Be Stirred, Not Shaken

"We ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled..." ~ II Thes. 2:2 *** "But stir up the gift of God that is within you by the laying on of hands..." ~ II Tim. 1:6

Category: Christian Living Page 1 of 7

Walking Through The Fall Feasts: A 22-Day Devotional In The Psalms of Ascent

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On September 12, 2026

In Christian Living, Holy Days, Old Testament, The Writings, Verse Studies

Psalms 120–134 are the Shir HaMaalot—the “Songs of Ascent”.  Every year in ancient Israel, the males (and sometimes the full family) headed toward Jerusalem three times for God’s feasts.  These fifteen short psalms were sung by the pilgrims while literally climbing the road up to Jerusalem, a journey that typically took seven to ten days.

The Psalms of Ascent have themes that overlay beautifully onto each of God’s holy day seasons, and this study focuses on how they can prepare us for, and walk us through, the fall feasts.

We begin with the Feast of Trumpets, then the eight days leading toward the Day of Atonement, four days catching our breath and anticipating, then seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles built entirely around the idea of God dwelling with His people—capped by the Eighth Day picturing a new eternal beginning.  This study will go slightly out of order on some of the psalms, focusing more on the themes and how they prepare us for, or connect us to, the day.

We recommend the S.O.A.P. approach for this devotional study series.

  • Scripture: Read the passage first in your own bible.
  • Observation: Consider what jumps out to you as you read, what themes you notice, or how it connects to your life.  This will be different for each person.
  • Application: Read the devotional notes and prompt questions, and actually answer them (out loud or on paper) to consider how to apply them in your life.
  • Prayer: Conclude with prayer, asking God to embed these words and the application in your heart and mind, and meditate on them through the day.

PHASE 1 — THE WAKE-UP CALL

The Feast of Trumpets opens the fall holy days with a blast designed to wake us up—an alarm and call to war.

Day 1 (Feast of Trumpets):  Psalm 120, the wake-up call

“In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and He heard me.” (Psalm 120:1)

The shofar is a call to attention, not comfort. Psalm 120 starts the ascent with a cry from someone living among “a people of unclean lips,” aching to get out of the turmoil and violence of their current circumstances.

The Feast of Trumpets is a wake-up call and a warning—yes, to the world announcing Jesus Christ’s return as the conquering King, but also to each of us eagerly waiting for it today.  Jesus asks a question that we should not gloss over as rhetorical:  “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).

I have to ask myself, have I gotten too comfortable in this world?  Does my heart cry out to God in the way the psalmist shows us, or do the evil, pain, and suffering of the world no longer affect me in the same way?

This day commands God’s people to take stock of where we are before we start climbing…our distress and failings, our fears and where we may be drifting from God.  But at the start of this pilgrimage we must not only look at what we’re coming out of, but also have a clear vision of where we’re going—to dwell with God.

We, too, are pilgrims and sojourners in this physical life, and this psalm is a farewell to worldly strife and trouble as we (re-)commit our feet to the path that leads toward a place of eternal peace and safety with God.

But this psalm is not only a wake-up call.  It also carries a promise for us that we can claim today and every day.  The NLT renders Psalm 120:1 as, “I took my troubles to the Lord, I cried out to Him and He answered my prayer”.  Whether it’s pre-holy day trials or the regular distresses of life, God promises that He is present, that He is listening, and that He is faithful to answer our prayers.

Reflect:

→ What is God trying to wake you up to, specifically—about your heart, your thoughts, or where you’ve gotten too comfortable in this world?

→ What’s the place you’ve settled into—a habit, a relationship, a way of thinking—that is at odds with the character and fruits God wants to build in you?

→ Where are you chasing your own solutions and desires, instead of taking your troubles to the Lord and trusting Him to handle them?

PHASE 2 — THE EXAMINED ROAD

Eight ordinary days fall between Trumpets and Atonement. No holy day lands anywhere in here, no big inflection point.  This is the road, the journey through the wilderness.

Day 2:  Psalm 121, Where do I look for help?

“My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.  He will not let your foot slip—your Guardian is not asleep” (Ps. 121:2-3, CJB)

You know that feeling when you’re hiking on a steep downhill, and you hit a patch of loose dirt or rocks?  You start to slip and slide downward in a freefall, your heart jumps into your throat, not sure where or how you’ll land.  You flail about for a branch, and try to catch your feet on something firm.  But you realize in that moment that you have little control over how things end.

What is your immediate reaction when “the ground” in life starts crumbling and sliding under your feet?  Do you start flailing wildly about, desperately trying to catch hold of something on your own?  Or do you cling to your Savior, who called this world into existence with His words, walked through a physical life without sinning, and now sits at the Father’s right hand advocating for you?

In this psalm, God promises that He’s not asleep.  He never loses focus or gets distracted.  And He’s right there to catch our hand and steady us whenever the ground starts to crumble under us…in losses and temptations, in fiery trials and the spiritual wilderness.  If we are looking to Him for help (v. 1-2).

In the Complete Jewish Bible translation, the language used throughout this psalm is that of a guardian.  He is the bodyguard at our side as we traverse the wilderness, scanning for danger, ensuring our safety and peace, providing shade and sustenance, and protecting us from attack in the dark of night.  But it requires that we trust Him in that role.

Psalm 121 ends by promising us “The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.  The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever” (Ps. 121:7-8, NLT).

Reflect:

→ Where have you been tempted to look for help recently, rather than God?

→ Name one specific thing you need Him to “keep” right now where you feel your feet are slipping or stumbling.  How can you grab your Father’s hand and allow Him to steady you?

→ Is there somewhere in your life—if you’re truly honest with yourself—that you feel God has been “asleep” or not paying attention?  Talk to Him about it in prayer and ask Him to show you how He’s been guarding and guiding you.

Day 3:  Psalm 122, Rejoicing in godly community

“I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the LORD.” (Psalm 122:1)

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What We Consume: Avoiding the Unclean & Hungering For the Food That Endures (Leviticus Themes)

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On May 30, 2026

In Christian Living, Old Testament, Topic Studies, Verse Studies

This is part of our “Leviticus for the Modern Reader” series, focusing on themes that God’s people today can take away from what is typically seen as a dry and perplexing book.  You can read the previous ones on burnt offerings, spiritual nakedness and clothing, and spiritual leprosy here.

If you’ve ever read Leviticus, you know that in chapter 11 God gives Moses a long and detailed accounting of what animals are allowed to be eaten or touched, and which are not.  He calls the prohibited animals “unclean”, and says they are an abomination.  He also prohibits eating the blood and fat of an animal being sacrificed.  These food-focused scriptures are where we’ll focus today.

Even for people who love reading their bible, Leviticus can be a tough book to connect to.  It’s effectively a comprehensive instruction manual for Israel’s priesthood, filled with blueprints, detailed societal rules, the process for various sacrifices, and purification rituals.

It’s logical to wonder why it was included in the bible, or to chalk it up to a dry-but-interesting historical record and move on, thinking “Welp, glad it doesn’t apply to me today!”  While those are understandable reactions, we know that everything in the bible is there for a reason, and that all scripture is God-breathed and given to us for our education, inspiration, and growth (II Tim. 3:16).

So what should we make of these seemingly-random dietary laws in Leviticus?

If we pull back and look take a 30,000-foot view, Leviticus is ultimately a book about holiness and sanctification—what it means to be set apart by God for a purpose.  God was showing His newly-established nation what it means to worship a holy God, for Him to dwell with them, and be in relationship with Him.  He continually tells them, “You shall be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2).

In previous posts we examined what Christians today can learn from the burnt offerings and rules about clothing and nakedness.  In this study we’ll dive into what Leviticus says about what we put IN our bodies—what God prohibits us from consuming, and what the bible tells us about our spiritual diet.

This focuses on one of the passages in Leviticus that I believe does have literal application to our lives today, and we’ll start there.  First we’ll look at what Leviticus commands about what we eat and whether it is still a command for modern Christians.  But stick with me, we’ll then dive more into what the bible tells us about our spiritual food and drink, and why what we put into our body (spiritually) matters.

“They are unclean to you…”

Let’s start in Leviticus 11:2.  It’s a long chapter so we’ll skim through and hit some high points.  God tells Moses, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth…”  Here are the cliff notes:

  • God tells the Israelites that they CAN eat animals that chew the cud and have divided hooves, fish that have fins and scales, a couple insects (locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers), and then prohibits a whole list of very specific birds (with the implication that anything outside that list is okay).
  • In each section about the unclean animals, he specifies some version of “their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you” (Lev. 11:8).
  • A few verses later when speaking of sea creatures, He reiterates, “But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales…they are an abomination to you. They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination” (Lev. 11:10-11).
  • He uses similar language as He goes through birds and winged insects, as well as later in the chapter referring to creeping things (reptiles, for instance).

The Israelites are warned that if they ate any of these unclean animals, or if the dead bodies came into contact with them or their belongings, it made them unclean (Lev. 11:24-28, among other verses).  Why does God spend almost fifty verses on this topic?

“You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them.  For I am the Lord your God.  You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy, for I am holy.

Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth.  For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God.  You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.  This is the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature…to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten” (Lev. 11:41-47)

The easiest answer to why this is commanded is, “because God said so”.  In terms of why those specific animals are forbidden, there are a number of schools of thought—including health reasons, as well as animals that were frequently worshipped and eaten by the pagan societies around them.  (I do believe there is a strong case to be made for both of those, for what it’s worth.)  Ultimately, we can’t be sure what specific reason God had for making the distinction beyond it being His choice, but that’s all that matters.

Leviticus is packed with rules about what makes someone or something “unclean”.  This designation is generally a ritual impurity rather than a sin, and requires temporary separation from God’s tabernacle and rituals (usually washing) to come back into contact with holy spaces.  Most of the “unclean” rules were part of daily life, such as having sex, childbirth, a woman’s period, or certain diseases.

There are, however, two things that make the dietary laws in Leviticus largely unique—and they should make us sit up and take notice. 

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Did You Burn the Ships?  Reflections Coming Out of the Spring Holy Days

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On May 17, 2025

In Christian Living, Holy Days, Topic Studies

There’s a famous story about the conquistador Hernán Cortés who, upon landing in Mexico, ordered all his ships to be burned, to ensure his troops would have no other option but to conquer or perish.

It’s given rise to the phrase “burn the ships” (or “burn the boats”), signaling an irreversible commitment to a course of action—by eliminating the possibility of retreat.

You’ll often hear it in the business world to describe making a decisive choice, leaving no safety net or Plan B, but it is just as relevant in many aspects of life.

This idea has been on my mind as we’ve come out of the Passover season and headed toward Pentecost.  We’ve been purged of leaven (sin), we took in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (picturing Jesus Christ) for seven days, we’re a new lump.

But did you burn the ships?

We often read the story of Israel’s deliverance from Pharaoh’s bondage and the exodus out of Egypt during the spring holy days.  God worked amazing miracles and we’re told that the Israelites, loaded down with the gold and silver of Egypt, “went out with boldness” (Ex. 14:8).

Yet as soon as they saw Pharaoh pursuing them—faced their first trial—they panicked and regretted that they’d started along this path (Ex. 14:10).  This pattern repeated over and over throughout their desert journey.  No water?  Let’s go back to Egypt.  No meat?  We had plenty to eat in Egypt.  God provides the same food every day?  Boy, wasn’t the food in Egypt great?!

They were always looking back, trying to turn back.  Spiritually, they’d moored their boats along the coast just in case they needed to make a quick escape back to their old life if this “God’s chosen people” thing didn’t pan out.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to look at the Israelites and be like…”Seriously?!  You had piles of miracles, a pillar of fire leading you, God parted the sea to deliver you.  How are you not getting the message??”  But the fact is, we’re often not much better.

What does it mean to burn the ships, spiritually speaking?

To spiritually burn the ships symbolizes our forceful and decisive commitment to our chosen path, leaving no room for doubt or hesitation.  It means giving ourselves COMPLETELY to God—without reservations, without holding anything back.

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Spiritual Nakedness, Clothed in Righteousness, & Eternal Priestly Garments (Leviticus Themes)

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On February 8, 2025

In Christian Living, Old Testament, Topic Studies

What Are You Wearing?  The State of Our Spiritual Clothing

This is part of our “Leviticus for the Modern Reader” series, focusing on themes that God’s people today can take away from what is typically a dry and perplexing book.  You can read the other ones on burnt offerings, the food laws and spiritual food, and spiritual leprosy here.

The book of Leviticus is challenging to a modern audience.  On the surface it’s the equivalent of an extraordinarily detailed technical manual for Israel’s priesthood, filled with exacting blueprints, animal sacrifice instructions, and purification rituals.

It’s tempting for God’s people today to file Leviticus under “dry historical record; glad it was preserved” and decide it doesn’t have anything to say to us right now.  While that would be understandable, we know that everything in the bible is there for a reason, and that all scripture is God-breathed and given to us for our education, inspiration, and growth (II Tim. 3:16).

But I believe that Leviticus matters to modern-day Christians in more immediate, tangible ways.  If we pull out of a verse-by-verse reading and look at it in totality, Leviticus is ultimately a book about holiness, sanctification, and sacrifice—being set apart for God’s purpose.  God used these instructions to show His newly-established nation how to worship, serve, and obey a holy God—“You shall be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2).  And He is showing us the same thing today.

In a previous post we examined what Christians today can learn from the burnt offerings, particularly how God wants us to view and worship Him.  In this study we’ll dive into what Leviticus says about clothing and how it connects to our spiritual state.

What does Leviticus cover in terms of clothing?

There are three primary themes in how Leviticus addresses this topic:

  • A person’s nakedness (symbolic of sexual sins)
  • What type of garments we wear, and vigilance in caring for them
  • Instructions for special priestly garments

Just like with the burnt offerings, we’ll see that there are clear spiritual parallels for us today as we look at each theme more closely.

You might also like:  “Come Out of Her My People”: Lessons from Rahab’s Faith

“And they knew they were naked…”

How comfortable are you with being naked?  Most people have an instinctive, visceral aversion to being naked in public, baked into our DNA since Adam and Eve.

After they had sinned and their eyes were opened, the first consequence we’re told of was that “they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (Gen. 3:7).  Previously, they both were naked and were not ashamed (Gen. 2:25).

The two words translated as “naked” in these verses are actually different.  In Genesis 2, they were “unclothed” and not ashamed, innocent and pure.  In Genesis 3, the word still means without clothes, but carries the additional idea of being exposed, guilty, and vulnerable.

This “knowing” doesn’t simply mean that they suddenly realized they had no clothes on.  Something changed for them in that moment—in their thinking, their actions, and how they perceived themselves and God.  And their first instinct was to hide from God and to try and solve this problem by themselves.

Whether in the story of Adam and Eve, the vague but unsettling story of Noah and Ham (Gen. 9:21), or the way God talks about rebellious Israel and Judah in the prophetic books (e.g. Is. 47:2, Ezek. 16:36, Lam. 1:8), the concept of nakedness is associated with shame and sin from the very first pages of the bible.

There are times in the bible where being naked is exactly what it means (literally having no clothes on, like in Acts 19:16), but many more times when it’s used to signify impurity, being apart from God’s protection, shame, and as a symbol of sexual sins (e.g. Ezek. 22:10).

(As an important aside, many people read verses like these and wonder, “Is there something wrong with being naked, does God hate nakedness and sex?”  Of course not!  God CREATED them…Adam and Eve were naked before their sin and “it was good”.  We shouldn’t take this type of symbolism or analogy out of context, but should also remember that He intended nakedness and sex to exist wonderfully and privately within the bounds of marriage and nowhere else…this is the context that an analogy of spiritual nakedness sets itself against.)

Okay, aside over…this brings us to Leviticus, which hones in on nakedness as a proxy for sexual misconduct.  In Leviticus 18, the Lord tells Moses to command the Israelites not to observe and mimic the local Canaanite people.  Instead He tells them, “You shall keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them; I am the Lord”—again, instructing us on what it looks like to worship a holy God (Lev. 18:5).

He then goes on to list, in excruciating detail, all sorts of messed up sexual sins that Israel was prohibited from.  From “uncovering the nakedness of” (a.k.a. being sexually involved with) various parents, siblings, step-family member, aunts, uncles, and more, to not committing adultery with your neighbor’s wife, to not having sex with a woman during her period, Moses pulls no punches.  Leviticus 20 continues on in the same vein.

And again, as a modern audience, most normal people read through these passages in Leviticus with a slightly nauseated, cringing expression, and think, “Ugh, who were these people?!” and then move on.  Because clearly this doesn’t have anything to do with us.  So what should we glean from Leviticus on nakedness?

First, there’s no question that our modern society is absolutely immersed in sexual sins.  They look a bit different than the pagan worship sexual rituals of the Canaanites that God was warning against, but from the pervasiveness of pornography, sex before marriage, unfaithfulness, explicit content in our entertainment, and more, we don’t have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to being judgy toward the Israelites and their neighbors.  It is imperative to our spiritual state that we honestly examine whether we are violating God’s laws and “uncovering” our own nakedness.

But beyond the specific sexual sins, the bible has a lot to say about being spiritually naked—the causes, and the solutions.  We’ll jump to the very end of the bible, where Jesus Christ in His letter to the church in Laodicea writes:

“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—

I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see…As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent” (Rev. 3:17-19)

The church at Laodicea thought that they were doing pretty good.  If you looked at them from the outside, it probably looked like they were doing all the “right” things…gathering together every sabbath, singing hymns, giving offerings, abstaining from major sins.

But like the fabled emperor who believes he’s wearing a luxurious suit and parading through town, Jesus instead tells Laodicea that they are covered by nothing, and they have nothing.  They were blind and naked, exposed and vulnerable…and they didn’t even know it.

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What Does It Mean To “Guard Your Heart”? (A Meditation on Proverbs 4:23)

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On August 24, 2024

In Christian Living, Old Testament, Verse Studies

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23, NKJV)

This verse has always felt like a bit of an enigma.

When I was a teenager growing up in church and going to church summer camps, this verse was referred to frequently in bible studies as an admonition to not rush into romantic relationships, and to be careful who we gave our heart to.

The primary message was to guard against getting emotionally entangled too soon.  And don’t get me wrong, that’s good advice for teenagers.  It’s a bit oversimplistic, however, and I later realized that my subconscious takeaway from this verse was one of putting a barrier up, being guarded and not overly vulnerable.

To be honest, I hadn’t given this particular verse a ton of thought as I passed into adulthood, but it caught my attention recently during my morning bible reading.

I’ve spent some time meditating on it, and I’ve come to the realization that it’s SO much more than that.  We often look at Proverbs through a more practical “life advice” lens.  While this verse can be applied very practically as well, it contains a deep, foundational spiritual truth that we ignore at our own peril.

What does it mean to “guard your heart”?

Part of why it can be tough to understand this concept is because the New King James translation (NKJV, my typical go-to) doesn’t do us any favors.

It’s helpful to see how some other translations have rendered Proverbs 4:23:

“Above all else, guard your heart; for it is the source of life’s consequences” (CJB)

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (NIV)

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (ESV)

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (NLT)

In the bible, when it talks about the “heart”, it’s not simply the physical organ that pumps our blood, or even our “feelings place”.

It’s much more than that…the heart means our mind, our will, the “inner man”.  It is the seat of who we TRULY are.

The heart drives our actions and influences our thinking and behavior.  It’s critical that we are aware of what we say and do, because over time, our thoughts and actions will shape and mold our hearts—often without us even realizing it.

So that’s what we are to guard, but how exactly do we do that?  It’s helpful to dig a bit into the word translated “guard” or “keep”.  That’s natsar (H5341), and it means to protect, maintain, or keep safe, as well as to preserve and to observe carefully.

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Jesus As The “Author & Finisher” of Our Faith: What Does This Mean?

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On May 18, 2024

In Christian Living, New Testament, Verse Studies

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2)

Sometimes in my bible study, I bump into a phrase that I’ve read a million times, but suddenly consider it in a different way.  I’ve always loved the phrase above—“author and finisher”—but until recently, never went beyond the surface to meditate on what it should mean to me.

But when we spend some time with the words that Paul (at least we think it’s him) used, it really illuminates Jesus Christ’s role even further, and the blessings we receive as a result.

This one small phrase is an interesting illustration of how different translations can decide to lean into individual nuances of a Greek or Hebrew word, because many of our English words are much more narrow in scope.  Let’s look at a few of my favorite bible translations:

  • “…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (NKJV)
  • “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith” (NLT)
  • “…looking away to the Initiator and Completer of that trusting, Yeshua” (CJB)
  • “…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (ESV)
  • “…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (NIV)

I like to think of each of these two main Greek words we’ll look at today like a diamond…having many facets so that when you turn it this way and that, you see the light and color and sparkle a bit differently.

So let’s briefly explore some of these facets…

The Initiator of our faith, blazing a trail for us to follow

The word that the NKJV translates as “author” is G747, archegos, and here are some of the ways we can understand it.

First inventor of a thing, initiator, founder, pioneer

Jesus is the trailblazer, the one who went first to “go boldly where no man has gone before”, as the famous Star Trek line posits.  He was the firstborn from the dead (the first to be resurrected to ETERNAL spiritual life), and the first to ascend to heaven to be with God (Col. 1:15, John 3:13).

And, because HE has gone boldly before us and wiped clean the death penalty we’d earned, WE are also able to come boldly before the very throne of God in heaven and bask in God’s grace and mercy (Heb. 4:16).

Jesus Christ was the forerunner, like a scout sent out in advance to see what lies ahead and set up camp.  He told His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for us, so that He can come back to get us (Heb. 6:20, John 1:2 and 14:1-4).

He (along with the Father) initiated the process.  No one else could be Mediator of a better covenant, one founded upon the sacrifice of our sinless Messiah as High Priest (Heb. 9).  He was the first.

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“Take Up Your Cross Daily”: How Should Christians Look at the Cross? (Passover Study)

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On April 23, 2024

In Christian Living, Holy Days, New Testament, Topic Studies

As the Passover approached this year, I found myself meditating on the question of the cross and what it should mean to God’s people today.

I grew up in a church tradition where “cross” was practically a dirty word.  We seriously avoided saying it, preferring to substitute “stake” when reading the bible aloud or in songs.  The word made people very uncomfortable, I think mostly because they saw mainstream Christianity putting crosses on everything in a way that felt like worshipping an image.

I’ve also heard many people say, “Why would you put a focus on something that was the torture and death device for our Savior?”  And I can certainly understand that perspective.

But the thing is…both Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul directed our focus there to some extent.  And they both referenced the cross plenty.  So while the idea of the cross may make us uncomfortable, we need to examine which of our concerns are actually biblical.

If you come from a similar tradition as I did, our study today falls into the category of a bit of a paradigm buster.  All I’ll say is, stick with me for a while…my goal isn’t to be deliberately provocative, but rather to wrestle with God’s word in order to winnow what’s biblical truth versus human feelings or manmade tradition.

It’s also important to remember that Christ’s death alone was not what accomplished our salvation.  He also had to be resurrected and ascend to the Father to be accepted as a perfect sacrifice on our behalf (this is what the wave sheaf ritual symbolizes, Lev. 23:9-14 and Heb. 10).  So myopically focusing on the cross at the expense of the complete sacrifice and resurrection process is also not biblical.

One thing I do feel confident in saying is that we should not hold the cross as some kind of icon or symbol of our faith.  We should not worship it.  I don’t believe it should be a visual representation in our walk with God.  That is another ditch, the opposite of the one I was brought up in, but veers away from biblical teaching just the same.

So whether you were brought up to avoid the topic of the cross, or grew up always wearing a cross, or don’t have any relationship to it all, let’s dive into what the BIBLE tells us.

Let’s get this out of the way…was it a cross?

The word translated consistently as “cross” is stauros (G4716), which basically means a stake, upright post, or cross as an instrument of capital punishment.  The Strongs dictionary notes that it also figuratively indicates exposure to death, self-denial, and the atonement Christ made for us.

What it looked like—whether it was a cross or a stake or a T-shaped pole—isn’t the point.  Historical records indicate all sorts of forms were used.  It’s kind of like us saying “fence” or “fencepost” today…that could look like a lot of different things.  It isn’t the focus of the bible’s narrative, nor should it be a semantical obsession for us today.

More importantly, what did the cross MEAN in Christ’s day?  The cross was a death sentence.  It was a shameful, excruciating, and often protracted death, one typically reserved for slaves, disgraced soldiers, and foreigners.  The Romans would force convicts to carry their crosses (or, more likely just the cross beam) to their own execution, with crowds harassing them as they did so, as further humiliation.

While we don’t have the same level of cultural understanding, the bible speaks to the cross plenty.  And in this Passover season, it’s worth spending some time figuring out how it applies to your life and my life today.

“Take up your cross daily and follow Me”

Let’s start with what Jesus tells us about our relationship to the cross:

“Then He said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way [CJB: “Say ‘No’ to yourself”], take up your cross daily, and follow Me. If you try to hang onto your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?’” (Luke 9:23-25, NLT)

Matthew 10:38 is very similar, as are Matthew 16:24 and Mark 8:34.  The gospel accounts indicate that Jesus talked to the crowd and His closest disciples on this topic multiple times, usually in the context of trials they would suffer in this life, but particularly as He was trying to get them to understand what HE would suffer (it’s important to read the verses surrounding each account for context).

We don’t know if they “got it” at the time, if they truly understood what would happen.  Almost certainly not, or they wouldn’t have been so shocked, scared, and lost when it did.  They had a paradigm as well, that the Messiah would come as a powerful conquering ruler, to get rid of Rome and establish His kingdom on earth.

But regardless, the cross and the idea of having to carry your cross (or execution-stake, if you prefer) is a word picture they would have understood culturally.  As we saw a minute ago, the cross was a death sentence.  There was no going back from it—that was it.

Once we’ve committed ourselves to God’s way and risen from the waters of baptism, we have made a full, lifetime, unending commitment to follow Him.  It can’t be half-hearted, but must be a full surrender to His will and His ways.  Our previous life ended permanently, there’s no going back.

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What Did Jesus Mean By “My Yoke Is Easy to Bear”? Going Beyond the Surface Meaning of This Verse

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On March 24, 2024

In Christian Living, New Testament, Topic Studies, Verse Studies

Have you ever found, at points throughout your life, all roads kind of leading or pointing to a particular topic, or even a certain bible verse?  It just keeps popping up and you eventually can’t ignore it any longer?  That’s what’s happened subtly over the past year or so with this verse.

Jesus issued an invitation to the people following Him:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy [NLT: easy to bear], and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30)

This verse has been one that I’ve mentally skimmed most of my life, picking up the gist but not really internalizing.  And that’s because I’ve never really been completely sure I knew what to make of the last part.

The part about rest, gentle, etc., I was following.  But then I questioned whether the last part contradicted other things Jesus said about following Him being hard…about having trials in this world, counting the cost, and the narrow, difficult way (e.g. John 16:33; Matt. 7:14; John 12:25).

But after having this verse shoved in my face enough times recently, I’ve spent more time meditating on it, and wanted to share some thoughts that may help modern readers apply it in their lives.

What should we understand about yokes in the bible?

In the largely-agricultural society of Jesus’s time, this statement would have been much better understood.  I grew up on a farm, but it’s not like we were yoking oxen together to get work done.  And in today’s world, I think we may even have an instinctive negative reaction to the idea of a yoke…as though we’re coming into bondage somehow, driven and overworked, with no personal agency.

So what should we know about yokes?  A yoke was used to bind two animals together and spread out the weight and effort of a hard task.  By evenly distributing the weight and helping them pull together, it ultimately made the job easier on both.

The animals yoked together need to be well-matched, of equal strength, size, temperaments…getting along and pulling together.  Other places say you’d put an older experienced ox and a younger, untrained one, to teach it.  Both are likely true, depending on the farmer’s need.  And you can easily see spiritual parallels in either scenario.

Yokes actually come up a lot in the bible.  They’re mentioned over 50 times, and most of the uses are figurative…denoting slavery, servitude, or the general influence of (or submission to) an authority—for instance, there’s a lot about breaking “yokes of bondage”, particularly in the Prophets.  The bible also sometimes metaphorically uses a yoke to describe the weight of a task or obligation.

What did Jesus mean about His yoke being easy to bear?

At face value His statement makes sense, particularly when contrasting His teachings with the centuries of exile and oppression that the Israelites had faced, as well as the hundreds of exacting physical rules and rituals the Jews had created for themselves out of fear of inadvertently breaking God’s commands and incurring His wrath.

Beyond that, though, there are some interesting angles concerning yokes that can deepen our understanding of this verse and how we can submit to Jesus’s “yoke” in our lives…let’s briefly explore these.

A yoke is created for work, not rest

I think that sometimes Christians key into Jesus’s focus on freeing us from the bondage of slavery, the truth making us free, and similar verses, and assume that we’re “in the clear”…that Jesus took care of everything and we can just coast through life.

But make no mistake—we are called to do God’s work.  Jesus spoke frequently of doing His Father’s work while on the earth, and that didn’t end with His resurrection.

He said, “My food [what sustains and keeps Him alive] is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work…Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together” (John 4:34-28).

This was a common theme He spoke about.  Right before giving His disciples power and sending them out to preach, heal, cast out demons, and proclaim the gospel, Jesus saw how much need there was and exclaimed:  “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matt. 9:37-28).

Who are those laborers?  Matthew 20 directly connects this to God’s people who are called throughout the millennia, right up until His second coming.  Then in Mark 13, Jesus brings this home with the parable of a man going to a far country, who gave authority to his servants “and to each his work”, which the man expected to see diligently completed when he returned.

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Burnt Offerings to Living Sacrifices:  What Worshipping a Holy God Requires of Us (Leviticus Themes)

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On February 3, 2024

In Christian Living, Old Testament, Topic Studies

This is part of our “Leviticus for the Modern Reader” series, focusing on themes that God’s people today can take away from what is typically a dry and perplexing book.  You can read the other ones on spiritual nakedness/clothing, the food laws and our spiritual food, and spiritual leprosy here.

Leviticus can be a tougher read, even for those who spend a lot of time in the bible.  Filled with exacting tabernacle building blueprints, pages of bloody sacrifice instructions, and a litany of purification rituals, it’s sometimes difficult for God’s people today to truly connect to this book.

The temple sacrificial system and Levitical priesthood were phased out when Jesus Christ gave His life for us as the eternal Passover Lamb and was resurrected to sit down at God’s right hand as our High Priest (Heb. 8-10).

So it can be tempting to ask why we should care about Leviticus today, except as a historical record.

It’s an understandable question, and there are LOTS of good answers.  The most obvious answer is that God had it included in the bible for a reason, and we know that all scripture is God-breathed and given to us for instruction (II Tim. 3:16).  But let’s go even further than that.

The book of Leviticus tells us about the creation of the Levitical priesthood in the tabernacle (and later temple), under a high priest.  This was a precursor and prophetic “shadow” of when God’s firstfruits become eternal kingly priests in His kingdom, with Jesus Christ as our High Priest (Rev. 20; Heb. 4:15).

However, if we pull back even further and look at it in totality, Leviticus is ultimately a book about holiness, sanctification, and sacrifice—being set apart for God’s use.  God was showing His newly-established nation how to worship, serve, and obey a holy God.  He tells them, “You shall be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2).

This study is focused on bringing one aspect of Leviticus to life—the burnt offerings—and putting it into a context that God’s ekklesia today can meditate on and use in our lives.  The burnt offering ritual (along with the other offerings listed in Leviticus) helps us understand God’s perspective on proper worship, showing us how God wants us to view and worship Him.

What was the burnt offering?

There are a total of five types of sacrifices outlined in Leviticus.  We might assume that they’re all dealing with sin, but in fact only two of the five were specifically for that purpose.

The other three were all “sweet savor” (or “sweet smelling aroma”) sacrifices that were completely voluntary.  They include the burnt offering, the grain or meal offering, and the peace offering (or fellowship offering).

Let’s start with the initial command for the burnt offering:

“Let [the person bringing the offering] offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will…then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.

He shall kill the bull before the Lord; and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar…And the priest shall burn all [parts of the animal] on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord” (Lev 1:3-9)

So we see that this sacrifice was offered freely, was completely burned up, was intended to be accepted by God on the person’s behalf, and that God viewed it as a sweet fragrance.  These elements are consistently called out when the burnt offering is mentioned throughout Leviticus and beyond.

So how does this connect to our lives today?

100% commitment:  wholly dedicated to God

Paul gives us one of the keys:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren…that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable [rational] service” (Rom. 12:1).

What does Paul mean by a “living sacrifice”?  It feels almost like an oxymoron, since the animal being sacrificed was killed.

But (figuratively) so are we.

When we answered God’s calling, committed ourselves to God, repented, and came out of the watery grave of baptism, we were “crucified with Christ”.  Paul tells us that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).  Our sins, our past life, and our carnal nature were put to death (Rom. 6).

“Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin…do not let sin reign in your mortal body…and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present [offer, submit] yourselves to God as being alive from the dead” (Rom. 6:6-13)

The burnt offering was given freely, and completely consumed by the fire.  This is one of the few offerings where the priests didn’t get to eat some of it.  It was TOTALLY burned up, entirely dedicated to God.  Nothing was held back or kept in reserve.

It’s worth asking:  am I offering 100% of myself in complete surrender to my Creator?  What am I holding back?  Are there areas of my life where I don’t want to let God in?  Do I give God just enough of my time to “tick the boxes” on prayer and bible study, then go on with the rest of my life?

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Maintaining a “Sober” Mind In A Spiritually Intoxicated World

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On November 12, 2023

In Christian Living, New Testament, Topic Studies

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life…” (Luke 21:34)

“Go home, world, you’re drunk…”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to say that (or at least have thought it) in the past few years.  Maybe you have too, but yours had less snark:  “The world has gone crazy”…“It seems like everyone has lost their damn minds.”

Now let’s be real—this world has always been crazy, and God’s people through every generation and permutation of society have thought that things can’t get crazier.

But in looking at how both individual people and society-at-large have responded to things over the past three to four years, it does feel like there is an elevated level of frenzied, “drunken” reactiveness within humanity…to what they read in the media or online, to “social justice” cries, to everything around COVID, politics, and even recently to the news from the Middle East.

I’m not talking about physical alcoholic drunkenness, but rather an emotional, mental, and spiritual intoxication spoken of throughout the bible, particularly in the New Testament.

What does the bible say about spiritual drunkenness or intoxication?

We’ll start with the study’s anchor verse from Luke 21, including a different translation that helps deepen our understanding.  Jesus tells His disciples:

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all the earth” (Luke 21:34, NKJV)

“But keep watch on yourselves, or your hearts will become dulled by carousing, drunkenness and the worries of everyday living, and that Day will be sprung upon you suddenly like a trap!” (Luke 21:34, CJB)

Most of the other translations I often look at (NLT, ESV, NIV, etc.) are pretty similar to the CJB.  There’s the “watch yourself!” component and then an admonition about the impact of carousing, drunkenness, and everyday worries on our vulnerable hearts.

The “cares of this life” seem pretty straightforward, but it’s helpful to take a closer look at a few of the other words in this verse since they’re important components of teasing out aspects of mental and spiritual intoxication.  (Interestingly, this verse is the only time many of these Greek words are used in the New Testament.)

This word translated “weighed down” or “dulled” is baruno (G925), which means to be burdened or overloaded.  An almost literal translation is “to be made heavy”, which makes sense when you think about how you feel when you’ve eaten or drank too much.  When we’re in this condition we’re in a stupor of sorts, sluggish, slow to respond.

Next we’ll take “carousing”.  When I hear that word it’s easy for me to think, “Nope, I’m old and boring, no carousing here!” and move on.  The word (kraipale, G2897) implies the results from indulging your appetites excessively, leading to ruin or straying.  I thought this explanation from The Berean newsletter explained it nicely:

“It could be food or drink or many other things. This world, especially in its advertising, is pushing the overuse [and indulgence] of our appetites all the time. We cannot turn on the television without them pushing automobiles, foods, toys, jewelry, drugs, insurance, appliances, travel, housewares, clothing, tools, movies, and other television programs. Advertisers are constantly and repetitiously urging us, “Do this.” “Try this.” “Use your time this way.” We can feel pressured, “under the gun”, stressed from resisting their products, their way of life, and their attitudes.”

Well…if that’s “carousing”, that sure sounds a bit more familiar and relevant to me in our consumption-mindset world.

And now we look at “drunkenness”, where I want to spend some extra time.  The word used is methe (G3178; also used in Rom. 13:13 and Gal. 5:21), and a related version is methuo (G3184).  It means an intoxicant, to drink to intoxication or get drunk.

But it has a broader meaning than just actual alcohol drunkenness.  It means to be filled or saturated with an intoxicant—literally or figuratively.

Read next:  FOMO:  How to Derail Your Relationship With God

What does mental & spiritual intoxication look like in God’s people?

First, it’s probably helpful to define intoxication.  According to Merriam-Webster, it’s “the condition of having physical or mental control markedly diminished by the effects of alcohol or drugs”, as well “a high excitement of mind; an elation which rises to enthusiasm, frenzy, or madness”.

What does alcohol do to us if not carefully moderated?  (And this is not a knock on alcohol, which I quite enjoy.)

  • It heightens our emotions, lowers our inhibitions. We’re easier to manipulate, lacking control and prone to out-of-proportion emotional reactions.
  • It removes our presence of mind and skews our judgment, distorting our perception of reality (think about how it feels wearing beer goggles).
  • It gives us a false sense of security and confidence. People do silly and senseless things or make dumb decisions, then regret them, along with the hangover.
  • It slows our reactions. It makes us sleepy, fuzzy, off-balance, and unfocused.  We’re not alert and are unprepared to respond.

It’s very easy to see the spiritual parallels here.  When we allow ourselves to be weighed down and our senses dulled by intoxicants, worries, and overindulging our physical cravings, it has a MASSIVE impact on our ability to maintain a Godly perspective and see ourselves clearly.

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