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.

Job 4:1-21

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            The Christian spiritual classic, The Dark Night of the Soul, was written nearly five hundred years ago by St. John of the Cross.  The basic gist of John’s observation is that God sometimes takes the Christian through dry times of hiding himself from the believer.  The pain of wondering where God is; having no answers to prayer; enduring uncaring and misdirected comments from well-meaning people; all these and more are inevitably part of the Christian spiritual experience.  The dark night of the soul is not to be confused with personal sinfulness.  Its origin is not in self, but God.  When one knows that personal integrity is intact, but trouble abounds, we need not immediately rush to the conclusion that something is wrong with us.  It may be the Spirit tossing us into a desert experience in order to test and approve our faith.
 
            Job’s “friend” Eliphaz offered one of those age-old arguments that bad things happen to bad people.  He asks:  “Who that was innocent ever perished?  Where were the upright cut off?”  His conclusion is: “those who plow iniquity reap the same.”  Certainly, Eliphaz thinks, Job cannot possibly go through such terrible suffering without having done something to anger God.
 
            Today the same notions still endure.  If I had a quarter for every time I heard comments like these I would be a rich man:  “he is poor because he is lazy;” “she has chronic health issues because God is punishing her;” “you are not healed because of your lack of faith;” “they did something evil to be in such trouble;” and on and on the wrong-headed statements continue, ad nauseum.
 
            The Apostle Peter understood how to view trouble in a healthy way:  “It is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:17-18).  Jesus suffered; so will the Christian.  There is a big picture that only God sees.  When we suffer, there is something going on behind the spiritual scene.  We must allow God to do his work and trust him for all things.
            Lord God, I entrust myself to you because you know what you are doing.  Thank you for the trials of life which humbles my heart to pray.  Do your work in me so that my faith is fortified for a lifetime of service in the church and the world, through Jesus Christ, my Lord.  Amen.

Facing Temptation

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
            Jesus was thrown into the desert by the Holy Spirit after his baptism (Mark 1:9-15).  The forty days of fasting and being tempted by Satan were a necessary preparation for Christ’s upcoming ministry.  We all, likewise, need a desert spirituality which has been formed in the crux of testing and strengthening our faith.  Here are some biblical lessons I have learned from my own experiences of God forging faith in my life:
 
  1. Know your weaknesses; know yourself; know the temptations of Satan directed at you.  Three top temptations we all face are worry, procrastination, and gossip.  The demonic whispers come often in relation to a perceived need of perfectionism.  We worry about the future and not saying or doing something perfectly.  We procrastinate for fear of screwing up and not being perfect.  And we gossip to others about their faults and weaknesses because it maintains the illusion that our perfectionism is intact, at least as compared to others.  Perfectionism is slavery.  Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
  2. Understand the importance of timing.  When are you at your weakest?  When are you most vulnerable to temptation?  What triggers you to sin?  Parents know that when kids act up that they are likely tired or hungry or have some other need.  It is the same with us.  Carrying a massive sleep debt, skipping meals or eating junk food because we are constantly in a hurry will set us up for temptation.  Elijah faced down four-hundred prophets of Baal, and then completely fell apart when one woman, Jezebel, went after him (1 Kings 18-19).  He was exhausted.  God gave him food and rest. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith….”
  3. Look to God and others.  Do not rely solely on your own willpower or think in your pride that you can resist temptation all by yourself all the time.  Even Jesus looked both to his Father and his disciples.  Listen to him on this, from Matthew 26, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with me….  Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.  ‘Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?  Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’”
  4. Have a plan.  Flying by the seat of your pants will not always work.  Proverbs 22:3 says, “A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”  One of the major ways I personally resist temptation is by having a daily plan of worshiping God, praying, and reading Scripture at set times throughout the day.  I know that this is not for everyone, but for me it is significant to have much more than a few minutes of a ‘quiet time’ in the morning.
  5. Overcome evil with good.  “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).  If we apply this to our top three temptations that people face, that means the worrier will love his/her enemies and pray for those who persecute.  It means the procrastinator will take intentional steps of faith and risk, being real and vulnerable with others through accountability relationships.  It means the gossip will seek to speak words of encouragement that build others up.
  6. Know that you are never alone.  Angels attended Jesus in his desert temptations.  Even the Son of God was never really facing down temptation by himself.  Whatever it is you are facing is likely not unique to you.  Others face the same thing.  Our brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of problems when they seek to walk with Christ.

 

Let God’s decision to toss you into the desert shape and strengthen your faith.  If the Holy Spirit has thrown you into a dry place, then instead of bucking the situation and complaining about it, learn all you can about resisting temptation so that you can come out the other end a stronger, more faithful follower of Jesus Christ and ready for a life of service to the church and the world.

Daniel 9:15-25a

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
          Today’s Old Testament reading continues Daniel’s prayer of confession from yesterday.  Reading through this prayer is like having a privileged glimpse into one of the most beloved persons in all of Scripture by God.  Indeed, while Daniel was praying the angel Gabriel came and communicated to him that “you are greatly loved.”  Daniel’s prayer is at the same time grand and majestic, yet humble and simple.  It would be a worthy activity to take this prayer and write one’s own confession based upon it.
             Too many times in our lives we feel the misguided notion to hide our sin.  We want to look good to others, so we take pains to make the outward appearance godly and attractive.  We may be careful in only letting another see our good side.  We might even do this with God by failing to pray and confess sin.  In doing so, we inevitably neglect the vast interior life.  But Daniel was greatly loved not because he had it all together, but because he was sensitive to sin and was courageous to bring it before God.
             It is easy to have delusions of grandeur about doing great things for God and being a leader among God’s people.  The hard work is one of prayer, particularly confession.  And the consequences of sin are not always magically erased.  But the mercy of God becomes operative and guides us into truth and grace toward ourselves and others.
             Merciful God, listen to my plea for the gospel of grace to take root in my inner self.  Incline your ear to listen to me and grant me forgiveness that leads to new life in Christ in order that I might stand in the gap and intercede for others.  Be gracious to your church and bring healing to all wounded by her neglect of mercy.  Amen.

Getting Rid of Gossip

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
            Taking stock of our lives and how we live day in and day out is especially pertinent during Lent.  Our speech and how we use our tongues is of utmost importance to God.  So, having a heightened realization of the words that come out of our mouths might just be the best place to begin in living the repentant life of Lent. 
 
One of the leading temptations of people (in both the church and the world) is gossip.
 
            Scripture speaks with clarity on the subject of gossip.  Gossip is included on lists of evil behavior (Romans 1:29; 2 Corinthians 12:20).  It is to speak against another person behind their back, without their knowledge.  The New Testament word for gossip can literally be translated as “whisperings.”  In other words, anything that needs to be whispered and not said out loud is likely to be something that should be kept to oneself.  The Apostle James was straightforward in exhorting the church that “with the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.  My brothers, this should not be” (James 3:9-10).
 
In the Old Testament book of Proverbs, which is the place to find short pithy statements of experiential truth, we see the damage and destruction that our tongues can wreak through gossip.  Here are just a few:  “A gossip betrays a confidence….”  “…a gossip separates close friends.”  True repentance does not only identify and confess wrong speech, but adopts new patterns of speaking that kills gossip. 
 
To avoid gossip we must:  be trustworthy by being people who keep confidences (Proverbs 11:13); and, steer clear of people who talk too much (Proverbs 20:19).
 
We even get a glimpse in Scripture of why a gossip uses his/her tongue in such a way.  The Apostle John found it difficult to minister in certain places because of Diotrephes’ wagging tongue.  He maliciously gossiped about John because Diotrephes loved to be first (3 John 9-10).  Indeed, much gossip comes from a feeling of superiority or power over another.  Gossip inevitably, as in the case of Diotrephes, leads to a lack of hospitality and imitating evil behavior instead of loving words and actions.
 
We often grossly underestimate our ability to say unkind words of gossip to others. 
 
If a person cannot go twenty-four hours without drinking liquor, we would say that person is addicted to alcohol.  Likewise, if one cannot go twenty-four hours without saying unkind words about others, then that person has lost control over the tongue and repentance is in order.  There is absolutely no place for backbiting in the church; it is the one institution on earth that ought to be a gossip-free zone. 
 
What destroys churches is not lack of members or funds, or government oppression or anything else; what kills congregations is gossip.
 
The way to overcome gossip is to talk with the person who slighted you, ignored you, or hurt you.  There cannot be a healthy culture of encouragement, help, and forgiveness unless there is an equal commitment to avoiding gossip through speaking to the one who caused damage.  Such persons are called peacemakers by Jesus.  Listening to gossip is like eating a wormy rotten apple; it will always leave a bad taste.  But having an environment free of gossip brings a feeling of health right down to the bones. 
 
For gossip to dry up in the church there must be a shared value and commitment to do away with it.
 

 

Yes, Lent is a season of repentance.  It is a time to realize sin and turn from it through embracing godly words and actions.  If there is to be the joy of Easter and new life, there must be the hard work of repentance during Lent.  There are no shortcuts.