As We Read the Bible May We Imagine All God Has in Store for Us
I’ve always been wary of meditating. It seems so mystical, so ungodly. This is because I encountered the idea of meditation from Eastern religions, not biblical Christianity.
Though there are many types of meditation, I’ve heard most about transcendental meditation. As I understand it, the goal is to push aside all thought, to empty our minds.
Two Concerns about Meditation
Emptying my mind of all thought alarms me for two reasons, so I won’t meditate in this manner. First, the Bible says to hold every thought captive and make it obedient to Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:5). It doesn’t say to empty our minds of all thoughts, but to control them.
Second is when Jesus teaches about impure spirits. He warns against an impure spirit that finds a house (a mind) unoccupied and clean. It goes out and rounds up it’s even more wicked friends to go there to live, making the person even worse off than before (Matthew 12:43-45).
These are the two biblical reasons why I won’t empty my mind of thought.
What the Bible Says about Meditation
Just because we best know this concept of meditation from Eastern religions doesn’t mean it’s not in Scripture.
In Psalm 1:2, the writer proclaims blessings on those who delight in God’s law, who meditate on it day and night. Though most translations use the word meditate, other versions say ponder, study, recite, think about, and focus.
When I read the Bible, I ponder it, study it, recite it, think about it, and focus on it. Given these alternate understandings, I’m happy to meditate on God’s Word.
Now let’s turn to the next chapter in Psalms. It talks about people with evil intent. Various translations of Psalm 2:1 describe this action as devise, plot, and make. Some versions, however, use the word meditate, with others saying imagine.
Do the words imagine and meditate mean the same thing? I understand that the Hebrew word translated meditate in Psalm 1:2 is the same word that’s translated imagine in Psalm 2:1.
This suggests that as we meditate on God’s Word, we can imagine what it means, how we can understand it, and the ways it can inform our lives.
The word imagine also occurs elsewhere in the Bible. In Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, he talks about God being able to do even more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Meditate on that.
I have a good imagination. I can imagine additional details for the various stories we read in the Bible. I can also imagine myself in those ancient situations and doing today what God tells us to do.
May our meditations on God’s Word use our imagination to amplify its impact.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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Focus verse:“This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:3)
As Jesus and his disciples travel, they meet a blind man. He was blind from birth. The disciples assume sin caused his blindness. That’s their view of God, that he afflicts people who do wrong. He punishes them for their shortcomings.
The disciples seek clarity about who sinned, since he was born blind. “Did his parents’ sin cause this,” the disciples ask, “or the man’s sin?”
Given that the disciples believe the blindness happened because of sin, they ask a reasonable question. If the parents sinned, why is their child carrying the punishment for their mistakes?
Yet, if the man’s sin caused his blindness—which is the disciples’ logical conclusion—then he received punishment before he sinned, since he was born without the ability to see. Neither scenario makes sense to the disciples.
That’s why they ask Jesus for clarification about whose sin caused the blindness.
Jesus surprises them by saying, “Neither one caused it.” The man’s blindness is not the result of punishment for his sin or his parents’.
Instead, the man’s inability gives Jesus an opportunity to prove his healing power to his disciples, to the blind man, and to the religious teachers.
In one of his stranger methods of healing people, Jesus doesn’t order the blindness to go away or command the man’s sight to return. Instead, Jesus makes a poultice out of dirt and spit, a most unexpected approach. He applies the mud he makes to the man’s eyes.
Jesus still doesn’t proclaim healing to the man. Instead, he tells him to go to a pool and wash away the mud smeared on his eyes.
The man heads off to clean his face. Imagine the sight. A blind man walking down the road with mud caked over his eyes would get people’s attention.
The man reaches the pool, washes the mud from his face, and sees for the first time in his life. Through Jesus, the man’s life changes in one life-altering moment.
These things happen when we follow Jesus. Our life forever changes in an instant.
Questions:
Do you think there are consequences to sin? Why?
In what ways can your present hardships bring glory to God?
What do you do when God’s instructions don’t make sense or seem strange?
This story highlights God’s sovereignty. What’s your reaction to it?
Tips: Check out our tips to use this online Bible study for your church, small group, Sunday school class, or family discussion. It’s also ideal for personal study. Come back each Monday for a new lesson.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Discover How the SPACE Bible Study Method Can Inform Your Life
I often encourage people to study the Bible. But we shouldn’t read Scripture to amass knowledge to stuff into our brain.
The primary value is to let the Bible’s words inform our journey and reform our life. Therefore, we need to apply the words of the Bible to our reality.
But there’s no one right Bible study method or ideal approach. The key is to pick what works for you. The one you will actually use is the best one for you. Here is one suggestion on how to do that.
An amazing tool (I don’t know who came up with it, but it’s not me) is the SPACE method of Bible study. This is a handy acronym that we can apply to about every verse in the Bible. As you read a verse look for SPACE:
S is for Sin: Is there a sin we should confess? Or a sin to guard against?
P is for Promise: Does this passage share a promise we can claim?
A is for Assurance: Does this give us an assurance we can hold?
C is for Command: Did we read a command that God wants us to obey?
E is for Example: Is there an example we should follow? Or one to avoid?
Applying the SPACE Bible Study Method
Here are some examples of using the SPACE Bible study method.
As you look at these examples, you may like how I’ve applied it or question some of my notations. But that’s the beauty of the SPACE Bible study method.
We can use it to make it personal, to let the Holy Spirit speak to us for what we need to hear today. Tomorrow may carry different insights. But all can speak to us, encourage us, and help us grow in our faith.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
The The Victory of Jesus audiobook is now available. In addition to audiobook, it is also available in ebook, paperback, and hardcover formats. The audiobook is auto-narrated by Maxwell.
The Victory of Jesus is a devotional to celebrate the victory of Jesus in this 50-day devotional that spans Easter to Pentecost.
In this, Jesus overcomes death by rising from the dead, appears to his followers and teaches them, and ascends into heaven. Ten days later the promised Holy Spirit arrives to guide Jesus’s disciples in telling the world about him.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
First on our list is a church from a small conservative denomination. Their denomination website says they have thirty-three churches in North America, eleven of which are within driving distance from our house.
The closest one is five miles away. In contrast, they have five more international locations.
A Bad Reputation
I’ve never met anyone who currently goes to one of this denomination’s churches. In the past few years, however, I’ve met several people who used to go there. Their stories are similar and worrisome.
They left this church bruised and bloodied, rejected by the people they used to worship with. Sometimes they’re spurned by their family and friends who continue to go to these churches.
Although there are two sides to every story, their accounts of what happened breaks my heart. That’s because their perspective of what caused their separation seems to be over trivial matters.
Every church has people who think poorly of it. As long as we’re frail humans with a nature to sin, this will occur. Sometimes the reasons for these low opinions are justified and other times they’re self-inflicted.
However, to only meet people who harbor hurts from this denomination is troublesome. It has a bad reputation.
A Negative Mindset
I want to visit one of these churches to learn more about them. But because of their bad reputation, I already know too much and couldn’t go with an open mind. I would look for the negative, hunting for areas to criticize so I can justify the depths of my friends’ pain.
Surely, I would find the validation I seek. I fear I wouldn’t have eyes to see the good in their practices, truly worship God with them, or celebrate meaningful community while I was there.
Until I can properly adjust my perspective, I need to hold off visiting them. Unfortunately, after a couple of years of trying, I’m no closer to being successful.
For this reason, their church keeps moving down my list as we visit other congregations.
Get your copy ofMore Than 52 Churches today, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
In part one of this post we looked at the first five practices of the early church as detailed in the Bible. They relied on Holy Spirit power, they worshiped God, they spent time in prayer, they fasted, and they lived in community.
Here are the other five characteristics of Jesus’s church as found in Scripture.
6. Breaking Bread
Food is essential to life. Except for when we fast, we eat every day. Most people eat multiple times each day. Though we could eat in solitude, we enjoy food more when in the company of others.
Sharing a meal is also a cornerstone of community. This isn’t a monthly potluck or an after-church fellowship hour. It’s a time of celebration of life around the table.
The New Testament sometimes uses the concept of breaking bread.
The phrases breaking bread, break bread, and broke bread only appear in the New Testament. Should we understand this idea of breaking bread as a euphemism for communion or simply for any time people share a meal?
Yes. It’s both.
We should remember that sliced bread didn’t exist two thousand years ago. Though they could have cut bread with a knife, it’s more likely they used their hands—the most convenient tool available to them—to divide a loaf and distribute it to everyone at the meal.
At the world’s first ever communion service, Jesus takes bread and breaks it into pieces so he can pass it out to his disciples.
Yet the idea of breaking bread also refers to an ordinary meal. After Jesus travels down the road to Emmaus with two of his followers, they sit down to eat. Jesus takes the bread, thanks God for it, breaks it into pieces, and passes it out to them (Luke 24:30).
Breaking bread, that is, sharing a meal, also occurs after Eutychus falls to his death and Paul raises him from the dead. In celebration they share a meal (Acts 20:7, 11).
Another time occurs when Paul is at sea during a terrible storm. The crew and passengers have given up all hope. Paul encourages all the people on board by telling them that though they will lose the ship and cargo, everyone will live.
He takes bread, thanks God for it, breaks it, and gives it to everyone to eat, all 276 people (Acts 27:35). Most of the people who eat this bread aren’t followers of Jesus. To them this breaking of bread is a simple meal and not a religious rite.
At the first Lord’s Supper, Jesus says the bread represents his body, which would soon be broken as part of his crucifixion.
At every meal afterward, Jesus’s followers would see this breaking of bread, and it would automatically remind them of Jesus’s body broken for them in the ultimate sacrifice.
Without speaking a word, the breaking of bread at each meal reminds Jesus’s followers of him.
In this, they see breaking bread as both sacrament and supper. In this sense, communion is a meal, and a meal is communion. May we embrace this understanding just like the early church.
7. Care for Their Own
The early church shares what they have with one another, and no one has any needs (Acts 2:44–46 and Acts 4:33–35). Notice the focus is on meeting needs, not fulfilling wants. It’s critical to distinguish between the two.
Needs refer to what we require to survive, the basics of life: food, clothes, and shelter. Wants are those items that go beyond basic survival requirements. It’s essential we help people with their needs, but supplying the things they want is optional.
Paul adds clarification about caring for widows in his letter to Timothy.
Paul writes that a widow’s children and grandchildren should put their faith in action by caring for her. And those who have no family members to support them, addressing their needs falls to Jesus’s church (1 Timothy 5:3–4).
A third example is Jesus’s followers in one area taking up a collection to help believers in another. This isn’t a command, nor is it a request by those in need.
Interestingly, this is the only time the New Testament talks about taking a collection or receiving an offering of financial gifts. It’s to help those in need, not finance a local church.
8. Value One Another
Throughout the New Testament we see instructions of how we should treat one another. Let’s call these the “one another” directives. We are to:
The charge to love one another is the most common of these one-another comments, mentioned ten times. Jesus, Paul, Peter, and John all tell us to love one another. Jesus says that loving one another is his new command to us (John 13:34-35).
In a world that has multiple meanings for the word and a distorted understanding of how it functions, what does real love look like? How do we fully love one another? The Bible explains that too. Paul says that love:
As a church, however, we’re doing a poor job of following these one-another instructions. If each person individually did their part to apply these commands in their every-day interactions, our church would be a much different place. And the world in which we live would be better off.
If each person did their part to apply these biblical instructions on how to treat one another, our church—and our world—would be a much better place.
9. Help Others
We’ve talked about how we should care for our own and value one another. These examples direct our attention inward, telling us to care for those in Jesus’s church and instructing how we should act with each other.
This doesn’t imply, however, that we should dismiss those outside of our faith community. We should also reach out to them and seek to help them too.
In addition to helping widows and orphans, we’re also to show hospitality to strangers (Hebrews 13:2 and 3 John 1:5). Quite simply, a stranger someone who we don’t know.
This may involve giving them money, but it could also involve helping them receive justice (2 Corinthians 7:11).
Another consideration is to offer them Jesus’s healing power. Though healing people in Jesus’s name was common in the early church, for many that ability has slipped from their practices today.
The Bible tells about people bringing their infirmed friends and placing them on the street where they expect Peter to travel. They hope Peter’s shadow might fall on the sick as he passes by.
Though the Bible doesn’t confirm that people received healing this way, why would they go to this trouble if Peter’s shadow hadn’t healed others in the past (Acts 5:15)?
Later in the book of Acts, we read about God doing astonishing miracles through Paul.
This supernatural power is so extraordinary that even handkerchiefs and aprons that Paul touches contain God’s healing power. They bring these garments to people who need healing.
The people who receive them are cured and evil spirits are cast out, even though Paul isn’t physically present (Acts 19:11–12). Is God still in the business of healing people like this?
Some Christians today claim that supernatural healing power died with the apostles, but there’s little biblical support for this position. Jesus said his followers would do all that he did—including healing people—and more.
We will do even greater things than he did once he reunited with his Father and they sent us the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26 and Acts 1:4–5).
We see that after people receive supernatural healing an opportunity arises to tell them about Jesus (Acts 3:1–10, Acts 8:6–8, and Acts 9:32–35).
10. Flexible and Informal Leadership
In the New Testament we don’t see much indication of a formal leadership structure. Yes, people do serve in leadership roles, but it’s not hierarchical or formally instituted. And the various church’s never vote on who should lead them. Nor do they hire a minister. So why do we?
After Jesus returns to heaven, the disciples assume a leadership role. This is natural because they know Jesus better than any of the newer converts and are in the best position to teach them (Acts 2:42).
Decision-making in the early church is not democratic. One time they cast lots to pick a leader (Acts 1:26). Another time the people recommend the first deacons. Then the apostles accept who they suggest and pray for them (Acts 6:5–6).
In Acts we see Paul and Barnabas visiting the various churches to appoint leaders. They make their selections through prayer and fasting (Acts 14:23). Paul tells Titus to do the same thing on the island of Crete (Titus 1:5).
But mostly we see people taking initiative, doing what’s needed to advance Jesus’s church, as led by the Holy Spirit. For example, consider Apollos acting on his own accord to tell others about Jesus (Acts 18:24–25).
No one authorizes Apollos to be a missionary. He doesn’t need permission. He just acts.
Then Priscilla and Aquila take it upon themselves to expand Apollos’s understanding of Jesus (Acts 18:26). And no one appoints Priscilla and Aquila to further Apollos’s knowledge of Jesus. They see a need, and they meet it
The early church has a lot of lay leadership and functions in an almost egalitarian manner. In this, they rely on the Holy Spirit to guide them (Acts 15:28).
Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Michal marries David, who will later become king; her father is King Saul. Though her story starts out with promise, it ends sadly.
David plays a critical role in the success of King Saul and the nation of Israel. Despite this, Saul’s attitude towards David varies greatly, with Saul often wanting to kill David out of jealousy.
When Saul learns his daughter, Michal, is in love with David, Saul hatches a plan to use her to bring about David’s downfall.
For a dowry, Saul requests proof that David has killed 100 of the nation’s enemy. Saul assumes David will die trying to fulfill Saul’s requirement. Instead, David succeeds, presenting twice the amount requested. David marries her.
Sometime later, when David is on the run, Saul, gives Michal to another man. Eventually, David brings about Michal’s return.
After David ascends to power, he brings the ark back, celebrating wildly in praise to God. Michal criticizes his public worship, despising him for his actions. Though she once loved him, she no longer does.
We can only guess why: Because his celebratory romp repelled her, because she gave her heart to her second husband, or because David married other women.
Michal never has any children. Maybe, because of her disapproval over David’s exuberant dance, he rejected her or perhaps God punished her.
Regardless, a critical spirit is never attractive.
Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in e-book, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Focus verse: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32)
Jesus speaks to the Jews who believe in him. He encourages them to hold fast to his teaching. By doing so, they prove they are his disciples, his loyal followers. As his disciples, they will understand his truth. That knowledge provides them with freedom from their sins.
Wow! There’s a lot packed into these two verses.
The passage starts with believing in Jesus. We affirm who he is—the Son of God. And we accept what he came to do—to heal us and to save us (Matthew 9:2–7).
Though this is a great start, there’s more. James reminds us that even the demons believe in God and that conviction makes them shudder in fear (James 2:19). Mere belief in Jesus is not enough. Believing in him is just the start.
To those who believe, he urges them to hold on to his teaching. This is more than a mental agreement with what Jesus tells us or a feel-good acknowledgment of his character.
Instead, we move forward to act according to what Jesus says to do. We take his words seriously and put his instructions into practice.
To those who hold on to his teaching in this way, they show they are his loyal disciples. They’re not followers in name only, but followers in living a life consistent with what Jesus invites them to embrace.
They put their faith into action, and, as a result, they impact people for Jesus wherever they go.
As for these disciples, they know the truth that produces salvation as a certainty. This reality gives them freedom from the penalty of their sins.
Their spiritual rescue—and ours—can only come from Jesus and through Jesus by his once-and-forever sacrifice to make good on the things we’ve done wrong. Through Jesus we become right with Father God. This truth sets us free.
I hope you believe in Jesus. And as a believer in him, I yearn to grasp his teaching as detailed in Scripture and revealed by the Holy Spirit. In doing so we will be his disciples and know the truth—salvation truth—that sets us free.
Questions:
Do you believe that Jesus came to heal and to save us? Why?
How can you hold on to Jesus’s teaching?
How can you take Jesus’s words seriously and put his instructions into practice?
What can you do to put your faith into action?
What does being set free by Jesus’s truth mean to you?
Tips: Check out our tips to use this online Bible study for your church, small group, Sunday school class, or family discussion. It’s also ideal for personal study. Come back each Monday for a new lesson.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Instead of the Confusing Messages about Easter, Focus on Jesus Rising from the Dead
On Resurrection Sunday—more commonly known as Easter—let’s place our emphasis completely on Jesus. After he died as the ultimate sin sacrifice for all humanity, he proved his power over death by rising from the dead.
He is alive! Though dead for three days, he didn’t stay in the grave.
Resurrected Jesus
Thank you, Jesus, for who you are and what you did. Though we should rightly celebrate you every day, may we do so with even greater abandon on Resurrection Sunday.
By abandon, I mean wild, impertinent, and uninhibited celebration. The absence of restraint.
Yet restraint, albeit with a smile, is what most Resurrection Sunday celebrations look like—at least the ones I’ve been to throughout my life. Only one church turned the day into an unabashed celebration of Jesus.
Not Easter
Sadly, too many churches don’t even call it Resurrection Sunday. They use the more familiar label of Easter. Easter, of course, stands as an appropriate term for this religious holiday.
Secular society, however, has co-opted this special day, removing its spiritual significance, and replacing it with a consumerism mentality. We’ve seen this happen with Christmas, and the same inappropriate transformation is occurring with Easter.
Many churches unwittingly buy into this by incorporating secular vestiges of Easter into their services, passing out Easter eggs, chocolate candies, and colorful stuffed animals often in the shape of bunnies.
And don’t try to bridge the spiritual and secular with a hunk of chocolate molded into Jesus’s image. Yep, such as thing exists.
Instead, let’s stop calling the day Easter and start calling it Resurrection Sunday. This is the surest way to refocus our attention to where it needs to be and away from distractions of secular society.
Jesus should be the reason we celebrate Easter. Jesus is the reason we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. He died for our sins and proved his authority to do so by rising from the dead. He is alive! Yes, Jesus is alive!
Celebrate Resurrection Sunday
May we celebrate Jesus’s victory over death with full, unashamed abandon on Resurrection Sunday and every other day too.
Thank you, Jesus, for who you are and what you did. We owe you everything. May we never forget that and never stopped celebrating you, our resurrected Savior.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
A Devotional Celebrating Easter, the Ascension, and Pentecost
Jesus’s death wasn’t the end. In fact, it was just the beginning.
THE VICTORY OF JESUS is a 50-day Bible study for Christians looking to skip the fluff of a typical devotional without getting bogged down by a lot of academic pomp.
If you’re looking for a devotional that will help you draw closer to God, nourishing your soul as well as your mind, THE VICTORY OF JESUS is for you.
With insightful wisdom and heart-felt teachings that offer lasting spiritual encouragement, devoted Christian author Peter DeHaan takes you on a spiritual journey to explore the biblical events immediately following the Resurrection of Jesus.
Join the disciples as they sit down with the Messiah for a meal of fresh fish after his miraculous triumph over death. Witness the awe-struck reactions of the two disciples who meet a risen Christ on the road to Emmaus. Walk with the apostle Peter as the Savior he denied offers him love, forgiveness, and a powerful new mission.
From the founder of the A Bible a Day website, THE VICTORY OF JESUS inspires Christians from all backgrounds. This easy-to-read, accessible Bible study is perfect for families, individuals, and small groups who want to keep the miracle of Easter (and the events that followed) fresh in your minds and in your hearts throughout the entire year.
If you’re looking for a relevant perspective on biblical events instead of the same old stories rehashed and served up the same old way, buy THE VICTORY OF JESUS and celebrate the Resurrection like never before.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
