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Wednesday in the Word

We Don’t Have to Be “Just So” for God to Love Us

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Romans 5:6-8
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In these three verses, Paul explains God’s grace-filled plan, Christ’s central role in it, and our amazing benefit from His sacrifice. We–the children of God, all humanity–were “powerless” before Christ came to be the final sin offering, the final and most powerful sacrifice to make us right with God again.

This is inconceivable to us ordinary humans; why would Jesus do this for us, when very few of us would die for each other? But that is just the nature of God’s love. He cared so much for each of us, wanted to be reconnected with us so badly, that He did this drastic action, suffered and died for us so that our sins would be paid in full.

And the strangest (and yet best) part of this? We didn’t have to accept Jesus first for Him to do this for us. He loved us even though we were “ungodly,” died for us just the way we were. Accepting that love, forging that connection with him, accepting that unbelievable gift, is all we have to do to be saved. None of us, not even the “worst” sinners by the world’s calculations, have to do anything to be loved by God.

Wednesday in the Word

When We Get Too Prideful, God Can and Will Humble Us

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Ezekiel 28:2b, 6b-7
2b “In the pride of your heart you say, ‘I am a god, I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas.’ But you are a man and not a god, though you think you are as wise as a god.”…

6b “Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god, 7 I am going to bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations; they will draw their swords against your beauty and wisdom and pierce your shining splendor.”

God speaks here through Ezekiel, one of the Old Testament’s major prophets, pronouncing sentence against the city of Tyre and its ruler for the pride and conceit in their thinking. In its day, Tyre was a great trading and shipping city, well-known, loved, and envied for its wealth. But Tyre and its citizens have grown too complacent, too proud of their achievements, to even acknowledge God anymore. They have begun to think of themselves as gods, infinitely wise, infinitely omniscient.

Here, God says He will bring “foreigners” against Tyre in an assault which will “pierce” the veil of their conceited thinking and pride. This is not an evil act by God, because God does not do evil. Instead, this is a hard lesson for Tyre, a lesson of humility and remembering just Who is in control. The city and its inhabitants have gone on too long believing that they are the ones with ultimate power and wisdom.

This prophecy is about a city, but God can and will humble us in similar ways when we get too prideful and complacent about our own achievements. I experienced this in 2009 with my debacle of a teaching career; God proved to me that I could fail, and publicly, though I had spent most of my school years being given this award and that achievement. It was embarrassing and shaming, but ultimately important for me to reevaluate my personal worth. I got into a better place with God because I no longer thought of myself as striving to be perfect and accomplished.

When we start thinking in terms of all the acclaim we’ve gained, or all the community respect we command, we inevitably lose sight of the fact that God blessed us with that. Everything we have ultimately comes from God’s blessing; when we forget that, and start thinking we got all of this ourselves, God will not hesitate to humble us, to remind us Who is ultimately in control.

Wednesday in the Word

Don’t Be A Sadducee–Don’t Test Jesus

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Mark 12:19
19 “Teacher,” they* said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”

*the Sadducees

The Sadducees were a small group of wealthy and influential people in Jesus’ day, who believed there was no resurrection and cleaved to Mosaic law (the first five books of the modern Bible). They come to Jesus in this passage, asking him a riddle-like question about the status of marriage after the resurrection…but their intent is not to learn. Instead, they want to trip Jesus up, because they don’t believe in the resurrection anyway and they want to confound this supposed “Son of God” with Scriptural law thrown back in His face.

But Jesus replies with a common-sense answer the Sadducees were definitely not expecting. He tells them that after the resurrection, life will be very, very different for all believers–they will be “like the angels,” having fellowship with God, and as such, marriage and other worldly issues will be of little concern. The Sadducees’ question is thus exposed for the shallow, misguided query that it is.

Many times throughout the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), various groups of people try to test Jesus’ knowledge of Scripture, to try to expose him as a fake and prove that He is not really the Son of God. In each circumstance, as in this one, Jesus proves He not only knows the written Scripture, but knows the heavenly truths which inspired it. He doesn’t just quote tiny bits of Scripture for wisdom or life guidance–He knows how all the Scriptures fit together to depict God and His plan for humanity.

Today, even established Christians can begin to question Jesus or test Him, trying to determine whether He is who He says He is. We can worry ourselves to distraction over small bits of Scripture taken way out of context. But as Jesus proves here, only knowing bits of the Scripture and using that to question God’s identity and nature won’t help you “prove” anything–it’s knowing the full gestalt of the Bible, how all the Scriptures fit together, plus your own faith, that gives you peace.

Wednesday in the Word

This is How God Protects His People

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Ezra 5:3-5
3 At that time Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates went to them* and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?” 4 They also asked, “What are the names of the men constructing this building?” 5 But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.

*the Israelites

King Cyrus of Persia, quoted in the first chapter of the Book of Ezra, had already decreed that any Israelites who wanted to do so could go back to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple to God, which the Babylonians had destroyed when they took the Israelites into captivity years before. Over the years of rebuilding, however, this decree was challenged time and again and the efforts of the Israelites were opposed–this quotation from chapter 5 of Ezra is the last challenge.

In a time where it might have been personally beneficial for the Persian kings to halt reconstruction on a temple built for a competing deity, instead the rulers looked with favor on the Israelites and let them continue. Each time rebuilding of the temple for God was challenged or opposed by the “enemies of Judah and Benjamin,” as the Bible calls them, God moved in the hearts of the kings (first Xerxes, then Artaxerxes, and finally Darius) to set the opponents straight.

Even during this time of positive change blended with sharp disappointments for the Israelites, God was watching over them, using even the human rulers of other lands to look after His people. Already God had brought them through the time of Babylonian exile; they were free to return home, so the light at the end of the tunnel was visible. God does the same for us today–He moves in the hearts of any who oppose or threaten His people, as we see by looking back at even recent history.

Therefore, we should not be overly worried by current events, if we trust God completely the way the ancient Israelites did. We just have to be willing to trust that God has all these situations under control, and that He protects His own.

Wednesday in the Word

Be Sure You’re Following Jesus’ Real Teachings

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Matthew 5:43-45
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Though no one in the Old Testament ever said or wrote “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” many Jews of Jesus’ day believed it as if it were Scripture. And indeed, it seems instinctive, almost common sense, to hate those who hate you or who have done evil toward you.

But that is precisely the mindset Jesus is preaching against here. Not only should we not hate our enemies, we should pray for them, and even reach out to them in love. Sounds silly, in a worldly context–why bother loving and praying for enemies when they won’t even know or care? But God loves each of us, even those of us who commit evil acts, who say unrighteous things; God loves us no matter who we are, loves each of us even before we are saved, and only waits for each of us to admit Him to our hearts through accepting Christ as our Savior. We were all unrighteous at some point in our lives, and yet He still loved us even then.

When we love our enemies and pray for them, we are acting in accord with God instead of man; that is Jesus’ point. It is a lesson we could all use a refresher course on occasionally, because the world teaches us much about the “usefulness” of revenge and the “might” of hatred. It takes a strong person–a strong Christian–to react to all this negativity with the serene love Jesus advocates in this passage.

Wednesday in the Word

God’s Protective Promise

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Isaiah 43:1-3a
1 But now, this is what the Lord says–he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel; “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…”

This is truly a Scripture passage for our time, as our whole world faces social, political, and economic instability, not to mention ceaseless war, natural disasters, and rampant destruction. It’s admittedly hard for us to trust in God when He feels so far away from what is reported in the nightly news.

But this Scripture from the Book of Isaiah should reassure us as much as it reassured the people of ancient Israel: God is with us, even as we wade through floods, even as we walk through fire. Even when it seems the world’s problems are crushing in on us like a trash compactor, we know we can rely on God, because He rescued ancient Israel from slavery, starvation, and the spiritual bleakness of sin, and He will do the same for us. All we need to do is trust in that promise, and give those problems (which are unsolvable for us) over to Him.

Wednesday in the Word

Who’s the Better Christian? Not Always the Louder One

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Matthew 19:26-30
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

28 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last shall be first.”

Just before this passage, Jesus has spoken with a rich young man (v. 16-22), and the young man has walked away sad because he can follow every commandment, but cannot find it in his heart to give up his wealth and follow Jesus. When Jesus then remarks that it’s “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (v. 23-24), the disciples are shocked; if a rich man who follows all the commandments can’t get into heaven easily, then who CAN?

Peter, as always, voices the concern of the disciples in v. 27, but Jesus has already answered the problem in v. 26. If you think on a worldly level, trying to “do enough good” to get into heaven, then getting into heaven is impossible. You can’t be righteous enough on your own. But if you trust in God daily, and believe in Jesus as your Savior, the One who paid the cost of your sin and gave you the gift of righteousness, then you will get into heaven. Salvation, leading to eternal life (v. 29), is a gift, not something earned.

Jesus also mentions in v. 28-29 how the disciples themselves will be helping to lead among the followers of Jesus. They are not literally going to judge who goes to heaven and who doesn’t; the word “judge” is used here in the Old Testament sense, meaning a leader like those elected during the Book of Judges. Those who have led others to Christ in this way, those who have followed the faith despite personal, familial, or financial crises, will be rewarded in heaven, not with material goods, but with eternal life with God.

But there’s an important caveat here in v. 30: “Many who are first will be last, and many who are last shall be first.” What this means is that many who look like strong Christians may not actually be saved, and those who don’t appear to be “Christian enough” for the Sunday morning crowd may actually go to heaven in spite of public opinion. Salvation is a highly personal matter, and those who just “act saved” are doing just that–putting on an act, while others who serve quietly and faithfully are actually doing the work of Christ. My NIV translation notes that “in the kingdom of heaven there are many reversals, and the day of judgment will bring many surprises.”

I believe this means that we can’t tell on earth who will be “first” in the kingdom of heaven; Jesus warns us of this. The best Christians may not always be the ones who donate the most money to the church or the ones who are always there on Sunday morning–we might be surprised who we see (and don’t see) in heaven.

Wednesday in the Word

Jesus, Foretold by Zechariah

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Zechariah 12:10
10 And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

400 years before Jesus was born, this Scripture was written, which seems to foretell the Crucifixion. Reading this Scripture literally gives me chills, thinking about how this mirrors what we read about the actual Crucifixion in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).

Here, Zechariah is retelling an oracle he’s received from the Lord, saying that God will pour out “a spirit of grace and supplication” on both “the house of David” and those who live in Jerusalem on the day that the Messiah is sacrificed. When the Messiah is crucified (“pierced”), that spirit, which we can take to mean the Holy Spirit, will descend over the onlooking crowd, and they will see the Messiah as one of great faith, a faith which they only realized after His death. I hear echoes of Mark 15:39 here (“And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard him cry and saw how he died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!'”).

This is just one of the prophecies concerning the Messiah, for whom the Israelites and their descendants waited four centuries…and the way it connects up with the New Testament is amazing. Though the Old and New Testament sometimes seem to be greatly divergent in tone and in subject matter, sections like these foreshadow Jesus and connect the Old Testament’s laws and messages directly with His ministry.

Wednesday in the Word

Songs to Worship By

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Music is a definite part of my worship process; I love singing about God and to God. I know He hears me, and I know I can use song as prayer and worship both. So many times we get caught up in the “style” of worship music, and we forget that it’s all meant to honor and praise God.

Today, I’m offering a playlist of all sorts of worship songs. Play through and enjoy, and have your own worship time right there at your computer. 🙂


Place in This World – Michael W. Smith


As the Deer


How Great Thou Art (performed by Elvis Presley)


Still – Hillsong


Shout to the Lord (performed by Darlene Zschech)


In the Garden (performed by Alan Jackson)


Give Me Jesus – Fernando Ortega


Arise My Love – Newsong


I’d Rather Have Jesus – George Beverly Shea


Because He Lives


I Bless Your Name – Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir


Glorious Day – Casting Crowns


Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) – Chris Tomlin


I Will Not Be Moved – Natalie Grant


Total Praise – Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir


Orphans of God – Avalon

Wednesday in the Word

EVERYONE is Called By God

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1 Peter 2:9
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

In this verse, Peter is not just talking to priests, preachers, bishops, Sunday school teachers, deacons, or anybody else who’s got a leadership role in the modern church. Peter is addressing anyone and everyone who has ever accepted Christ as their Savior.

You might argue, “But I’m only a new convert,” or “But I don’t lead in the church, so I’m not really an important person.” No one is left out of this call; every person is important to God, whether they’ve been in the church all their lives or whether they just got saved.

It doesn’t matter what gifts you have or don’t have, or what kind of personality you have, either–God still wants you for his “royal priesthood,” for this “holy nation.” Just as the ancient nation of Israel represented God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, now the modern Christian church represents God’s people in today’s time. If you’ve ever accepted Christ and meant it in your heart, you’re part of that group of people.

But what does this grand call mean? It means that every saved person is a leader of the faith already. Whether we realize it or not, our every action, word, and thought is a witness to other people. Being a Christian is not a one-time commitment, but a lifelong commitment; we cannot let ourselves accidentally drive others away from God rather than bring them to Him.

Every Christian has a testimony, a personal experience of God. We are called to share this testimony, to talk about how much Jesus has made a positive difference in our lives. I experienced that “being called out of darkness into light” for myself, and I know how powerfully changing that was. Peter calls all Christians to share these stories and praise God for bringing us each out of our own darkness.