Contemplative Bible Reading

Galatians 3:3 (New Living Translation)

3 How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?

There are folks who study how we all change from one thing to another. These folks have noted how many ways there are we change. Paul is writing to Christians in Galatia a long time ago. His words are relevant today.

These people in Galatia had experienced a change in their lives. Well, they were in the middle of the change. They had heard about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. That’s a miracle that brings the Spirit of God into each person’s life. These people had started new lives in the Spirit of God.

Then, they became tired and confused and confounded by the weight and tangles of daily life. They started to drift back. That drifting back is normal. There is a part of changing that is chaotic. The new, even the new life in the Spirit of God, isn’t yet familiar. We try this and that and some other thing. Some things work, some don’t. We’re confused. In addition, the phone is ringing and someone needs a ride to something while the car is getting an oil change and the lawn mower needs replacing and you want to fix that squeaky front door and the boss says he needs you to work some on the weekend and … What was I talking about?

Chaos. Oh, I know of a familiar place. The Galatians knew of a familiar way to live. It involved reaching for God with human effort. If we just follow enough rules, we can climb the stairs to heaven and peace from all this and … Wrong. Human effort, no matter how diligent, isn’t enough. It is the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

But, I struggle with that Spirit-of-God thing and concept and, oh, wait a minute, the phone is ringing again and… Stop. Please. Stop. Accept God’s gift. Move ahead.

Acts 15:31 (New Living Translation)

31 And there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message.

The apostles and elders in Jerusalem had written a short letter to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. When received, the reaction was described above. The message was encouraging; there was great joy.

Wow. We sure could use some encouraging messages here in America right now. Gosh. There isn’t much great joy. Perhaps we have missed out on some simple things in life that are right in front of us.

Don’t have much to do today? Write an encouraging message and send it to someone. Not a post to everyone, but a message to one person. Cause some great joy. Thank you God.

James 3:15 (New Living Translation)

15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.

James is writing I am writing to Jewish Christians scattered abroad. James describes the wisdom of God and how Christians show that wisdom. James contrasts the wisdom of God with the wisdom of the world.

The wisdom of the world is jealous and selfish. It is centered upon me and what I have and what I want and the rest of you get out of my way. No wonder James calls that earthly and unspiritual.

James then calls those things “demonic.” Oh, uh, wait a minute. Something wrong here with the translation? Per the dictionary, demonic means of, resembling, or characteristic of demons or evil spirits. Well, being jealous and selfish, I should avoid those things. Perhaps they are a bit immature or something, but characteristic of demons or evil spirits? Come on, that is a bit much, isn’t it?

There it is folks. In black and white or whatever colors appear on your computer or smartphone. Demonic. Yikes. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Acts 2:37a (New Living Translation)

37 Peter’s words pierced their hearts,

Peter is speaking to a large crowd on the day credited with the birth of the church (so some say). At the end of talk, there is the reaction of the crowd. They all respond to Peter’s admonitions.

But first, we have this description of the scene. Peter’s words pierced their hearts. Their hearts were not stone or did not have callouses that were like a couple inches of camel hide. Their hearts were soft enough and tender enough that they could be pierced.

I see that as a miracle. The hearts of the people were ready. The hearts of the people were receptive. I believe God had prepared the hearts of the people for Peter’s words.

I write many things. I speak on occasions. Sometimes I am quite disappointed with what I write or say. It just isn’t good or good enough. Yet, on those occasions, people come to me and say how my words helped them. Huh?

God prepares hearts. God had prepared the hearts of the thousands who listened to Peter on this occasion. Once prepared, Peter’s simple words pierced their hearts.

1 Peter 3:8 (New Living Translation)

8 Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.

Peter is writing to Christians in a large region. Many of those Christians are Jewish. The Jews looked back to their ancestors and tribes. Peter tells the Christians of all backgrounds to, “Love each other as brothers and sisters.”

All my life, I have heard Brother so-and-so and Sister so-and-so. I haven’t heard that as much in the last 20 years for some reason. Still, brothers and sisters in the same family.

That was a foreign concept, something radical at the time of its writing. Jews and Gentiles—brothers and sisters. Uh, well, I don’t know. Travel from Louisiana to upstate New York. On Sunday, go into a gathering of, uh, brothers and sisters? Yes. Sometimes simply crossing a little river in Louisiana and you walk into a gathering of, well, yes, brothers and sisters. Sometimes the short journey is more difficult. I mean, if those folks are family, why don’t they live on the right side of the river? Why don’t they dress like me and talk like me and watch the same TV shows as me and cheer for the same football team as me and, you know, all the important stuff in life?

Simple, love each other as brothers and sisters. Sometimes hard for someone like me to do. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

John 2:25 (New Living Translation)

25 No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.

A remarkable sentence or two here. Jesus was performing miracles in Jerusalem. People were putting their trust in Jesus. After all, this fella’ from Nazareth was healing sick people like … well, like a miracle. Trust someone who makes life better.

Jesus, however, didn’t trust the people. See verse 24 for, “But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people.”

Then we have the human nature comment. And this wasn’t just some cynical statement about lousy people. This lack of trust from Jesus was based on the knowledge of each person’s heart. Jesus knew what was in not just the “heart of the people” based on some poll. Jesus knew what was in the heart of each individual in the crowd.

This is what God knows. The inner thoughts and feelings or each person. That includes me. That includes you. We aren’t hiding anything. I trust in God. Well, some days, maybe 98.6% trust or something like that, but you know. And I put on a good outer showing to other people and…

Nope. God knows. God knows what is in the heart and mind of each one of us—one at a time. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

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.