THE NEED FOR APOLOGETICS: THE DEFENSE OF THE FAITH

THE NEED FOR APOLOGETICS: THE DEFENSE OF THE FAITH

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By His Mercies Alone, Daniel

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The Need for Apologetics: The Defense of the Faith

Sometimes we expect that a few good arguments will unlock salvation’s door. When we find that they don’t and that we are met with a glaring sneer instead of a grateful embrace, we are hurt and conclude that “apologetics doesn’t work.” We then swing to the opposite – “I’m going to simply let my good works speak for the Gospel.”

Admittedly, in our post-Christian society where people have been warned and inoculated against the Gospel, it might be better to lead with good works in most cases. However, we are instructed to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that [we] have” (1 Peter 3:15). Therefore, I want to present a rationale for this.

Apologetics - reasons to believe in the Christian faith – is primarily for us. We have to know why we believe and how to defend ourselves against the many challenges to the faith.

Moses knew that the children of Israel needed reasons to believe – evidences – in order to follow him out of Egypt. In the midst of a burning bush, God had instructed him to return to Egypt to lead His people out of captivity, but Moses was reluctant:

• "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'?" (Exodus 4:1).

Instead, of commanding Moses to tell the people “Just believe,” God  equipped Moses with a quiver of miraculous evidences – a rod turning into a snake, a leprous hand, and water turning into blood – to prove that He had sent Moses.

Jesus also understood that His disciples needed evidences to support their faith. He therefore prophesied to them what would happen to Him so that they would believe once these prophecies were fulfilled:

• I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. (John 14:29)

We also need supportive evidences to help in sustaining our faith. After the crucifixion, Jesus’ disciples fled, convinced that everything that they had believed in had been for naught. In order to bring them back, they required the proof of His resurrection appearances:

• After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3)

John the Baptist also had his struggles with his faith in Jesus after he was jailed, prior to his execution. He therefore sent his disciples to Jesus to ascertain whether He was truly the Messiah. Instead of Jesus telling them to tell John, “Just believe,” he told them to relate the various confirmatory miracles they had seen Him perform (Mat. 11).

We need to know why we believe. Doubts are birthed like tsunami waves in our post-Christian world. The highly touted Jesus Seminar proclaimed that only 18% of what Jesus is purported to have said in the Gospels is authentic. In the wake of this pronouncement, the faith of many had been severely shaken.

Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code rattled thousands of others with his claims that the selection of the Bible’s Gospel accounts was merely the product of political in-fighting and church counsels. He claimed that there had been 70 other gospels vying for inclusion.

As a result, one woman wrote that she could never again be able to trust the Gospels as she had. How tragic! Fortunately, there were many able apologists who have exposed the fallacies of both Brown and the Seminar. However, those who don’t believe that apologetics is necessary will neglect such works.

How can we face the world with the confidence and the boldness we need if we can’t be confident about the basis of our faith – the Bible! We can’t! Before I went to seminary, I subscribed to Biblical Archeology Review. Many of the authors wrote approvingly of the Wellhausen Hypothesis – a radical theory of how the Hebrew Scriptures were humanly assembled by cutting-and-pasting from pre-existing manuscripts. They were so confident of this skeptical theory that they didn’t even provide any evidence for it.

I was troubled but decided that I would lock my doubts away, pushing them back into a crevice of my mind until, perhaps, I might have the tools to critically examine them. However, this strategy didn’t work. The doubts that this theory had provoked interfered with both my reading of Scripture and my faith. Consequently, I read the Bible less and with less excitement. The doubt that the Bible might merely be a human creation festered in the back of my mind.

Fortunately, I was struck down with a bad back for several months. Someone had given me a copy of Gleason Archer’s Survey of Old Testament Introductions. Although it was one of the driest texts I’ve ever read, I cried my way through it. Archer dealt conclusively with the Wellhausen Hypothesis, and restored my Bible back to me as if Jesus Himself had returned to me.

I think it inevitable that without understanding the rational foundations of the faith and without knowing how to critique the challenges, our faith and life will suffer.

Apologetics is also necessary for the health of the church. Jude counseled the church to oppose false teachings and not neglect them:

• Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. (Jude 1:3-4)

Elders, therefore, had to have the ability to defend the faith against false teaching:

• He [the elder] must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it…They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach. (Titus 1:7-11)

The possibility that the faith of the church might suffer damage must be a central concern. Many studies have shown that 80-90 percent of regular church-going youth completely leave the church by the end of their forth year in college. Even many of those who remain do so with a faith severely compromised by their involvement with the surrounding culture.

Clearly, the churches are failing to prepare their youth for the challenges of this world – sexual permissiveness, theistic evolution, multiculturalism, religious pluralism, moral relativism… We are neglecting the life of the mind, the port-of-call where destructive teachings are entering. Arrogantly, some are neglectful of apologetics, claiming, “I know what I believe and what I have experienced, and no one will take that away from me.” They are confident that they can “stand” (1 Cor. 10:12-13) even though they are neglectful of the Biblical instruction to also love God with our minds.

While it is probably true that the Spirit begins His work in our heart, we are nevertheless commanded to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

We are also instructed to subject all thoughts and worldviews under the scrutiny of the Gospel (2 Cor. 10:4-5). If we neglect the mind, the world will not. It will co-opt our minds at great cost to the church.

Think of the mind as a protective shield. If it is not fully operational, attacks will penetrate freely to our heart of faith, undermining the peace, joy and confidence of the church. We will stumble around in a schizophrenic haze – our minds in conflict with what we believe in our heart.

Apologetics is also required for the seeker. In fact, we are commanded to have in hand the rationale for our beliefs (1 Peter 3:15). I wouldn’t even begin to consider the Biblical faith as long as I believed that evolution was a fact. I was convinced that if Darwin was right, Genesis had to be wrong. However, a Jehovah’s Witness gave me a book critiquing evolution, the theory I had once thought to be unassailable. This made me more receptive to the Bible.

Similarly, in Search for the Truth, Bruce Malone wrote:

• Prior to graduation from college, I had not once been shown any of the scientific evidence for creation either in school or in church. Little wonder, that by the time I started my career [as a chemist], God had little relevance in my life. It wasn’t as though I had any animosity toward God or religion. It simply held no relevance to the world around me. This should be no surprise when the subject never came up in school and everything seemed to be explained without reference to a Creator.

Apologetics is also helpful for cultural interaction. My apologetics professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, William Lane Craig, stated that people will not believe what they find unbelievable. Today, many deem the Christian faith “unbelievable.” I think that part of the reason for this is that the church has become intellectually lazy and compromised. We have lost the ability to show forth the wisdom of God in the public marketplace of ideas. We are no longer culturally proactive as we must be:

• The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death. (Proverbs 13:14)

Wisdom is part of our inheritance. We have wisdom regarding so many areas of life – forgiveness, morality, justice, child rearing, and marriage. However, we have hid our light under a bushel basket. Why? For one thing, we have failed to develop the ability to understand and critique the ideas of the world (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Consequently, we don’t know how to speak to the world, and we know it. Therefore, we fear the world and interaction with it. Instead, we need to understand the poverty of their thinking so that we will not be driven to take cover.

What happens when we neglect the life of the mind and apologetics? We will keep our light hidden. However, many are now saying, “Well, my good works are the light.”

However, even though there is some truth in this, it is not adequate. It is like flying a airplane with one wing. It just won’t fly! Instead, Paul claimed that we are “the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved” as we speak “the word of God” (2 Cor. 2:15-17). This is not to leave out good works. Rather, it is an acknowledgement that we need both!

When Paul visited the synagogues around the Mediterranean, he didn’t go there to perform good works alone. He went there to preach the Gospel and also to reason with the Jews according to the Scriptural evidence:

• As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women. (Acts 17:2-4; 18:4)

God’s arm has not withered away. He can still save through the Gospel, even in our post-Christian world.

PRAISE FROM PURE HEARTS

PRAISE FROM PURE HEARTS

READ:  Psalm 51:7-17

A broken and contrite heart

you, God, will not despise.

Psalm 51:17

During my friend Myrna’s travels to another country, she visited a church for worship.  She noticed that as people entered the sanctuary they immediately knelt and prayed, facing away from the front of the church. My friend learned that people in that church  confessed their sin to God before they began the worship service.

This act of humility is a picture to me of what David said in Psalm 51:  “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise” (v.17).  David was describing his own remorse and repentance for his sin of adultery with Bathsheba.  Real sorrow for sin involves adopting God’s view of what we’ve done-seeing it as clearly wrong, disliking it, and not wanting it to continue.

When we are truly broken over our sin, God lovingly puts us back together.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  This forgiveness produces a fresh sense of openness with him and is the ideal starting point for praise.  After David repented, confessed, and was forgiven by God, he responded by saying, “Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise” (Psalm 51:15).

Humility is the right response to God’s holiness.  And praise is our heart’s response to His forgiveness.  

JENNIFER BENSON SCHULDT

Dear God, help me never to excuse or minimize my sin.  Please meet me in my brokenness, and let nothing hold me back from praising Your name.

Praise is the song of a soul set free.

INSIGHT

In todays reading, the psalmist cries, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean” (Psalm 51:7).  Hyssop was a wild shrub used in several significant purification rites.  On the night of the Passover, the Lord commanded the Israelites to use a hyssop branch to spread the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and lintel of their homes (Exodus 12:22).  If a leper had been healed of leprosy, the priests were to use hyssop to sprinkle a mixture of blood and water onto the person as a sign of healing (Lev.  14:1-9).  And on the day of the ultimate purification, a hyssop branch hoisted the sponge filled with sour wine to the lips of Jesus (John 19:28-30).  DENNIS MOLES

Have a blessed day.

God Our Creator’s Love Always

Unity & Peace

CAN'T DIE BUT ONCE

CAN’T DIE BUT ONCE

READ:  Matthew 10:26-32

Do not be afraid of those who

kill the body but cannot kill the

soul.  -  Matthew 10:28

Born into slavery and badly treated as a young girl, Harriet Tubman (c.1822-1913) found a shining ray of hope in the Bible stories her mother told.  The account of Israel’s escape from slavery under Pharaoh showed her a God who desired freedom for His people.

Harriet found freedom when she slipped over the Maryland state line and out of slavery.  She couldn’t remain content however, knowing so many were still trapped in captivity.  So she lead more than a dozen rescue missions to free those still in slavery, dismissing the personal danger.  “I can’t die but once,” she said.

Harriet knew the truth of the statement:  “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28).  Jesus spoke those words as He sent His disciples on their first mission.  He knew they would face danger, and not everyone would receive them warmly.  So why expose the disciples to the risk?  The answer is found in the previous chapter.  “When he saw the crowds, [Jesus] had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless. like sheep without a shepherd” (9:36).

When Harriet Tubman couldn’t forget those still trapped in slavery, she showed us a picture of Christ, who did not forget us when we were trapped in our sins.  Her courageous example inspires us to remember those who remain without hope in the world.  TIM GUSTAFSON

May we find our peace and purpose inYou, Lord, and share You with others.

True freedom is found in knowing and serving Christ.

INSIGHT

The passage we are reading today explores the likelihood of persecution for those who profess faith in Christ.  We are encouraged by the certain future judgment of God when everything done on Earth will be disclosed (vv.26-27).  Meanwhile, Christ admonishes us not to fear the harm man can do to us but rather to fear God (v.28).  Then our Lord points to God’s care for even the smallest of creatures and tells us we are much more valuable than they are (vv.29-31).  If God cares for the sparrow, how much more will He care for us.  Persecution will one day end and we will receive God’s eternal reward. 

 DENNIS FISHER

HE WALKED IN OUR SHOES

HE WALKED IN OUR SHOES

READ:  Hebrews 2:10-18

Because he himself suffered when

he was tempted, he is able to help

those who are being tempted.

Hebrews 2:18

To help his staff of young architects understand the needs of those for whom they design housing, David Dillard sends them on “sleepovers.”  They put on pajamas and spend 24 hours in a senior living center in the same conditions as people in their 80’s and 90’s.  They wear earplugs to simulate hearing loss, tape their fingers together to limit manual dexterity, and exchange eyeglasses to replicate vision problems.  Dillard says, “The biggest benefit is [that] when I send 27-year-olds out they come back with a heart 10 times as big.  They meet people and understand their plights”  (Rodney Brooks, USA Today).

Jesus lived on this earth for 33 years and shared in our humanity.  He was made like us, “fully human in every way” (Hebrews 2:17), so He knows what it’s like to live in a human body on this earth.  He understands the struggles we face and comes alongside with understanding and encouragement.

“Because [Jesus] himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (v.18).  The Lord could have avoided the cross.  Instead, He obeyed His Father.  Through His death, He broke the power of Satan and freed us from our fear of death (vv.14-15).

In every temptation, Jesus walks beside us to give us courage, strength, and hope along the way.  

DAVID MCCASLAND

LORD JESUS, THANK YOU FOR “WALKING IN OUR SHOES” ON THIS EARTH AND FOR BEING WITH US.  MAY WE EXPERIENCE YOUR PRESENCE TODAY.

Jesus understands.

INSIGHT

Having affirmed the superiority of Christ because of His deity (Hebrew 1), the writer of Hebrews now focuses on His humanity (2:5-18).  It was necessary for Christ to become “flesh and blood” (v.14) so that He could “make atonement for the sins of the people” (v.17).  That Jesus-who was “fully human in every way” -had to suffer in order to save us is a constant emphasis in Hebrews (vv.9-10, 17-18; 5:8-10).  Jesus told His disciples many times that He must suffer (Matthews 16:21; 17:12; Luke 22:15; 24:26), and Isaiah prophesied it 700 years earlier (Isaiah 53).  SIM KAY TEE

FLOWING PEACE

FLOWING PEACE

READ:  John 14:16-27

Peace I leave with you; my

peace I give you.  John 14:27

“I’m not surprised you lead retreats,” said an acquaintance in my exercise class.  “You have a good aura.”  I was jolted but pleased by her comment, because I realized that what she saw as an “aura” in me, I understood to be the peace of Christ.  As we follow Jesus, He gives us the peace that transcends understanding (Philippians 4:7) and radiates from within-though we may not even be aware of it.  

Jesus promised His followers this peace when, after their last supper together, He prepared them for His death and resurrection.  He told them that though they would have trouble in the world, the Father would send them the Spirit of truth to live with them and be in them (John 14:16-17).  The Spirit would teach them, bringing to mind His truths; the Spirit would comfort them, bestowing on them His peace.  Though soon they would face trials-including fierce opposition from the religious leaders and seeing Jesus executed-He told them not to be afraid.  The Holy Spirit’s presence would never leave them.

Although as God’s children we experience hardship, we too have His Spirit living within and flowing out of us.  God’s peace can be His witness to everyone we meet-whether at a local market, at school or work, or in the gym.  

AMY BOUCHER PYE

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit thank You for welcoming me into Your circle of love.  May I share Your peace with someone in my community today.

When we keep our mind on God, His Spirit keeps our mind at peace.

INSIGHT

Today’s passage highlights one of the difference between those who know Jesus and those who do not:  The Holy Spirit dwells within believers in Christ.  Jesus says that His followers know Him and that the world does not know or accept Him (v.17).  It is the Spirit who identifies us as Jesus’ followers.  J.R. HUDBERG

Have a blessed night.

God Our Creator’s Love Always.

Unity & Peace

BIOLOGOS AND EVANGELIZING THE CHURCH FOR DARWIN

BIOLOGOS AND EVANGELIZING THE CHURCH FOR DARWIN

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

The Biologos Foundation has been generously funded to push evolution on the church. To achieve their goal, Biologos has recently come out with a book containing 25 testimonies in an attempt to prove that Christians can come "to terms with the science of evolution while maintaining a vibrant Christian faith."

In the introduction, Karen Applegate writes:

• The majority of committed Christians are unaware that it’s possible to accept the overwhelming scientific evidence for evolution while maintaining a vibrant faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. http://biologos.org/blogs/kathryn-applegate-endless-forms-most-beautiful/how-i-changed-my-mind-about-evolution-the-power-of-stories#sthash.WByE07Ua.dpuf

However, there are reasons for skepticism about Applegate's claim:

1.     It is difficult to know if someone does in fact have a "vibrant faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior." Besides, the fruit of serving these two masters—EVOLUTION AND  FAITH IN CHRIST—may not become evident for decades.

2. Many credentialed scientists disagree that there is "overwhelming scientific evidence for [macroevolution]." Some even contend that it is both mathematically and evidentially impossible.

3. There are many indications that marrying Darwin to Jesus has already proved to be highly destructive of the biblical faith.

For one thing, it is dangerous to allow our presuppositions to dictate biblical interpretation.

The Church has a sad history of embracing errant scientific theories like “geocentrism” and "steady state theory," lest she be seen as backward and mindless. In order to do this, the Church imposed these presuppositions on to the Scriptures, coercing the pertinent verses to agree with the later discredited theories.

Today, theistic evolutionists (TEs) insist that there is no contradiction between Scripture and evolution since, according to their paradigm, evolution is about the physical world while Scripture is about the spiritual and theological.

However, such a distinction is utterly insupportable. For example, the theology of the Cross requires the actual, physical, historic event of the Cross. If Jesus did not historically die for us, there can be no theology of the Cross.

To make matters worse, TEs insist that the Bible is often wrong about scientific and historical matters. According to this line of thinking, who cares about these errors? After all, the Bible is only concerned about spiritual matters, as TEs assert.

However, Applegate fails to acknowledge these core problems. Instead, she claims that it is the church's unwillingness to accept evolution that has had the most "devastating impact":

• Pastors and educators in our community see firsthand the devastating impact of the false creation-or-evolution dichotomy our Christian subculture has embraced so thoroughly.

TEs lament the fact that Christian college students are torn between their faith and evolution. This kind of tension is unavoidable. However, TEs erroneously conclude that there is only one way to resolve this tension—by showing that Jesus and Darwin can live together harmoniously.

TEs conveniently fail to mention another solution—that evolution is neither biblical or scientific.

However, Applegate insists that the two are easily and fruitfully harmonized:

• The stories collected here give overwhelming evidence for the fact that serious Christians, who love Jesus and are committed to the authority of the Bible, can also accept evolution.

I also have a collection of stories. I have had dialogues with many TEs and have found their faith and confidence in God's Word to be horribly compromised. They have spiritualized their interpretation of Scripture—carving out a “hallowed” space for evolution—to such an extent that they can no longer be confident about the Bible’s teachings or even the authority of those teachings.

Consequently, their views have become indistinguishable from secular university culture. And this has happened to such an extent that atheists feel more at home on theistic evolution websites than creationists.

At one site, after I made this observation, I asked for opinions about same-sex marriage. I got two answers, both affirmative!

Meanwhile, they claim that we need to be humble about our interpretation of the Scriptures. If only they were equally humble about their interpretation of the scientific evidence!

SOME THOUGHTS:

GOD DID IT OR DID NATURALISM DO IT?

Does the hypothesis of Intelligent Design explain anything? Some argue that the idea of an uncased Causer is necessary. Others retort that to say that “God did it,” is a cop-out, which explains nothing.

Interestingly, theists and non-theists do science the same way and invoke the same immutable and elegant laws of science to both explain and predict. However, when we try to account for these laws or regularities, the very foundations of science, we separate into warring camps, one side invoking “naturalism,” the other “supernaturalism” (ID).

Can naturalism explain the existence, immutability, and elegance of the “natural” laws better than ID? It would seem that neither hypothesis should be summarily dismissed.

THE EXISTENCE OF THE NON-MATERIAL SOUL

Is there any evidence against the existence of a spirit or soul? Atheist Michael Shermer offers one piece of evidence. When someone has a stroke, they can lose their ability to speak. Therefore, when the physical brain is damaged, so too is any related functionality.

This is certainly true with a TV. When one physical element goes bad, so too the picture! However, does this mean that watching is TV show is just about what is contained within the TV? Of course not! The TV is merely a receiver of programming originating from the outside.

Could the brain also be a receiver for something non-material?

THE ULTIMATE DRUG

Is religion the “opiate of the people?” Perhaps? But perhaps atheism is just another drug used to silence the conscience, guilt, shame, and the fear of judgment.

CONSCIOUSNESS: A PRODUCT OF MATTER?

Is consciousness merely a product of matter? Consciousness seems to transcend like our love and appreciation of music transcend a set of musical notes.

And the laws of science – are they also just a product of matter? Well, matter is always in flux but not the laws. Matter undergoes change but not the laws. Matter is localized but not the laws.

Perhaps there are many things that require an extra-material explanation.

IS THE QUESTION OF GOD IRRELEVANT TO SCIENCE?

Atheist Peter Atkins insists that the question of God is not only irrelevant but in opposition to science. Opposition? Yes! Instead of seeking scientific answers, the theist merely invokes God to say, “God did it.”

Is this assessment accurate? Not according to Isaac Newton, who argued that there are two distinct forms of questions. For example:

• “Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done."

According to Newton, God establishes, underpins, and sustains His creation with His elegant, immutable laws. If this is so, then every finding of science acknowledges God.

In light of this, invoking God does not detract from doing science. Instead, it attempts to explicate science.

VALUING LIFE

What enables us to value life and to live it to its fullest? According to atheist Peter Atkins, “Because there is no afterlife, we are forced to grasp [and value] this life.”

But how can we value a life that is essentially valueless? According to the humanist Max Hocutt:

∑       “To me [the non-existence of God] means that there is no absolute morality, that moralities are sets of social conventions devised by humans to satisfy their needs…If there were a morality written up in the sky somewhere but no God to enforce it, I see no good reason why anyone should pay it any heed.” (Understanding the Times)

How then are we to live a morally purposeful life if there is no absolute/objective morality or value? Instead, life becomes reduced to a merely physical existence. Therefore, when the good feelings and health leave us, we are left with nothing to value.

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LIKE SHEEP

LIKE SHEEP

READ:  Isaiah 53:1-6

We all, like sheep, have gone

astray, each of us has turned

to our own way.  Isaiah 53:6

One of my daily chores when I lived with my grandfather in northern Ghana was taking care of sheep.  Each morning I took them out to pasture and returned by evening.  That was when I first noticed how stubborn sheep can be.  Whenever they saw a farm, for instance, their instinct drove them right into it, getting me in trouble with the farmers on a number of occasions.

Sometimes when I was tired from the heat and resting under a tree, I observed the sheep dispersing into the bushes and heading for the hills, causing me to chase after them and scratching my skinny legs into the shrubs.  I had a hard time directing the animals away from danger and trouble, especially when robbers sometimes raided the field and stole stray sheep.

So I quite understand when Isaiah says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way” (53:6).  We stray in many ways:  desiring and doing what displeases our Lord, hurting other people by our conduct, and being distracted from spending time with God and His Word because we are too busy or lack interest.  We behave like sheep in the field.

Fortunately for us, we have the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for us (John 10:11) and who carries our sorrows and our sins (Isaiah 53:4-6).  And as our shepherd, He calls us back to safe pasture that we might follow Him more closely.  LAWRENCE DARMANI

Shepherd of my soul, I do wander at times.  I’m grateful that You’re always seeking me to bring me back to Your side.

If you want God to lead you, be willing to follow.

INSIGHT

Isaiah 53 is part of a “servant song” that includes Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and focuses primarily on the Servant’s suffering, which would be fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus.  The Old Testament provides several foreshadowings of that suffering, and each brings its own perspective in the Passover (Exodus 12), we see the cross from the Father’s perspective as Christ becomes our passover Lamb.  In Psalm 22, we see the cross from the perspective of Jesus Himself as David describes Christ’s suffering experience.  Isaiah 53, however, describes the cross from the perspective of humanity.  It tells us what they saw, what they failed to see, and what they desperately needed to see-the depth and passion of God’s rescuing love.  BILL CROWDER

Have a blessed evening.

God Our Creator’s Love Always.

Unity & Peace

WHEN THE WOODS WAKE UP

WHEN THE WOODS WAKE UP

READ:  John 11:14-27

I am the resurrection and the

life.  The one who believes in

me will live, even though they

die.  - John 11:25

Through cold, snowy winters, the hope of spring sustains those of us who live in Michigan.  May is the month when that hope is rewarded.  The transformation is remarkable.  Limbs that look lifeless on May 1 turn into branches that wave green leafy greetings by month’s end.  Although the change each day is imperceptible, by the end of the month the woods in my yard have changed from gray to green.

God has built into creation a cycle of rest and renewal.  What looks like death to us is rest to God.  And just as rest is preparation for renewal, death is preparation for resurrection.

I love watching the woods awaken every spring, for it reminds me that death is a temporary condition and that its purpose is to prepare for new life, a new beginning, for something even better.  “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).

While pollen is a springtime nuisance when it coats my furniture and makes people sneeze, it reminds me that God is in the business of keeping things alive. And after the pain of death, He promises a glorious resurrection for those who believe in His Son.  JULIE ACKERMAN LINK

Read these encouraging verses that remind us of the hope of resurrection:  1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Share what you’ve learned from these verses at facebook.com/ourdailybread or odb.org

Every new leaf of springtime is a reminder of our promised resurrection.

INSIGHT

John 11:1-27 is the third time the Gospels record Jesus raising someone from the dear.  In Mark 5:22-43 Jesus goes to the house of a Jewish leader named Jairus and raises his 12-year-old daughter.  In Luke 7:11-17 Jesus interrupted a funeral procession in the town of Nain and brought a widow’s dead son back to life.  John 11 is unique since it is the only time a name is given for the resurrected person.  In this case Lazarus, an abbreviation of Eleazar, was brought back from the dead.  His name means “one whom God helps.”  DENNIS MOLES

Have a blessed night.

NO WORRIES

NO WORRIES

READ:  MARK 4:35-5:1

Let us go over to the other

side.   -  Mark 4:35

A comfortable plane ride was about to get bumpy.  The voice of the captain interrupted in-flight beverage service and asked passengers to make sure their seat belts were fastened.  Soon the plane began to roll and pitch like a ship on a wind-whipped ocean.  While the rest of the passengers were doing their best to deal with the turbulence,, a little girl sat through it all reading her book.  After the plane landed, she was asked why she had been able to be so calm.  She responded, “my daddy is the pilot and he’s taking me home.”

Though Jesus’ disciples were seasoned fishermen, they were terrified the day a storm threatened to swamp their boat.  They were following Jesus’ instructions.  Why was this happening?  (Mark 4:35-38).  He was with them but He was asleep at the stern of the craft.  They learned that day that it is not true that when we do as our Lord says there will be no storms in our lives.  Yet because He was with them, they also learned that storms don’t stop us from getting to where our Lord wants us to go (5:1).

Whether the storm we encounter today is the result of a tragic accident, a loss of employment, or some other trial, we can be confident that all is not lost.  Our Pilot can handle the storm.  He will get us home.  C.P. HIA

What  storms are you encountering today?  Perhaps you have lost a loved one or are facing a serious illness.  Perhaps you are having difficulty finding a job.  Ask the Lord to strengthen your faith and take you safely through the storm to the other side.

We don’t need to fear the storm with Jesus as our anchor.

INSIGHT

Jesus’ calming of the storm is a remarkable witness to the power of our Creator over nature, for He spoke directly to the storm threatening the ship He and His disciples were in.  He rebuked the wind and waves and said, “Quiet!  Be still!” (4:39).  The Greek word used here for “still” denotes the muzzling of a hostile animal.  When we are overcome with worries and concerns, we can trust that our powerful Creator will still our fears.  DENNIS FISHER

Have a blessed night.

God Our Creator’s Love Always.

Unity & Peace

WHY ME?

WHY ME?

READ:  Ruth 2:1-11

Why have I found such favor

in your eyes?  - Ruth 2:10

Ruth was a foreigner.  She was a widow.  She was poor.  In many parts of the world today she would be considered a nobody-someone whose future doesn’t hold any hope.

However, Ruth found favor in the eyes of a relative of her deceased husband, a rich man and the owner of the fields where she chose to ask for permission to glean grain.  In response to his kindness, Ruth asked, “What have I done to deserve such kindness?…I am only a foreigner” (Ruth 2:10 NLT).

Boaz, the good man who showed Ruth such compassion, answered her truthfully.  He had heard about her good deeds toward her mother-in-law, Naomi, and how she chose to leave her country and follow Naomi’s God.  Boaz prayed that God, “under whose wings” she had come for refuge, would bless her (1:16; 2:11-12; SEE Psalm 91:4).  As her kinsman redeemer (Ruth 3:9), when Boaz married Ruth he became her protector and part of the answer to his prayer.

Like Ruth, we were foreigners and far from God.  We may wonder why God would choose to love us when we are so undeserving.  The answer is not in us but in Him.  “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8 NLT).  Christ has become our Redeemer.  When we come to Him in salvation, we are under His protective wings.

  KEILA OCHOA

Dear Lord, I don’t know why You love me, but I don’t doubt Your love.  I thank You and worship You!

Gratefulness is the heart’s response to God’s undeserved love.

INSIGHT

The book of Ruth demonstrates the redemptive nature of God’s commandments.  While many Old Testament laws may sound strange to modern ears, adherence to these laws provided food for the hungry, protection for the foreigner, and hope for the childless widow.

DENNIS MOLES

Have a blessed night.

God Our Creator’s Love Always.

Unity & Peace

BLESS THE BOUNDARIES

BLESS THE BOUNDARIES

READ:

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who walks not in the 

counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in

the path of sinners.  -Psalm 1:1

In all the years I've worked with people, I've yet to meet someone whose life was all messed up because he or she kept God's commands.  Yet, in a day when personal freedom is celebrated as an inalienable right, talk of conforming our lifestyle to God's ways is often viewed as an infringement.  And anyone who speaks out in favor of God's boundaries is ruled out of bounds.  But in this frenzy to be free, it should not go unnoticed that our society is increasingly marked with a haunting sense of meaninglessness and despair.

God's people should have distinctly different view of boundaries.  Like the psalmist, we must realize that a blessed life comes from delighting in the law of the Lord (Psalm 1:2 - not in living like those who "walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take" (v.1 NIV).  As believers in Jesus will recognize that God's boundaries are not meant to take the pizazz out of life.  Instead, they are divine fences constructed with God's wisdom to help us avoid the treachery and trouble of reckless living.

Next time you are tempted to break through God's boundaries, remember His loving purpose in putting up fences.  Choose to bless God for the boundaries and for the way they bless you.  - Joe Stowell

What freedom lies with all who choose

To Live for God each day!

But chains of bondage shackle those

Who choose some other way. -D. DeHaan

**********************************

God's fences keep you

within the bounds of His blessings.

INSIGHT

Psalm 1 presents two ways of living.  It contrasts the rootedness of the godly (vv.1-3) with the instability of the ungodly (vv.4-6), and is a call to live according to God's Word.  By rejecting ungodly ways but delighting and obeying God's laws, the godly person lives a joyful, fruitful, and secure life.  The life of the person who rejects God is like chaff, brief and futile, with little eternal usefulness (v.4).  The psalmist's conclusion?  Judgment and destruction await the ungodly (v.5), whereas God protects and preserves the righteous (v.6).  "Blessed," the first word of the psalm, is decisively contrasted with "perish," its last word.

Have a blessed day and week ahead.

God Our Creator's Love Always

Unity & Peace