Contemplative Bible Reading

2 Peter 3:5 (New Living Translation)

5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water.

Oops, slipped my mind. What is that guy’s name? I have known him for years, but can’t think of it. Funny how the mind works. Some things come and go and seem to go more often these days.

Such was not the case for the unbelievers that Peter described above. It didn’t “slip their mind” that God is the Creator. They deliberately forgot it. How do you “deliberately forget” something? How do you think about something enough and strongly enough to forget it? Perhaps something is lost in translation here.

Anyways, the attitude was to dismiss God. Just dismiss that creation was a miracle. It happened naturally somehow. Hmm, this sounds familiar in today’s world of science and hubris. We are just so smart today that, well, we seem to be just like these folks Peter described two thousand years ago.

God created the heavens and the earth. That takes faith to believe as I didn’t see it happen. Faith is an unusual thing. I can’t see faith. I can experience it inside, but it’s like creation. I believe creation happened.

And this is all giving me a headache this early in the morning. Thanks be to God for creation and everything since.

James 1:14 (New Living Translation)

14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.

“The devil made me do it” used to be an oft-stated phrase. I recall a comedian from the 1970s said that a lot for laughs. Ancient history. This verse from James, however, seems to place the source of temptation elsewhere.

Here it is, the end the age-old search. The source of temptation is…myself. Oh, uh, well, that was boring. Surely there is something wrong with the translation. I mean temptation causes so many of us to go so wrong. Surely there is more to it than this. Wrong.

I tempt myself. Gosh. I cause myself to stray. I cannot blame it on anyone else or anything else. Just me.

Yet, God stays with me. God forgives me and welcomes me. That is the grace of God. I don’t understand how that all works. It definitely doesn’t make any sense, but I am thankful it is there. Thank you God. Please help me in my unbelief.

2 Peter 3:17 (New Living Translation)

17 You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing.

Peter writes this to Christians scattered about here and there. In the preceding sentences, Peter explains that some things Christians have read are hard to understand. Some wicked people took advantage of these hard-to-understand things and twisted them around to their benefit of evil.

Peter encourages the Christians to be on guard of these errors. Don’t lose your secure footing because of these twisted things.

Here in the 2020s, we have FaceXGram and all the rest of those things. Everyone broadcasts freely to the entire human race (see, for example, my comments twice a week). Let’s not be carried away by the errors of those who seek advantage. Let’s stay on solid ground. The message of the Gospel is simple but sometimes difficult to live. We sin. We are forgiven and saved. Let’s live like it.

James 1:20 (New Living Translation)

20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

Who put this sentence in the Bible? Who slipped it in? I don’t like this. It makes me angry!

Note how I write that “this MAKES ME angry.” I don’t become angry, something else makes me angry. Silly me. And well uh er I go back to, “Who slipped this into the Bible?”

God, please help me in my unbelief.

Rereading this, perhaps you may not hear that I become angry often and that takes me away from the righteousness God intended me to have. I put myself between myself and God and I shouldn’t do that. And I really need to stop that foolishness.

Colossians 2:15 (New Living Translation)

15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

Paul continues to write to the Christians in Colosse. Paul reminds them of how Jesus Christ died via execution on a cross.

The spiritual rulers of the earth had something on us all: we had sins charged to us. We weren’t free; we were criminals waiting and waiting to go to jail. We couldn’t do anything but wait for our punishment. Those spiritual rulers of the earth held this over us all the time. That was their weapon—the threat of jail.

Jesus died on the cross. Jesus nailed our sins to the cross and executed our sins. Poof. Gone. We were no longer criminals. The spiritual rulers of the earth no longer had anything on us. We weren’t waiting for jail. We could do anything because we weren’t waiting for punishment.

Thanks be to God. Thanks for freedom. Thanks for disarming these “rulers.”

1 Timothy 6:9-10 (New Living Translation)

9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

This translation uses different words from the King James. The King James has verse 10 stating the famous, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” The translation shown above repeats “the love of money” phrase and then follows it with “craving money.” That is a powerful desire for money. Craving money has lead some people to wander from the true faith.

Yikes. Money. Can’t live with it; sure can’t live without it. Or something like that. I believe there is nothing wrong with money. It is a medium of exchange. I cannot trade my job for a house, but the money earned in a job can be exchanged for the use of a house. Something like that.

Money: earn it, use it for necessities, give away large amounts of it to people who need it. And give away large amounts of it to people who can then spend all day spreading the Gospel. Hoarding money? Not good. Craving money? Definitely not good.

How much is a “large” amount? Subjective answer. Now we argue and justify and all those things.

1 John 2:16 (New Living Translation)

16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.

This is, or used to be, a well-known verse and often-taught theme. The older English translations used the word “lust.” I recently re-read this in the New Living Translation and the word used here is “craving.” That seems to fit us more today.

These three things have been called “threefold concupiscence” or the “unholy trinity.” I had to research this word as I had never heard it. Concupiscence generally refers to a strong, often excessive, desire, particularly of a sensual or sexual nature.

The world, our culture not planet earth, pulls us into this craving. We crave physical pleasure (feels great, must be good). We crave everything we see (isn’t that shiny!). We are so proud of our stuff. Look what I did! Look what I have! Don’t you wish you were like me and had all my stuff?

Different words to express something that has plagued mankind from the beginning. See, for example, the Garden and Eden and the fall of mankind. Lust and pride. Crave and pride. Same concept. How sinful are we? And God still accepts us through grace. Thanks be to God.

Colossians 2:14 (New Living Translation)

14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

Paul is writing to Christians at Colosse. In this sentence, Paul is reminding the Christians what Jesus Christ did for them. Jesus took the record of charges against them (and me), i.e., the record of all their (my) sins and canceled the record. Jesus hit the “Delete” key, the permanent “Delete” key, the one that deletes the record in all locations in the cloud, the backups, the smartphone, everywhere. Yes, even in that other place we forgot about, too.

The charges are gone. We are free. We are clean. All those things were nailed to that cross. Gosh. That cross had to be heavy. Gosh. That cross had to be crowded. Yet Jesus stayed on it and suffered. I struggle to imagine that. Yet, it is true. Thanks be to God and Jesus Christ.

2 John 1:5-6 (New Living Translation)

5 I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. 6 Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.

John the Elder writes a letter to a church. Oh, here’s a reminder from John: we should love one another. Seems like you wouldn’t have to remind people in a church following God that this is what they should do. I mean, who would forget that? Me.

Okay, love one another. What does that mean? John explains: love means doing what God has commanded us to do. And, by the way, one of those commands is to love one another. Same old story. Everyone has been told that from the beginning. Let’s get with it and continue with it.

If followers of Jesus don’t love other followers of Jesus, what are we doing? Let’s do better. Please God, help me to do better.

Colossians 1:6 (New Living Translation)

6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

Paul is writing to Christians in Colosse. Paul describes what happens when people hear the Good News or the Gospel. It “bears fruit” everywhere. How? The Good News is changing lives. It changed the lives of the people in Colosse and it is doing the same everywhere.

How does this news change lives? Well folks, back to basics. The good news is that we are free from the bondage of sin and death. God’s grace is a gift—not earned by super-human efforts. Just receive the gift with humility and thanksgiving.

Yes, back to basics. Let’s live changed lives. Let’s live like we understand the good news. Please God, help me in my unbelief.