Category Archives: New Testament

The Last Third Chapter – Revelation

Posted on November 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

I found the Word of the New Living Translation helpful to my thoughts about this last, third chapter.  The verses about each of the three churches of Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea are arranged in that same sequence under each of my headings, what Jesus knows, what Jesus asks and what Jesus vows.  It is one way to understand how this revelation of their history impacts our future and confirms Scripture is still living Word that challenges the church of Jesus Christ and His people today.

What Jesus knows: 
• 1 “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead… your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. 
• 8 “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.
• 15 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other!

What Jesus asks:
• 3 Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again.
• 11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.
• 19 So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

What Jesus vows:
• 5 All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine. 
• 12 All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.
• 20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. 21 Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne. 

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The Third Chapter – I John

Posted on November 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

1 John 3:18-20 My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.  21-24 And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. MSG

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Here’s your Good News for today: There is a way to practice real love that can help you know you’re’re living truly in God’s reality.  It’s this simple: “Jesus loves me, this I know.”  Say that to yourself.  Do you believe that in the depths of your soul?  “Jesus loves me, this I know” is not the same as self-affirmation.  It’s not a fake-it-’til-you-make-it plan. “Jesus loves me, this I know!” is how God chooses to establish His in-person relationship with you to confirm His love for you. “Jesus loves me, this I know!” is the only truth you need to know to make you a person after God’s own heart.  

God never uses shame and guilt to transform you. It is not God who bedevils you with “debilitating self-criticism…”  “Jesus loves me, this I know!” is how God has chosen to convert that space designed to harm you into a reminder of your need for Him instead. “Jesus loves me, this I know!” is real love that changes guilt and shame, “even when there’s something to it,” into a heart full of thanksgiving and praise for the Grace of God, and that confirms your love for Him. Once that’s taken care of and [you’re] no longer accusing or condemning [yourselves], [you’re] bold and free before God!  

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The Third Chapter – 2 Peter

Posted on November 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

2 Peter 3:8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.  [ESV]

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“Man ceases to be in any sense a pilgrim [if] there is nowhere to which he can make pilgrimage. He must simply drift in a kind of lostness, coming from nowhere and on the way to nowhere.”a

The Day of the Lord is an unspecified period of time that stretches between two well defined points; creation and a new heaven and a new earth.  Those are the boundaries of the time of pilgrimage for everyone, believer or nonbeliever. The difference is where you begin and where you end. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient…not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”  

The pilgrimage of a follower of Jesus Christ begins at the point of becoming a new “creation.” The unspecified period of time is the life of faith that weaves the pilgrim into the strength of a cord that is “not easily broken.” The reward of the pilgrimage is found in the Day of the Lord – a new heaven and a new earth.

a William Barclay

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The Third Chapter – 1 Peter

Posted on November 4, 2020 | Leave a comment

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. ” [ESV]

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Have you ever wondered about “unity of mind?”  Today that’s foremost on my mind.  There are issues of faith, culture and politics that can, and do, divide us. Unity is defined as likeness but is unity the same as likeness?  Each of us exist in the flesh at the will of the same Creator but every person is a unique creation.  That uniqueness is evident in our own bodies.  Every cell within each person is unlike any other but they they still unite and manage to form one unique body.  Each person is formed with their own body, DNA, mind and personality.  Each of us is one-of-a-kind, unlike any other. 

We have been purposefully created in God’s own image, by His own design, to be mismatched from one another in our own physical body and mind. God has created His unique body, the Church, from mismatched minds and bodies learning to depend on His likeness and be united by His mind as they struggle to find the balance between personal uniqueness and Spiritual “unity of mind.”

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The Third Chapter – James

Posted on November 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. [ESV]

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GK Chesterton said “A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.”  I don’t know if he had meekness in mind when he penned that sentence but it seems like the reality that explains the “meekness of wisdom.”  My heart longs for absolutes based on God’s Word but I am not immune to the paradox Chesterton referenced.  My absolutes are just that – “my” absolutes.  They comfort me in a world of division, and hostility where even another believer’s faith can feel like a weapon of attack unless I agree with their absolutes.  That’s when the “meekness of wisdom” reminds me “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” 

I’ve learned a lot over 40+ years as a believer in Jesus Christ but my faith is still just a small glimpse into the mind of God.  That glimpse has only become faith because of my confidence in Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  I don’t know it all, but the grace of Jesus has made certain that what I don’t know will not separate me from the Sovereign God who really does.  Some may doubt everything else I know but I have no doubt about that at all!

Remember Matthew 5:5? “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”  The “meekness of wisdom” for today might read ‘Blessed are those who don’t know it all but know the one who does, for the promises of their inheritance begin right here where they live now. Absolutely!’

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The Third Chapter – Hebrews

Posted on October 28, 2020 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 3:12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.a” [NIV]

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“That day, next day, one day and someday” is a tongue-in-cheek description I recently read to describe the confusion of keeping track of time and days when the routines of life are altered during long-lasting life circumstances like this pandemic.  I’ve experienced that confusion about time and days myself.  It’s a real thing that caused me read this Scripture as if it was speaking about the confusion of time and days, then, as a danger in the spiritual life of believers in Jesus Christ now…and the much needed protection offered for “today.”

We have been so blessed for so long as a nation, as a democracy and as individuals that we’ve become confused about how real, and subtle, the danger of a “sinful, unbelieving heart” is.  “Today” is the one word in this Scripture that made me realize “that day, next day, one day and someday” is really about missing the warning and protection available “now.”  “Now” is our God-given opportunity to to “share in Christ” and “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of [us] may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness…Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…a”

a Psalm 95

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The Third Chapter – Titus

Posted on October 25, 2020 | Leave a comment

Titus 3:1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. [ESV]

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3:4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. [ESV]

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The Third Chapter – 2 Timothy

Posted on October 21, 2020 | Leave a comment

2 Timothy 3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. [ESV]

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Oh Lord, save us from ourselves and heal us!  We have met the enemy…and he is us!a  The changes of culture have affected, and sometimes infected, our minds. The infection is so subtle we no longer are able to recognize unacceptable behavior is actually sin.

  • “Lovers of self” cover their selfishness behind a guise of self esteem.
  • “Lovers of money” are no longer greedy. They’re considered to be economically savvy if they find ways to scheme for “more.”
  • “Proud, arrogant, abusive or disobedient” are no longer unacceptable and unhealthy behaviors. They’ve become an acceptable form of personal expression.  
  • “Ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit” are excused as the byproduct of bad life circumstances rather than the loss of personal integrity.

These bullet points are shocking symptoms in these “times of difficulty.” We’re in a pandemic of immorality and the infection is getting worse. Our minds have been infected but we’re still not sure we’re sick. We are not immune. Even believers can become “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” We have met the enemy…and he is us!a Oh Lord, save us from ourselves and heal us!

aCartoonist Walt Kelly’s 20th century parody for his character Pogo of an 1812 naval commander’s quote

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The Third Chapter – 1 Timothy

Posted on October 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

I Timothy 3:14 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, 15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. 16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He[God] was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. [ESV]

1 Timothy 3:14 I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, 15 so that if I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth. 16 Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith:  Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations.  He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory. [NLT]

1 Timothy 3:14 I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, 15 so that if I don’t come for a while, you will know what kind of men you should choose as officers for the church of the living God, which contains and holds high the truth of God.  16 It is quite true that the way to live a godly life is not an easy matter.  But the answer lies in Christ, who came to earth as a man, was proved spotless and pure in his Spirit, was served by angels, was preached among the nations, was accepted by men everywhere, and was received up again to his glory in heaven. [TLB]

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I am writing these things so you will know how people ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.  Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness and faith.  The way to live a godly life is not an easy matter, but the answer lies in Christ.a

a The “read and ponder” method of personal study: read multiple versions of Scripture, highlight words and phrases from each, look up definitions of words as needed, ponder which mean the most to you and let the Word combined strengthen itself to become your personal truth.

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The Third Chapter – 2 Thessalonians

Posted on October 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

TLB 3:1 Finally, dear brothers, as I come to the end of this letter, I ask you to pray for us. Pray first that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and triumph wherever it goes, winning converts everywhere as it did when it came to you. 2 Pray, too, that we will be saved out of the clutches of evil men, for not everyone loves the Lord. 3 But the Lord is faithful; he will make you strong and guard you from satanic attacks of every kind. 4 And we trust the Lord that you are putting into practice the things we taught you, and that you always will. 5 May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and of the patience that comes from Christ.

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Believers are the focus group of Pauls appeal for prayer. “Pray for us. Pray first that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and triumph wherever it goes, winning converts everywhere as it did when it came to you. Pray, too, that we will be saved out of the clutches of evil men, for not everyone loves the Lord.”  

We have become a society of people who have made productivity a “little g” god.  A good portion of what follows Paul’s appeal for those prayers is his admonition to people of faith not to live in laziness, loafing, refusing to work and wasting time.  That seems like an odd combination for us to find an application for life today.  

What if our laziness, loafing, refusing to work and wasting time is really all about our choice to overlook prayer in favor of productivity?  Prayer is the quiet part of faith, often without recordable results. It’s also meant to be protection that keeps “us out of the clutches of evil men.”  We can clock our time in devotional study…√.  We can clock our time of service in the Lord’s name…√. We can clock our time of church participation…√.  Only the Lord can honestly clock the time we spend in prayer, “but the Lord is faithful.”

Maybe that is why Paul has chosen to remind me “not to live in laziness, loafing, refusing to work and wasting time” and make sure prayer IS consciously a bigger and better part of my productivity.  Mea Culpa! 

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