Waist Deep 2018 - A Daily Dip in the Bible

Revelations 22: 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. (NIV) No matter how we interpret or define grace, it starts and ends with Jesus Christ.* With all the dark and mysterious images in the book of Revelations, it’s hard to know for sure the tone of John’s closing. “May God have mercy on your soul,” has a similar ring to it but has ominous undertones. It seems that he is delivering a gracious benediction directed at the seven churches to whom he was writing, and not issuing a warning or a curse.  In John’s prayer, as in so many of ours, he seems to be asking God for things he has already given us.  “Give us our daily bread,” we pray, when most of us have never gone hungry. “Bless the missionaries,” as if God has abandoned them. “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people.” Isn’t that what makes us God’s people? “Waist Deep” began with the very first verse in the Bible so I thought it would be sweet to end with the very las...

Jude 22, 23 Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them. (NIV) When it comes to exercising genuine compassion, a person’s need should determine how we respond.* Many Christians live in constant danger of falling away. Some merely need to be taught not to play with matches. Others need to be rescued from a burning building. Each of us has a part to play in the rescue process. In my home church, we have people who minister to the homeless. We also have a ministry that helps people who are dealing with addictions and destructive habits. We have friendly people who make our visitors feel welcome when they come in the door. We have a host of volunteers in our children’s department who have my abiding admiration.  If we were all firefighters, rushing in with our protective gear and our tools, we would not be meeting the needs of those who are merely playing with matches. As Paul wrote in I Corinthians 12: 14, “Now the body is not made u...

III John 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (NIV) The first church flourished and grew simply through intentional relationships, clear presentation of the facts about Jesus, and the witness of transformed lives.* I took my children to church. Sent them to Christian camp. Prayed with them. Exposed them to Christian people. Encouraged them in their faith. Tried to be a good role model. But after all of that, it was still up to them to choose to walk with the Lord. What a joy it is when our children begin to walk in their own faith!  It is also a delight to watch your “spiritual children” grow in the Lord. The word translated in this verse as “greater” is a “double comparative.” John is saying that hearing about his “children” walking in faith is somewhere between greater and greatest – betterer , if you will. Have you ever had the privilege of mentoring a brother or sister in the faith? Youth ministers and children’...

II John 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. (NIV) The church is obliged . . . to preserve its own purity.* Is John telling us not to be nice? Aren’t we told elsewhere to bless and pray for our enemies? To feed them if they are hungry and give them something to drink if they are thirsty?* Let’s look at some clues that tell us that John is not advising us to abuse all the rules of hospitality:  · At the time John wrote this, there were no “church houses” – only “house churches,” so a house could be a church as well as a home.  · The word “your” is not in the original language. In English, “house” is not a stand-alone kind of word; it needs an article or a possessive pronoun. It sounds strange to our ears but what John actually wrote is, “do not take him into house.” (Compare to how Americans say that someone is “in the hospital” while the British say “in hospital.”)...

I John 5: 3 His commands are not burdensome. (NIV) His laws are not unreasonable; the duties which he requires are not beyond our ability; his government is not oppressive.* When the Pharisees asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment, they were hoping to trick him into saying something they could use against him. He answered their trick question with a “trick answer” – he named the two greatest commandments: Love God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22: 37-39). And then he added, “All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22: 40) So whatever else Jesus may have commanded us; whatever Paul and James and Peter were inspired to write; and of all the laws of the Old Testament era – would we need any of those words if we knew what “love God and love your neighbor” looked like? And yet, Jesus has shown us clearly what it looks like:  “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down o...

I John 1: 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (NIV) Unconfessed sin creates a barrier in our relationship with the Lord.* In case you were wondering: Confessing our sins to another person will not save us. In this verse, John tells us that forgiveness is the result of confessing to God that we are sinners (as opposed to denying it), and taking complete responsibility for our decision to disobey.* Many of us have the seriously mistaken idea that every time we sin, “we drop from 100 percent forgiven down to zero again and remain there until [we] go through some kind of ritual prayer of confession and asking for forgiveness.”* To believe that is to believe that your salvation depends on something you do – that is, that you are saved by being “good enough.”*   Do we really believe that we must keep ourselves saved by our own efforts? Jesus died to deliver us from that prison...