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: Topic Studies Page 1 of 8

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 previous ones on burnt offerings 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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“Abba, Father” & An Eternal Inheritance:  Adoption Into the Family of God (Pentecost Study)

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On June 16, 2024

In Holy Days, Topic Studies

God’s holy days are a beautiful annual reminder of His plan for mankind, detailing the steps He is taking to bring all of humanity into His family.  And perhaps nowhere is that more explicit than in the Feast of Weeks, or Day of Pentecost.

Let’s quickly rehearse what we know about the Feast of Weeks, to set the stage.  Most of these references are from Leviticus 23, and this study on the wave sheaf and wave loaves may be helpful if this is new ground for you.

  • It was the conclusion of the spring harvest season, which began during the Days of Unleavened Bread with the wave sheaf offering.
  • To get to Pentecost, we count 50 days from when the “wave sheaf” was offered, picturing the resurrected Jesus Christ ascending to the Father to be accepted.
  • It was on Pentecost in 31 AD, 50 days after the resurrected Jesus ascended to the Father to be accepted, that the holy spirit was given to the church (Acts. 2:1-4; John 20:17, 27).
  • Two leavened loaves were offered and elevated on Pentecost, comprised of grain gathered throughout the harvest. They are “firstfruits to the Lord” and are “holy to the Lord for the (High) Priest”.

Most of the messages I’ve heard about Pentecost tend to focus on the historical event of the church receiving the holy spirit, the founding of the church, and how we can use the holy spirit in our lives.

That’s all great and important.  However, I believe that the bible very clearly outlines a much greater future fulfillment that brings the spring (firstfruits) harvest season to a close—when the saints are resurrected, changed to immortal spirit beings, and brought before God’s throne for the marriage supper of the Lamb.  In other words, the two “wave loaves” being elevated before God, holy and acceptable.

With the holy day calendar being very late this year (2024), the Feast of Weeks very unusually falls on Father’s Day.  This coincidence provides a perfect opportunity to explore one of the themes of the holy day perfectly—the time when our Father in heaven will bring many sons and daughters to glory.

In our society today, there are two ways you can become a legal family member if you’re not born into that specific family—adoption and marriage.  I believe the Feast of Pentecost pictures both of these for God’s elect (including the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19).

But I want to focus in this study on our heavenly Father’s plan to bring us into His family as sons and daughters.  With the giving of the holy spirit, we celebrate the promise of being adopted into the family of God and receiving our future inheritance…and it’s worth exploring what that really means.

The holy spirit is the “down payment” on our inheritance

The night before His crucifixion, Jesus comforted His disciples by telling them, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper…the spirit of truth…I will not leave you orphans” (John 14:16-18).

Just over seven weeks later, on the Day of Pentecost, a small group of disciples gathered in Jerusalem as He had instructed them, and they received the promised holy spirit (Acts 1:4).  Paul begins to deepen our understanding of this event:

“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance…in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Eph. 1:11-14).

Adoption confers a number of legal benefits, including a right to inheritance.  Paul says that God gave us the holy spirit as a promise—like a down payment or promissory note that will be redeemed for our future inheritance.  In other words, when the adoption “goes through”.

Who does this apply to?  Paul tells the Galatians that “we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…and if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26, 29).

And this is that promise:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible [imperishable] and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (I Pet. 1:3-5)

Just what does it mean to be a son or daughter in the God family—what, exactly, is that inheritance?

Related study:  The Year of Jubilee & Pentecost — Inheritance & Freedom

What it means to be adopted by our heavenly Father

In our society, when someone is legally adopted they gain the exact same rights as any biological child would have, including the family’s name, a home, and inheritance rights.  They are seen under the law as exactly the same and equal with a family’s natural-born children.

There is also great emotional significance when a child is adopted.  It means that they are being fully and eternally accepted into someone else’s family.  There’s a security and trust that comes with that complete belonging—any foster child who has been adopted could tell you that there’s a world of difference between living with a family and actually becoming part of it.

And these same benefits apply to us as future adopted children in the God family.  A father’s job is to provide for his family’s physical and emotional needs.  To love his children, teach them, and sometimes discipline them.

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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 previous ones on spiritual nakedness/clothing 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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“All Things Made New”:  The Eighth Day in God’s Holy Day Plan

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On October 10, 2023

In Holy Days, Prophecy, Topic Studies

“And on the eighth day, a sabbath rest…” (Lev. 23:39)

“Now I saw a new heaven & a new earth, for the first heaven & the first earth had passed away” (Rev. 21:1)

The holy day following the Feast of Tabernacles, simply called the “Eighth Day”, is perhaps the most meaningful—and yet least talked about or understood—holy day in God’s plan for mankind.  It often gets lumped in with the rest of the Feast of Tabernacles, or rushed through as everyone packs up their temporary dwellings and sets their minds toward home.

But we would be still majorly in the dark about God’s plan and His nature without the Eighth Day.  It is not just a tack-on, a bonus day of feasting before we go back to our regular lives.  Rather, it is the point of God’s holy days and His plan for mankind.

The spring holy days are quiet, personal, intimate.  They’re about salvation on a one-to-one level, focused on inward change.  But the fall holy days are about the whole of mankind, with dramatic and world-encompassing events that no one will be able to ignore.  And how He places those holy days on the calendar is very purposeful.

Across all of God’s created times and seasons, the number seven/seventh represents completion (or perfection), and the number eight/eighth represents the beginning of a new cycle.  We see this in the foundational seven-day week, to start with.

It’s also seen repeated in the Feast of Pentecost (the 50th day or “eighth day” after seven weeks, which beginning an eighth week).  And similarly, we see it in the Jubilee Year (the 50th year, or eighth year after seven “weeks” of years and beginning of the eighth “week”).  (If that felt a bit confusing, this study about Jubilee and Pentecost may help clarify a bit.)

In its most macro fulfillment, the Eighth Day represents the beginning of a new cycle after 6,000 years of man (six “days”) and 1,000 years (1 “day”) of Jesus Christ reigning on earth.

Placed right after the Feast of Tabernacles, the Eighth Day is the ultimate culmination of God’s plan, when sorrow and death cease to exist, mankind has been fully redeemed, Satan banished forever, the physical world destroyed and recreated as spiritual, and when God will dwell permanently with His children.

And while there’s a LOT we don’t know about what it pictures and what that will be like, there are several key themes throughout the bible that can help us learn a bit more and give a clearer picture of the Eighth Day as the conclusion of God’s plan for humanity.

What does the bible say about the Eighth Day?

Of all God’s holy days, the Eighth Day is the most mysterious.  Explicitly, the bible doesn’t tell us a lot.  So I’ll mention the few verses here and some additional food for thought, but will try to keep this brief so we can dive into the themes.

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Finding Balance & Boldness in Our Walk of Faith (Part 4 in Surveying the Gospels: The “Big Picture” Themes of Jesus’ Words & Actions)

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On September 16, 2023

In Christian Living, New Testament, Topic Studies

This is the fourth and final post in an in-depth study of overarching themes and lessons in the gospel accounts.  For ease of reading, we’ve split this long study into several shorter individual posts, so I recommend starting with the intro/first post, then reading this and the other posts (linked at the end).

If you’re anything like me, you may have sometimes struggled to emotionally connect with the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), or found some of the teachings to be contradictory.  There are many reasons for this (cultural context, writing style, etc.), and I talk about this more in the first post in the series…I won’t belabor the point here.

So this series is focused on how we can “see the forest for the trees” and survey the gospel accounts together in order to find the bigger ideas and consistent themes in Jesus’s direct words and actions.

As a reminder, I’m giving some of the scripture references within each point, though in many cases there were so many that I couldn’t capture them all (it got too repetitive). I encourage you to look up and read each passage referenced as well, and to have these topics in mind to recognize the patterns when they emerge.

So far we’ve examined Jesus’s life and teachings on a few major themes (each with several related sub-topics):

  • That God’s calling in this life isn’t easy—and isn’t for everyone—but if we answer His call it DOES come with expectations
  • That God is concerned with the state of our “heart” (mind, emotions, motivations)
  • That the way we treat and engage with our brethren (and other people) matters
  • That we must have our priorities right—we can’t allow our relationship with worldly things to take precedence over our relationship with God
  • And that God expects both faith AND action—“you will know them by their fruits”

So now let’s move on to our final few themes…

Theme #6:  It’s important to take care of ourselves as well as looking out for others

In today’s world we have this idea of “self-care”, which has gotten a bit out of hand and is often used as a justification for selfishness and indulgence.

But the underlying principle is sound—namely that it is easier to have your spiritual “house” in order when you are properly caring for your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Figuratively it’s like the airplane rule of putting on your own oxygen mask before helping someone else get theirs on—the point being, you’re of no help to others if you become incapacitated.

Let’s look at a couple areas where Jesus showcased this in His own life.

It is critical to regularly get rest, solitude (for meditation), and one-on-one time with God.

Jesus shows us that we need to take care of ourselves, stay close to God, and not get too worn out while ministering to others.  He fed the crowds when they were hungry and tired.  He knew when the disciples were too amped up and needed to chill out.  One of the biggest ways that He modeled this was to frequently set aside time to get away from the crowds and noise, and to be alone with God.

  • After a full day of healing the sick and casting out demons, He went the next morning to a “solitary place” and prayed (Mark 1:32-35)
  • Similarly, when the disciples came back from their journeys and were telling Jesus all that they did, He took them to an isolated spot where they could eat and rest (Mark 6:31)
  • We’re told the He “often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16)
  • After a crazy day feeding the 5,000, He sent the disciples on ahead and went up on a mountain to pray (Mark. 6:46)

These are just a few examples of many.  Jesus knew that we must learn to turn down and tune out the noise of the world—the distractions and busyness that our daily lives provide.  We have to purposefully set aside time to spend in prayer, study, and meditation with our Father.

You might also like:  A Guide to Biblical Meditation

We must make time to nurture close friendships with our brethren.

Jesus also knew that He needed His friends.  He didn’t hold people at arm’s length or try to bear everything on His own.

Instead, He loved and mourned His friends (John 11).  He asked His closest friends to be with Him, pray for Him, and help comfort Him when He was struggling (Matt. 26:36-41).

He shared more teachings and open conversations privately with His disciples than He did with the crowds (Luke 10:23).  He was vulnerable and relational, telling the disciples that he was “exceedingly sorrowful, even to death” (Mark 14:32-35).

God and Jesus Christ want their brethren to build strong and lasting friendships.  These are important for mental and emotional health, certainly (as well as physical, Eccl. 4:9-10), but also important for spiritual well-being.

When we develop these intimate relationships, we can have that “iron sharpening iron” effect (Prov. 27:17), where we encourage and exhort each other, and when needed we tell the hard truths.  There has to be a level of love and trust established for any of those things to be effective.

Perspective and balance are important in maintaining our well-being.

We all lose perspective sometimes, or find ourselves off-balance.  Spiritually, this can lead us to ending up in a “ditch” (such as self-righteousness or going off on a doctrinal tangent), or to drifting away from God as we’re pulled in by the cares of this world.

These additional quick points help round out this larger theme of the need to take good care of ourselves:

  • The story of Martha and Mary shows how we can become so focused on physically serving others that we neglect pursuing our spiritual growth (Luke 10:38-42)
  • When it comes to our spiritual development and continued conversion, we shouldn’t be *only* focused on getting the “bad” OUT, but also with putting the good IN (Luke 11:24-26)
  • Having an attitude of thankfulness toward God for His many blessings can help us maintain an appropriate perspective (Matt. 11:25, John 6:11, John 11:41 & more)

You might also like:  Is Unthankfulness the Root of Most Sins?

Theme #7:  God does not intend for us to be shrinking violets or passive doormats

This theme may be a bit unexpected.  I certainly was a bit surprised as the threads emerged while reading through the gospel accounts.  But there’s no question that it’s there, and is one of those seeming-contradictions that we talked about at the outset of this study.

People tend to focus on Jesus’s teachings to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile when compelled, and forgive your brother as many times as is needed.  And those are absolutely commands from our Savior.  But they also depend on the situation and context.

Jesus also taught and modeled that His followers should be zealous for His way, should not compromise with the truth, and should speak out when we see something that is wrong.  He did not intend for us to allow others to walk all over us, or be taken advantage of as “easy marks”.

And He expects us to study His word and use His holy spirit to develop discernment and character.  Both are required to determine in any given situation what is most loving and appropriate towards the people involved—whether it’s a “telling hard truths in love” sort of moment or a “turn the other cheek”.

So let’s look at some places where we’re showing the bolder side of following Christ.

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“There Your Heart Shall Be” (Part 3 in Surveying the Gospels: The “Big Picture” Themes of Jesus’ Words & Actions)

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On July 29, 2023

In Christian Living, New Testament, Topic Studies

This is the third part in an in-depth study of key themes in the gospel accounts.  For ease of reading, we’ve split this long study into several shorter individual posts, so I recommend starting with the intro and theme #1, then reading this and the other posts (linked at the end).

I’ll dive right in this time, since the introduction (linked above) gives context on what led me to write this series on how to understand the gospels.  We’re really focusing on the bigger ideas and consistent themes in Jesus’s words and actions, more of a “30,000-foot view”.

As a reminder, I’m giving some of the scripture references within each point, though in many cases there were so many that I couldn’t capture them all (it got too repetitive). I encourage you to look up and read each passage referenced as well, and to have these topics in mind to recognize the patterns when they emerge.

So far we’ve examined Jesus’s life and teachings on a few major themes (each with several related sub-topics):

  • That God’s calling in this life isn’t easy—and isn’t for everyone—but if we answer His call it DOES come with expectations.
  • That God is concerned with the state of our “heart” (mind, emotions, motivations—our inner being)
  • That the way we treat and engage with our brethren (and with other people) matters

So now let’s move on to themes #4 and 5…

Theme #4:  Priorities!  We can’t allow our relationship with worldly things to take precedence over our relationship with God

A huge focus of Jesus’s teachings was on how we use our resources—time, thoughts, energy, money, and more—during our physical lives.  He frequently cautioned His followers to adopt a healthy attitude toward material possessions and worldly relationships, and wasn’t shy about calling out when someone’s priorities were in the wrong place.

So let’s examine some of the topics He spoke on.  Get ready, this one is a doozy!

Money isn’t *inherently* evil, but the LOVE of it is…we need to develop a healthy relationship with (the pursuit of) wealth.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus had quite a lot to say about what our relationship should be with money, the pursuit of wealth or influence, and other material possessions.

In one of the more well-known passages of the gospels, Jesus says:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:19-21).

Jesus goes on to explain that you can’t have two masters—in other words, it is not possible to wholeheartedly serve God, and yet allow money (or the pursuit of it, career ambition, a desire for security, etc.) to control you (Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13).

We see this illustrated in the “rich young ruler”, where the man asked Jesus what he needed to do to for eternal life.  Jesus could see inside his heart and told him to sell all he had and give the money to the poor.

The man went away sorrowful because he was very rich, and Jesus remarked, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:18-27, Matt. 19:16-26, Mark 10:17-27).

Again, this is not because wealth is inherently bad, but rather because it tends to warp our perspectives and priorities, and tether us to this world.  In the parable of the sower, Jesus calls this “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches”, which choke out the faith that was trying to take root, just like weeds choke out good produce (Matt. 13:22).

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