Category Archives: Wednesday in the Word

Biblical passages and interpretation.

Wednesday in the Word

Worldly Wealth vs. Spiritual Wealth

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Matthew 19:24-27
24 “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” 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?”

In this passage, Jesus has just finished speaking with a rich young man, who has “gone away sad” because he cannot bring himself to give away all his wealth to the poor, as Jesus had stated. No wonder, then, that Jesus remarks to the disciples that it is “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle” than for a rich person to get into Heaven on his own. The rich young man, just like most of us modern folks today, have a REALLY hard time giving up money and material possessions to replace them with “treasure in heaven,” which we can’t touch or see.

It is also no wonder, then, that the disciples begin to worry about “who can be saved,” if it’s so difficult to get into Heaven. Jesus’ answer to that worry is beautifully simple: a human being cannot go to heaven on his own merits, but he or she can be saved with God’s grace. (The disciples hadn’t figured out yet that Jesus was going to form the spiritual bridge between God and man, and would provide that grace to make salvation possible.)

But notice that Peter voices a little different concern in the last verse. He says that all the disciples have given up everything to follow Jesus, including material wealth…but he wants to know what kind of reward there will be for doing so. Peter, like most of us, is still thinking of “treasure” in terms of tangible wealth–obvious rewards and acclaim, etc.

We often make the same mistake when it comes to Christianity; we want to see and touch the rewards for being a faithful Christian, and we want everyone to see that we’re getting rewards. But spiritual wealth is not something we can put a price on, nor is it something which is always obvious by our lifestyle. It resides in us: it is the gift of salvation itself, which leads to eventual eternity in heaven. That grace is not a reward for good works, but for surrendering pride and personal gain to trust God fully with one’s whole being. If you’re looking for “treasure in heaven,” as Peter was, salvation and an eternity with God are the answers.

Wednesday in the Word

How We Act When Caught in Sin

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1 Kings 1:47-50
47 Also, the royal officials have come to congratulate our lord King David, saying ‘May your God make Solomon’s name more famous than yours and his throne greater than yours!’ And the king bowed in worship on his bed 48 and said, ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today.'”

49 At this, all Adonijah’s guests rose in alarm and dispersed. 50 But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns on the altar.

At the start of 1 Kings, David’s son Adonijah tries to seize the throne for himself, not waiting for David to designate his own successor. But once Bathsheba and Nathan the prophet tell David of this, David quickly hurries to officially designate Solomon as king. This news arrives as Adonijah and all his guests are feasting, celebrating Adonijah’s apparent victory. Suddenly there’s a lot of cheering and noise outside, but the crowd is cheering for King Solomon, not King Adonijah!

No wonder every guest scatters–they don’t want to be associated with Adonijah, whose ill-fated royal coup may well lead to his execution. Instead of running, however, Adonijah clings to the altar, reduced to trembling humility, literally hiding under God’s protection even though he greedily schemed to seize power for himself.

We Don’t Have to Hide from God!

This scene reminds me of a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Like a kid, Adonijah tries to protect himself from the inevitability of punishment for his misdeeds. We Christians often do the same thing when we are caught in sin–we try to cover it up, excuse it, or use outwardly holy actions as a shield, as Adonijah does here.

But when we act in this way, we forget that God already knows what we’ve done, and is prepared to treat us with mercy even as He disciplines us. In the verses immediately after this passage, Solomon treats Adonijah with remarkable goodwill and forgiveness, promising to keep him from harm as long as he does not scheme for the throne again. (One gets the feeling that the rest of Adonijah’s life is likely not as free from scrutiny as he might have hoped, but he is alive and not immediately put to death for his sin.)

God treats us similarly, giving justice and mercy in the same moment, because He knows that we each have weaknesses and foibles. One can see discipline in how Adonijah’s plot is foiled, and yet there is forgiveness available for him, too. Like Solomon’s treatment of his brother, God’s discipline comes tempered with grace–and what a blessing that is!

Wednesday in the Word

The Revelation Beast Might Just Be Pride, Too

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Revelation 13:3
3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.

At the start of Revelation 13, John tells of a grotesque beast rising out of the sea–a seven-headed, ten-horned leopard with bear feet and the mouth of a lion. Biblical scholars believe this monster represents the Roman empire, or in general, the worship and glorification of secular power and authority. This creature echoes Daniel’s vision of four great beasts (Daniel 7:2-7).

In this quoted verse, the creature has taken what appears to be a fatal wound, only to completely recover, which astounds the world. What kind of beast could do this? No wonder the world follows such a beast of power. Yet this beast stands with the great dragon of Revelation 12 and Satan, all allied against God.

What Does the Beast Mean for Us?

How are we to interpret this envisioned creature for our modern times? Rich in symbolism, it is hard to analyze, but my educated guess is that the creature represents not only the glorification of the secular, but the glorification of all man’s efforts–including man’s pride-soaked efforts for the Church.

Why would I say “pride?” Well, pride, after all, is an attribute that seems able to take “fatal wounds” and recover quite easily. We get our chops busted, lick our wounds for a little while, and then go off toward something else, even something remotely Christian, searching for a way to gain more acclaim, more recognition, as if we didn’t learn last time. Any time we boast of “all we’ve done for the church” or “all we’ve given to so-and-so,” we are no longer doing these works for God’s glory, but for our own.

Man’s pride has many forms, too, just like the beast has many heads–for instance, any time we say to someone, “You need to get right with the Lord, like I have,” or “God told me to tell you your sin is an abomination,” we are making statements of self-righteousness, worshipping our own holiness instead of pointing others to God. There are many ways this beast can invade our churches, our families, and our personalities, and the attack does not always come from outside us; it may well come from within us. Speaking as one who has often courted acclaim and praise, it is a sobering thing indeed to realize that one’s own actions have been unChristian.

As humans, we are still prone to sin, even if we’ve been saved. Pride is but one of the sins we have to be careful of, since it can hide itself in even the most holy-looking actions. That’s why I think the beast of Revelation 13 is not only a vision, but a warning–we can too easily forget to worship God and start worshipping ourselves instead.

Wednesday in the Word

A Quick yet Faith-Based Prayer

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Psalm 71:12
12 Do not be far from me, my God;
come quickly, God, to help me.

This simple verse, couched within a psalm about trusting in God when old age comes and strength wanes, is a prayer that all Christians, new and established, young and old, can remember and repeat in times of trouble.

Ascribed to David because of the references to “enemies conspiring together” against the psalmist in verse 10, Psalm 71 is most especially about hope in God when the world has failed us. Though verse 12 seems desperate, as if the psalmist feels God is far away, the rest of the psalm expresses trust that no matter what happens, God will be there–God has been the “rock,” the “fortress,” the “hope” of the psalmist’s life before, and He will be again.

We, too, can call out to God with this same assurance, and God will be there. His rescue and help may not manifest in ways we expect, but it will always be perfectly timed, and the help we receive will always be enough to cover our needs. These were truths David knew firsthand from his earlier experiences, and they are truths we can still depend on today. Just ask anyone who has experienced God working in their lives!

Wednesday in the Word

Keep Making the Effort for God, Every Day

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Philippians 1:9-10
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.

Here, we see Paul encouraging the Philippian church to keep growing their love as one family of God, to keep strengthening the bonds of Christian fellowship and abiding by the Scriptures, so that they will be “pure and blameless” until the day of Judgment comes.

This seems pretty basic and understandable…until you start digging into what exactly “pure and blameless” means. Does it mean “without sin?” Well, yes. Does it mean “righteous living?” Yes, that too. But does it mean “going around telling others how perfect and sinless your life is, then telling them how wrong and sinful they are?”

In a word: NOPE.

Paul’s words here are not meant to encourage the Philippians to become SELF-righteous, i.e. conceited and haughty about their faith. True, Paul would love for the Philippians to never have a “bad day” in faith, to always be able to “discern what is best” and “be pure and blameless.” But he also encourages them to make their love “abound more and more”–to keep getting better at it every day, in other words. What he’s describing is a Christian life lived in love–lived with the understanding that sin happens to the best of us, and that we can bounce back from sin to serve God better by expending faith-based effort.

These two verses speak of a perfection of faith and love which we will never reach here on Earth–and Paul knows that all too well. But when the “day of Christ” comes, this faith-filled vision will be fulfilled in totality. While we wait for the day of Christ, however, we as Christians must strive to get as close as we can to that ideal, to love as God loves, to behave more like Jesus every day. And that doesn’t mean condemning others–it means demonstrating Christ’s love to others.

Wednesday in the Word

God Is Calling–Will We Answer?

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Isaiah 45:20-23
20 “Gather together and come;
assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
who pray to gods that cannot save.
21 Declare what is to be, present it–
let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none but me.

22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn,
my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.

Reading this, it’s almost as if God has left this message on humanity’s answering machine and is just waiting for us to call Him back. He speaks directly (at least, directly through the prophet Isaiah), calling us to “gather together,” to “assemble, to “turn to [Him] and be saved.” This is God as authority figure, God as our Heavenly Father, firmly calling for us to come home where we belong.

Here, we see God referring to the rampant idolatry of Biblical days in no-nonsense words; He treats the many false prophecies about the future in the same way. There is “no God apart from [Him],” He also states–by Himself God swears, to doubly prove how dependable His Word is on these and all other issues. And, at the end of this passage, He promises that “every knee will bow” to Him and “every tongue will swear” by Him, likely on Judgment Day.

This can read as an “angry” statement by God, but I perceive it more as a resolute statement of facts. What is left for us to do is to “declare what is to be”–declare whether we are coming back to God or not. While we worship “gods that cannot save,” like mere “idols of wood,” God waits for us each to make the decision to come back home to Him. He’s laid His terms out there in plain language, which speaks to us just as He spoke to His people in ancient Israel. In fact, He speaks to each of our hearts today…but will we answer?

Wednesday in the Word

Money Shouldn’t Be Our Idol, Jesus Says

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Matthew 6:24
24 No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Whew! Jesus doesn’t pull any punches here! Here, in His first preaching on the mountainside, we see Him warning all in attendance about the dangers of putting too much importance on money and worldly treasure. (We see similar warnings in Luke 16:13 and James 4:4–this is important enough to be repeated in Scripture!)

Now, this Scripture does not mean that we as Christians are not allowed to make money at all; what it means is that we must be careful about the priority we place on any money God blesses us with. If we begin to seek money purely for its own sake, accumulating wealth just so we can have pride in it, we have indeed placed money above God as our “master.” As Jesus points out, the love of money necessarily means that God gets excluded from our lives, because more money means a greater feeling of personal power. The more powerful we see ourselves, the less we depend on God–it’s a slippery slope.

But just resolving to “keep God first in our lives” doesn’t mean that we won’t slip into a money-serving mindset over time. This is something we have to keep evaluating ourselves about, something we have to be constantly mindful of. Otherwise, we could end up drifting away from God and not even realizing it–this is why Jesus speaks so bluntly about this problem!

Wednesday in the Word

God’s Requirements in a Nutshell

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Jeremiah 7:1-8
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. 3 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.”

God lays it out pretty straightforwardly here: “Straighten up, do as you’re told, and all will be well. Keep doing what you’re doing, disobeying Me and trying to deceive Me, and I will not refrain from reprimanding you.”

But The people of Judah, unfortunately, were too busy following other local deities, killing, and being cruel, all while paying only halfhearted lip service to God. They were even resorting to repeating useless phrases over and over, as if that alone could garner them righteousness. God could see straight through that deceptive behavior, and so He tells Jeremiah, one of His prophets, to literally lay down the Law with these people. All the people of Judah would have to do is follow what God said–it seems laughably easy!

These days, however, we modern folk find it just about as hard to follow what God says. What He says hasn’t changed any, but our drive to be “in charge of our own lives” hasn’t changed much either. We like to pick and choose what to follow and what to ignore out of convenience and self-serving motives, rather than sticking with God 100%. We all need Jeremiah’s message from God, even those of us who are in church every time the doors open–we all need to be reminded of what God requires of us and how He expects His people to behave.

Wednesday in the Word

This is Why Jesus Had to Be Our Savior

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Hebrews 10:1-4
10 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming–not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Here, the writer of Hebrews describes the process of presenting offerings to God for cleansing of sins as being an ineffectual process, never truly getting rid of the sins themselves, but only appeasing everyone’s conscience for a little while. After all, the people themselves didn’t stop sinning after giving an offering, so the process had to be repeated over and over again, whether annually or weekly. And, he notes lastly, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins”–which undermines the meaning of the whole sin-offering sentiment anyway.

Yet this is the way sins were “cleansed” for hundreds of years in ancient Israel; it was the only way to even attempt living a pure lifestyle, because the Messiah had not come yet. But none of these sacrifices could make the sinners perfect in God’s eyes–even if they clung to the Law as tightly as they could, they still sinned. This period of time existed to prove that humans alone could not live a completely righteous, sinless life, nor could they atone for their own sins.

Contrast that with Jesus, the Messiah, who came to earth as God in human form, living a sinless life so that He would be a perfect sacrifice. His death on the cross WOULD cleanse all sin once for all those who believe. Instead of having to make “endless” sacrifices for their sins, now people could move on from past sins, starting fresh from the moment they professed faith in Jesus’ ability to save their souls and bring them back into a right relationship with God. Jesus did what the Law and humanity’s own efforts could never do: forge a spiritual bridge between God and humanity again.

Now, it’s important to note that believing Jesus is our personal Savior does not stop us from sinning entirely. But it does (or should) inspire us to lead Christlike lives, and it is the only way to go to Heaven. Because of Jesus and no one else, we have hope for heaven–not because of anything we did, but because God saw fit to give us a way back to Him.

Wednesday in the Word

Sinning Against God: Sometimes, We Do It Without Thinking

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1 Samuel 2:23-25
23 So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. 24 No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear spreading among the Lord’s people. 25 If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?”

Here, Eli the priest is admonishing his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, for unlawfully demanding to be given the portion of meat which was to be sacrificed to God. This was against God’s Law, and flew in the face of everything that the Israelites believed–and not only that, these were priest’s sons who were breaking the Law!

Eli is understandably horrified to learn what his sons have been doing. Yet neither of the young men has stopped to think about what they are doing, nor about the ramifications of their deeds. Thus, Eli speaks to them strongly, reminding them that if they sin against God by doing things that God has specifically outlawed, they will have little to no recourse.

To us, the sinful act committed by Eli’s sons might seem silly–why would they keep doing something so obviously wrong? After all, they were priest’s sons and should have known better than anyone not to take the sacrificial meat. But greed likely overtook their better judgment; perhaps they thought that since their father was a priest, they would not get in trouble for taking it.

We, too, can let desire of all sorts cloud our judgment, and we end up sinning without even thinking about it. After all, when we let temporary desires make our decisions, where is there room for prayer and God in our minds? Combine that with the fact that sinning against another person offends God as much as a sin against Himself, and a more complete picture of exactly how dangerous sin is begins to emerge. This is why we have to stay vigilant and truly think out our actions–otherwise, we could end up doing things that neither build nor reflect our faith.