Biblethoughts

Welcome to Biblethoughts.com

Welcome! This blog basically offers two things. First there are my thoughts on biblical and Christian topics. These are not doctrines or teachings, just my thoughts. What I post here should not be taken as any type of replacement for Bible study. As I said, just some thoughts that hopefully will provoke some thinking on your part that enhances your relationship with Jesus. I would recommend starting by reading the "Biblethoughts Basics".

Second there is a collection of graphics with scripture. The pdf versions can be downloaded and are suitable for framing. I enjoy working with graphics and these are gifts to anyone who wants them. Look for them in "Framables".

At some point I also hope to post some music (I play keyboards and sing). That is for a later date. This blog itself has been many years in the making and I am glad to finally have it started. I hope you enjoy it.

David

Kingdom Thinking

I would like to tell you a story and talk to your heart.

There was a man who grew up serving God. He believed in the covenants of God and the Law. He was faithful in keeping the Law as well as in his dealings with people. He grew up with the favor of God and men, and he became a man of wealth and influence with his people.

One day this rich influential man came to Jesus and said:

Mark 10:17-27

"Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother."

Now this man could have gone home happy with this. He had been doing all of this since he was a boy and could have felt that everything was great. But something was drawing him to Jesus, so he continued.

"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." 

Jesus looked at him and loved him.

Jesus looked at this man and saw someone he would like to know. Someone he would like for a friend and companion. His kind of guy. So he said to him:

"One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

If I may paraphrase, Jesus said:

One thing you lack. Take everything God has blessed you with, all the results of your sowing and reaping, all the results of your faithfulness, all your influence with your community and give it all away. Let your heart, influence, and treasure be in heaven. Then follow me, become my friend and stay with me. Become despised and rejected. Fellowship in my sufferings and you will share in my resurrection.

At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Had this man done what Jesus said his friends and family would have thought him crazy. Israel was under captivity to the Romans. This was not a peaceful time for the Jews. The nation was looking for people who could change things. This man had money. He had influence. He had resources to help ensure that his people would be treated justly; as much as possible. He could have helped make decisions to improve the economy, to help people get jobs, to help people find a way to provide for their families. If he had given all of this up they would have thought he had abandoned God.

But what they would have seen, without knowing it, would have been the kingdom of God.

Mathew 13:44-45
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

We are not called to give up sin for the kingdom. We are called to give up our treasures, our pearls. These are real treasures. Things God has blessed us with. Provision. Security. Influence. Freedom. Heritage. Rights. Dreams. Plans. These really are very great treasures and can be used to do good for people around us.

But sometimes Jesus looks at people he has blessed with these treasures, people who are being very faithful with those treasures and are using them to help people, and he loves them. He thinks, "I want this person for my friend. I want them to hang out with me and fellowship with me." And so he says to them, "One thing you lack . . "

If you can, joyfully, give up all your treasures, pearls, and influence in this world to know Jesus, fellowship in his sufferings and share in his resurrection; well, that's kingdom thinking.

Salt of the Earth

There are some lessons I need to relearn occasionally. Being a servant is one of them. It is very easy to forget to be a servant, especially when our responsibility and autonomy increases.

Years ago I noticed that I was developing some resentment towards the authority at work. I had a lot of autonomy in making decisions about my work which I liked and which was something the leadership encouraged. They wanted independent and self-motivated employees. But I started to get a sort of CEO mentality and when the leadership would give me assignments "out of the blue" that had nothing to do (in my mind) with my job I would get resentful. I would do it but I had an attitude.

One night God spoke into to me and when I woke up everything was different. All the resentment was gone and I was happy with my job. Instead of feeling resentful I felt contented. I knew I was called to be a servant and that God's hand was on me to be a servant. Work was good.

As I stated earlier there are some lessons I need to relearn occasionally. My job has changed a lot over the years, with more responsibility and autonomy, and sometimes old attitudes crop back up again. But God is faithful.

I was flipping through the TV channels the other morning and caught Kenneth Copeland speaking about Joseph. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. First he was a slave to an Egyptian named Potiphar. And God blessed Joseph there.

Genesis 39:2-6
² The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, ⁴ Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. ⁵ From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. ⁶ So he left in Joseph's care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Potiphar's wife wanted Joseph but Joseph rejected her advances. So she made some false accusations and Potiphar had Joseph thrown into prison. And God blessed Joseph there.

Genesis 39:20-23
But while Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹ the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²² So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

After being in prison for a few years Joseph was brought before Pharaoh to interpret a dream. Because of that interpretation Pharaoh placed Joseph over all of Egypt. And God blessed Joseph there.

Genesis 41:41-43
 ⁴¹ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt." ⁴² Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, "Make way !" Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

In all of these examples the results of the blessings went to someone other than Joseph. First all the results of the blessings went to Potiphar. If the results of the blessings belonged to Joseph he could not have been thrown into prison the way he was. In prison the results of the blessings belonged to the prison warden. For all the blessings Joseph was still a slave in prison. And finally all the blessings went to Pharaoh. Pharaoh could have, at any time, removed Joseph from his position and stripped him of his possessions.

In all of this I saw an example of what it means to be the salt of the earth. Whether in large things or small, complex or simple, God wants to bless us so the fruit of that blessing will go to someone else. In most cases that fruit will go to the world. In some cases it will go to other Christians but mostly to the world. A real servant always knows that everything he has belongs to the one he serves and in this context I am talking about the world.

That is what it means to be the salt of the earth.

My wife and I were talking about this and she pointed out that all that Joseph went through, hard times and blessings, were for someone else; his family.

^{Genesis 45:4-7
4} Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

We cannot go wrong having a servant's heart.

Dust on a Scale

We all have a set of standards we use to judge things, and usually those standards are highly interconnected with our emotions and feelings. The Bible often uses scales or balances to represent this process of judgment or decision making. On one side of the scale or balance we have what we are judging and on the other side the weights (our standards, emotions, feelings, etc.). We judge our behaviors, the behaviors of others, the value of actions, people, political choices, all kinds of things. Our standards, emotions, and feelings are the weights we usually use on this scale. We might put someone's behavior on one side of the scale, then the weights (our standards and feelings) on the other side. And we make some type of value judgment depending on how it all balances out.

There is a scripture in Isaiah.

Isaiah 40:15

 ¹⁵ Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
       they are regarded as dust on the scales;
       he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

The Hebrew word for "dust" in this verse is often translated as cloud or sky in the Old Testament. The picture here is that the nations basically carry no weight when it comes to God's decisions and judgments. At the most God might blow the dust off the scale when weighing something; or he might just ignore the dust. His decisions are not swayed or affected by the dust.

The concept of a nation is fairly broad and within that concept we have things like governments, communities, neighborhoods, careers, families, and ourselves. We also have things like freedoms, rights, responsibilities, citizenship. And here is the point of all this. For our scales to be accurate and just in God's sight all of these things must become dust on our scales. The only weights we can use and have accurate scales are God's weights. This takes a lot of self-honesty. Often we will tell ourselves we are using God's weights when we are just catering to our own desires.

I fully believe Jesus loves me. I believe he loved his mother and brothers. I believe he loved Israel. But his actions were based on obedience to God. That doesn't mean he wouldn't do things for his mother and loved ones. But he never compromised his obedience to God in the process. He loves me, but that love for me is still dust on his scales. He loved his mother but that love was dust on his scales. He loved Israel and I am sure he was well aware of what the Romans had done and were doing to his people; of the slaughter of infants, children, and adults. But that was dust on his scales and he stayed true to preaching a kingdom that is not of this world.

His decisions and judgments were made using God's weights, not his own.

This can be a hard thing but it is a very important thing. As Jesus' disciples we have to take up our cross daily and learn to make all our standards, emotions, and feelings as dust on our scales. I love my family. That will not change and most of my life is centered on taking care of them. But my feelings for them must be dust on my scale. I submit my judgments and decisions to God in the hope that I can live my life using his weights. When I use my own weights my scales (judgments and decisions) become false. And God doesn't like false weights.

Make the nations as dust on your scales.

Table Scrapes

In the book of Hebrews there is a passage describing an alter or table that we have to eat from. What we partake of is the sacrifice of God; Jesus. As we partake of him we share in his sacrifice and in his suffering.

Hebrews 13:9-14

 ⁹Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. ¹⁰We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

 ¹¹The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. ¹²And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. ¹³Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. ¹⁴For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

There is a passage in Luke that gives an indication of the power of the crumbs or scrapes from this table.

Luke 7:24-30

 ²⁴Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. ²⁵In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. ²⁶The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

 ²⁷"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

 ²⁸"Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

 ²⁹Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."

 ³⁰She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

If all we had available were these table scrapes then it would be amazing. We would have deliverance and healing. But all of us now have more than scrapes and crumbs available. We can eat at the table, at the alter of God. We can have communion with the Father and with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit.

Many people want to live off the table scrapes. The lady above had a great heart toward her daughter and great faith and humility. She was willing to be considered a dog if it helped her daughter. Jesus honored all of this in her and spoke deliverance to her. She went back home to a daughter who was healed and delivered. And I am sure she was very, very thankful. This really was an amazing thing that happened. And there are a lot of amazing things that happen to people who have a lot of faith and humility and live off the table scrapes.

But her relationship with Jesus was nothing like the relationship the disciples had. They stayed with Jesus. They walked with him, spoke with him. They were with him in the evenings around the campfires. They had a living, ongoing relationship with him. And they shared in his sufferings and disgrace.

In the passage from Hebrews quoted above it says:

¹²And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. ¹³Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. ¹⁴For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

We don't go outside the camp for healing and deliverance. You can get that from the table scrapes. We go outside the camp to be with Jesus. He is still despised and rejected in the world today. Sometimes we don't want to be despised and rejected so we settle for table scrapes.

Don't settle for table scrapes. Come outside the camp and fellowship with Jesus. Walk with him, share your heart with him and let him share his heart with you. And share in his disgrace. There is still healing and deliverance but knowing Jesus is so much more.

Eat more than just the crumbs.

God Sees

In Ezekiel 9 there is a record of God bringing judgment upon his people. He has those who are grieved by the unfaithfulness and abominations marked so the destroyer will leave them alone. Judgment is sent to the rest.

When Ezekiel falls before the LORD and asks about this outpouring of wrath God answers:

Ezekiel 9:9

He answered me, "The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, 'The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.'

There is a road that we can start waking down that does not end up in a good place. And that road starts with the feelings and belief that God has forsaken us, that he doesn't see what we are going through.  By implication we feel that he doesn't care about us. Often as we walk down that road we start to allow sin to dwell in our lives. And when sin comes in it can create a hold on us. We aren't stuck there; Jesus paid the price for our deliverance but we have to take hold of that deliverance.

It is important to have faith in God. I wrote in a previous post about setting aside a day to rejoice and celebrate God's goodness even though things were going rough. It is important to have faith in God; to be thankful and to believe that he is and that he rewards those who diligently seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

⁶And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

This doesn't mean you can't fall broken before him. But we still go into his presence knowing that he has not deserted us and that he sees and knows what we are going through. And that he cares for us. We still go into his presence with thanksgiving.

Be thankful and full of faith that God has not deserted you and that he sees you.

Luke 12:6-7

⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. ⁷Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Fasting and Feasting

This post is a bit of personal sharing. Years ago my daughter was going through some rough times. I started fasting and praying for her each Wednesday. It was a very simple fast; just until 4:00 pm each Wed. And it wasn't what you might call a fast that was "full of faith." It was very broken and the prayers included a lot of begging for mercy and intervention. You might even say it had a sense of hopelessness. It was just an honest broken heart.

However, I made Thursdays my day of feasting. I ate my favorite foods and spent the day thanking God for all the mercy and intervention he was providing my daughter. No brokenness and no sense of hopelessness was allowed on Thursdays. Thursdays was a day to just be happy, do fun things, and rejoice in God's hand on my daughter.

And then on Friday I went back to carrying my burdens.

I did this for many months and one Wednesday, as I was fasting and praying, I asked God if this was doing any good (remember this day had a sense of hopelessness). He simply said, "it has not gone unnoticed." And that word gave me hope and strength to continue. God noticed my fasting and was hearing my prayers. John said this:

1 John 5:14-16

¹⁴This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

So I kept praying and fasting. And on Thursdays I kept feasting.

A few months later I was on the road (I travel a lot in my work) and woke up in my hotel room on a Thursday. I was not feeling like celebrating. You need to understand that it took a lot of work for me to celebrate on Thursdays. My daughter was still going through rough times. I had to discipline myself to celebrate and I didn't feel like doing it that day. What I felt was that sense of hopelessness. I prayed and asked God if this feasting on Thursdays was doing any good. What was the point?

I picked up the Gideon Bible in the room and started looking through the things written in the beginning and then the table of contents. I saw "Nehemiah" in the list and thought I would read some of it. So I opened the Bible and landed on Nehemiah 8. In Nehemiah 8 I found the following:

Nehemiah 8:9-10

 ⁹ Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

 ¹⁰ Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

My Thursdays were sacred to the LORD (all days are, I know, but go with me here). The joy of the LORD mentioned in Nehemiah included actual feasting with favorite foods and drinks and sharing them with those that didn't have them so they could rejoice as well. And doing all of this in the name of the LORD. I realized that my Thursdays and the feasting were doing good, giving me strength, and were in fact sacred unto the LORD.

I have been doing this for almost a decade now and it has worked a lot of changes in me. Rejoicing on Thursdays is still the hardest. It has become a very easy thing to fast on Wednesdays and pray. It still takes more work to feast on Thursdays and rejoice, giving God praise for his sovereignty, mercy, and grace when things are rough. But all of this has worked amazing things in me. And my daughter is blessed and covered by my God.

I just want to encourage you. If you are going through rough times set aside a time for fasting and a time for feasting. Pour your heart out to God for your needs when you are fasting. And rejoice in his provision when you are feasting. Let this become a part of your life.

It will change you.

Righteousness and Friendship

I mentioned in a previous post that salvation is personal with God. Righteousness is also personal. We tend to think of righteousness as a set of rules. If we do the “right” things and don’t do the “wrong” things then we are righteous. But righteousness for God is different. To him righteousness is something he credits us with as a result of our coming into a relationship of faith with him.

This relationship is like a friendship. In the book of James, James writes about faith and works. He uses Abraham as an example of someone who had faith and you could see the faith in Abraham’s actions. So, for example, if we look at Abraham’s life we see that he left his home because he believed God; he had a son because he believed God; and he was willing to offer his son as a sacrifice because he believed God would raise him up. James writes it this way:

James 2:22-23
22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend.

Jesus expressed the relationship between righteousness and friendship this way.

John 15:14-15
14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

So just as an exercise to help understand the importance of this friendship I have adapted some scriptures from Psalms; replacing words like righteousness with things like friendship.

Psalm 5:12
 12 For surely, O LORD, you bless your friends;
       you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

Psalm 7:17
 17 I will give thanks to the LORD because of his friendship
       and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

Psalm 18:35
 35 You give your friends your shield of victory,
       and your right hand sustains me;
       you stoop down to make me great.

Psalm 9:8
 8 He will judge the world according to their friendship with him;
       he will govern the peoples with justice.

Psalm 18:20
 20 The LORD has dealt with me according to our friendship;
       according to my being a faithful friend he has rewarded me.

Psalm 24:3-6
 3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
       Who may stand in his holy place?

 4 He who is a friend of God,
       who does not lift up his soul to an idol
       or swear by what is false.

 5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
       and vindication from God his Friend.

 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
       who are your friends, O God of Jacob.

       Selah

Salvation is personal with God

Jesus lived his life in obedience to the Father, knowing that his purpose was to redeem us. And to do that he had to suffer and die. His blood has atoned for our sins. Isaiah 53 talks about the sacrifice Jesus had to make.

Isaiah 53

 ¹ Who has believed our message
       and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

 ² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
       and like a root out of dry ground.
       He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
       nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

 ³ He was despised and rejected by men,
       a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
       Like one from whom men hide their faces
       he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 ⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
       and carried our sorrows,
       yet we considered him stricken by God,
       smitten by him, and afflicted.

 ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
       and by his wounds we are healed.

 ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
       each of us has turned to his own way;
       and the LORD has laid on him
       the iniquity of us all.

 ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
       yet he did not open his mouth;
       he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
       and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
       so he did not open his mouth.

 ⁸ By oppression ^[a] and judgment he was taken away.
       And who can speak of his descendants?
       For he was cut off from the land of the living;
       for the transgression of my people he was stricken. ^[b]

 ⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
       and with the rich in his death,
       though he had done no violence,
       nor was any deceit in his mouth.

 ¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
       and though the LORD makes ^[c] his life a guilt offering,
       he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
       and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

 ¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,
       he will see the light of life ^[d] and be satisfied ^[e] ;
       by his knowledge ^[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
       and he will bear their iniquities.

 ¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, ^[g]
       and he will divide the spoils with the strong, ^[h]
       because he poured out his life unto death,
       and was numbered with the transgressors.
       For he bore the sin of many,
       and made intercession for the transgressors.

Verse 11 can also be translated " 11 He will see the result of the suffering of his soul / and be satisfied"

My point here is that this sacrifice for our sins has nothing to do with any laws. Satan had no demand or hold on us that was paid off with Jesus' blood. It is against God, the LORD, that we have sinned. He alone determined what would cover our sins. He alone determined what amount of suffering would be required and He placed that burden on Jesus. And Jesus suffered until God looked at him and was satisfied, personally satisfied, that everything was paid for. Every transgression, every sin, everything. And God is still personally satisfied that everything was paid for.

Isaiah 1:18 says:  ¹⁸ "Come now, let us reason together,"
       says the LORD.
       "Though your sins are like scarlet,
       they shall be as white as snow;
       though they are red as crimson,
       they shall be like wool.

Whatever your sins are, Jesus has paid the price and God is personally satisfied that your sins are covered. He is calling you to come to him. Personally calling you.

Wild Roses

Best when printed on glossy photo paper.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

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Lilies

Best when printed on glossy photographic paper.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8

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