The Risk in Trying to Be “Relevant”
Perhaps you have heard a Bible teacher or preacher say something like: "We have to make the Bible relevant to our hearers." On one level, I fully understand. The teacher's best intention is to make sure that the message of the text is clearly communicated to the...
It’s Not About Just About Good Advice
The tendency seems to be quite widespread. In personal conversations, in popular books, and from Sunday pulpits, there appears to be a bent toward reading Scripture as if the Bible is a collection of good advice to make our lives work better. Texts are mined to...
Maybe . . . Try Reading
So many Bible study books, with long chapters and multiplied “principles,” imply you need to master some specific content before you can feel confident that you could actually read the Bible. It’s not that there aren’t principles to be learned, but too often the...
Getting to Know Jesus
I am passionate about having “a personal relationship with Jesus.” Jesus has made a way for us to have relationship with him. The life of a disciple is not about grasping the ethical principles embodied in Jesus’ life. To be a follower of Jesus, even in our day and...
And Now What? (1 Peter 2:1–3)
I don't really have a green thumb (more like a brown thumb!). I would like things to grow around my house, but it seems to be a constant challenge. But I have learned one thing: Growing things need food and water. You put sod down. You hope it will take. You long...
How Did That Happen? (1 Peter 1:22–25)
When we think about this life that we are invited into through the Gospel, we can find our thoughts turning to just how this new life came to be ours. Think about that for a moment. Did you respond to a message you heard preached? Did you step into this life...
Loving . . . Because of Who We Are (1 Peter 1:22)
One of the themes that continue to surface in my conversations with others is the difference between living because of who we are and living in a particular way in order to become who we want to be. It might sound like that's straining at wording, but it there is a...
Living as The Redeemed (1 Peter 1:17–21)
The authors--both the human authors and the Spirit who inspired the Scriptures--are not hesitant to speak of the "fear of God." Whether in Old Testament or New Testament contexts, there is a place to think of the fear of God. It seems that rightly grasping both the...
Holy . . . Because of Our God (1 Peter 1:15–16)
When we are reading a passage, it is important to keep in mind that how a thing is said (or written) may be as important as what is said (or written). I saw this illustrated in a discussion with a student in a "Reading Scripture" class. We had been working through...
Because Of . . . Not In Order To (1 Peter 1:13)
On a recent trip, I learned in a tangible (and costly) way of the importance of reading carefully. Having booked a flight and paid for luggage and printed my boarding passes, my wife and I discovered that we were really going to need to take two small bags, not...