time.  It just so happened that on that day the Old Testament reading was from the prophet Isaiah – a prophecy of grace and healing that fit the budding ministry of Jesus.  Here was the hope of Israel.  It was all bunnies and butterflies, until Jesus decided to say a few words to them all….
 
             Jesus took the prophecy of Isaiah about proclaiming liberty to captives and the oppressed and applied it not to his fellow Jews who were present, but to, of all people, Gentiles!  Jesus just had to open his mouth and point out that in the days of Elijah, the prophet was sent to a Gentile woman instead of Jews.  What is more, Jesus let everyone know that the prophet Elisha cleansed a Gentile.  The gathered synagogue worshipers understood exactly what Jesus was doing.  He was claiming to be the ultimate prophet, sent for those other people.  It was too much for them.  All hell broke loose as the ‘worshipers’ became so angry and insolent that they drove him out of town and tried to kill him.  Jesus had that kind of effect on many of his fellow Jews. 
 
            The people of Nazareth had always interpreted the message of Isaiah and the prophets as being for themselves, not others.  This is a probing story for today’s Christian church.  Whenever we lose sight of the Bible’s message and re-interpret it as being for only us, then we end up like the Nazarenes of old who did not recognize Jesus for who he really is and what he really came to do.  The burning question for individual Christians and the corporate church is this:  Are you ready to throw Jesus off a cliff?
 
            Take some time alone with God today and think about whether you have made Jesus into the image of what you want him to be, or whether you accept him as he is.  One clue to this is if you think some person or people group (hint: what do you really think of LGBTQ’s and Starbucks?) should not have Jesus – he belongs to people like you.  Perhaps today some soul-searching repentance is in order so that you will be a true worshiper of Jesus, and not just a fan of him.
 

 

            Gracious Lord Jesus, you are the Savior of the nations and not just of people who look, act, and believe just like me.  Open my eyes to see others as you see them so that I can worship you in spirit and in truth.  Amen.

Christian Contemplation

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
           There is a great deal of loneliness in this world.  Increasingly, more and more people live alone.  As job hours build to crazy levels, disconnection occurs simply out of having no discretionary time to spend with others.  So, for many people, taking the time to sit in the presence of God and forget about the clock seems almost absurd.  It is as if contemplating Christ is some luxury instead of a necessity.  But it is a vital Christian practice. 
 
I propose that just maybe the reason why so many Christians, churches, and ministry organizations have contemplation off their spiritual radars has to do with how we view our relationship with God.  Communicating with God is a great privilege, and made possible through the Lord Jesus Christ.  In Christian contemplation we do not just pray to get something; we seek to adore God and enjoy being in his presence.  God longs for our companionship.  Yes, you read that right.  God delights in us.  He wants to be with us.  This weird notion that God always wants something from us is one-dimensional and truncates the true knowledge of God into a business transaction where we give God obedience and he answers our prayers.
 
If that is your typical understanding of how we relate to God, consider the beginning of humanity.  God enjoyed “walking in the cool of the day” with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8-9).  The original garden is portrayed as a paradise because it was the place where God and his creatures simply enjoyed being with one another.  We must come to grips with the reality that becoming spiritually mature means learning to love God for who he is, not just for what he can do for us.
 
Contemplative prayer has as its singular goal being with God, period.  It is about allowing time to melt away into an enjoyment of God, and God’s enjoyment of us.  If this seems strange, mystical, or medieval, it is only because contemporary evangelicalism has strayed far from the streams of living water offered through the kind of prayer that contemplates the grace and love of God in Christ.  Maybe you can only view God loving you if you are living a perfect life.  Remember this:  there is nothing you can do to make God love you more or less.  It is high time we relax enough to receive the wondrous reality that God loves us for who we are and not for what we can give to him.
 
God longs to be with us!  The “Jesus Prayer” is a simple and ancient prayer that combines the prayer of the tax collector from Luke 18:13 (“God be merciful to me, a sinner”) with the earliest confession of the church (“Jesus is Lord”).  Put it together, and the Jesus Prayer is:  “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  It is meant to be a means of entering into the presence of God and experiencing communion with Jesus.  Repeating phrases from Holy Scripture are some of my favorite ways of engaging in contemplative prayer.  I like personalizing Philippians 3:10, “I want to know you, Lord Christ, and the power of your resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in your sufferings.”  Using the biblical book of psalms is a wonderful place to express the desire of our hearts toward God, and to drink in his love for us.  Over time the repeated words begin to fall away into a deep connection with God.
 
Again, if I seem to be sounding like some reclusive monk locked up in a remote monastery, I can assure you that I am not in any such place.  I am a busy pastor who has more responsibilities that he ought to have.  But I do neither my church nor my God any favors by constantly working with no time set aside to connect with the reason we are to engage in this Christian work to start with:  to know Jesus to the very core our beings.  None of us are brains-on-a-stick meant to check off on a list of beliefs; then, go on our merry way being uptight, anxious, and worried about everything under the sun because we did not let those beliefs sink down into the marrow of our spiritual bones.
 

 

God is huge, and he is full of huge love for his creatures.  The Western church must begin to allow the fog to lift so that we can walk with God in the garden of the soul.  How will you and your church allow God into your lives to make this happen?  The answer to that question might just be the very thing you have been looking for all along.