Author: Dave Dishman (Page 1 of 390)

I hate to miss a meal, so I find fasting a burdensome activity. Prayer is another difficulty, as my mind wanders like a lost tourist when I sit quietly for a few moments. Most spiritual practices require discipline, and I find them challenging.

But one command far exceeds all others in complexity—love your brother and sister.

John explained it this way: We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

John’s wrote to an unraveling community of faith. His words echo those of Jesus, heard by John’s own ears, to love your neighbor as yourself. But loving a brother or sister in the faith proved too difficult to many in his audience, just as it proves too difficult for many Christ followers today.

This stark proposition burns my ears. If I cannot love those who share my same faith, who worship under the same roof, who also attempt to walk with Jesus, then I do not love God. My lack of love for others provides damning evidence. I cannot say I’m a Jesus follower and at the same time cling to resentment and hate toward my brother and sister.

How to escape? I must plead for the Holy Spirit to intervene, to help as Jesus promised, to enable me love by faith. I ask the Holy Spirit to crack my heart, to think his thoughts, to renew my mind, and to shoot me up with a dose of humility.

I do not possess the inherent ability to love those I find objectionable, even those in my community of faith (especially those in my community of faith). Only by leaning into the power of the Holy Spirit might I somehow find the capacity to do so.

1 John 4 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Leighann Blackwood

I’m a follower of politics. These days the topic is hard to ignore. But even when the current hubbub calms, the push and pull of statecraft will continue to draw my attention. I enjoy biographies of leaders and how they managed the issues of their day. Histories about the wise exercise or stunning misuse of power enthrall me.

God works a different methodology. This word of the Lord came to Zerubbabel through the prophet Zechariah, describing how Jehovah planned to accomplish his purposes—Not by might nor by power, but my my Spirit.

The Lord accomplishes his will not by the force of nations or the supremacy of kings. Not through social influencers boasting millions of followers, or political clout, or overwhelming military strength.

The Lord can use all these things, of course, or develop novel forms of power and might. But God needs none of these happy meal toys. The all-sufficient God engineers his purposes in whatever way he chooses. The Spirit moves in mysterious ways.

Which is wonderful. I’m not ultimately addicted to the influence I develop or the resources I gather. Rather, I rely on the movements of the Spirit in my life, the one who works quietly, yet inexorably, through unorthodox means.

Zechariah 4 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Jon Tyson

Recently a crew installed new windows in our house. The foreman, a carpenter by trade, arrived the first morning ten minutes early. As we discussed the job he noticed that my glass storm door sat oddly in the frame. Two days later he fixed it, taking over an hour to adjust the door. It was not part of the work order, nor did he get paid for the extra service. But as a craftsman he couldn’t walk away from a crooked door.

I know a few people I consider a craftsman. These masters (men and women, so I suppose I should use the term craftsperson), trained hard in their field, are excellent at their work, and take pride in their results.

One doesn’t think of a craftsman as a person to enact the judgement of God. But that’s how Zechariah described those the Lord used to settle the score with Israel’s enemies.

These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise their head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.

The horns represent the nations that invaded and overwhelmed Israel and Judah. Craftsman point to the nation or nations of their judgement, arriving in the next wave of conquering. This prophecy likely referred to the Persian Empire, called upon to terrify those who arrogantly defied the Lord.

Craftsmen have come to terrify. Think of a blacksmith at his anvil beating until the metal is formed. Some work requires force, and divine judgement fits that bill. A craftsman brings an eye for detail. Nothing escapes his tenacity. No door remains crooked, and no nation escapes judgement.

The Lord accomplishes his purposes. Sometimes through saints, sometimes through sinners, and sometimes through craftsmen. But bear in mind—the job gets done and gets done right.

Zechariah 1 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Jonny Gios

When I was a kid we played hide and seek outside in the dark. I discovered that I could hide in the shadows and not be seen, even when other kids galloped by close enough to grab. The dark was a lot of fun, and we ran around in it for hours. But I remember the pleasure of returning to the light, whether that of a campfire or a warm kitchen.

Outside of the beauty of nature, darkness holds little appeal these days. Too much darkness seeps through this world, infecting relationships and sickening minds. Fortunately, we know one source of unending light. John wrote, God is light; in him is no darkness at all. Paul tells us of God’s kingdom of light, and indeed that God dwells in unapproachable light.

Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light, trying to mimic the Lord and lead his faithful down shadowy paths. But the sham only carries so far, because the light of Jesus shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus is the light of all mankind. No shadow exists black enough to overwhelm. No need for loss, no reason for fear. Far more powerful than the sun he created, the light of Jesus never goes out, never fades, never grows cold. His light blazes to the ends of the earth and to the culmination of time.

Wearied by the shadow world? Perhaps it’s time to look up, and return to the pleasures of the light.

1 John 1 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Ivan Rohovchenko