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Posts Tagged ‘Transformation’

Forgiving from the Heart: Life in the Upside-Down Kingdom

Posted in Bible Study, Church, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Prayers, Priorities, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, Trials, worldview, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 18

Matthew 18 brings Jesus’ upside-down kingdom close to home. It’s a kingdom radically different from the world system we live in, and humility is one of its hallmarks.

The chapter opens with the disciples trying to figure out who is the greatest. Jesus answers by calling a little child to stand among them: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3, ESV). My pride, my competence, my long list of qualifications don’t count for much in God’s kingdom. What matters is humility, recognizing God, and placing Him and others first. Jesus will show us this Himself when He, God in the flesh, humbles Himself and goes to the cross (Philippians 2:5–8).

Then He gives another picture of the upside-down kingdom. A shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to search for one lost sheep (Matthew 18:12–14). Common sense says you protect what you’ve got. You don’t put the whole flock at risk for one lamb. Yet that’s exactly what Jesus describes. In His kingdom, each individual matters so much that the risk is worth taking.

And then we get to forgiveness. Oh boy.

I’m in the middle of a situation where someone mistreated a family member and has refused every attempt to reconcile. I’ll admit it: this one is very hard for me.

But when I read the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21–35), I see how much I’ve been forgiven. For years I lived with one foot in the kingdom. I was in the church, but I held back part of my life from surrender. When Jesus forgave me and offered me life in Him, He forgave all of my sin. That included the sins I had already committed and the sins He knew I would commit in the future.

Now He calls me to be an agent of that forgiveness. When I extend it to others, they might catch a glimpse of the kingdom, and at the very least, I won’t be a hindrance to their turning. The process Jesus lays out in verses 15–17 shows the one who sinned against us what God’s forgiveness can look like. Our forgiveness is meant to mirror what God has already done for us and what He wants to do for the other person (Ephesians 4:32).

At the end of the chapter, Jesus says we are to forgive our brother “from your heart” (Matthew 18:35). In that culture, the heart was the center of a person’s being: mind, will, and the essence of who they are. So forgiveness can’t be only an intellectual decision. It includes that, but it goes all the way to the core of who we are. Because we are a forgiven people, we can be a forgiving people who extend God’s grace even when it isn’t deserved. When we do, the Holy Spirit is free to do the work only He can do in reaching that person’s heart.

I’ll be honest that part of my struggle is follow-through. The Lord has led me to do this before, and I’ve seen some pretty special results. Something else happens when we release an offense with our whole heart. God takes our hearts and our lives and shapes us more and more into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).

Paul says, “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). But that mind isn’t something we fully possess the moment we come to faith. We can spend our entire earthly lives pursuing it with faithfulness and steadfastness, and it will still stretch out ahead of us. It’s the love and faithfulness Jesus showed as He rode into Jerusalem, knowing He would be maligned, falsely accused, falsely judged, and crucified.

Being shaped into that likeness is a process of deciding, over and over and over, that I am going to forgive. Each time, God changes my heart a little more. Forgiving from the heart opens the way for the Holy Spirit to change our own hearts. I suppose that’s what being a child of God is all about.

Question to consider: Is there someone you’ve forgiven in your mind but not yet from your heart? What would it look like to release them fully to God today?

Be blessed today, and be a blessing.

GroupMe version

Matthew 18 shows us Jesus’ upside-down kingdom. The disciples argue over who’s greatest, and Jesus points to a child. In His kingdom, humility counts for more than our pride and qualifications. A shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep to find one, because every person matters that much to God.

Then comes forgiveness, and that one’s hard for me right now. I’m dealing with someone who mistreated a family member and won’t reconcile. But the parable of the unforgiving servant reminds me how much I’ve been forgiven: every sin, past and future. I’m called to extend that same grace.

Jesus says to forgive “from your heart” (v. 35). That means my whole being, not just a decision in my head. When I do that, the Holy Spirit can work in the other person, and He keeps shaping my heart into the image of Christ too. It’s a choice I make over and over.

Is there someone you need to forgive from the heart today? Be blessed, and be a blessing.

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A Glimpse Behind the Curtain

Posted in Beautiful Places, Bible Study, God, heaven, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Prayers, The Father, Vision, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , on October 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 17 & Mark 9 · Oct 21, 2026 · @Daniel

For the first nine months of the year, my reading plan takes me chronologically through the Old Testament. It has its highlights, moments of hope and joy and places where God moves in mighty ways. But it is always looking forward, leaning toward the One who is coming.

Then you reach the Gospels, and everything changes. They’re packed with grace and with truth for living. As we watch Jesus, listen to Jesus, and see Him act on behalf of people, God is clearly signaling that something new has arrived. What was foretold for centuries is coming to pass. The kingdom of God is here, and Jesus demonstrates it again and again.

Three Witnesses on the Mountain

At the end of Matthew 16 and the start of Mark 9, Jesus makes a striking promise: some standing there “will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power” (Mark 9:1). People have read that as pointing to the resurrection, or to Pentecost. I lean toward the Transfiguration, which comes six days later. The way the Gospel writers set it up, that statement seems to lead right into it.

My thoughts went in a slightly odd direction today. Why did Jesus choose just three, Peter, James, and John, to see it?

Elsewhere in the Gospels we see Jesus as a gifted healer and a truth-teller. On that mountain the disciples saw something more: His glory as God the Son. “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2). Years later Peter would write, “we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).

At that point the disciples’ understanding was muddled. They were grasping that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, but they didn’t yet understand what that meant. So Jesus took three and pulled back the curtain. They saw who He was before He came to earth, who He truly was even though it was hidden from almost everyone else, and who He will be at the end of time, when He returns as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16) and “every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10–11).

So why just three? The only reason I can point to is God’s sovereign choice. These three were there to see it, record it, and tell the others. Beyond that, I can’t say, and maybe that’s the point. That is God’s business. That is how God works. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

There are things we don’t know, and we won’t know them until He reveals them. Some we may never fully understand this side of eternity. Even then, the God who is doing them is good, faithful, true, and loving. He knows best, so we can rest in it.

Back Down in the Valley

Then they came down the mountain into a mess: a desperate father, a demon-possessed son, arguing scribes, and nine disciples who couldn’t help.

These were the same men Jesus had sent out with authority only weeks before (Mark 6:7, 12–13). They had seen it work. So why not now?

Some suggest, and I lean this way too, that God’s gifting for healing and miracles comes for specific occasions, needs, and seasons. There is also a danger here. We can become enamored with the gift. We can grow proud of what God does through us and lose sight of the fact that it’s Jesus who works. It’s His Holy Spirit doing the work, and He gets the glory.

I have to admit that I’ve seen God do some amazing things, and it’s easy to slip into complacency. I start thinking it’s my prayer, or that God is using me. Well, yes, He does use us. But God does the work and God gets the glory. We are His children and His servants. Even as His followers, it’s easy to think of ourselves “more highly than [we] ought to think” (Romans 12:3).

Stripped Down to Bare Bones

Matthew and Mark record Jesus’ explanation a little differently. In Matthew, it’s “because of your little faith” (Matthew 17:20). Perhaps their trust wasn’t fully resting on God’s ability. In Mark, Jesus says, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29), and some manuscripts add “and fasting.”

That addition is helpful to me. Fasting is a spiritual discipline I’ve experienced, and it strips me down to bare bones. I quickly realize how much I like food, how much I need it, and how early I get hungry. I also don’t particularly like the person I become when I’ve gone a while without eating. Yet in that place, God sustains me. “Man does not live by bread alone” (Deuteronomy 8:3). He is the One who provides.

I think Jesus is pointing His disciples, and us, to that same bare-bones reality. God provides the healing. God provides the deliverance. God answers the prayers of a humbled and obedient heart.

Where have I started trusting in what God has done through me, instead of in God Himself?

Be blessed today, and be a blessing.

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Sent From the Feet of Jesus

Posted in Bible Study, God, healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Mission to Kenya, Orphans, Responsibility, Service, The Father, Trials, Vision, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 10

Today’s Gospel reading in Matthew is about Jesus setting apart the twelve. They began as disciples, and in this chapter he sends them out as apostles.

A disciple is a learner, a follower of a rabbi. In his day Jesus was seen as a rabbi, and he had a lot of followers. Estimates are that around 100 to 120 people regularly traveled with him, and the number would swell as he came into different towns. At times like the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain, crowds of many thousands gathered to hear him. Within that larger group were the disciples who followed him closely, and within them were the twelve, the men he chose as his closest followers.

In Matthew 10, Jesus sends those twelve out. “He called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction” (Matthew 10:1). They were to carry his message: “Proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay” (10:7–8). Jesus had the authority to give his power to his followers so they could carry out his work.

If a disciple is a learner, an apostle is one who is sent on a mission. Most of this chapter is about what would happen as these men went out: the power they would walk in and the very different responses they would get. Some of Jesus’ warnings are stern. “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (10:16). Jesus is honest about how hard it is to be his disciple and to be sent out with his message. He knows it won’t always be well received.

He also gives a very clear instruction: we are not to worry when we are sent on mission in God’s power. “When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (10:19–20). Yes, people may have some power over our lives, but God is in control. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father… Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (10:29, 31). He guides our steps and our words. He is the one who heals, delivers, and works miracles. Our role is to take what we have learned as disciples and carry it wherever he sends us.

I love how Paul says that Christ gave leaders to the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). Every Jesus follower is sent on mission. For some, the mission field is mostly the home. A homemaker homeschooling her children and serving on the neighborhood association is on mission. Others are sent far away, like my friends LJ and Danee, who are now in Kenya running an orphanage with some 200 children, many of them rescued from desperate situations.

I’ve had many opportunities to share the love of Jesus with people and to pray with them. What I see now is that my own experiences are part of how God has equipped me. There were times God was with me in hardship, times he rescued me from very difficult situations, and times he simply poured out his Spirit and gave me a reason to laugh. When I share those stories and acknowledge that God was behind them, that is ministry.

When we are placed in a hostile situation and questioned about our faith, telling who Jesus is and what he has done in our lives is the powerful witness God has given us. We may suffer in this life, but eternal life is bigger, greater, and grander. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Whatever we may suffer for being faithful and proclaiming the gospel is nothing compared to what God has in store for “those who love God… who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

So here is what I’m taking from today: all believers are called to be disciples. We sit at Jesus’ feet, read his Word, and let it speak to our hearts. We let it read us. Then, as God gives us opportunities, we recognize that we are on the mission field everywhere we go, carrying his message, his power through prayer, and his life and light.

Where has God already sent you? Who in your everyday path needs to hear what Jesus has done in your life?

Be blessed today.

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Today’s reading was Matthew 10, where Jesus takes the twelve who had been following him as disciples and sends them out as apostles. A disciple is a learner and follower of a rabbi. An apostle is one who is sent on a mission.

Jesus “gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction” (Matthew 10:1). He sent them to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and to heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons. He had the authority to give his power to his followers.

He was also honest with them. “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves” (10:16). The message would not always be welcome. But he told them not to be anxious about what to say, “for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (10:20). People may have some power over our lives, but God is in control. Not even a sparrow falls apart from our Father.

Paul says leaders were given “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). Every follower of Jesus is sent. For some the mission field is the home and the neighborhood. For my friends LJ and Danny, it’s an orphanage in Kenya caring for some 200 children. For me, it’s often sharing how God has been with me in hard times, rescued me, or simply given me a reason to laugh.

We may suffer in this life for being faithful, but those sufferings “are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

So sit at Jesus’ feet. Let his Word read you. Then recognize you’re on the mission field everywhere you go.

Where has God already sent you? Who in your everyday path needs to hear what Jesus has done in your life?

Be blessed today.

GroupMe

Today’s reading was Matthew 10. Jesus took the twelve who had been following him as disciples, which means learners, and sent them out as apostles, which means ones sent on a mission. He gave them his authority to heal and cast out demons, and he sent them to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Jesus was honest that it would be hard: “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves” (10:16). But he told them not to worry about what to say, because the Spirit of the Father would speak through them. God is in control, and not even a sparrow falls apart from him.

Every believer is sent. Your mission field might be your home and neighborhood, or it might be an orphanage in Kenya like my friends LJ and Danny. Whatever we suffer for being faithful isn’t worth comparing to the glory ahead (Romans 8:18).

Sit at Jesus’ feet, let his Word read you, and remember you’re on mission everywhere you go. Where has God already sent you? Be blessed today.

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Amending the Soil Matthew 13 & Luke 8

Posted in Beautiful Places, Bible Study, Bible Study, God, God Stories, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Parables, Priorities, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Trials, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

One of Jesus’ favorite ways to teach was through parables, and Matthew 13 gives us a whole collection of them. The one shared by both Matthew 13 and Luke 8 is the parable of the sower. Having read through the Bible many times, I’ve come to see this as one of those parables we need to step into, ponder, and let roll around for a while.

Jesus first told the parable on its own. His disciples didn’t really get it, so they came and asked Him what it meant (Luke 8:9). And Jesus went deep. Both Matthew and Luke thought it was important enough to give us not just the story, but the explanation too.

What strikes me is how easy it is to sit back, look around, and sort other people into one of the four soils. And it’s telling that of the four places the seed lands, only one produces fruit. Three of them never get there.

But if all we do is evaluate everyone else’s soil, we’ve missed the point. The soil is the condition of the heart, its receptivity to God’s Word being planted. So the real question is about my own heart.

As someone who has surrendered my life to Jesus, I would love to say my heart is always soft and supple. The truth is, as I’ve grown and matured, I’ve realized my heart has shown every one of these soil conditions at different times. There are seasons when the Word lands and I’m simply not open to it. There are times when my soil is shallow.

But the most common one for me is the thorns: “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22, ESV). Luke adds that they are choked “by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14).

We live in a busy world, and I’m inclined to be a busy person. The result is that God’s Word, and His purpose for my life, can get overlooked or minimized. It becomes one of many things I’m taking in and trying to act on. That’s exactly what Jesus is getting at. Good things can crowd out the best thing, the one thing of ultimate importance: allowing His Word to take root in my heart, to change me from the inside, and to accomplish what He wants through a life surrendered to Him.

I love that the good soil produces “in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Matthew 13:23). What I read in that is that fruitfulness can grow. When I deal with the bad soil conditions, when I’m quicker to pull up the thorns and briars before they choke things out, and when I do the things that amend the soil and make it deeper and richer, the yield increases.

What are those things? A daily quiet time. Consistent Bible study. Gathering regularly with other believers for fellowship and encouragement. Even writing these devotionals. Each one is a way of amending the soil.

And the hard path? Luke says the seed that fell there “was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it” (Luke 8:5). The answer is not to walk the well-worn way of the world, where the seed gets stepped on and the enemy snatches it away. Instead, be open to the Holy Spirit leading you off the path: to places of quiet, to people in need, and into the seasons of trial, suffering, and challenge, trusting the Lord to be with you through them.

All three unproductive soils can be transformed as we develop the daily habits that draw us closer to the Lord. The work God wants to do in us is a partnership where the Holy Spirit takes the lead. As I release control and give Him room to work in my heart, He transforms me to be more and more like Jesus, my Lord and Savior.

And the more I do, the more fruitful my life becomes. Thirty can become sixty, sixty can become a hundredfold, and the kingdom of God advances. That’s what I’m here for. That’s what you’re here for.

Which soil best describes your heart this season, and what is one habit you could start or recommit to this week to amend it?

Have a blessed day.

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Built on the Rock

Posted in Bible Study, Bible Study, Church, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Priorities, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, The Father, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Today’s devotional is on Matthew 5–7, known as the Sermon on the Mount. I have to admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to glean a key thought from what is arguably the most important sermon ever preached. What began as covenants God made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses in the Old Testament finds its ultimate exposition in Jesus’ talk with a crowd gathered on a Galilean hillside 2,000 years ago. I think I will mostly let Jesus’ words speak for themselves and just speak to how today’s reading struck me.

I’ve read the Sermon on the Mount many, many times. Sometimes I take a piece of it and chew on it for days. Other times, like this morning, I read straight through and simply feel both the weight and the joy in it. What can feel in the Old Testament like a harsh checklist of dos and don’ts, Jesus boils down to the heart.

This morning, it was the final section that stopped me:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24–25, ESV)

The timing is not lost on me. As I write this, a hurricane that came ashore in the middle of the night, 400 to 450 miles from here, is still reaching us. We’re expecting driving rain and 30 to 40 mile-an-hour winds all day long. Storms like this have a way of revealing how well a house is built. Whatever was hidden in the framing and the foundation comes to light when the wind starts to blow.

The same is true of our lives. There are plenty of foundations on offer: success, reputation, comfort, our own good behavior. None of them hold when the storm comes. Jesus himself is the rock. As Paul wrote, “no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). He is what makes us whole and moves us toward the completeness and purposes God designed for us.

What struck me most this morning is how the sermon begins and ends. It opens with “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Recognizing that we are spiritually bankrupt without Jesus is where the right foundation begins. And it closes with building on the rock: on Jesus, on what he accomplished in our place at the cross, and on what he continues to do through his Holy Spirit living in us, drawing us close to the Father. That intimacy with God was his plan from the very beginning in the garden.

From there, the building goes on. As we keep reading, applying, and living out his Word, God brings about the spiritual maturity that lets the house stand. Notice that both builders in Jesus’ story heard the same words. The difference was that one of them did what he heard.

What storm in your life right now is revealing what your house is built on, and what would it look like to hear and do Jesus’ words this week?

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Jesus Saw Him

Posted in Beautiful Places, Bible Study, God, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Spiritual Growth, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , on October 9, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Reflections on John 5

Yesterday was a heavy travel day. I read John 5 in the early morning, and then the day got away from me. But the chapter didn’t let go. This morning, in that in-between space where you’re not quite asleep and not quite awake, I found myself back beside the pool of Bethesda, thinking about one man.

Living Next to Hope

John tells us, “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years” (John 5:5 ESV). Thirty-eight years. That’s longer than many people in that day lived. It’s a whole adult life spent on a mat.

He spent it at Bethesda, a pool surrounded by colonnades and crowded with “a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed” (5:3). The belief was that when the water was stirred, the first one in would be healed. That was the secret, the one thing everyone was waiting for.

So this man lived right next to hope and could never reach it. Every time the water moved, someone faster got there first. I picture people rushing past him, stepping over him, bumping into him on their way to the water, and no one stopping. He was present every single day, and almost no one saw him.

I think, more than anything, he felt unseen. Unnoticed. Unwanted. The things that give us reason to keep going in this world (being known, being needed, being loved) he had very few of. After thirty-eight years, I’m not sure he had much hope left. He just stayed where hope was supposed to be.

When Jesus Saw Him

Then comes one of the most tender lines in John’s Gospel:

“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’” (5:6)

When Jesus saw him. In a crowd of the sick and desperate, Jesus saw this man. More than that, He knew him. He knew how long he’d been lying there. Nobody had to tell Him.

Now look at how the man answers. Jesus asks a yes-or-no question, and the man never says yes:

“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” (5:7)

He gives his reason instead. I have no one. Underneath it I hear: No one sees me. No one helps me. No one stops. He’s explaining why the only hope he knows has never worked for him.

Jesus doesn’t argue with him or correct his theology about the water. He simply says, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And “at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked” (5:8–9).

The man had been looking to the pool. Jesus didn’t need the pool. Jesus was the healing.

Missing the Miracle

Then John adds a short phrase that changes everything: “Now that day was the Sabbath” (5:9).

The religious leaders see the man walking and say, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed” (5:10). A man who had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years is standing in front of them, and what they see is a mat.

God’s law called His people to keep the Sabbath holy and rest from their work. Over time, though, the religious leaders had built a fence of detailed rules around that command, defining exactly what counted as work and what counted as a forbidden burden. A sleeping mat made their list. Their rule became the law, God was cast as the enforcer, and they were so busy guarding the fence that they missed the God of the Sabbath standing right in front of them.

That was so much of the conflict Jesus ran into. Rules meant to protect God’s command ended up making it harder for people to come to God. It’s a warning worth taking to heart in our own churches: it’s possible to be zealous for our traditions and completely miss what Jesus is doing.

Jesus Found Him Again

I love what happens next: “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you’” (5:14).

The man ended up in the temple, the place of worship. Jesus didn’t heal him and walk away. He found him again. The One who saw him at the pool went looking for him and spoke to him about the rest of his life. It’s a gentle but serious word: You’ve got your feet under you now. Walk in a way that honors God.

Jesus cared about more than his legs. He cared about his whole life.

He Sees You Too

For one forgotten man at Bethesda:

  • Jesus saw him.
  • Jesus approached him.
  • Jesus spoke to him.
  • Jesus healed him.

And the same is true for every one of us. Jesus sees us, even when the crowd rushes past. Jesus knows us, including how long we’ve been waiting. Jesus speaks to us. And Jesus heals us.

The New Testament often uses a single Greek word, sōzō, for both “save” and “heal” (when Jesus tells a woman, “your faith has made you well,” that’s sōzō). The healing of the body and the saving of the soul are not two separate projects for Jesus. He makes whole people whole. He saves us, He heals us, and He brings us home.

Maybe you’ve been lying beside your own pool for a long time, waiting for a hope that never quite reaches you, feeling stepped over and unseen. Hear this: Jesus sees you lying there. He knows how long it’s been. And He’s still asking the question.

Where do you feel unseen right now, and will you let Jesus meet you there?

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The Servants Knew — John 2–4

Posted in Bible Study, Jesus Christ, Service, Spiritual Growth, Worship, tagged , , , , , , on October 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »

I read today’s passage twice, and something stood out that I had never really noticed before. It started with a small parenthetical in John 2 and ended up changing how I saw the whole chapter.

At the wedding in Cana, the wine runs out. For a family hosting a marriage feast, that was a real embarrassment. Mary brings it to Jesus, and he answers, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). On paper that can sound a little stand-offish. Scripture doesn’t tell us his tone, but I picture him saying it with a half smile, knowing his mother’s heart and knowing she wants to spare this family. Tara Leigh Cobble points out that the original language is much warmer and more familiar than it sounds in English. “Woman” was a respectful way to address someone, and it’s the same word Jesus uses for Mary from the cross (John 19:26). I believe Jesus already knew what he was going to do, and he was proud of his mom for asking on behalf of someone in distress.

Then John slips in this detail: “When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew)…” (John 2:9).

The servants knew. The people on the lowest rung of the social ladder at that party had the inside scoop.

Move one step up the ladder and you find the bridegroom’s family. They had enough sense of responsibility to throw a marriage feast in keeping with Jewish custom, but running out of wine suggests they weren’t well off. Whether or not they knew it at that moment, they were the direct beneficiaries of the miracle.

Next comes the master of the feast, likely a fairly well-to-do man. He tastes the blessing and stops the celebration to announce it: “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now” (John 2:10). He had probably never experienced such a delightful surprise. The person with the title got the experience, and the people carrying the water jars got the knowledge.

The whole wedding turned into an absolute joy, and it happened because a friend intervened, a mother stepped in, and God the Son moved. People at every level of society were blessed.

And then there’s the temple.

John isn’t concerned with strict chronological order. His gospel was written last of the four, and he likely knew Matthew, Mark, and Luke well. I can easily picture the Holy Spirit prompting John to give us one more critical lens on Jesus’ life, one that hammers on his deity. John’s account is thematic, and right after Cana he shows us one more group: the religious leaders in the temple at Passover. (The other gospels place a temple cleansing in Jesus’ final week. Some scholars think John moved it forward for theological reasons, and others believe Jesus cleansed the temple twice. Either way, John wants us to see it here.)

Every social layer at the wedding experienced the joy of Jesus’ presence. The religious leaders did not. They considered themselves the most pious and important people of all, and they became the targets of his anger. At Cana Jesus served others without drawing attention to himself. In Jerusalem, the leaders were profiting off pilgrims who had come to worship. “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade” (John 2:16). They were blind to their own greed, and they were making it hard for ordinary people to come before God with joy.

Then, in 2:18, they demand a sign. That comes right after John has shown us one they didn’t see.

A chapter break that hides a connection

John closes chapter 2 with what is essentially his thesis: “Jesus… knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man” (John 2:24–25).

The original manuscripts had no chapters or verses. Stephen Langton’s chapter divisions came in the early 1200s. Robert Estienne added verse numbers to the New Testament in 1551, and the Geneva Bible of 1560 was the first English Bible to include both. Those divisions help us find our place, but they can also hide connections.

Here’s one. The very next sentence, John 3:1, reads, “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.” John uses the same Greek word for “man” in both verses. Without the chapter break, it reads as one thought: Jesus knows what is in man, and here is a man. Nicodemus is John’s first example of that claim.

In that nighttime conversation, John lays out the heart of Jesus’ rescue mission: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Then John the Baptist steps aside for the One the Old Testament had been pointing to all along: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

Beyond the boundaries

In chapters 2 and 3, Jesus establishes his message and mission among the Jewish people. In chapter 4, John follows him straight across the boundary lines. The Samaritans weren’t exactly Gentiles. They were a mixed people with partial roots in Israel who worshiped on their own mountain, and the Jews despised them. The woman at the well is stunned: “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) (John 4:9). In one conversation, Jesus crosses ethnic, religious, and social lines. Her whole town ends up declaring that he is “indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:42).

This was paradigm-shifting in the most wonderful way. God’s people had come to see his promises as exclusive, limited to the children of Abraham by bloodline. Jesus blew up that exclusivity. He made it a posture of the heart: “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23). It means an open mind and a willingness to look inward and let God’s Spirit search us and draw us close.

When we do, we know a joy beyond being at a wedding with the best wine ever.

For reflection:

  • Where am I standing at the party: serving and seeing, receiving without knowing, or guarding the temple courts?
  • Is there a “sign” God has already given me that I’ve been too busy or too proud to notice?

Who is on the other side of a boundary I’ve drawn, and what would it look like to ask them for a drink?

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At the River: Obedience, Fire, and the Spirit’s EmpoweringReadings: Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3

Posted in Beautiful Places, Bible Study, Bible Study, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Responsibility, The Father, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Today’s three readings tell the same story from three angles: Jesus coming to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. It’s where His public ministry begins, and it raises questions that have shaped my own walk with God for more than four decades.

The one who prepared the way

John the Baptist had a clear assignment. He preached repentance and baptized those who responded, and the Gospel writers saw him as the fulfillment of what the prophets had foretold. Mark opens his Gospel by joining Malachi and Isaiah together:

“Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'” (Mark 1:2–3, ESV)

John also fit the mold of Elijah. Malachi had promised, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes” (Mal. 4:5), and John’s camel’s hair clothing and leather belt (Mark 1:6) echo Elijah’s own appearance.

So many people wondered whether John himself might be the Messiah. Luke tells us, “As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ…” (Luke 3:15). John was clear: he was not. Someone mightier was coming.

When Jesus showed up

Here’s what strikes me. John had spent his ministry pointing toward Jesus, yet when Jesus actually came to the river, John was surprised:

“John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented.” (Matt. 3:14–15)

Jesus had no sin to repent of. His baptism was not a confession. It was obedience, and the Father’s response was immediate: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17).

My own story of baptism

Christians have long understood baptism in different ways. In infant baptism (paedobaptism), a child is baptized or christened, committed to God with the trust that He will work in that child’s life. In believer’s baptism (credobaptism), a person who has come to recognize their need for God, repented, and received Jesus as Lord and Savior is baptized as an outward sign of that inward change.

I’ve experienced both. I was baptized as a child. But at age 23, I came to see that I’d been living with one foot in the kingdom of God and the other foot stuck out whenever it suited me. In reality, I was living outside of God’s will for my life. So I surrendered. I told the Lord I would follow Him with all that I was, and I meant everything.

Not immediately, but some time after that, I felt a prompting to be baptized by full immersion at my local church. And I obeyed.

That was 43 years ago. I’m still not sure I can fully describe what happened when I surrendered my life to Jesus. The Holy Spirit entered in a way I had never given Him control before. What I do know is this: baptism was a step of obedience I was called to take, and it was a step of obedience Jesus Himself took.

With the Holy Spirit and fire

John told the crowds what Jesus would come to do:

“I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16)

Half of that verse always grabs me: fire. Fire cleanses and purifies, burning away what doesn’t belong. Luke goes on to describe the chaff being burned (Luke 3:17).

The other half, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, is something I have experienced personally. I know that’s somewhat controversial in some circles. For me it has meant the Spirit’s empowerment to lead and direct me as I’ve submitted my mind, my will, and even my tongue to the Lord.

There are times when I pray in languages I do not know. It’s still within my control whether I do so, but when I do, I don’t understand the words. I simply know God is moving and that He is praying through me. Paul wrote, “We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Rom. 8:26). When God pours His Spirit into us, He works in the spiritual realm in ways that have real impact in the natural one.

Different gifts, one Spirit

I want to be careful not to be misunderstood. Not everyone receives the same gifting. Paul said, “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills” (1 Cor. 12:11). Not everyone will pray in other languages.

Some people carry a gift and calling for evangelism that I simply don’t have. I’ve tried! But as I understand it, my calling is to be first and foremost a man of prayer, and the gifting I’ve received lines up with that calling.

What is true for all of us is this: as God’s children, we are connected to Him by His Spirit. He equips us, prepares us, and gives us assignments, carried out through both the natural abilities He has given us and the supernatural gifts of His Spirit. Those gifts are part of the package of belonging to Him.

A question to consider

At the Jordan, Jesus chose obedience, and the heavens opened. So let me ask: What step of obedience is God calling you to take today, and are you willing to let His Spirit, and His fire, have full control?

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Downward Spiral

Posted in Bible Study, God, Holy Spirit, Holy Week, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Spiritual Growth, The Father, tagged , , , , , , , on March 30, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Judges 1-2. Having read through the Bible multiple years now, when we hit Judges, the life of the nation of Israel becomes one or two steps forward and two or three steps backwards. The Bible is one unified story that points to Jesus. But to do that, it also has to describe the reason for Jesus’ coming which is our absolute need for a savior. This is true of us as a society. It is true of me and everyone else individually. As Paul says in the seventh chapter of his letter to the church at Rome – “Woe is me… the good I would do, I don’t do; and that which I know not to do, that is what I do… who will save me from this wretched condition?” The answer is Jesus. What Paul cries out about is demonstrated through Israel in the book of Judges. Israel demonstrates this up and down nature of our humanity through a series of slides into depravity followed by subjugation leading to crying out to God for help. God raises up a leader to rescue them, followed by relative peace that eventually descends into depravity again and the whole process starts over.

There is another layer to the stories in Judges that we might easily miss. In these first two chapters, the narrator gives us a list of all the areas where the Israelites did not drive out the Canaanites who were living there. The people living in the land worshipped other gods. They sacrificed their children. They included various immoral practices into their “worship” such as cult prostitutes. The Lord had clearly said the existing inhabitants must be removed from the land or they would become a snare and trap for the Israelites. We will see this play out in ever-increasing ways through Judges.

There is a direct correlation to the life of a person when they come to Christ. We are to consistently drive out the sin habits that we have developed over our life prior to entering into the saving relationship with Jesus. It is not clean your act up to be saved. It is totally the fact that we are a new creation, and we are to live like it. Through the forgiveness we receive in Jesus and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit living in us, we can live a different life. We are to crucify the flesh or the ways of the old nature.  Every area that we do not deal with will become a foothold for the enemy. Left unaddressed, the foothold becomes a stronghold. Before long, our life will be one of domination by God’s (and ours) enemy because we didn’t deal with the sin habit when the Holy Spirit first revealed it to us.

The solution is simple. Paul shouts it out in Romans 8… Thanks be to God for Jesus! Jesus broke the power of Satan, of sin, as well as the fear of death. Starting with this reality which Jesus purchased for all humanity at the cross, we look to Him and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we reject and pull down every thought, every sin habit that we might once have embraced. We do not let them live and have dominion over us.

As we live into Holy Week this year, we see and we model Jesus’ focus on the Father and the Father’s good plan. Painful though it was, Jesus knew it was God’s way, it was the only way to save us… to save me… to save you. And as His children, He has a good plan beyond our salvation, as good as that is. He wants to sanctify us. He wants us to live in peace. He wants our lives to point to Him. So, we will set our face towards the Father, and we will drive out anything and everything in our life that would turn us away from following Him faithfully.

Help us LORD to crucify everything that is not of you. We desire to live lives surrendered. And we say yes to the active part of surrender… laying down our lives and all lesser loves to embrace you and your ways. To you be the glory faithful Lord, you who entered into Jerusalem knowing what lie before you, knowing that you did not deserve to die such an ignominious death. But you did it for us. You did it for me. Thank you Jesus.

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Choose, Cling, Witness

Posted in Bible Study, Bible Study, God, Holy Week, Jesus Christ, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Trials, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , on March 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Joshua 22-24, The progression here is the plan for every believer and follower of Jesus. We are to choose the Lord. This is not a one-time activity. It is a recurring choice we get to make over and over. This is the essence of faith, choosing the Lord and following Him every day until it is the only thing we know to do.

Now choosing Him is easy when life is good. Life isn’t always good. In fact, there are many times when life is hard. It is in hard times when it is essential that we cling tightly to the LORD. When our children were little, a game they loved to play was to sit on my foot and wrap their arms around my leg while I walked. I remember their giggles and squeals as I would walk around asking my wife if she liked my new shoes. If they did not cling tightly though, they would fall off. This picture comes to mind when I think of clinging. There is such a close personal nature to clinging when I think of this. God is a good, good Father who desires that we hold onto Him, hold onto His promises, hold onto His way of living such that the third word comes into play.

The reality is our lives will be a witness to something. The question is what do we bear witness to? Do we just blend in with the world and its brokenness… its misplaced faith… its fears… its corruption? Or do we bear witness to the living God who is at work transforming our lives day by day, well-made choice by well-made choice. As we choose and as we cling, our lives will reflect the love and goodness of God more and more.

Today is Palm Sunday. Jesus rode into Jerusalem to lots of external fanfare, yet He knew what lie before Him. He saw the cross looming on the near horizon. Living in Roman occupied territory, Jesus had certainly seen the gruesome displays of Roman justice, so He had no illusions about what was coming. Yet He chose to obey. He chose to ride into the coming maelstrom. And He did so clinging to the Father, trusting His plan, trusting His heart. And today, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are the central point of all history, a glorious witness of God’s love and desire that ALL mankind might choose, cling, and bear witness to Him.

Blessed LORD, we choose you today. We cling to you today. LORD, make our lives a faithful witness to your love and goodness to each and every person we meet today. In Jesus’ Name!

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