Tag: god’s grace

How Can Young People Keep Their Lives Pure? (Psalm 119:9-16)

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

How can young people keep their lives pure?
    By obeying your commands.
With all my heart I try to serve you;
    keep me from disobeying your commandments.
I keep your law in my heart,
    so that I will not sin against you.
I praise you, O Lord;
    teach me your ways.
I will repeat aloud
    all the laws you have given.
I delight in following your commands
    more than in having great wealth.
I study your instructions;
    I examine your teachings.
I take pleasure in your laws;
    your commands I will not forget. (Good News Translation)

Every historical age, and every generation of people has its own struggles. Of course, the challenges vary widely depending on who you ask – young adults of different races, income levels, and geographic locations often have different concerns or prioritize the same concerns differently.

Young people today have particular challenges concerning money, school, violence, sex, climate change, social media, and many other issues. And they face them in different ways than I had to deal with them (back when I was considered young).

Yet, no matter the struggle, nor the concern, the ability to remain set apart for godly purposes is perhaps the main challenge for a spiritual young person. How can a young person keep their life pure?

The psalmist asked the question, and gave a straightforward answer: By obeying God’s commands.

Knowing the answer, however, is only part of attaining and maintaining purity of life. One must put in the hard work necessary to achieve it and hold onto it. And the psalmist helps out with that, as well.

An engagement with the following spiritual practices is how the young person can live into obedience to God and be pure. It’s necessary to frame them as “I will” statements, so that we continually understand that these spiritual practices are vital, and not optional, to a successful life of purity.

I Will Put Energy Into Prayer

It’s one thing to throw up a few prayers in the heat of the moment. But it’s an altogether different thing to devote oneself to prayer and intentionally put the time and energy into praying.

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Colossians 4:2, NIV)

Let there be no excuses in developing a robust prayer life – with the content of those prayers including petitions to avoid falling into disobedience.

I Will Hold God’s Word In My Heart

This is the primary means of keeping sin at bay and maintaining purity and holiness. The Scriptures are meant to be read, ingested, meditated upon, ruminated on, contemplated, and lived. Bibles are not intended to adorn coffee tables; they are designed for their contents to be known.

We can only hold what we have. To keep God’s Word in the heart, it must be taken into that heart.

I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11, NLT)

I Will Praise God

Praise to God arises organically whenever we truly take in the words of God. That’s because God’s Word is life. Praising the Lord is a consistent theme throughout Holy Scripture, as people experience the grace and goodness of God.

I will praise you, Lord!
    You always do right.
I will sing about you,
    the Lord Most High. (Psalm 7:17, CEV)

I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—
    I’m celebrating your rescue.
I’m singing at the top of my lungs,
    I’m so full of answered prayers. (Psalm 13:5-6, MSG)

I Will Repeat Aloud God’s Word

It’s a good thing to read the Bible and know the commands of God. It’s an even better thing to read, out loud, and read it more than once.

“…Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon… in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.” (Nehemiah 8:2-3, NIV)

Ezra Reads the Law to the People, by Bernadette Lopez

This, in fact, is how we actually get God’s Word impressed on our minds and into our hearts. It’s important for Scripture to move from our short term memory into our long term memory. Then, we can draw from it, especially in those times when we need immediate wisdom or comfort or help.

Just as praise is organic, so God’s Word can spontaneously come out of us – that is, if we have prepared ourselves by filling up the soul to the full of Scripture. Then, helpful words and theology begin to overflow out of us, and benefits everyone.

I Will Delight in Obedience

Submission doesn’t come naturally to most people; it requires intentional development. We need a plan for getting the commands of God inside us. Then they can be familiar to us. And we can follow those commands with all the grace and ability the Lord grants us.

This is more than woodenly following some rules. Keeping to the letter of the Law only engages the mind. The heart needs to be involved, as well. We must also keep the spirit of the Law. And that can happen by learning to delight in obeying God.

Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart…

The Lord makes firm the steps
    of the one who delights in him;
though he may stumble, he will not fall,
    for the Lord upholds him with his hand. (Psalm 37:3-4, 23-24, NIV)

I Will Study God’s Word

Learning to delight in God’s commands logically leads toward wanting to examine those commands more closely, to take a good hard look at the biblical teachings available to us.

We don’t necessarily need to become Bible scholars in order to study. We just need the desire and a way to take a closer examination at Scripture. A good way to begin is engaging in a practice known as Lectio Divina.

Lectio Divina is an ancient Latin term which means “spiritual reading.” It is to read Holy Scripture not just to know its contents, but to experience its power to restore, heal, transform, and draw close to God. 

This is a simple way to prayerfully read the Bible, meditate on its message, and listen for what God may be saying for us to do. The goal is to become more Christ-like.

Lectio Divina is based upon reading a selected text of Scripture three times. Each reading is followed by a period of silence after which we respond to God with what we are hearing as we listen.

First Reading

During the first reading, read the text aloud twice. Read slowly and carefully. The purpose of the first reading is to hear the text and listen for a word, phrase or idea that captures your attention. Focus your attention on it, repeating it within your mind several times.

Second Reading

During the second reading, read the text again. This time, focus your attention on how the selected word, phrase or idea speaks to your life. What does it mean for you today? How is Christ, the Word, speaking to you about your life through this word, phrase or idea? After reading, observe a period of silence, then express a brief prayer to God.

Third Reading

Read the text again. This time, focus on what God is calling you to do or to become. Experiencing God’s presence changes us. It calls us to something. During this final reading, focus on what God is calling you to do or to be. Again, observe a period of silence, then pray to God about what you believe you are being called to do or to be.

I Will Take Pleasure in God’s Word

It is probably a foregone conclusion, that when we commit our energy to prayer, hold the Word near and dear to our heart, praise God, speak aloud the words of God, delight in and study divine instruction, we will find ourselves enjoying every moment of it – and living a pure and holy life.

We will discover that God takes pleasure in us. This enjoyment of God over us is so compelling and gracious, that it’s almost as if we cannot help but reciprocate with praise, adoration, and devotion to holiness of life.

There is no arm-twisting in this realm of enjoyment. No need to gin-up motivation, nor to try and get obedience and purity out of others.

The sooner we all learn that the world truly spins on an axis of mercy, the quicker folks will realize a better way to live than endless rules and pronouncements.

For the Lord is always true to the basic divine character of pure steadfast love through what is right, just, and good. Amen.

Spiritual Confidence (2 Corinthians 3:4-11)

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

Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! (New International Version)

The Christian religious tradition holds to the great Three-in-One of God – God is indivisibly One, and at the same time, a Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit. Christians typically have no problem expressing their prayers and devotion to the Persons of the Father and the Son, as well as connecting their ministry efforts to them. 

However, when it comes to the Spirit, this Person of the Holy Trinity is often referred to as an “it” or a “force.” Yet, the Holy Spirit is as much God and a Person as the heavenly Father and the Savior, Jesus Christ. The Spirit is the One who provides the guidance and energy for Christian ministry – and not the Law.

We very much need the Holy Spirit of God. Without the Spirit’s help, Jesus is merely looked at as one person out of thousands of individuals crucified in history; and only an example of one who was martyred for his faith. But Jesus is infinitely more than that. 

Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Through Jesus Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension, people can be redeemed from empty lives, saved from destructive life-patterns, and given the kind of security and purpose in life that God intended from the beginning for people to possess. 

And the Spirit of God is the One that takes these redemptive events of Jesus and applies them to our lives. Apart from the Holy Spirit, we are lost, because we are unable to see the genuine spiritual truth about the cross of Jesus Christ unless God the Holy Spirit breaks into our lives and does an intervention – showing us our denial about how we are really doing and our delusions about who we really are (1 Corinthians 2:1-16).

This, then, is the basis for spiritual confidence. And this sort of confidence does not and cannot come from obedience to the Law.

Admitting that we absolutely need the Holy Spirit of God means that the power of Christianity does not reside with me or you; power for the Christian life rests upon Jesus Christ and him crucified, with the Spirit witnessing to us of this truth. 

In other words, we are largely powerless. 

Now, I realize this is not a popular message, especially in Western society. That sounds ridiculous to a particularly can-do kind of people, like most Americans. We believe we’ve done fairly well on our own, thank you very much. A couple of cars, a house, a job, and a family. I work hard. I’ve earned my stuff and my accomplishments. 

But the thing is, any worldly success may lead us to the delusion that we have the power to do what we want – as if I am the sole captain of my soul. I did it. And I did it my way.

“Oh, sure,” many a person may reason, “we have problems just like everybody else. After all, I can’t control everything!” Yet, we are not powerless just because we have difficult circumstances and a few problem people in our lives. “God will step in a take-over where I leave off, right?” Wrong. 

It’s all wrong, because it’s based in one’s effort to obey a personal creed, the rules of the game, or even the Law and the Ten Commandments. But if we could really do it on our own, there’s no need for any of this spiritual stuff.

In truth, apart from the Holy Spirit of God, we are unable to be Christians and live the Christian life. If we think we manage our lives just fine, with a bit of help from God, then we are likely in denial. We are probably placing ourselves at the center of the world; and believe we should be able to deal with whatever comes in life. 

Whenever the consistent response to adverse situations, or the realization that we are not handling something well, is to try and fix ourselves, then we are surely living in the delusion that we hold the power to change – independently without anyone or anything helping us.

If our first reaction to adversity or problems is:

  • Searching Google for more knowledge
  • Dealing privately with personal issues
  • Expecting that willpower should be enough

Then, we are feeding the delusion that we do not really need the Holy Spirit of God; we are actually believing that we need more effort, or information, in order to find the power to overcome whatever is in my life that needs overcoming.   

Unfortunately, it typically takes a tragedy or crisis to break our delusions of power. Let me ask: How bad must we hurt before we admit that we are not managing our lives well at all, and that the real power to change resides with the Holy Spirit?

Our spiritual power and confidence resides in the cross of Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit testifying to us of God’s great grace. 

The Apostle Paul believed this with all his heart. Although he was a very intelligent and learned person, he did not rely on his abilities, but on God’s. 

The cross of Jesus is not just an historical event, but an ongoing reality for us to experience victory over all the brokenness of this world, and all the mess we have made of things by putting ourselves at the center of the universe. 

We need the Holy Spirit of God to intervene and apply Christ’s finished work to us. 

None of this means that the Law, or that you, are bad. Both you and the Law are good. It’s just that we, by ourselves, and the Law by itself, are inadequate to save, deliver, and overcome. For that, we need God’s Spirit, and to tap into the spiritual reality that exists.

If the Ten Commandments were introduced with glory, and we ourselves were created with glory, then how much more glory and life is there through an intimate relation with the Spirit?

O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Share Your Story (Psalm 107:1-16)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Psalm 107, by Erin Beardemphl

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
    those he redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.

Some wandered in desert wastes,
    finding no way to an inhabited town;
hungry and thirsty,
    their soul fainted within them.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress;
he led them by a straight way,
    until they reached an inhabited town.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wonderful works to humankind.
For he satisfies the thirsty,
    and the hungry he fills with good things.

Some sat in darkness and in gloom,
    prisoners in misery and in irons,
for they had rebelled against the words of God
    and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
Their hearts were bowed down with hard labor;
    they fell down, with no one to help.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he saved them from their distress;
he brought them out of darkness and gloom,
    and broke their bonds apart.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wonderful works to humankind.
For he shatters the doors of bronze
    and cuts in two the bars of iron. (New Revised Standard Version)

Every person of faith has a story, a testimony of God’s redeeming, saving, and loving deliverance from trouble. And each one of those stories is sacred and special; no one story is better or greater than another. There’s no need, therefore, to act like you’re taking a course in comparative storytelling – as if you don’t have nearly the spiritual testimony of someone else.

The fact of the matter is that there is no trouble like your own personal trouble. Although others can relate to elements of each of our stories, no one else knows what your own experience is like. The old black spiritual is right in saying. “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. Nobody knows but Jesus.”

It’s important to have others empathize with us and help normalize the experience we are going through. It’s necessary to have another validate our emotions and affirm the feelings we’re feeling. And, even after that, there’s nothing quite like a compassionate and caring Being who intimately knows everything about your trouble, how you experience it, and steps-in according to perfect divine timing, to bring uplift, hope, and salvation.

There is such a Being. God. Yahweh. The Lord. Pure Goodness. Redeemer. Savior. And most of all, Lover who is infinite Love with a capital “L.”

Why am I so confident about such a Being as this? Did I take too much methadone? Am I only an old fart who still believes in God? Or perhaps, you think, I’m a weird sort of giddy about God because of the Bible. Well, yes, and no. Scripture – especially the Psalms – just happens to put into words my actual experience and emotions.

But I don’t much care about parsing out whether I’m a deluded metaphysician or a sappy magpie or whatever other label gets affixed to me. It just doesn’t matter – because every epistemic fiber of my lower case being resonates with the upper case Being who bestows steadfast love because that Being’s character is actually made up of Love. It’s as if God is the biggest ultimate Teddy Bear, stuffed with holy love for all creation.

And, what’s more, this God seems to specialize and enjoy paying attention to the least, the lost, and the lowly among us humans. I was once in such a deep, dark, dank, black hole of spiritual nothingness that I knew I could never get out of, that is, on my own. I needed deliverance, or there wouldn’t be any hope whatsoever.

Others have experienced something akin to wandering alone out in a desert spiritual wasteland with no water, no food, no nothing but oppressive heat and loneliness. And others have had the trouble of real flesh and blood people seeking to do them harm, both physically and mentally. Yet others felt like they were bereft of options on a plantation of slavery in which all they could do was work like animals just to survive another day.

What all these persons have in common is that they cried out to the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. And most of them didn’t just do it once; some cried out until they had no voice and were too weak to even speak anymore.

God showed up. God also showed off. Not only was there deliverance, but there was also an upgrade. For me, it was not like Tim 2.0, but Tim 1,000.0 – a filling of divine grace that goes beyond mere words. Because of God’s grace and love in my own life, it has enabled me to tap into that storehouse of mercy and pray with spiritual confidence.

When my dear wife had a spine surgery several years ago and awoke from it unable to move her legs, I prayed. I asked for mercy. I pleaded for grace. And I did it for hours at the foot of her hospital bed. I remember that I stubbornly would not accept the fact that she could not move her lower body.  And I decided to stand there and pray until I got an answer from God.

Eventually, I prayed myself asleep. My wife woke me up sometime in the early morning the next day. She told me to pull back the covers and look at her right big toe…. She could give it an ever-small twitch. We called the nurse, who was so excited that she called everyone she could get a hold of.

With a dozen hospital staff huddled around the hospital bed, my wife proceeded to give that big toe a hearty move. The staff erupted with clapping, and I am not kidding when I say that we had a party with noise and shouts in a hospital room at 4am. Nobody cared we were going nuts. I certainly did not.

My friend, God is still in the business of answering prayer, of showing up and showing off.

Through the hard times, the good times, and the confusing times, the Lord is our constant ballast for all seasons of life, whether good or bad. And I love God for that abiding presence. I can also give testimony that through all of the adverse situations my wife and I have faced, we have learned to stop, be still, and find that all we ever wanted we already have, even when everything changes.

Psalm 107 lets us know that personal testimony expressed to the community is an important aspect of strengthening everyone’s faith. Our stories are important, and they are meant to be shared. The spiritual and emotional health of us all is at stake.

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on very side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.

We thank you also for the disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit; that we may know you and make you known; and through your Spirit, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.

The Problem with Complaining (Exodus 15:22-27)

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

Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water. When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”).

Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded. So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink.

It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him. He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”

After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water. (New Living Translation)

I like children’s books. I suppose it’s because I’m still a kid at heart. It’s fun to read to my grandkids. One of the books I read to them is “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” The book begins with Alexander recounting when he awoke one morning:

“I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning, I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day…. I think I’ll move to Australia.”

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst

For the remainder of the story, Alexander’s day was a mishap of messes. Nothing seemed to go his way, and no one appeared to notice or even to care.

One of the reasons the book has been read so many times by so many children (and obviously adults, like me) is because we can all relate to the feelings of having a day where nothing seems to go right. In the middle of it we just feel like being somewhere else, like Australia.

In such times, when life is topsy-turvy and upside-down, it is so amazingly easy to grumble and complain. The ancient Israelites were having an Alexander-like day. Unlike having gum in your hair, not having water to drink is a big deal, a vital problem. So, we might understand why there was so much grumbling going on among the people. I am sure they were anxious, nervous, and scared.

Yet, complaining, unlike our emotions, is a volitional response. We choose to grumble. The problem with gripes and complaints is that it sets a person down a dark path. Oh, the criticisms and grievances begin easily and are seemingly harmless, at first. They are, however, anything but innocuous.

A mere grumble under the breath did not stop with finally getting water to drink. If we look ahead in the story of God’s people in the exodus event, the moaning and complaining quickly returned the minute something did not go their way. Then, the people became so disillusioned with their circumstances that they began longing for the “good old days” back in Egypt when they had plenty to eat and drink, forgetting about their cruel bondage in slavery. (Exodus 16:1-3)

The psychological progression continued with beginning to blame their situation on God, as if he were some mean malevolent deity. From that point, it was inevitable that the people would disobey God and eventually succumb to the idolatry of the golden calf. (Exodus 32:1-8)

Despite the grand celebration of leaving Egypt and experiencing a miraculous deliverance through the Red Sea, the people quickly forgot because of their present circumstance of lacking water. It is only logical and makes sense that the mighty God who saved them with incredible acts of power would care for the people in a desert. Yet, for many, there was no faith to be found in a new situation they had not faced before.

Failure of faith begins neither with ignorance nor an egregious sin. It begins with grumbling and complaining. And if allowed to run amok, complaints will bear the fruit of discouragement, disobedience, and eventually a disavowal of God.

The author of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews reflected on the grumbling of their forebears and had this to say in response:

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts
    as you did in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:12-15, NIV)

Encouragement is the insecticide which eliminates the worm of complaints. If left alone, we stew in our own bitterness over missed expectations. Grumbling bores its way into our soul and eats away at our faith. We need the continual encouragement of one another to remember our collective deliverance and express gratitude for our salvation.

May it be so to the glory of God.

We give you thanks, Lord God, because you give food and drink to all, heal all, create wonders in this world, forge wisdom within us, and give refuge beneath the shadow of your wings. From your wisdom grant us wisdom, from your love grant us love, from your understanding grant us understanding.

Feed us when we are hungry, give us strength when we are weak, raise us up when we are bent over, set us free when we are enslaved. Just as our spiritual ancestors were blessed – may you grant us the blessing of peace, strength, and gratitude. Amen.