Category: Bible Studies

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7, ESV).

This year, we were all required to file our taxes on July 15th instead of April 15th. This is never pleasant, but it often leads to a great game called “Can you deduct that?” Here are a couple of deductions that I found very creative:

In 1962, the IRS added a provision that allowed a tax deduction for clarinet lessons based on an orthodontist’s recommendation that the woodwind instrument could help correct a child’s overbite.

The owners of a junkyard put cat food out to attract feral cats. They deducted the expense claiming the cats kept out rats and snakes. The IRS allowed the expense.^[1]

In Galatians 6:7, Paul uses an unusual word most often translated “God is not mocked.” In Greek, it means, “You can’t turn your nose up at God.” In English, we would say, “You can never make a fool out of God” (God’s Word translation), or “God is not to be ridiculed” (International Standard Version), or “You can’t outsmart God” (New International Reader’s Version). But people try to trick God all the time.

Once a man came home drop-dead drunk. His patient wife ushered him to bed, pulled up the covers, and asked, “Harold, would you like me to say a prayer for you?”

The man mumbled something, so she began, “Lord, please forgive my drunken husband …” Harold interrupted and said, “Don’t tell Him I’m drunk, say I’m sick.”

How can we act pious on Sunday and disgrace the family of God for the rest of the week?

You can’t make a fool of God. That statement seems so self-evident, but people try to trick the Lord all the time. It often reminds me of the small child with his eyes tightly shut, who declares, “You can’t see me!”

Once W.C. Fields was killing time in his wife’s hospital room. He picked up the Bible and began reading. She looked at him and said, “I didn’t think you believed in that stuff. What are you doing?”

“Looking for loopholes, my dear, looking for loopholes.” 

Are you looking for a loophole? Which way is your nose pointing today?

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^[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/07/5-weird-tax-deductions-the-irs-has-allowed.html

My brother and I were lying in our tent, deep in the mountains of Washington. The sun had gone down, and we were all alone in our sleeping bags listening to the unfamiliar sounds of the night. We heard a monstrous sound just outside our tent, and then something ran across my face. I shouted and sat bolt upright while my brother searched for the missing flashlight. The beast raced across Mike’s sleeping bag too! A terrifying weasel, no doubt! A blood-thirsty badger! But when the light came on, it was a tiny little deer mouse. His heart was pounding faster than a hummingbird flaps its wings. Mike tore open the door, and I launched him into the night with my hat.

Fear of the unknown goes away – mostly – with the light. (Of course, sometimes it is a monster or a poltergeist, so you have to be ready.) Light drives away doubt and despair. It is easier to face the known rather than the unknown.

There is a parallel passage in Mark’s Gospel, describing the Temptation of Jesus at the beginning of his ministry. Matthew and Luke give the details, while Mark simply confirms it happened. In Matthew’s account, the devil is quoting Scripture as he tempts Jesus to prove he is the Christ by stepping off the pinnacle of the Temple:

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the Temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 

                  “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ 

and 

                  “‘On their hands they will bear you up, 

      lest you strike your foot against a stone’” (Matthew 4:5 – 6).

Satan is quoting from Psalm 91:13. Mark adds this one detail not mentioned in Matthew or Luke:

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him (Mark 1:12 – 13).

Satan didn’t quote the next verse, Psalm 91:14: “You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot,” but Jesus knew it. Christ didn’t need to step off the Temple’s pinnacle to prove God’s love and protection (Psalm 91:13), because Christ was already experiencing God’s love and protection daily in the wilderness.

Why do we ask for more (“Lord, just give me a sign!”), when God has already confirmed his love and presence in the night sky, the beauty of a wildflower, and the transforming power of the new birth?

During a very violent overnight storm this week, a branch as big as my pickup truck broke off the pecan tree and crashed to the ground. Fortunately, it missed the truck but blocked it in. Being a guy, I figured I could just grab onto the branch and pull it out of the way. 

Coiled like a spring (a very old and rusty spring) I grabbed hold and put all of my weight into moving that branch. Suddenly, without warning, the rotten branch exploded and I flew into the air like an Olympic swimmer racing the backstroke. The lights went out as I crashed onto the driveway slamming the back of my head in the dirt.

When the stars cleared away, I laid there contemplating my sins and taking stock of the damage all the while muttering “eepph.” I knew better than to get up until I had finished the roll call of body parts: legs? “Fine.” Hips? “Bruised.” Back? “Too early to tell. Call me back in an hour.” Arms? Left, “fine.” Right? “No so good.” Head? Head? “Eepph…” Someone will come to my rescue!

It was early in the morning. I had just finished my routine: a cup of coffee on the porch with a good devotional book. No one but the rabbits and squirrels was up. This was going to take a bit, so I lay there thinking about how fragile life is. It’s a wonder we survived childhood (“Of course this bedsheet parachute is going to work!”), learning to drive, dating, and the military. There are so many new diseases. In the news, I hear about shootings and lootings, madmen, and politicians. 

I have come to the realization, none of us are going to get out of this life alive. Isn’t it wonderful to know there is something – something better – waiting for us on the other side? 

Before the angels came to take me home, my loveable border collie, Sadie, started licking my face. Slowly I got to my feet. Smiling, she looked at me as if to say, “Don’t check out just yet. Let’s play ball. The branch can wait until after breakfast!”

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

 Jesus, Mark 8:36, 37

To understand his question, we need to go back to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus before he called his apostles before he gave the Sermon on the Mount before he even performed a miracle. The setting is the terrible wilderness south of the Jordan. Jesus hasn’t had anything to eat in over a month. There he meets the Tempter. Have you ever thought about Satan’s third temptation, according to Matthew?

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:8 – 9)

First, we need to think about what this temptation is about. It’s pretty easy for me to resist heroin (I hate needles!), but chocolate is a very different matter. This temptation appears to appeal to human greed or the thirst for power, but were those temptations that appealed to Jesus? I think not, so let’s examine this temptation again.

The message of both Jesus and John the Baptist was “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” How daunting and difficult it must have been to get that message out to the whole world! Satan often tempts us with short-cuts. Taking the easy way still is a powerful temptation just browse the book titles in the self-help section of Barnes and Noble: “Ten Easy Steps to Fame and Fortune.” “Marital Bliss Made Simple.” “Understanding Women for Dummies.” How easy would it have been to spread the Gospel if Jesus was in charge of all the kingdoms of the earth? “Move over, Nero!” “Step aside, Herod!”

Satan is still tempting us to take short-cuts – to find the easy way out. We are saved by grace. That means God freely forgives us because of the sacrifice of Jesus. We don’t have to do anything. Our salvation is not contingent on completing a dangerous pilgrimage or living the life of a saint. Grace. Simple. But beware Satan’s temptation: “After you dry off after baptism, you don’t need to do anything else.”

We are not called to merit salvation. We are called to reflect salvation. God’s love changes us. The power of the Holy Spirit causes us to grow in holiness. How has the Lord changed you?

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” – Jesus, Matthew 7:3 – 5

Laughter can make bitter lessons easier to swallow. Jesus was a carpenter for most of his adult life. He knew a great deal about sawdust and planks! Now imagine you are there listening to this story. It makes a serious point: stop being so critical of others, but it does so in a way that makes you smile. The disciples must have grinned at the picture of the “helpful” man with a hankie trying to take a speck of sawdust out of a man’s eye while they have a two-by-four in their own eye!

Christians are often pictured with grim faces and sour dispositions. That wasn’t the case with Christ, and it shouldn’t be a valid description of us either!

Before we go much farther, we also need to note Jesus isn’t telling us not to judge other people. Just look at the very next verse: “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs” (Matthew 7:6). You must make a judgment about a person before you can decide if they are a dog or a pig! No, what the words of Jesus are warning us against is fault-finding – looking for the worst instead of the best in people and situations.

Why are we so ready to find fault with other people? Why do we see the specks in their eyes? It’s not because the speck is so large and glaring it can’t be overlooked. (In that case, it’s a plank and that would be obvious to everyone!) It’s because we are looking for them! Some people are like that. They search out things to become upset about. They aren’t happy unless they are unhappy! (How sick is that?) 

Where does this tendency come from? Do you remember the story of Job? The Lord was pleased with his servant Job. Job was very careful to live an exemplary life, and it made Satan mad because Satan means “the fault finder.” Whose image are we created in when we go around searching for something to be upset about?

In my experience, fault finders share some common traits. They often feel guilty, and so it makes them feel better when other people are guilty too. 

Have you noticed there is a world of difference between constructive criticism and finding fault? Fault finders have trouble with their self-image. They mistakenly believe if they can tear someone else down, it will build themselves up!

Sadly, criticism not only wounds other people, it deeply hurts the critic at the same time. To look for the worst blinds us to the best! Someone once said, “The keener our eye become to the faults of others, the blinder they become to what is wrong with ourselves.”

Finally, the faultfinder is often friendless. Who wants to be around someone who is always finding the worst in people and situations? So what can be done? If you see people staring at you, it might not be because you are the smartest man in the room. Look in the mirror. There might just be a telephone pole where it doesn’t belong!

Sadly, it’s not enough that we are plagued with the pandemic, our young people especially have to wrestle with FOMO. It began before COVID-19 but has exploded since last March. FOMO is responsible for much of the irresponsible behavior we have witnessed in restaurants, coffee shops, at parties, and on the beach as people abandon social distancing guidelines.

FOMO stands for “Fear Of Missing Out.”

“FOMO is the experience of worrying that other people are doing more interesting things than you, have more friends than you, and are just all around living a better and cooler life.” – Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness.

It’s one of the reasons young people are always on their phones texting one another. No one wants to miss the party! At its heart, FOMO springs from envy – one of the classic Seven Deadly Sins. We desire to be the object of envy, so we write about how wonderful our life is on Facebook. People constantly check their text messages and often end up full of envy.

Envy is a sad sin and will eat you up inside. It’s all-pervasive. Children envy other children’s toys. Adults engage in “conspicuous consumption.” The desires fired by envy often lead to overspending and consequent marital conflict. The man who covets another man’s wife becomes dissatisfied with his own. A woman who envies another woman’s appearance becomes a supporter of a cultural system that diminishes her value and encourages her unhappiness. Envy diminishes people’s enjoyment of life because they cannot be content with what they have.

Envy is a terrible sin for so many different reasons, but I believe it is especially dangerous in these times of the pandemic. It is tempting for people to take chances that result in this disease spreading farther and faster than ever before. In that sense, envy truly is a “deadly sin.”

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1).

Charles F. Stanley has written an excellent book entitled Surviving in an Angry World (Howard Books, 2010). He points out; anger is a God-given emotion. We all become angry, but what counts is what we do with our anger – our behavior – that especially includes our speech. I love the old hymn, “Angry words, oh let them never from the tongue unbridled slip.” Sadly, our society admires someone with a quick wit who has mastered the art of the “put-down.”

My grandmother reminded me, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” This was one occasion where granny was wrong. Words do wound, and some of those taunts follow us into adulthood. I once had a beautiful friend whose portrait by Andrew Wyeth was published in Life Magazine, but if you talked with Christina, she didn’t think she was beautiful. You see, the boys in Junior High made fun of her legs and called her “Stumps.” That nickname tragically colored her self-image through adulthood.

You may think your harsh words anger only the person to whom you are speaking. But your harsh words stir up anger in you as well. It’s as if your opinions about the other person become solidified in your own heart as you speak harshly. The net result is that a negative attitude takes firmer root in you. Once you have spoken harshly to a person, it becomes much easier to speak harshly to him or her in the future. You’re also more likely to talk that way to others who irritate or frustrate you.

But Stanley included a thought I hadn’t considered before. All-day long we have dialogs with ourselves. We may even become angry, and then our self-talk can become toxic. He writes:

Just about everyone I know talks to himself or herself throughout the day. Sometimes our self-talk is a form of self-instruction. We remind ourselves how to perform a specific task or not to forget something important. We may be encouraging ourselves to control our own attitudes and behavior. But many times, self-talk takes the form of self-criticism.

Do you speak to yourself in gentle tones – encouraging yourself to do better and to live according to the highest and most noble standard?

Or do you put yourself down and speak words of criticism and judgment over yourself?

Perhaps today, we need to listen to our Father’s voice: “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

“Look at all the lonely people” goes the haunting refrain of an old Beatles tune. Have you ever been so lonely you ache? Loneliness is a bitter pill, and we rightly run from it. But there is an alternative to loneliness.

How would you complete the sentence, “A friend is someone who _________________”? Most answers would be something like “a friend is someone you can count on” or “a friend will never leave you lonely” or “a friend is someone you can talk to.” But what about, “A friend is someone you can be quiet with”?

When you are with some people, you have to keep up the conversation and avoid those awkward periods of booming silence. On the other hand, there are some people you are so comfortable with, so secure with; you can just enjoy their presence.

Richard Foster observes, “Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment.” He then goes on to describe the examples of Jesus and solitude. Jesus inaugurated his ministry by spending forty days alone (Matthew 4:1-11). Before he chose the Twelve, he spent the night by himself (Luke 6:12). When he learned of the death of his cousin, John the Baptist, he withdrew “to a lonely place apart” (Matthew 14:13). After feeding the multitudes, he sent the apostles away and “went up into the hills by himself” (Matthew 14:23). The list goes on and on and on. Jesus valued solitude, and so should we.

Here are some questions to think about.

1. When do you feel closer to God: surrounded by people in worship or off in the wilderness by yourself?
2. Why did Jesus keep withdrawing from the crowds to be by himself?
3. Who are some other biblical characters who spent time alone?
4. Does being alone make you feel uncomfortable?
5. When do you need some time by yourself? Why?
6. Describe a time when you felt lonely.
7. Describe a time when you enjoyed being by yourself.
8. What is the difference between the two experiences?
9. How will you find some time to spend alone with God this week?

In these days of the pandemic, it seems like we are washing our hands all the time! “At least 20 seconds with soap and hot water: palms, back of the hand, between the fingers, thumbs, then nails according to the ritual prescribed by the Center for Disease Control. Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Pharisees accused Jesus and his followers of not washing their hands: “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat” (Matthew 15:20.)

The handwashing the Pharisees are talking about wasn’t primarily about hygiene. It was a cultic ritual they prescribed to cleanse religious impurity. Even today, ritualistic handwashing is practiced among the Orthodox Jews. Wikipedia explains, “The Talmud used the requirement of washing the hands in Leviticus 15:11 as a hint for general handwashing law, using asmachta (a Biblical hint, rather than an explicit requirement).” [1]  Some of the occasions for netilat yadayim (literally “lifting the hands”) included before eating any meal that included bread (specifically, bread made with one of the five chief grains: wheat, cultivated barley, spelt, wild barley, and oats), after eating bread (although not universally practiced any longer), before worship, after sleeping, and

• After touching part of the body which is dirty or customarily covered such as the private parts, back, armpits, inside of nose or ear, the scalp (but not if one just touched the hair), or the sweat from one’s body (excluding the face), or one’s shoes
• Upon leaving a latrine, lavatory or bathhouse, as a symbol of both bodily cleanliness and of removing human impurity. Handwashing after excretion is sometimes referred to as “washing asher yatzar,” referring to the Asher yatzar blessing recited once the hands have been washed after excretion.
• Upon leaving a cemetery
• After cutting one’s hair or nails
• The Shulchan Aruch specifies that one must wash hands after sexual intercourse, but among many Orthodox Jews, this is not accepted practice.
• To remove tumat met (“impurity from death”) after participating in a funeral procession or coming within four cubits of a corpse
• Some have the custom of washing their hands prior to scribal work

Wikipedia, “Handwashing in Judaism”

That’s a lot of handwashing, but there is still more. There are special rituals as to how the washing is to take place, depending on whether it is before or after a meal or upon waking.

The general custom in the morning (based on a kabbalistic teaching) is to take-up the vessel in one’s right hand, pass the vessel into his left hand, and only then begin to pour out water from that vessel over his right hand. Then one reverses the order by taking-up the vessel in his right hand and pouring out water from that vessel over his left hand. This process is repeated three times altogether for each hand, with intermittent changing of hands after each pouring. When this is accomplished, he then takes the vessel and pours out water over both hands, simultaneously, after which he rubs his hands together and then lifts them to make the blessing over his hands, before he wipes them dry.

In the hand washing made for eating bread, the custom differs: one takes the vessel in his right hand and pours water in abundance over his left hand. He then takes the vessel in his left hand and pours water in abundance over his right hand. In this case (for eating bread), it is not necessary to wash the hands three times, intermittently, as is customarily done in the morning. Rather, one or two pours for each hand are sufficient.

Then a prayer is said when the hands are washed: “Blessed are you, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us through your commandments and has commanded us concerning the washing of hands.”

Sigh. In the Old Testament, ritual handwashing was obligatory for the priests before fulfilling their office (Ex 30:19–21; 40:30–32), but the religious practice wasn’t prescribed for anyone else. When the Pharisees tried to impose their traditions on the disciples, Jesus opposed them. The Lord said: “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person” (Matthew 15:11).

Notice the controversy with the Pharisees wasn’t over hygiene. It was about keeping religious traditions. I like the bumper sticker that says, “Sacred cows make good hamburger.” I wonder if we have any traditions that are interfering with our relationship with God?

 [1] See Wikipedia, “Ritual Washing in Judaism” and “Handwashing in Judaism.”

A few years ago, my wife Jan and her mother Dixie, flew to England to visit our daughter and her family who live in Brighton. Great-grandma Dixie was worried about how she was going to take all of her books with her. She knew she couldn’t keep up with the great-grandchildren, so Dixie decided she could read at home while everyone else toured the English countryside. The problem was how to pack all of her novels. Space (and weight) were at a premium. Literally, on the way to the airport, she hit upon a solution. We could stop at the Apple store and buy an iPad like the one Jan uses. It is very compact, lightweight, and can store thousands of books! And so we did catching the flight in the nick of time.

Once they arrived in Brighton, there was a problem. There hadn’t been time for Dixie to learn how to use her new iPad. Fortunately, this new generation of two-year-olds is born with the technological know-how to master computers, phones, and iPads. It was fun to watch little preschool India teaching her 85-year-old great-grandmother how to swipe, click, close and open applications on Dixie’s new iPad. The problem came when Great-grandma wanted the iPad back so she could start reading. “India, please give me my iPad,” she asked.

“No! MyPad, not iPad!” It seems with preschoolers, what is mine is mine and what is yours is mine, which reminds me of a very wise Jewish saying:

• What is mine is mine and what is thine is thine—this person is average.
• What is mine is thine, and what is thine is mine—this person is ignorant.
• What is thine is mine, and what is mine is mine—this person is wicked.
• What is mine is thine, and what is thine is thine—this person is a saint.

Be a saint, and be a blessing,