Tending the Soil of Your Heart

Posted on March 23, 2025 by Barbara Harper

In Mark 4, Jesus tells a story about different kinds of soil and how they each react to seed. Later, the disciples come to Him privately and ask what the story means.

Jesus said that the seed is the word of God. Some seed in the story fell on the hardened pathway, and birds came and ate the seed. This represents people for whom Satan immediately comes and takes the word from their minds.

Others are like rocky ground. The seed may sprout, but there’s no depth of soil, so the plant dies.

Others are like ground covered with thorns, which represent “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things.” These “choke” the word, so, again, plants can’t grow.

But the good soil is like people who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit.

On first reading this parable, you might get to the end of it and think something like, “Well, that’s that. I feel bad for the people whose hearts didn’t receive the word, but what can you do?”

I don’t think that’s meant to be the end of the story, though. Surely, at the end of our lives when we stand before the Lord, we’ll be responsible for how we heard and received God’s word.

But right now, there’s still time to hear and respond.

The word “hear” is repeated eleven times in this chapter. Twice, Jesus says, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” Then “he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.'” When you listen and respond, you’ll hear more. But if you turn away, you can lose whatever you have heard.

So what do we do if our hearts seem unfruitful, rocky, shallow, or choked by distractions and concerns?

Pray, asking God to search us and change our hearts:

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24).

Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways (Psalm 119:36-37).

Examine ourselves:

Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord! Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven (Lamentations 3:40-41).

Break up our fallow ground:

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea 10:12).

For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns (Jeremiah 4:3).

Fallow ground is unplowed, uncultivated. It needs to be dug into, loosened, aerated, so seed can grow down deep. The Hosea passage goes on to talk about plowing iniquity and trusting in one’s own way. Jeremiah adds, “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts.” We need to get rid of anything we know is standing between us and the Lord.

Don’t harden your heart.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years (Hebrews 3:7-9; also verses 13 and 15 and 4:7; also Psalm 95:8).

Other passages associate hardened hearts with pride, unbelief, willfulness, and disobedience.

God would not have said “Don’t harden your hearts” if there was no hope. We can ask Him to soften us and help us to repent of our unbelief and pride. Hebrews 3:13 says, “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” If we haven’t been listening to that exhortation, it’s a good time to start.

Pull out the weeds.

“The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful (Mark 4:19).

This reminds me of the man we call the “rich young ruler” in Mark 10. He came to Jesus asking what he could do to inherit eternal life, thinking he had a pretty good chance since he kept the commandments. But Jesus told him to sell all he had, give it to the poor, and follow Him. Jesus does not call everyone to do this, but he knew this man loved his possessions too much. The man went away sorrowing rather than obeying.

Jesus remarked how difficult it was for a wealthy person to be saved–more difficult than a camel going through the eye of a needle. Astonished, the disciples wondered who then could be saved. Jesus said it was impossible with man, but not with God. Because of what Jesus said here, and the man’s sorrowfulness, and the fact that the text says Jesus loved him, I have hope that this man eventually did repent and turn to God.

But riches and possessions aren’t the only “thorns” that can choke the word. The cares of this world can distract us as well, like John Bunyan’s muckraker in The Pilgrim’s Progress, who wouldn’t look up from his busyness to see the hand of mercy extended to him.

Jesus warned that the desire for other things can distract us from His word as well. Five seconds after we die, we’ll realize that whatever we were holding onto wasn’t worth it. “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?” (Mark 8: 36-37).

Sometimes the rocks or weeds in our hearts are intellectual. A woman in one of our former churches had been a biology major, and her biggest obstacle to salvation was her belief in evolution. One doesn’t have to believe in creation rather than evolution to be saved, but evolution was a hindrance to this particular woman’s faith. When God opened her heart to believe in His creation, she was able to believe in Him for salvation as well.

Likewise, Lee Strobel (author of The Case for Christ) and Viggo Olsen (Daktar) didn’t believe in God because they didn’t believe in things like the Bible’s reliability or the resurrection of Christ. Both men set out to disprove Christianity. But each became believers when they researched the truth. What we call apologetics (“the study and practice of giving answers for the reasonableness and truth of the Christian faith,” as defined by Answers in Genesis), is not in itself the gospel, but it can pave the way for the gospel by removing intellectual obstacles.

Read the Bible.

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple (Psalm 119:130).

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).

Even if you don’t believe the Bible yet, or you’re not sure, God can speak to you through scripture and open your heart to Him.

If you don’t know the Lord, I pray you’ll leave no stone unturned to come to Him, and that He’ll give you understanding, repentance, and faith.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Why Doesn’t God Heal Everyone?

Posted on March 16, 2025 by Barbara Harper

One of the greatest mysteries we grapple with is why God heals some people, but not others. A friend and I were discussing this recently. As usual, my thoughts continued long after our conversation, so I decided to share them here.

A few years ago, our pastor announced in June that he had liver and pancreatic cancer. He was gone before the end of summer. He was in his prime, pastoring a church with a love for his people that I have rarely seen matched. Two of his daughters got married that summer, and he was able to walk them both down the aisle. But he would have been a terrific grandfather in the coming years. He seemed to have so many years of usefulness left, it was puzzling that God took him home.

Another former pastor’s grandson underwent an excruciating battle with leukemia, which he eventually lost despite hundreds of people’s prayers.

Others experience disabilities for the rest of their lives, either from birth or from an accident or illness.

We can never know all of God’s reasons for what He allows. But here are a few:

We live in a fallen world affected by sin, so there will be illnesses and death until God redeems the earth. Christians aren’t exempt from these effects of the fall.

None of us is guaranteed a long life. We need to be ready for eternity.

God’s perspective. A seemingly early death is not a tragedy to God: it’s a head start on heaven as He welcomes His loved one home.

God enables us to minister to others through what we suffer. Joni Eareckson Tada has been paralyzed since a diving accident fifty-seven years ago. I don’t know of anyone who has done more to help the disabled community, bring awareness of what disabled people suffer, and glorify God in the midst of suffering. Those things probably would not have happened without her accident. When she speaks, we listen, because we know she has proven what she’s speaking about. She’s not mouthing empty platitudes or theories.

God’s strength is displayed through our weakness. Paul famously prayed three times for God to remove an affliction from him. But God answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

Healing was not Jesus’ primary purpose. Jesus healed multitudes of people during His time on earth. He demonstrated compassion and power as He did so. But He said His purpose was to preach the gospel (Mark 2:32-39).

God’s glory displayed. When the disciples asked whether a man’s sins or those of his parents caused his blindness, Jesus said, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” John 9:1-7). Similarly, when Jesus received the news that Lazarus was sick, he said, “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:1-4).

Jesus wasn’t grandstanding. He wanted to show people who He was so they could believe.

Since Jesus is glorified through healing, it’s even more puzzling that He would not heal everyone. But sometimes He is glorified more by displaying His grace through His people’s trials, as He did in Joni and Paul’s lives.

Suffering strengthens and develops us. The apostle Paul wrote, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Trials keep us dependent upon the Lord. We always are dependent on God, but sometimes we forget. Sometimes we need His help in areas other people never think about, but that continual dependence is a good reminder that our strength comes from Him. Paul said his “thorn in the flesh” was given so that he might not become conceited over the revelations that had been given to him.

Suffering prepares us for glory. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” Paul is not being dismissive when he calls our afflictions “light.” He’s saying that they’ll seem light compared to the glory to come.

Though all of these factors help at times, they don’t satisfy at other times. I’ve been ministered to by what Amy Carmichael wrote in Rose From Brier (emphasis mine):

But, though, indeed, we know that pain nobly born strengthens the soul, knits hearts together, leads to unselfish sacrifice (and we could not spare from our lives the Christ of the Cross), yet, when the raw nerve in our own flesh is touched, we know, with a knowledge that penetrates to a place which these words cannot reach, that our question is not answered. It is only pushed farther back, for why should that be the way of strength, and why need hearts be knit together by such sharp knitting needles, and who would not willingly choose relief rather than the pity of the pitiful?

…What, then, is the answer? I do not know. I believe that it is one of the secret things of the Lord, which will not be opened to us till we see Him who endured the Cross, see the scars in His hands and feet and side, see Him, our Beloved, face to face. I believe that in that revelation of love, which is far past our understanding now, we shall “understand even as all along we have been understood.”

And till then? What does a child do whose mother or father allows something to be done which it cannot understand? There is only one way of peace. It is the child’s way. The loving child trusts.

I believe that we who know our God, and have proved Him good past telling, will find rest there. The faith of the child rests on the character it knows. So may ours, so shall ours. Our Father does not explain, nor does He assure us as we long to be assured… But we know our Father. We know His character. Somehow, somewhere, the wrong must be put right; how we do not know, only we know that, because He is what He is, anything else is inconceivable. For the word sent to the man whose soul was among lions and who was soon to be done to death, unsuccored, though the Lord of Daniel was so near, is fathomless: “And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.”

There is only one place we can receive, not an answer to our questions, but peace — that place is Calvary. An hour at the foot of the Cross steadies the soul as nothing else can. “O Christ beloved, Thy Calvary stills all our questions.” Love that loves like that can be trusted about this.

Perhaps we wouldn’t be able to understand even if God did explain why He allows such severe pain and loss. But the more we know Him, the better we can trust Him. Like the psalmists, we can pour out our anguish to Him, then remind ourselves of His love and mercy and care for us.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Let the Humbleness of Jesus Deflate Our Pride

Posted on March 9, 2025 by Barbara Harper

It’s strange that we’re so prone to pride. We didn’t create ourselves; we have nothing that we weren’t given. “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (! Corinthians 4:7).

Even when we do something for the Lord, we have to be careful of wanting notice and praise.

It’s not wrong to want to please our loved ones or to know whether we’ve done a good job. C. S. Lewis clarified in Mere Christianity: “Pleasure in being praised is not Pride. The child who is patted on the back for doing a lesson well, the woman whose beauty is praised by her lover, the saved soul to whom Christ says, ‘Well done,’ are pleased and ought to be. For here the pleasure lies not in what you are but in the fact that you have pleased someone you wanted (and rightly wanted) to please. The trouble begins when you pass from thinking, ‘I have pleased him; all is well,’ to thinking, ‘What a fine person I must be to have done it.'”

I’m not sure if pride is one of Satan’s temptations because that seems to be his first sin, or because he knows it is one of the things God hates most (Proverbs 8:13).

Or maybe we wrestle with pride because of our flesh, what the Bible calls “the old man,” which is in rebellion to God. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Galatians 5:17).

Looking up passages about pride and humility are a big help in keeping the right perspective. But recently I heard another avenue of thinking that shed new light.

I had the radio on earlier than usual one morning and caught part of a program called Glad Tidings with J. Allen Blair about pride. He pointed out the insidious nature of pride and the fact that we can’t overcome it without Christ. He shared Philippians 2:5-8:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

To have His mindset, to humble ourselves like He did, Mr. Blair pointed out several aspects of Jesus’ humility contrasted with areas we usually take pride in:

Pride of birth. When Jesus came back to His hometown, people said, “‘Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?’ And they took offense at him” (Matthew 13:55-57).

Pride of wealth. Jesus said of Himself, “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58).

Pride of respectability. It was said of Jesus, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46).

Pride of personal appearance. “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2).

Pride of reputation. Jesus was said to be “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19).

Pride of learning. People asked about Jesus, “How has this man become learned, not having been educated?” (John 7:15, NASB).

Pride of superiority. Jesus said, “I am among you as the one who serves’ (Luke 22:27).

Pride of success. Jesus “came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11).

Pride of ability. Jesus said, “I can of mine own self do nothing” (John 5:30).

Pride of self-will. Jesus said, “I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:30).

Pride of intellect. Jesus said, “As the Father taught me, I speak these things” (John 8:28).

Pride of death. Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).

If anyone ever had a right to be proud, it would be Jesus. But Mr. Blair points out that “There is no trace of pride in Him.”

2 Corinthians 3:18 says that as we behold Christ, we’re changed to be like Him.

When we’re tempted to have an inflated view of ourselves and our accomplishments, let’s look at Christ.

He’s the Lord of glory, but He described himself as “gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29).

He didn’t demand accolades. He “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). He served, healed, taught, and put up with unbelief and gossip.

He left the glories of heaven, took on a human body, and came to a world that was opposed to Him. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

He gave Himself to die on the cross for our sins and rise again to defeat death. “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,” considered one of the most shameful kinds of deaths (Philippians 2:8).

May we have His mind, His humility, His focus on serving others at great cost to Himself.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Defeating the Devil

Posted on March 2, 2025 by Barbara Harper

C. S. Lewis wrote to a friend, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”

When I first became a Christian and hadn’t developed a lot of discernment yet, I came across books about “spiritual warfare” that embodied the second view. They scared me rather than helping. I had an almost superstitious fear of the devil.

The February 25 reading of Daily Light on the Daily Path shared a collection of verses dealing with Satan, embodying things I had learned about him over the years. I thought I’d use them as a base and expand on them.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 2:11, “We would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” It helps to learn about an enemy and his tactics. But that doesn’t mean we need to study the occult. I once read a Christian fiction book about rescuing someone from a satanic cult that went into far more detail than I needed to know. I was troubled by some of that information for a long time.

The Bible tells us Satan’s tricks.

Accuses. Revelation 12:10 calls Satan “the accuser of our brothers . . . who accuses them day and night before our God.” We see this in the first chapter of Job. When God points out “my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil,” Satan responds that Job only serves God because of His blessings. Satan suggests that if God took away what He had given Job, Job would curse God. The rest of the book disproves Satan’s accusations. God knew Job would be faithful. But he had things to do in Job’s heart and ours by what He allowed Job to endure.

But what if Satan’s accusations are right? What if we failed in an area where we promised to change? What if we committed the same sin we repented of yesterday?

Romans 8:33-35 and 37-39 tells us:

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Questions God’s Word. When Satan talked with Eve in the garden of Eden, he asked, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Yes, God did say that. But when Satan questions what God has said, we sometimes start questioning, too.

Contradicts God’s Word. After questioning God’s Word in Genesis 3, Satan flat out contradicts it.

Misrepresents God and His Word. Satan planted in Eve’s mind that God had ulterior motives for keeping Adam and Eve from the forbidden fruit. When Satan tempted Jesus in Matthew 4, he quoted Scripture out of context and misapplied it. Peter wrote that “There are some things in [Paul’s writings] that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16).

Lies. Jesus said Satan “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Satan lies about us to God, about God to us, and about everyone and everything else.

Pretends to be an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11: 13-15 tells us, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” Most of the books of the Bible warn about false prophets and false teachers.

Murders. Jesus said Satan “was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). I think Satan must be behind mass murders even if the murderers don’t consciously follow or acknowledge Satan. Who else would inspire people to kill so many others?

But the Bible also links hatred with murder (Matthew 5:21-22 and 1 John 3:15). Jen Wilkin comments on this in Ten Words to Live By, her book about the Ten Commandments.:

Is Jesus adding to the law by broadening our attention from murder to anger and contempt? By no means. He is pointing out the seedling that grows into the thorny vine that chokes out life. He is appealing to us to fastidiously weed the garden of our personal holiness. He is teaching that if every person dealt with anger quickly and rightly, there would be no need for the sixth [commandment] at all (p. 94).

First, I am angry with you in response to a hurt. Next, I begin to question your character with an insult. Then, I begin to question your worth as a person. As anger degrades into contempt, the personhood of another is devalued (p. 93).

How then do we defeat Satan?

Awareness. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Prayer. “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41),

Resist him. “Resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:9).

Submit to God. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

Put on God’s armor in Ephesians 6:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

Know God’s Word. The “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” and prayer are the only offensive spiritual weapons given to us. Jesus responded to each of Satan’s temptations with Scripture. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” Whether wrong thoughts about God are whispered into our hearts, or we’re reading something false about God, we counteract those thoughts with the truth of God’s Word.

Live for God, by His grace. “Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Ephesians 5:8b-11). “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). The passage goes on to say that if you used to steal, now work to give to those in need, use edifying rather than corrupting speech, and so on. Don’t just focus on what you’re not supposed to do: actively do the right thing.

Look for the way of escape. “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13). Too often I look for ways to justify what I want to do rather than looking for a way to avoid temptation.

Don’t give Satan a foothold. “Give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27). This may involve being careful about what we read and watch and where we go.

I don’t go looking for the devil behind every trouble. Once, when discussing a misunderstanding with a neighbor, she blamed the devil for our lack of communication. But the problem was in our human failures. I don’t give the devil more credit than he is due.

I don’t rebuke him: I leave that to God, like the archangel Michael did. “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you'” (Jude 9).

Satan is stronger than I am, but God is stronger than Satan. “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

When We’re Shaken

Posted on February 23, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I was sitting at my desk one day when suddenly the floor felt like it was vibrating. The windows rattled. Confused, I looked around the house to see if anything was shaking or swaying. Within just a few minutes, the rattling and vibrating stopped, and everything went back to normal.

I did a quick check online, and, sure enough, what I suspected was true: our area was right on the edge of a distant earthquake. My Facebook feed was filled with posts asking, “Did you all feel that?” *

Even though this was a very small sampling of an earthquake, it was enough to be disconcerting. Questions flooded my mind:

What’s happening?

Is this for real?

What do I do?

How long is this going to last?

How bad will it be?

Is it going to happen again?

Our area is more prone to tornadoes, so we have an action plan when tornado warnings sound. We know to get into an inner room of the house that doesn’t have windows. But, not ever having experienced an earthquake before, I had no idea what the protocol was.

We have some of the same questions when our world is shaken. An unexpected diagnosis, a car wreck, a lost job, a house fire, a broken relationship–any of these and other scenarios can send us reeling. At first, we might be paralyzed with disbelief or confusion. Then when reality sets in, so does the pain. How are we ever going to put our world back together?

King David wrote many psalms during various kinds of trouble. In Psalm 62, David is being attacked and lied about. In verse 2, he prays, “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.”

A few verses later, he says, “He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.“

I love that David goes from not being greatly shaken to more firmly and confidently declaring, “I shall not be shaken.”

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, ““Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:46-49).

Hearing and obeying God’s Word builds our lives on the bedrock of truth. We’d all probably admit to being shaken to some degree in the face of devastating news. But when we remind ourselves of the truth of God’s Word about who our God is, how much He loves us, how powerful and kind and wise He is, we can leave everything in His hands. Whatever He allows, He goes through with us. He promises to be with us and meet our needs.

Samuel Rutherford said, “Believe God’s word and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences. Your Rock is Christ, and it is not the Rock which ebbs and flows, but your sea.”

Many Bible verses refer to God’s final judgment of the earth as a violent shaking. The writer of Hebrews says:

This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe (Hebrews 12:27-28).

C. H. Spurgeon said of this passage in the June 22 reading of Morning and Evening:

We have many things in our possession at the present moment which can be shaken, and it ill becomes a Christian man to set much store by them, for there is nothing stable beneath these rolling skies; change is written upon all things. Yet, we have certain ‘things which cannot be shaken,’ and I invite you this evening to think of them, that if the things which can be shaken should all be taken away, you may derive real comfort from the things that cannot be shaken, which will remain.

This seems like a paltry illustration, but it reminds me a bit of the machine that shakes live Christmas trees before someone wraps them up and ties them to the top of your car. The shaking gets rid of the dried needles, pine cones, dust, and bugs, so you’re only taking home your lovely tree.

Sometimes God shakes up our lives to let the wasteful, harmful, or needless stuff loose. When we’re shaken, we begin to clarify what’s true and what’s important.

Psalm 46:1-3 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” Seeing mountains fall into the sea sounds pretty scary to me. But with God as our refuge and strength, we stand on firm ground even then. The psalmist concludes this psalm with, “‘Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!’ The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.“

I love how the song “Still, My Soul, Be Still” by the Gettys and Stuart Townend incorporates these truths. They urge listeners, “Hold onto His ways, With shield of faith” and “Do not forsake The Truth you learned in the beginning.” The chorus repeats the prayer:

God, You are my God,
And I will trust in You and not be shaken.
Lord of peace, renew
A steadfast spirit within me
To rest in You alone.

It can be troubling when our world is shaken. But when God is our rock, we’ll be secure.

*This earthquake occurred a few years ago, not recently.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

He Knows My Name

Posted on February 16, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I was named for two aunts. My mother’s sister was Barbara Ann, and my father’s youngest sister was Lora Lee. So I became Barbara Lee. I supposed I could have ended up with Lora Ann, or a name from another aunt, Faye Elisabeth, whose name was the same as my grandmother’s.

From time to time as I grew up, interest arose in name meanings. My friends were always tickled to discover that my first name, Barbara, means “stranger.” I’d hear good-natured comments the speakers thought were witty, like, “Yeah, you’re the strangest friend I have.”

When I was taking a class in some New Testament epistles in college, the teacher said something like, “I don’t know if we have any Barbaras in here . . . ” (at which point everyone who knew me looked at me), “but the name Barbara comes from the word barbarian.” He said “barbarian” arose from how Greeks described foreigners, whose language sounded like “bar bar” to them.

I loved my aunts and didn’t mind my name. I don’t think my parents had name meanings in mind when they named me. But after I became a Christian I was encouraged to discover the concept of being a stranger in the Bible.

In Ephesians 2, Paul writes that we were “strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace . . .” Through the cross, He reconciled us to Himself, so when we believe on Jesus Christ, we “are no longer strangers and aliens.” The Getty’s hymn, “Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven,” puts it this way:

Jesus, laid in a lowly manger,
Facing a world of dangers,
Come to turn me a stranger
Into a child of God.

Isaac Watts’ hymn, “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need,” captures this beautifully in the last stanza.

The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days;
O may Thy house be mine abode,
And all my work be praise!
There would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger, nor a guest,
But like a child at home.

When we were at home in a world that doesn’t know God, we were strangers to Him. But once we became His children, then we also became strangers to the world. Hebrews 11 says the people listed there “all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (verse 13). This world is not the ultimate home of believers. We seek to do good and enjoy God’s gifts and shine as lights for Him here, but ultimately, we “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (verse 16). C. S. Lewis put it this way in The Problem of Pain: “Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.”

As strangers here, 1 Peter 2:11 urges us “to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” This urging follows the verses that say believers are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Because we have become God’s people through faith, we live and act differently from what we used to.

Deuteronomy 10:18-19 really elevated my name in my eyes: “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner [stranger], giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner [stranger], therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”

In Bible times, name meanings were special. People were given names according to character traits they either had, or that parents hoped they would have.

God often changed a person’s name in the Bible after a significant encounter with God. Thus Abram (“exalted father”) became Abraham (“father of many nations”). Jacob (“planter or deceiver”) became Israel (“prince with God”). Simon (“hearing”) became Peter (“rock”).

Revelation 2:17 contains an interesting situation: “To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

This is the only place where such a white stone is mentioned in the Bible. Some sources say ancient jurors cast white stones for a “not guilty” verdict or a black stone for “guilty.”

Some say the stone hearkens back to the breastplate the high priest wore which contains twelve jewels with the twelve tribes of Israel inscribed upon them. The high priest brought the names of the tribes before God as he ministered. So Jesus bears our names before the Father.

GotQuestions.org poses this as the best theory:

The best theory regarding the meaning of the white stone probably has to do with the ancient Roman custom of awarding white stones to the victors of athletic games. The winner of a contest was awarded a white stone with his name inscribed on it. This served as his “ticket” to a special awards banquet. According to this view, Jesus promises the overcomers entrance to the eternal victory celebration in heaven. The “new name” most likely refers to the Holy Spirit’s work of conforming believers to the holiness of Christ.

Jesus said of a good shepherd “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out’ (John 10:3). Then He said, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me” (verse 14).

Imagine–the God of the universe, who made and knows millions (billions? trillions?) of people, knows our name. Those who know Him will receive a new name in heaven known only between Him and them.

I don’t know what my new name will be. But I am immeasurably thankful to be known and loved by God.

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out (John 10:3).

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Do You Know How Much God Loves You?

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Barbara Harper

As I grew up, some people emphasized God’s love to the extreme of discounting His wrath or justice. For that reason, some churches tended not to talk about the love of God so much except in that He loved us enough to send His Son to die for our sins. We sang about God’s love in our hymns. We read about it in our Bible studies. But God seemed to be presented as a stern judge rather than a loving Father.

The more I read the Bible, though, the more God’s love seems to be foundational to our Christian lives.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians that “according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16-19).

And then he writes, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (verses 20-21). We apply those verses to all kinds of things, but think what it means in the context of knowing God’s love. The love of Christ “surpasses knowledge”–is more than we can fathom. Yet God inspired Paul to pray that we might know His love.

How does knowing God loves us affect our lives?

God loved us even before we came to Him.

We tend to think God will love us once we get cleaned up. But Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Similarly, Ephesians 2:4-6 tells us, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

God loved us enough to send His Son to bear our sins.

““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). Isaiah 38:17 puts it this way: “In love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.”

God’s love draws us to Him.

When I first began to hear the gospel, I knew I was in trouble, because I knew I was a sinner. But I would have been afraid to come to God if I didn’t know that He loved me. His law convicted me, but it was His love that drew me to Him. Hosea writes that God “drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love” (11:4, NKJV). James Grindly Small expanded on this thought in the hymn, “I’ve Found a Friend”:

I’ve found a Friend, O such a Friend!
He loved me ere I knew Him;
He drew me with the cords of love,
And thus He bound me to Him;
And round my heart still closely twine
Those ties which naught can sever,
For I am His, and He is mine,
Forever and forever.

God’s love keeps us secure.

In college, a friend and I were listening to the hymn, “O Love That Wilt not Let Me Go.” She commented that the song title seemed odd. But it’s not if you’ve ever felt unsure of someone’s love. Even the best human love will fail us at times. But God says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).

God’s love sustains us.

Knowing how deeply God loves us will sustain us when, like Job, we’re going through trials that don’t make sense. We may not feel God’s love in those movements. But when we know His character through His Word and we know His love, we can rest in the fact that He has a purpose in what He allows and He will keep us.

God’s love disciplines us.

A mother who never disciplines her child or tells him “no” might feel she is the most loving parent in the world. But she’s not: she’s impairing her child. He will never learn self-discipline or self-control if he’s never been taught to deny himself and yield to another. He probably won’t get along well with others and may have trouble holding a job.

We mentioned the disconnect some have between God’s love and His wrath. Yet everyone who loves another hates what would harm his loved one. God knows sin is harmful to us, so he disciplines us like a loving parent. “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:5-6).

God’s love comforts us.

David wrote in Psalm 31:7: “I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul.” The writer of Lamentations adds: “My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Hymnwriter Frank E. Graeff captured these truths in “Does Jesus Care?”

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth or song;
As the burdens press, and the cares distress,
And the way grows weary and long?

O yes, He cares- I know He cares!
His heart is touched with my grief;
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares.

God’s love sparks our love to Him.

1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.” I don’t think that’s just the order of events, although it’s true that He loved us first. But His love creates a response of love in us. Romans 5:5 says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

God’s love helps us love others.

When God sheds His love abroad in our hearts, it spills over to others. Consequently, 1 John 4:20-21 says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.“

I’ve shared this many times before, but I’ve always been inspired by a missionary who struggled with loving those in her charge. Every time she saw her failures and thought, “I need to be more loving,” she grew more discouraged by more failure. But when she began to meditate on God’s love for her, she began to act in love towards others, so much that people commented on the change in her.

God’s love enables us to live for Him.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” When you love someone, you want to please them. 1 John 5:2-3 says we not only keep His commandments because we love Him, but we don’t find them burdensome.

How can we mediate on God’s love for us?

Verses like these can remind us just how much God loves us:

“How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 36:7).

“But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Psalm 86:15).

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1a).

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me” (Isaiah 49:15-16).

“‘For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:10).

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Songs based on Scripture help us fill our minds with the truth of God’s love:

Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus—
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free—
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me
Is the current of His love—
Leading onward, leading homeward
To His glorious rest above.
—S. Trevor Francis

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
–Frederick M. Lehman, 1917

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Loving-kindness as the flood;
When the Prince of Life, my ransom,
Shed for me his precious blood.
Who his love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing his praise?
He shall never be forgotten,
Through Heav’n’s everlasting days

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide,
Through the flood-gates of God’s mercy,
Flowed the vast and gracious tide;
Grace and love, like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above,
And God’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.
–William Rees

Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know;
Spirit, breathing from above,
Thou hast taught me it is so.
Oh, this full and perfect peace!
Oh, this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease,
I am His, and He is mine.
–George Wade Robinson

Though it’s wonderful to feel love, love is not just a feeling. Whatever the circumstances in our lives, we can rest in the fact that God loves us.

These truths are just a sampling. The more I studied this topic, the more I found, and my heart was warmed even further.

In what ways has God’s love helped you? What verses or hymns help you rest in God’s love?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Time Alone with God

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Barbara Harper

One of my college roommates didn’t seem to be able to study alone. Often, when I came back to my dorm room after dinner, I’d find a group of girls studying (and talking and laughing) with my roommate. A roommate’s study group in my room meant I had to find another quiet place to study. I’m the type that can’t concentrate when there is noise and commotion in the room.

I knew students who couldn’t seem to go to lunch or the bookstore or much of anywhere without a companion.

Of course, the opposite is true of some. I liked to go many places (other than lunch) alone because it was more efficient. If you have three or four girls running errands together, it’s going to take three or four times as long to get done. But sometimes the fellowship is worth the extra time. We need a balance of time alone and time with others.

The same is true in the church. The last several years, I have seen an emphasis on community among believers, along with reminders that we’re not “lone rangers.”

While that emphasis is needed, I feel some take it too far. Some say we were never meant to read God’s Word alone, but in community. It’s true that for many years, people didn’t have their own copies of the Scriptures. All they had was what was shared and discussed when they gathered together. But that doesn’t mean no one should ever read the Bible alone now.

One writer said the preaching time at church is our main spiritual meal. I’m not sure what she based that conclusion on. It’s a vital part of our Christian life, but meeting God alone is vital as well. In fact, though I learn a lot and have been convicted during church and Bible studies, I think the main time I do serious business with God is home alone when I can process what I have heard.

Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior are part of God’s family. Yet we don’t relate to Him only as “one of the kids.”

God knew us individually before we were born. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jeremiah 1:5; see also Psalm 139:13-16).

God knows us by name. “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3).

God knows our thoughts. “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139:1-4).

God knows our ways. “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds” (Jeremiah 17:10).

Even the number of our hairs is known by Him. “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” Luke 12:6-7).

We’ll each give account of ourselves personally to God. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

The psalms in the Bible are songs which were sung by the children of Israel. Some of them have plural pronouns, but many have personal pronouns. That means even though the congregation is singing about the truths of the passage together, the passage was written by someone’s experience with the Lord alone. Those singing can take those truths into their own individual relationship with the Lord.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears (Psalm 34:4).

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. (Psalm 40:2).

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me (Psalm 63:5-8).

I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words. My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise (Psalm 119:147-148).

God spoke to individuals as well as groups. Many New Testament letters were written to individuals (Luke, Acts, Titus, Philemon, 1 and 2 Timothy) as well as churches.

Saints of old had some of their most meaningful encounters with God alone.

Moses met with God alone many times.

David “encouraged himself in the Lord” (1 Samuel 30:6) when the men of Israel were ready to stone him.

Joseph spent years as the only apparent believer in the one true God when he was a slave in Egypt. His witness spread to others. But he had to remind himself of God’s truth on his own.

Two turning-point meetings with God in Jacob’s life happened when he was alone.

Daniel had friends of the same faith, but he faced the lion’s den alone, received visions alone, and prayed alone.

Paul ministered with companions but sometimes was alone.

Jesus dealt with crowds of people yet sought His Father alone.

In Revelation 2:17, God says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

Spurgeon wrote in the October 12 reading from Morning and Evening, “There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in His service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. “

Elisabeth Elliot wrote in On Asking God Why, “Few people know what to do with solitude when it is forced upon them; even fewer arrange for solitude regularly. This is not to suggest that we should neglect meeting with other believers for prayer (Hebrews 10:25), but the foundation of our devotional life is our own private relationship with God. . . . Christians may (and ought to) pray anytime and anywhere, but we cannot well do without a special time and place to be alone with God.”

We’re to meet together frequently (Hebrews 10:25), “stir one another up to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24), learn from the incredible gifts God gave to the church in pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11-13), sing worshipful, Scripture-based songs together (Colossians 3:16).

Time with other believers learning God’s Word is vital and wonderful. I learn much from the observations of others. But we only meet together once or twice a week. The Bible is our spiritual food, and we need to eat more than that.

Our time alone with God should feed into our time with others, and our time in the Word together should edify our inner souls and equip us in our daily walk.

We often tell unbelievers that Christianity is not a religion, but a personal relationship with God. Relationships are developed with communication and interaction. God loves and cares about us individually as well as a body of believers. We don’t have to pit time alone with God against time with Him as a group. We need both.

(After I wrote a portion of this post, I searched my blog and saw I had written on this topic a couple of times before. So I pulled excerpts from both of those posts into this one.)

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

When Habits Hinder Rather Than Help

Posted on January 26, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Someone has said that if you don’t make a plan, all you have is a wish. When we want to establish spiritual disciplines or meet a need at church, we set up routines or programs.

But then sometimes those routines themselves can get in the way of meeting needs.

I see this on several levels:

We follow routine and forget purpose.

To try to be more self-disciplined, we establish habits to aid in godliness, like regular times of reading the Bible or prayer, church attendance, etc. And that’s a good thing. But we all know what it is to have days when we’re just going through the motions, when our eyes are dragging across the page. We check “Have devotions” off our list of things to do but haven’t really engaged with the text or been affected spiritually. Or we “feel spiritual” if we’ve crossed that duty off or don’t “feel spiritual” if we haven’t.

Sometimes we feel we can’t stop and ponder a passage of Scripture because we need to get through our planned reading for the day.

One book I read on Bible study strongly emphasized application. That’s good: Jesus said to be doers, not just hearers. This author recommended specific, measurable results. For instance, instead of saying “I need to pray more,” he advocated praying for a certain number of minutes, and then slowly increasing the time.

That may be a good beginning. But it seems to me that the more natural approach would be to list things to pray about–usually once we get started, the list increases. Another idea would be to study prayers of the Bible, like Colossians 1:9-14.

Likewise, if we read about loving our neighbor, we might take them a plate of cookies or shovel snow from their sidewalk and think, “There! I’ve loved my neighbor today.” But then we forget about the need to love our neighbor when he forgets to return a tool or plays loud music at midnight.

It’s not that measurable results are wrong, but they are only one aspect of applying Scripture. Sometimes measurable responses can lead to outward actions without accompanying inward change. Sometimes we need to carry the truth we learned, like loving our neighbor, with us all through the day and pray for grace to implement it when it’s difficult.

We seek formulas rather than truth.

We’ve all seen clickbait titles like How to Be a Better Wife in Three Easy Steps or Follow These Steps to Curb Your Temper. Many raised children according to the plan of the day and were surprised to find their children did not respond in the expected way.

I saw a post sharing a routine for visiting the sick. But every sick person might not have the same needs. And if they sense we’re just going through a script, they are not going to feel ministered to.

I’ve sometimes gotten good results (or so I thought) by praying a certain way in a particular situation, only to have that prayer not “work” the next time that situation arose. I finally learned God doesn’t work by formulas, because then we trust in formulas and not Him. He wants our hearts.

Our routine hinders our purpose.

One church we visited had a greeting time during the service. No one interacted with us or even looked at us until the greeting time. Then, while someone played the piano, everyone smiled, shook hands, and spoke to visitors. But as soon as the music stopped, it was like someone flipped a switch, and everyone closed up again.

Other examples: we feel like our obligation to witness is fulfilled when we go to our church’s visitation night. Or, because our church has official greeters at the door, we feel no one else needs to greet visitors. Or we don’t pick up trash on the floor because someone is paid to do that.

Once when we were visiting my husband’s parents, a couple of women from church came by to see my mother-in-law. They brought a plant and card and conversed for a few minutes. When my mother-in-law thanked them profusely, one of the women said, “Well, you were on our list today.” My mother-in-law never discussed the comment, but I felt it deflated any good feelings about the visit since it seemed to be only motivated by a list.

We try to force results.

Bible study leaders naturally want people to participate. But we had a pair of leaders who felt everyone had to say something every time. If you didn’t speak up, they were going to make you! So instead of interaction and conversation happening naturally, the quieter people felt nervous, on edge, or put on the spot.

Small group leaders want people to “go deep” in their conversations and relationships, so some have “turn to your neighbor and bare your heart on command” sessions instead of letting those opportunities arise in a more natural way.

Or would-be mentors feel they need to work through an artificial list of probing questions instead of developing a personal relationship with their mentee.

We don’t think we can change what we do.

For years, I followed the same Bible reading plan because it was what I was taught. It took years to realize that there are many ways to engage with the Bible, and changing things up helped me stay engaged and see new things in the Word.

For many years, churches in my area had Sunday evening services at 7 o’clock. Then one church changed their service time to 6. It was amazing how many conversations there were about whether that change was right or wise. Eventually, other churches did the same. These days, I am happy to see a variety of services in churches, like small groups in the afternoon or lunch together after the morning service and a short time together before everyone goes home. But forty years ago, those solutions would have been unheard of.

Some programs are useful for a while, but fizzle out after a time. It’s vain to keep them just because “that’s what we’ve always done.”

Routines have a purpose.

It’s true, sometimes we need systems and routines because we don’t always “feel like” doing what we need to. A former pastor once said that one of his best times of prayer occurred when he had to start by confessing to the Lord that he didn’t feel like praying. Sometimes just doing what we should whether we feel like it or not is the first step to feeling like it.

But we should seek God’s grace to serve not just out of duty, and not to check off all the designated boxes, but with a right heart. The mechanics of ministry and spiritual disciplines are tools, but not the main focus, not the end-all of our efforts.

Our ministry isn’t boxed into a particular time, place, or group of people. Our programs don’t take care of all of our obligations. There is a sense in which we should always be “on,” always ready to serve. Even if there are official greeters at church, we can greet people when we see them or help a confused visitor find the right class. Even if there is someone designated to send cards to sick Sunday School class members, we can send one, too. If God has placed on our hearts that we need to help someone else in the church, we need to pray about how to do that rather than just dismissing it because our church has a benevolence committee to take care of those things.

On the other hand, sometimes we can perfectly follow all of our routines, and our programs can seem to be going swimmingly, but we’re unaware that we’re missing something vital. The Pharisees were famous for this. All through the Bible, God reminds His people not to serve Him only with outward performance, but with their hearts.

A. W. Tozer said this in The Pursuit of God:

The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all. If we would find God amid all the religious externals, we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity.

Routines, habits, and programs can be a great help. But they are an avenue of ministry, not an end in themselves. May God give us grace to keep our hearts engaged and our focus on others’ needs and His glory.

(Revised from the archives)

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Lesser Lights

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Before the invention of electricity, it was rare to see a whole city lit up. One could see candlelight or lanterns in windows. Gaslights helped illuminate sidewalks. But if the whole city seemed alight, that meant something unusual was going on.

These days, though, cities seem to dwell in perpetual light.

G. K. Chesterton commented on this in The Illustrated London News in 1927:

In every civilised age and country, it has been a natural thing to talk of some great festival on which “the town was illuminated.” There is no meaning nowadays in saying that the town was illuminated. There is no point or purpose in having it illuminated for any normal and noble enthusiasm, such as the winning of a victory or the granting of a charter. The whole town is illuminated already, but not for noble things. It is illuminated solely to insist on the immense importance of trivial and material things, blazoned from motives entirely mercenary. . . .

It is no good to send up a golden and purple rocket for the glory of the King and Country, or to light a red and raging bonfire on the day of St. George, when everybody is used to seeing the same fiery alphabet proclaiming the importance of Tibble’s Tooth Paste or Giggle’s Chewing Gum. The new illumination has not, indeed, made Tibble and Giggle so important as St. George and King George; because nothing could. But it has made people weary of the way of proclaiming great things, by perpetually using it to proclaim small things. It has not destroyed the difference between light and darkness, but it has allowed the lesser light to put out the greater (quoted in Winter Fire: Christmas with G. K. Chesterton by Ryan Whitaker Smith, pp. 107-108).

Light is one of my favorite symbols of Christmas and one of the things I miss most when we take decorations down.

But light is not just a symbol of Christmas. It’s a symbol of God, a thread running through the whole Bible.

From the Old Testament: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).

To the New: “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life'” (John 8:12).

From prediction: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” (Isaiah 9:2).

To fulfillment: “And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned'” (Matthew 4:13-16).

From the Father: “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5b).

To the Son: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . . The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1:4-5, 9).

My husband loves astronomy and will take his telescope out when some phenomenon is happening in the sky. He often says that to really see the stars best, one needs to get away from the lights of cities, towns, or neighborhoods.

It’s not that lesser lights put out the light of the stars, but they obscure and distract from them.

The lesser lights in our lives do the same. They may be harmless in themselves, but their number and seeming urgency take our attention. They can’t put out the Light. But they make it harder to see Him.

Some day, there will be no lesser lights: “And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).

Until then, may our hearts cry out with the psalmist, “There are many who say, ‘Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!’” (Psalm 4:6).