Category: Bible (Page 100 of 356)

When asked if I’m getting along well I quickly think of health, financial well-being, or my status at work. Or I’ll mention relationships with family. My first thought never goes to the question, is my soul getting along well?

John the Apostle wrote to a friend named Gaius, and commended him on the wellness of his soul:

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Lest we think he had it easy, Gaius cultivated a healthy soul in a lousy place. As a follower of Jesus, Gaius walked around his pagan city as a member of a distrusted, minority religious sect—Christianity. Then he experienced fighting in his local church. One of the leaders thrust himself to the front, manipulated members and spread malicious rumors.

Even with these burrs, Gaius maintained a healthy soul. How? He committed to the truth and walked in it day after day. The truth of Jesus as Savior, coupled with the truth embodied in the Scriptures, nourished Gaius’s soul. As he fed on a steady diet of truth—day after day—the lies of his world failed to pull him into despair.

How do you and I enjoy a soul getting along well? Like Gaius, we read and ruminate on the Scriptures under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Then we’ll see our souls grow healthy as we walk in the truth.

John 3 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Torsten Dederichs

I ain’t getting any younger.

After a long day of travel in the car, I’m sore the next day. When did riding in a comfortable vehicle start leading to aching muscles? I always keep my eyeglasses close, and even swinging a golf club requires a round of stretching. To repeat the well-used phrase, aging’s not for the weak of heart.

Which is why I find these words from the psalmist so hopeful: The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon…They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

While my joints may calcify, my spirit can stay as supple as a palm tree in a tropical breeze. I notice lots of people grow increasingly bitter as they age. But this doesn’t have to be the case. A relationship with the Lord renews inner strength and yields a positive attitude toward others.

I can experience the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control—to the end of my days. I will bless the people around me, even the young annoying ones, by holding on to the Rock of my salvation.

The wasting away of my body does not mean I must experience the wasting away of my soul. The older I get the more beautiful that sounds.

Psalm 92 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Oziel Gómez

After every football game I point out what certain players could have done better. If only they’d caught that pass, or juked another direction, and a loss would turn into a victory. All is clear from my couch, but then again I’m not on the field running full speed away from large individuals looking to plow me into the ground.

It’s easy to pontificate, much harder to perform.

John the Apostle reminded us that we gotta walk the talk in regards to living out our faith: Little children, let us not love in words or talk but in deed and in truth.

Much of what passes as loving is simply words. Social media posturing. Clicking the like button. Telling others what to do. Everyone preaches but no one listens. I fail to notice deeper needs when I’m busy talking.

Better to quietly practice love than boldly announce my good intentions. Virtue signaling lingers like the smell of yesterday’s fried fish, and is about as welcome.

Getting off my couch takes work. I’ll fumble at times and might even get hurt in the process. But loving in deed and in truth requires more than talk from this Monday-morning quarterback.

I John 3 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Keith Johnston

The Lord expresses fantastic patience, never wanting anyone to perish. Way more than I show for others. But his patience for those who claim to know and follow him depends to a certain degree upon ourselves.

They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord.

So the Lord spoke through Zechariah his prophet to the Jews in captivity. We don’t like to think about it, but it’s possible by our actions to close the ears of the Lord. I possess the ability to bake my attitude towards God diamond-hard.

Much of popular thinking holds the Lord as totally gracious, glossing over our foibles, slights, hatreds and sin. As long as we don’t kill anyone, we’re good. But such a god exists only in the uninformed mind.

The God of the Scriptures (indeed the only God who exists) looks to knead our hearts into softness. If I let him break the crust by allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through his words—and if I act upon them—then the Lord will hear me when I call.

I need to tap on my heart. If there’s no give, then something’s wrong. The hardness and luster of a diamond makes for beautiful jewelry, but unyielding cynicism is the wrong quality for a heart tuned to the Lord.

Zechariah 7 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Edgar Soto