Waist Deep 2018 - A Daily Dip in the Bible

John 8: 32 “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (NIV) Knowing the truth . . . is crucial to freedom from deception.* Jesus always chose his words carefully. He knew his audience and he knew how to push their buttons.  In this instance, he got the attention of “the Jews who believed him” (verse 31) by mentioning freedom.  They became indignant at the implication that they were slaves. “We have never been slaves to anyone,” they claimed. Really? What about Egypt? What about Babylon? What about Rome? Slaves are not always downtrodden and miserable, and thus would feel no need to be liberated. Some who are in forced bondage are able to rise above their condition and function almost as if they were free. If it were true that “ignorance is bliss,” then why would Jesus bother to shake us loose from our complacency? If we aren’t aware of the bars, are we really a prisoner? As someone has observed, “Nobody can be truly better off ...

John 8: 10, 11 Jesus . . . asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (NIV) Jesus doesn’t say, “Go, it isn’t sin anymore”; he says, “Go, and sin no more.”* A woman, supposedly caught in the act of adultery, was dragged out before Jesus and the crowd so that the Pharisees could trick Jesus. The Law of Moses, they said, commands us to stone such women. Now, they wanted to know, what did Jesus have to say about it? If he said, “Go ahead and stone her,” they could accuse him of usurping authority. If he stood up for her, it would appear that he was denying the authority of the Law. The Pharisees failed to realize that they were dealing with the world’s leading expert on the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses clearly states that death is the penalty for adultery – for both the woman and the man, and it doesn’t specify the method of execution. ...

John 6: 66, 67 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. (NIV) It’s sad so many people miss the joy of Christ because their personal expectations are not met.* When I order something new from the menu in a restaurant, I am almost always surprised at what the dish looks like “in person.” I read the description and form my own vision of the item but it turns out to look entirely different from the picture in my mind. What makes this ironic is that when I reread the menu, it turns out that the dish looks exactly as it was described. Jesus’ disciples heard his words. The Twelve had more opportunities to grasp the concept than anyone else but they understood no better than the crowds.*   We don’t always “get it” either. We don’t know what it will mean for us to “remain in him;” to “live for him;” to “feed on him.” It requires faith to “keep on looking to Jesus daily...

John 6: 8-13 Andrew spoke up, “Here is a boy with five . . . loaves and two . . . fish; but how far will they go among so many?” . . . Jesus . . . took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. . . . When they had all had enough to eat . . . they . . . filled twelve baskets with pieces . . . left over by those who had eaten.” (NIV) Ironically, many people can’t afford to give precisely because they’re not giving.* People make various excuses for not giving to the church. One of those is that they don’t have much so it wouldn’t make any difference to the church if they did give. I beg to differ. If Jesus can turn five pieces of bread and two little fish (sardines?) into twelve basketfuls of leftovers, certainly he can take a few dollars and accomplish his purposes with them. Would the crowd have been fed if the little boy had kept his lunch to himself? When I lost my job, my husband and I continued to give more than...

John 4: 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (NIV) Can we truly know what Jesus would do without knowing what the Bible says ?* We talk about feeding on the Word. We speak of new Christians being served “milk” while the mature believer is ready for “meat.” But here at the well Jesus didn’t tell the Samaritan woman that the spiritual food he had to offer was something to read - he said it was something to do ! Is this new information for you? It was for me. My mind is filled with sermons and lessons about feeding on the Word. I remember instructions about fasting in which I was told, “When you get hungry, FEED ON THE WORD.”  But, in the words of Bob Russell: “There comes a time in our spiritual development when we’re fed not so much by study but by service.”* It is the natural progression – from being fed, to feeding yourself, to using the strength you have acquired from your nourishment. Eating – ev...

John 1: 40–42 Andrew . . . was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah.” . . . And he brought him to Jesus. (NIV) God allows people to step into our territory so we can plant seeds that He can then water and cause to grow.* My twin sons are adults now but they are still best friends. I can picture either of them in Andrew’s position: if one of them had wonderful news, he wouldn’t be able to wait until he could share it with his brother. (In fact, when they have news, they call each other before they call me or even, sometimes, their wives!) That’s the attitude of love we should have toward anyone who hasn’t met Jesus. Peter may have been the charismatic, impulsive, and well-known evangelist but he would not have met Jesus if his brother, Andrew, had not shared the good news of the Messiah with him. Andrew, the quiet servant who led th...

Luke 16: 15 “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” (NIV) Men may honor you because of your wealth and your public display of spirituality. But God sees who you really are.* Who do you admire and look up to? What is it that makes them special in your eyes? Be honest with yourself – do you respect them for things they have accomplished? Is it because they are wealthy, powerful, famous? The Pharisees were generally well-off financially, but they were influential and respected for their strict religious lives,* not so much for their wealth. It seems like that should be a good thing - being strictly religious - but this is what Jesus is referring to as detestable and nasty.  So what did they do that was so bad? They were meticulous in their obedience to the law, and that included acts of charity. In other words, they lived lives that conformed to men’s standards of holiness - but men could not look into their hearts and see thei...