30 April: Assignment 1

Any introduction into Bible study will tell you there are 3 basic stages: Observation, Interpretation, and Application. This weekend in these devotions, we are going to spend a little time in putting these into practice. Today, read through Genesis 48-50 and write down 5-10 observations about ch. 50. Do this and you're done for the day.

Now, suppose this is someone's first time doing observation, what would he do (let's call him Josh)? Let's also suppose, for sake of example, that he wants to draw some observations from Ps. 39. First Josh would read the Psalm (and, because it's short and amazing, he'll read it a few times). Next, Josh will write down a few things he notices. His list may start out looking something like this:

1. The author starts with a decision to be silent.
2. The opening verses each have a certain, 3-phrase format.
3. The closing verses don't.

His list can also include questions which he hopes further study to address:

4. Why is there an interplay of silence and speaking?
5. What significance does the 3-phrase format have?

But also notice what sorts of things do not make the list; questions or assertions which would belong in one of the other two categories. For instance, Josh is not trying to make sense of what he's seeing in Ps. 39 (that's for interpretation) nor is he wondering if this Psalm is telling him that he needs to be silent (that's for application). He only notes what he sees and what interests him and that's exactly what you should do in today's assignment to have 5-10 observations from Genesis 50. Just read that chapter (more than once if you have time) and write down what you see. You'll use this list for Saturday's lesson.

Happy seeing.

April 23: Home and the Heart

I have been to about 10 conferences since I started working for Apologia (most of them last year). I have set up hundreds of books, described notebooking journals again and again, and downed gallons of coffee. It wasn’t until this weekend that I have been invited to someone’s home (multiple homes, actually). I don’t begrudge any past conference planners or the locals for not extending invitations; we were there on business, had hotel rooms and meals - we obviously were not in want. It just struck me how beautiful hospitality can be.

Hospitality, it seems, is not just opening up your house; hotels and restaurants do this and we don’t think them more virtuous for doing so. Hospitality is opening up the home, where you live and what’s close to you; in a sense, it’s opening up yourself to others. But it’s not self-disclosure or being friendly (if it were, we wouldn’t have much use for the word ‘hospitality’); it’s something more, it’s inviting someone to be with you in an atmosphere warm and comfortable because you’ve lived there.

Hospitality is an invitation into your peace. Think about it for a moment, if you go over to a home with subtle or overt tension between children and parents (or husband and wife), there’s no place for you to sit, and the dog keeps growling at you - do you walk away from this experience thinking you’ve just tasted premier hospitality? Doubtful; we know it’s something better than that. Hospitality is a warmth which welcomes YOU, this points to another one of its aspects, attentiveness.

All of the great hosts I’ve ever had always took especially good care of me. They welcomed me, fed me, talked with me, and made sure I was never inconvenienced. I got a good seat, a full glass, a thick slice of cake, and God was thanked because I had come over. I was receiving special honor as the guest and I sure knew it. I remember being in a homeschooling house a few years ago and seeing one of the most beautiful moments of parenting as the mom called her girls into a schoolroom and talked to them about how to be gracious to guests. I don’t recall her specific instructions, but the theme was inescapable: hospitality is about serving and giving. Though this sums up more than just hospitality, one cannot be hospitable without it.

Eugene Peterson talks about giving as he recalls seeing a pair of adult birds feeding their chicks for hours. At one point, they decided mealtime had ended and it was time to fly. One by one the little birds were muscled off the limb, left hurtling to the ground until, in some frantic, mid-air epiphany, they began flapping their wings and stopped their crash. He writes, “Some of us try desperately to hold on to ourselves, to live for ourselves. We look so bedraggled and pathetic doing it, hanging on to the dead branch . . . for dear life, afraid to risk ourselves on the untried wings of giving. We don’t think we can live generously because we have never tried. But the sooner we start the better, for we are going to have to give up our lives finally, and the longer we wait the less time we have for the soaring.”

We had dinner one night with the family who planned the conference. Before we left, the hostess made sure we understood that her door and family were as open to us as if they were our own. We had no need for loneliness; family was close. It is in this aspect, the availability of an inviting family, that allows us to be hospitable people, regardless of whether we are home, working a conference booth, getting mail from the mailbox, or anywhere we go. More than anything else, it is a perspective which asks, “How can I serve you, give to you, so that you know you are welcome? How can I do good by you? How can I share the peace I have with you, so that you are blessed?” If home is where the heart is, then the quality of the home comes from the health and attitude of the heart. When people meet you and talk with you today, will they know that you count it an honor to have gotten to spend some time with them? Will they feel welcomed into your day, your life? They should.

Read these Scriptures (John 14:1-4; Phil. 2:1-5; Heb. 12:1-2). Then, in your journal, articulate a Bible-based view of hospitality. Then answer the question, “Do I do this?”

April 16: Superheroes

I grew up reading comic books. I can still remember being introduced to them by my childhood friend, Ken, and discovering this imaginative world of people who stood out from the populace because of unusual powers and insights. It never crossed my mind that the trade off for this life was an inescapable wardrobe of spandex; they could fly, shoot things out of their eyes, lift oil tankers and look cool doing it. These heroes seemed other worldly (sometimes they were), even to the other characters. They were better than the world they protected and it did not deserve them, whether or not it knew or acted like it.

More than half of my time of leafing through comics was to learn from the artists on how they drew my heroes. I would spend hours sitting cross-legged at the coffee table trying to improve my renderings of human proportions so that these sketches would look slightly believable. Sometimes I would erase holes through the paper trying to get certain lines just right. There were a lot of failures.

Recently, a cousin of mine asked me to draw her a picture of Batman (which I’ll post on my other blog if I ever do). After a little casual research, I found out that one of my favorite artists from childhood had actually drawn a few issues and that my local library would let me check those out. I read them all today on my travels and found something I had not really expected: great writing. I don’t think I’ve ever turned pages with such eagerness. The art was still phenomenal, but so was the plot. What I missed all through my youth now was inescapable: the heroes on my five-year-old pajamas and lunch pails suffered silently and greatly to be who we loved them to be. What strikes me now is how clearly comic book writers identify this trial intimately with heroism. Part of humanity is that greatness will cost you - our heroes most of all (cf. Luke 12:48; 22:24-27; John 12:24).

The Bible has a significant place for the rewards and praises which God bestows on men. Though not an inspired title, “The Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 shows us some of the greatest displays of valor, honor, and faith. Each person there receives his or her acclaim because of belief in God, no matter what he or she had to suffer and give to do so. The hall closes when the author says he lacks the space for a full treatment of the subject and hastens to cover his ground by just listing their trials. In his final phrases, he describes them as those “of whom the world is not worthy” (v. 38); for whom only heaven is the appropriate place (cf. v. 40). If this world does not deserve them, they must be a gift to it, but of what sort?

I still have a certain, nostalgic fondness surface every time I pass the comic book store up the road from my house. I still occasionally visit that world of the imaginary and delight in the artistic presentation of great feats I could never do. But two-dimensional heroes hold the attention for only so long. They are good anecdotes and illustrations, but they eventually become hollow - I want flesh and blood to show me a heroism a man can reach. That’s why I appreciate the Bible; that’s why I appreciate getting to know the people I do - because what I see there are benchmarks of nobility made by men. Not only that, it’s a nobility that I just might be able to reach because of the God I know. These are the heroes, more than the masked ones, worth knowing.

Journal: Who inspires you? Write out a few people and why they do.

April 9: Why Bother?

We were rounding up our last night of review for Senior Seminar (our exit exams for grad school)when Jim asked a question a lot of us sometimes think about certain doctrines. “I understand why the school believes in its position on End Times prophecy, but what is the use in getting into all of those details? I mean, if we believe that Jesus is coming back and God making everything perfect in the end (i.e., New Heavens and New Earth), why do we need to get into to the rest of it since it causes such division and seems to have little bearing on our daily life?”

Before you read on, write out your own answer to the questions Jim raised: What should be done about a doctrine which serves as the basis for so much disagreement?

My professor, an insightful, old Messianic Jewish man responded in a fantastic way,

“Your point is well-taken. Your point is well-taken. First, I would say this: It’s there, so we have to climb it. We can’t do anything about it being there except recognize that God inspired a tough topic to be in the Bible, but we can try to understand and deal with it.

“Next, all of the times the New Testament mentions End Times, it does so in connection with a practical application, so this should not be a concern.

“Last, sometimes it seems that we can achieve godliness if we stay away from doctrines (like this one), but I think you’ll find that the closer you get into seeking out the truth, the more you’ll find it helping your closeness with God. Jacob didn’t wrestle with God at a distance (but up close) and saw God’s face because of it.”

I would add, too, that truth is a worthy pursuit regardless of its practical application. Also, if unity is something we seek, we should note that people unify AROUND something. If we do not do it around truth, what do we use? Silent agreement that certain topics ought not be discussed? I don’t think that is the sort of unity Jim had in mind when he asked his question.

What I find sometimes in my own study is a tendency to skip over what I don’t know or understand when I’m reading my Bible. My reading may raise a question in my mind, but I keep on, after all, I need to finish my reading for the day. In the process, I do complete my reading goal for the day, but if I never go back to chase some of those questions, I miss out on chances to grow in their investigation.

So, how about you? When’s the last time you studied something you didn’t understand about your faith? When is the next time you will? In your journal, write out a prayer to the Lord. Pray to Him about what you want out of your time in the Bible and ask Him to teach you through it. (this next part is optional) Ask Him to show you something to study which causes you to dig into His Word to find the answer. Write out a few ideas of things to study (if you are not currently chasing down something) and pick a date when you’ll start on one.

Get ready for the chase. It will be good.

March 26: A Considerate Slap in the Face

Maybe you’ve known this sort of thing for years; taught it in Sunday school; learned it your first year of being one of God’s children. I just realized it in last Fall. One bright morning, I woke and began my morning routine in typical fashion. I kept industrious pace; I made coffee. As the day began to gear up, though, I couldn’t shake a mounting anxiety about something in my life. It was some recurring worry which, though I might lose it through busyness or remembering why I had no reason for concern, it never seemed to weary of the pursuit and would rise with the sun each day, seemingly better rested than I.

That revelational morning, I asked the Lord for help; for wisdom in the upcoming situation; for sanity. I expected a reminder of calming truths or a peace which would prevail on my day’s outlook. Instead what I got was conviction for lack of humility. I would have laughed if only I weren’t so shocked. When I expected a reassuring hand on the shoulder, I got one across the jaw.

Conviction properly set in because I was not trusting God. Sometimes we forget this is a part of worry when it overtakes us but, when we look back, we see how ridiculous we looked when we thought that God needed our help in a situation or that He might be unaware of what was going on in His universe (cf. Job 38-42). We can’t see that He runs this place, but what we also are missing is how much He loves us. Remember the cross? Remember the blessings which shower you every day? Remember the community into which He has adopted you? Remember that He has forgiven you of the sin which defined you?

Perhaps when you read the description of conviction as an open hand across the cheek, it seemed a little harsh. Perhaps it sounded like the sort of thing which would follow an exclamation, “You ingrate! After all I’ve done for you! You should be ashamed!” I don’t think conviction is like that (though it rightly could be). Instead, it’s more like waking someone back to sanity from a nightmarish world; one in which God isn’t controlling everything and all things don’t work out for the good of those who love Him. In anxiety, we sometimes have to be shaken back to reality before it helps us; we have to remember His grandeur before it brings us any comfort. Sometimes subtle and gentle things restore us to a right view; other times it takes a shock. Whatever it takes, I’m always glad to be back home.

Thank God for rude awakenings.

Putting it to Paper:

Consider a past situation that caused you worry and no longer does. Go back a couple of years. Think on your worries and how you would have changed things in that situation if God had dropped everything in your lap to rule for a moment. What would you have done?

Now think about how that situation was resolved. Did the situation resolve just as you hoped? In the way and time? How can you see God at work in the way it was resolved?

March 27:Giving Testimony

I have at least two reasons to believe that Job suffered for my benefit:

1. It is recorded. Paul assures us that ‘whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope’ (Rom. 15:4).

2. The comfort Job received was not only for him, but for us as well (2 Cor. 1:3-8).

So, how does this benefit me? It helps me have hope and I am comforted in who I find God to be because of this one man’s suffering. This isn’t it, however; the hope and comfort are more than we initially think. It seems true to the text that the ‘hope’ in Romans 15 has to do with a sort of personal eschatology - that there is some redemptive ending to whatever presently seems disastrous. This is good, but there’s more: that we can learn from the communication of someone else’s past suffering, though, is also hope-giving. It means that God can use our pain and losses for more than just personal sanctification:

Someone else’s future hope may be buried inside my wounds and tears, awaiting the right time when I unearth and unwrap it to pass on.

My college mentor, keying in on this idea, says, “We suffer for someone else” (cf. 2 Cor. 1:3-8). What Paul (and my mentor) hope we see is that sometimes part of the purpose God has us suffer through Good Friday is to tell them about the surpassing joys of Easter Sunday. The hope we find in Job and other trials in the Bible is not only of future relief, but future service. To put it differently: Not only can we hope that present thirst will be satisfied, we’ll have enough left around to give to another parched soul. Now that’s good news.

What is a story from the Bible which encourages you to endure with hope (other that Jesus’)? Go read that this morning.

March 19: G.K. Chesterton: Secret thought of Jesus

A favorite philosopher of mine said that trying to quote GK Chesterton only once is like trying to only eat one potato chip - it can't be done. Well, I'm going to try - time will reveal my success. The following quote is the final thing he writes in his most well-known book, "Orthodoxy." We often note new books coming out (which can be good) to the neglect of older, recognized classics (which is not so good). Here's a sampling of this classic. (After you read it, journal a response.)

'Joy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian. And as I close this chaotic volume I open again the strange small book from which all Christianity came; and I am again haunted by a kind of confirmation. The tremendous figure which fills the Gospels towers in this respect, as in every other, above all the thinkers who ever thought themselves tall. His pathos was natural, almost casual. The Stoics, ancient and modern, were proud of concealing their tears. He never concealed His tears; He showed them plainly on His open face at any daily sight, such as the far sight of His native city. Yet He concealed something.

'Solemn supermen and imperial diplomatists are proud of restraining their anger. He never restrained His anger. He flung furniture down the front steps of the Temple, and asked men how they expected to escape the damnation of Hell. Yet He restrained something.

'I say it with reverence; there was in that shattering personality a thread that must be called shyness. There was something that He hid from all men when He went up a mountain to pray. There was something that He covered constantly by abrupt silence or impetuous isolation. There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.'