Familiarity with Scripture is a great thing.
It’s wonderful to be reading one of the gospels or Paul’s letters and to feel as though it’s a road you’ve driven many times before. You know the speed limit without checking, you know the stop signs before you see them, and you know where your turn is without looking for a road sign. Your familiarity helps you enjoy the ride without being preoccupied with navigating.
I don’t believe in coincidences; nor do I believe in “fate.” I believe in the sovereignty and providence of God over all things and all people. The reason for that is simply because of what I read in the Bible.
I’m required to make a rational decision: either see the world and my life as governed by coincidences and “fate” or (and this is a big OR) see the world and my life as governed by God.
Hi Mark,
It was great to get your email today!
Even though we haven’t talked for a while, I’d been praying for you—as I know others have as well. That’s why it was so great to get your email saying that you’ve come to believe in Jesus. I’m grateful to God for what he’s done to you and for you and I pray that he would continue to have mercy on you as you grow in your love for and understanding of him and find your way in his kingdom. I’m happy you emailed me, and I hope we can continue this conversation!
Living Waters Church family:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
One of the things we need most in times like these is to be reminded of the truest things in the world. Unfortunately, during times like these, the first thing we often neglect are those opportunities to be reminded of the truth, because we’re now having to live our lives and navigate our days in ways we’ve never done before. Spending time in Scripture just doesn’t seem like the most important or convenient thing to do. What I’d like to do is offer some help.
We use other people as examples and benchmarks for our lives all the time.
We consistently take a person, hold them up in front for everyone to see, and then say, “Here is how you ought to live.” And, to be honest, it’s not a bad idea if the person has their stuff together. It’s even (in at least some sense) biblical. Paul did that with Jesus and then with himself (1 Cor. 11:1).
What’s this have to do with Psalm 1?
Since God is triune, there is a trinitarian shape to everything he does. It doesn’t matter if it’s creation, his revelation to the world, the cross, or Scripture; it has the fingerprints of the Trinity all over it. The same can be said for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. If we look at the resurrection as if it exists apart from the Trinity, we’ll inevitably misunderstand something at the core of the event.
Who raised Jesus from the dead?
Without the resurrection we have nothing.
If Christ did not rise bodily from the grave after being put to death on the cross, our faith is worth nothing. We would be a pitiable bunch hanging our hope upon something that is nothing more than fantasy. All the Apostles, all the disciples, all the New Testament authors, all of those in our day who identify themselves based on the person of Jesus Christ would be wasting their time—giving it to something void of all real meaning—if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead.
The Sermon on the Mount begins with one of the most recognizable and repetitive blocks of speech ever recorded. Blessed are you is the repetition. Blessed are you gets its hooks in you because Jesus says it over and over and over again. If you want someone to remember something you’ve said, say it again and again. The repetition, however, is not the only reason the statements Jesus made are memorable.
A good number of the blessed ones stand in sharp contrast to whom one would expect the blessed ones to be. Pretend, for a moment, you don’t know who the first blessed one is. If I said to you “blessed are the…” and then I asked you to fill in the blank, do you think you would choose poor in spirit?
What in the world could the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip have to do with English Bibles?
I hear you, I hear you. Let me explain.
In Acts 8 Philip is told by an angel of the Lord to go south to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza (v. 26). On his way to the road he met an Ethiopian eunuch who was in his chariot. The Holy Spirit told Philip to go to the chariot and stand near it (v. 29). As Philip ran to the chariot, he heard the eunuch reading from Isaiah (v. 28), so Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading (v. 30). The eunuch said he couldn’t unless someone explained it to him (v. 31). So, Philip took the passage the eunuch was reading (Isaiah 53:7-8) and explained to him the good news about Jesus (vv. 32-25).
The best actors are those who disappear into the character they playing—think Meryl Streep or Daniel Day-Lewis. If you’re watching a movie and the main thing you see is not the character but the actor, that’s a problem. The same type of thing can be said for Bible reading plans.
The best Bible reading plans are those that disappear into the actual reading after a bit. The difference, however, between actors and reading plans is that if the actor doesn’t disappear into the character, it’s the actor’s fault; but, if the Bible reading plan doesn’t disappear into the actual Bible reading, it’s the reader’s fault.