Waist Deep 2018 - A Daily Dip in the Bible

Mark 13: 11 “Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.” (NIV) The Bible is the Holy Spirit clothed in paper and ink.* In Bible college, there were legendary tales of people who, rather than study, just prayed before each test. The legends don’t say how effective this method was but I can’t see God honoring such shallow requests. Some may think that Jesus was endorsing it in this passage but he is speaking to a specific audience about a specific time and place in the future (and which is now history). However . . .  Jesus’ advice is almost always universally applicable so is it safe to assume that this verse gives us license for lack of preparation? Read it again. First, as I stated, he is addressing a specific situation - their inevitable persecution - not a sermon or Sunday School lesson to be delivered. Second, J...

Mark 8: 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (NIV) [Read Mark 8.31-33 to get the whole story.] The tempter sometimes speaks to us in the voice of a well-meaning friend.* Mark doesn’t record Peter’s exact words, but Matthew says Peter “began to rebuke him” and quotes him as saying, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” I assume that Peter said more than that – or intended to, anyway. While Peter may have meant for the rebuke to be private, he was probably not alone in how he felt on the matter. None of these men wanted Jesus to die. Jesus knew what they were thinking but Peter was the only one who had the nerve to speak up. Hebrews 4: 15 tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, so we speculate: Perhaps Peter’s scolding of Jesus included a suggestion that they make a run for it and avoid the events that...

Mark 6: 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (NIV) God has no needs. He has choices, and he has chosen us for ministry.* Jesus’ disciples were so busy meeting the needs of others that they were neglecting themselves. Well, why not? They were doing important work. People who do important work expect “burnout.” But do we honor God this way? God rested after six days of creation. I read somewhere that God wasn’t really tired – he was just finished with the job. While God is Spirit and doesn’t get physically tired, Jesus was human as well as Divine. He got tired and he demonstrated the importance of rest for the human body. Mark records five separate incidents of Jesus’ taking his disciples off for a much-needed break from the crowd. We suffer from “burnout” when we start to believe God needs us.* Do we believe that ...

Mark 1: 35-37 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed, “Everyone is looking for you!” (NIV) Jesus did not try to do it by himself. Why should you?* Rather than allowing himself to be consumed with meeting people’s needs, Jesus maintained a balance between serving people and spending time with his Father.* He focused on doing the will of his Father and not on what others expected of him.*  I have read that Jesus spent 50% of his time in solitude with his Father. What was he doing? Praying, of course. What was he praying for? Surely he prayed for the lost souls that he was sent to minister to. Did he also pray for strength to resist temptation? What tempted him? What else was he doing during his time alone with God? Was he preparing his lessons/sermons? Did he just take time to be st...

Matthew 28: 19, 20 “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (NIV)    Never allow the thought – “I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not.* In an offering meditation during Missions Emphasis month I began by asking everyone in the audience to stand. I told everyone who had been born right there in our county to sit down. More than 90% remained standing. Then, everyone who was born elsewhere in our state was told to take their seat. A few more sat. Next, if they were born in any other state in the US they could sit. In our multi-cultural community, that left a lot of people still on their feet. My point? We don’t have to go far to reach the world because the world has come to us.  It seems that we may have been slightly off the mark in how we have been interpreting Jesu...

Matthew 27: 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. (NIV) The good news is God has chosen to come near his people.* Matthew doesn’t tell us specifically what the significance of this event was. Most believe that it signified that Jesus’ death had removed the barriers that blocked our access to God. One thing is clear: it was performed by a supernatural power. There was no special effects team to pull off such a spectacular stunt. As if the event itself wasn’t dramatic enough, look at the timing. It happened just as Jesus “gave up his spirit.” It was as if God was tearing his clothes in grief; pulling at his hair, and gnashing his teeth in agony. Hebrews 10: 19, 20 and 22, tells us, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain . . . let us draw near to God.” Before this moment, mankind...

Matthew 26: 46 “Rise, let us go!” (NIV) Arise and do the next thing.* Jesus had taken his disciples to the garden where he asked them to wait while he prayed. In private, he confessed his distress to Peter, James, and John, and then he went off alone and cried out in anguish to his Father. Meanwhile, his followers have fallen asleep. Jesus has to wake them to alert them to the fact that Judas and the soldiers are on their way to arrest him. I don’t know what the disciples had expected but obviously they were surprised by what happened next. Although Jesus had been training them for the road ahead, they didn’t see this coming. When things don’t go according to plan; when you are taken by surprise; when your training didn’t cover that . . . what do you do next? “Get up! Let’s go!” Jesus says. Did you just get some bad news? Did all your carefully laid plans fall through? Has your heart been broken? What are you going to do now? What are your choices? Jesus sho...

Matthew 26: 10, 11 Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” [Read Matthew 26: 6-13 for the whole story.] It is a great trouble to good people to have their good works censured and misconstrued.* Perhaps it was common practice in the Middle East to pour perfume over the heads of one’s guests since no one complained about the woman’s interruption of their little get-together. The disciples’ only concern was for how wasteful she was being. Whose oil was it anyway? They didn’t accuse the woman of stealing it so it must have been hers to squander as she pleased. They would rather embarrass her and make an example of her than to allow her to honor her Savior.* When Jesus said that the poor would always be with them, he was perhaps chastising his disciples for not doing enough for the poor. Jesus knew just how concerned the grumblers were for ...

Matthew 25: 35-40 “‘I tell you . . . whatever you did for the . . . least of these . . . you did for me.’” (Read the entire passage in your Bible before proceeding.) (NIV) When no one is watching, live as if someone is.* I read somewhere, in reference to these verses, that Jesus didn’t tell us to sit back and feel love. He meant for us to act; to meet needs. The tasks Jesus listed weren’t unheard-of activities for his listeners and they are not things that we are unable to do. As Chrysostom observed, Jesus didn’t say, “I was sick and you healed me” or “I was in prison and you set me free.” We may not always like all the people in our lives – or everything about the ones we do like – but we are commanded to love them and serve them. I used to feel that it was slightly dishonest to act in a way contrary to how I feel.  But, hypocrisy isn’t acting contrary to the way you feel ; it’s acting contrary to the way you believe .* Doing the right thing is still th...

Matthew 11: 28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (NIV) Part of Jesus’ call to his disciples was simply for them to “be with him.”* Jesus’ listeners were familiar with how the rabbis spoke of the “yoke of the law,” which was heavy and burdensome. When he informed them that his yoke will fit, it may have sounded to them like they were trading one slavemaster for another.  But he promises that he won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on us. Why do we think that in order to qualify for this promise, God is going to expect some big sacrifice from us – when all he wants us to do is come? Didn’t he say that his yoke is easy? We all know how good it feels to rest after a hard day’s work. But a night of rest provides only temporary relief when our souls are wear...