sarkakaiaima

As of late I have been thinking about words and books. I read a lot—as much as I can make time for. And I have read many books and many articles over the years of formal education courses and the pursuit of my own interests. I could list many authors and many books from whom and from which I have gleaned truly helpful insights; the ability of those authors to paint meaning with words is extraordinary and it is pleasing to read the fruit of their labors. Yet in all these thoughts my attention has been drawn back to Scripture and especially to the Gospel narratives. Why do I return to them again and again? I have read the Bible many times and that in many different English translations. I have studied portions of the biblical text in Hebrew and Greek. I have read commentaries on Scripture by the most learned men (and women) from multiple generations of the Churches’ history. Yet I continue to return to the text of Scripture and especially the Lord’s words and deeds. I can never e...

I was raised in Protestant evangelical churches. By the time I came to confront the claims and teachings of the Lord Jesus I was in high school and I was very aware of how much sin had gripped me. And further I was aware of how much it still gripped me. The focus of so much evangelical spirituality is centered around sin and moral uprightness—which tends to lead people toward the kind of fake religiosity that our Lord condemned in the Jewish religious leaders of that day. In my experience, the leaders attempted to compensate for their emphasis on conversion, striving to live a pure and morally upright life and doctrinal clarity by emphasizing the grace of God towards us. We needed to be reminded constantly how much we were loved and that God was gracious to us because we felt the guilt of sin and the shame that reinforced those feelings of guilt. Since then I have been in evangelical churches that swung over toward the opposite error—of emphasizing God’s willingness to be mer...

Perhaps the most effective means of learning the true value of people and things in life is to lose them. This can also be the most raw and emotionally painful experiences one can go through. Whether one loses a relationship because of repeated and foolish behavior or the brute fist of reality hits one without warning the net effect will be the same. Yours or my life will be permanently altered and what could have been possible in life and the development of relationships is permanently altered. The forms of life ending or life altering events are many: Death, divorce, illness, financial ruin, being victimized by those bent on evil for their own gain and the direct consequences of our choices to do foolish or evil things. No one is immune from trouble but we can learn to be wise and choose God’s way of life rather than the folly of idolatry. The history of the ancient Israelites is a case in point regarding this. Their persistent rebellion and idolatry brought down on them the cu...

            Fear is part of human experience. We all fear something (or many things)—a specific situation or person or task or that which we have no control over (like death or sickness). Life in this world is inherently risky. This is why people invest so much time and money and effort into making everything “safer”. This is also why people have turned to religion—so secure some kind of assurance of a safety net from the visible and invisible forces in this world. The story of Balaam reminds us of the danger we face for simply being disciples and seeking to be faithful in this life. Balaam lived his life in what I call “worldly fear.” He was chiefly concerned with wealth and status and he feared losing these. This is the opposite of “holy fear” that the Holy Spirit develops in those who become disciples of the Lord Jesus. Peter the Apostle described this attitude: “If you call on the Father, who judges each person imparti...

The famous Christian English writer of the last century, G. K. Chesterton, wrote the following. “It is always simple to fall; there are an infinity of angles at which one falls, only one at which one stands. To have fallen into any one of the fads from Gnosticism to Christian Science would indeed have been obvious and tame. But to have avoided them all has been whirling adventure; and in my vision the heavenly chariot flies thundering through the ages, the dull heresies sprawling and prostrate, the wild truth reeling but erect.” ( Orthodoxy ) This is literally true of our bodies. Yet it is even more true of our whole selves as we live in this life. In light of that truth, I want to examine the character Balaam from Scripture and then reflect on the impact of his life example for us who believe. Balaam encountered the living God when the Israelites began to enter the land yet “fell” in the worst way possible after. We want to learn from this unusual incident from Israel’s hist...

The Lord of heaven and earth tests people to see if they have faith. This is one of the most obvious conclusions to draw from the biblical narratives. This testimony stands in sharp contrast to the remarkably strange notion we modern people have that somehow “good” people should be exempt from suffering and hardship. Perhaps this is a symptom of the advanced state of denial of reality within the minds of Americans or perhaps a demonstration of the sense of entitlement we Americans tend to have. I am not sure but I do know that it is a pervasive attitude. This tension between my stubborn will to make life conform to what I imagine to be good (that is, most convenient for me) and the actual constraints which physical needs, responsibilities and my own limitations place upon me was vividly illustrated to me recently. I got into a minor car accident earlier this year. Thank God no one was injured. However, two things stood out in my mind about this incident—one was that I was at fault...

Having studied Scripture and the history of the Christian church for many years, I have concluded that one of the most remarkable changes among Christians involves the Hebrew Scriptures (what Christians have long called the Old Testament). In the earliest centuries the Hebrew Scriptures, specifically through the medium of the Septuagint (a clunky and more literal translation into Greek), were the primary source for study and explanation of the meaning of the Gospel. They asserted that the Gospel explained the meaning of the Scriptures and the Scriptures bore witness to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. The study and use of the Old Testament, along with most of the New Testament documents, as Scripture, became normative at a very early date after the resurrection of the Lord. (I would argue that this was the case certainly by the end of the 1 st century or at the latest into the 2 nd century.) This perspective was important because they took the Lord’s words in Matthew 5:17-20 serious...