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Christian Living

God Blesses Us So That We Can Bless Others

Bless others

God Told Abraham That He Would Bless Him and Through Him Bless All Nations

How often do we ask God to bless us? It’s a request I make most every day. Sometimes more than once. I suspect you may often ask for God’s blessings too.

What do we mean when we ask for God’s blessings? Are we asking for the intangible, more joy, peace, and clarity? Or do we desire tangible things, like money, possessions, and power?

We might ask for his blessings in a vague way, not really knowing what we’re requesting.

When God blesses us, is it simply to make our lives better? More enjoyable? Easier? Could be. He does love us, and he may bless us simply because he loves us and wants to do good things for us.

Be a Blessing

To father Abraham God promised that he would make Abraham into a great nation and bless him. In turn he would be a blessing to others. Everyone on earth would be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3).

So, God blessed Abraham so that he could bless others. I think this goes beyond placing our hand on someone’s head and saying, “I bless you in God’s name.”

Later God reiterates his promise of blessing. He tells Abraham that he will bless him and his descendants. And through his descendants, God will bless all the nations. He will bless everyone through Abraham and his family through the ages (Genesis 22:17-18).

Like Abraham, we can bless others. Whether we have received many blessings from God or a few—though we certainly receive more than we realize—these blessings aren’t just for ourselves. God blesses us so that we can also bless others.

Is that what we’re doing with God’s blessings? Or are we hoarding them for ourselves?

If we give freely, we’ll receive more. If we cling to what we have, we’ll receive less (Matthew 25:29). Remember that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).

God blesses us because he loves us, and God blesses us so we can bless others. Are we doing all we can to be a blessing to others?

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.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

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Visiting Churches

A Friendly Church with a Homey Feel (Visiting Church #1)

friendly church.

The first of fifty-two churches is a small Baptist-affiliated assembly. With forty or so normally in attendance, this Sunday has only seventeen.

The service is not unlike churches my wife attended in her youth, so she feels comfortable and is familiar with their format even though it now feels quite dated.

The people are friendly and—despite a bit of awkwardness when the pastor asks “first-time visitors” to raise their hands—I feel a contentment, a peace perhaps best attributed to God’s presence.

52 Churches: A Yearlong Journey Encountering God, His Church, and Our Common Faith

There’s nothing remarkable about the service—a few old-time hymns with piano accompaniment, sharing prayer requests, an offering, a message, and a low-key alter call—but the people make the difference.

They’re comfortable with each other, liking and accepting one another.

There’s no pretense in their actions or words, just nice folks who are real. It’s like family, good family, albeit an eclectic one.

The hour and a half service is mostly preaching, with reoccurring themes of Jesus, faith, and heaven. Our future in heaven is also a theme of several of the hymns.

Afterwards, the people linger to chat; no one rushes out. Though our stomachs tell us it’s past time to eat, we tarry as well. Many sincerely thank us for visiting and invite us to come again but do so without being pushy.

They’re a friendly church with a homey feel.

[Read about Church #2, go to the beginning of our journey, or learn more about Church #1.]

My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, 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.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Women in the Bible: Jael

jael.

When Barak and the Israelite army routes Sisera’s army, Sisera escapes and takes refuge with Jael. He seeks her because her clan has a favorable history with his country.

Pretending to protect him, Jael takes him in, attends to his needs, and then slays him by bashing in his scull while he sleeps. Though a violent and gruesome attack, it’s likely the only means she has to kill him.

She is strong enough to do this and brave enough to take decisive action.

This fulfills the prophecy of Judge Deborah who, after Barak’s reluctance to obey God, foretells that the credit for the death of Sisera will go to a woman instead of Barak.

As a tribute to Jael’s valor, Deborah immortalizes Jael’s actions in song.

[Jael’s story is in Judges 4:17-22, and the ode to her boldness is in Judges 5:24-27.]

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.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

What is the Error of Balaam?

Error of Balaam

We Will Do Well to Consider Balance Error So We Can Avoid It

As mentioned in the book of Jude (Jude 1:11), we’ve covered Cain’s path and Korah’s rebellion. Now we’ll address the error of Balaam.

Frankly, I’m perplexed as to what Balaam’s error was. In reading his story in Numbers, I see a man who affirmed God as “my God,” heard God’s voice, and obeyed God’s instructions. Indeed, Balaam has a better track record than I do.

Balaam Obeyed God

God told Balaam to not go and he stayed. Then God told him to go and he went—but God was angry because he did. Based on this, it wouldn’t be a stretch to conclude that God was bipolar.

However, I reject that diagnosis as being inconsistent with God’s character.

Instead we must seek a different explanation.

Don’t Ask God Twice

I wonder if the first time that God said “no” should have been enough. Balaam had no need to ask again—unless he didn’t like the first answer. 

This might be like kids pestering their folks for something.

Eventually the parents relent, not because they changed their mind, but because they want to teach their offspring a lesson about making good choices or learn what happens when they select bad paths.

Another consideration is the implication that Balaam was mixing his pursuit of God with divination, a practice the Bible forbids. Is this the error of Balaam?

This is a common practice today, where practitioners cherry-pick the choice parts of various religions or philosophies, forming their own belief system.

Is there any expectation that their outcome will be different from Balaam’s? We will do well to consider this.

The End of Balaam

What happens to Balaam after this passage?

We don’t hear about him for a while, but when Joshua leads the people to take the land God promised them, we read that Balaam is among the casualties.

We don’t know if he dies in battle or if they executed him later, but the book of Joshua says the Israelites put the sword to Balaam.

It adds that he practiced divination, perhaps explaining the reason for his death (Joshua 13:22).

We need to carefully consider the error of Balaam to make sure we don’t repeat it.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Numbers 22-24, and today’s post is on Numbers 22:12.]

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.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”
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​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

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Christian Living

The Bible is the Big Book of Questions

Asking questions of God

Questions Arise as We Study the Bible and That’s Okay

In the post Is It Okay to Question God? I share stories of Job, Abraham, Moses, David, Mary, and Jesus. They all question God. Seriously, they do. But God doesn’t punish them for questioning him and his sovereignty. He listens. He’s patient.

Asking Questions Is Good

I suspect God appreciates their questions. It shows that they’re engaged with him. They have confidence to approach him. They have a relationship that allows for thoughtful questions.

I suspect God appreciates our questions too. It shows that we’re engaged with him. We have confidence to approach him. We have a relationship that allows for thoughtful questions. Our questions honor God and reveal our faith.

Not Asking Questions Is Harmful

In some groups, as well as some churches, people learn that they shouldn’t ask questions. Those who do, find out the hard way that there are consequences if they question authority or what they’re taught.

As a result, they end up blindly following whatever their leader says, whether good or bad. (This is a characteristic of a cult.)

And those who persist in asking questions face having the group ostracize or expel them, sometimes even kill them.

Not being able to question faith-related items will fester inside us until our faith collapses. Just as asking questions draws us to God, not asking questions pushes us away.

The Book of Questions

As we read the Bible and study it, questions arise. Some people push these aside without giving them another thought. Others are afraid to give voice to their questions for fear it reveals a lack of faith.

What if our questions show a deficit of understanding? Yet others don’t fear these questions. Instead, they embrace questions as part of their faith journey.

Asking questions about what the Bible says proves we’re engaging with its words. And by having the courage to ask these questions, it reveals our relationship with God.

We don’t fear him, afraid to question his Word. We love him, confident to ask questions about the Bible.

Asking questions proves we’re in relationship with God. Just as a student with a trusted teacher, we’re encouraged to think deeply and ask tough questions. This is because when we ask questions, we grow. We grow in our understanding of the Bible.

We grow in our faith. And we grow in our relationship with God.

Asking questions helps us grow closer to God. Isn’t this what he wants?

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.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

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.

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Bible Insights

Women in the Bible: The Shuammite Woman

Shuammite Woman

Elisha travels to the city of Shunem, and a wealthy woman urges him to stay for a meal. From then on, whenever he’s in the area, he stops by. Realizing he’s a man of God, she makes a room for him to stay when he’s in town.

Grateful, Elisha wants to do something nice for her. She has no son, and with an older husband, she has no expectation of ever having a son. Elisha prophesies that within a year, she will have a boy.

As promised, a year later she gives birth to a son.

When the boy grows older, one day his head hurts, and he later dies in her arms. She puts him in Elisha’s room. Without telling her husband what happened, she searches for Elisha.

With great intention, she finds him but then blames him for raising her hopes in the first place, when she didn’t ask for a son.

Elisha sends his servant to resurrect the boy, but she refuses to leave Elisha. So the two of them head for her home. It’s a good thing they do, because despite doing what Elisha instructs, his servant can’t restore life to the boy.

Though it takes a couple of tries, Elisha brings the boy back to life.

Later, Elisha warns the woman of a seven-year famine and sends her away. When she returns, the king restores her land to her, along with the profits it generated while she was gone.

The Shuammite woman honored God by caring for his prophet. As a result, God cared for her, through both good times and bad.

[2 Kings 4:8-37 and 2 Kings 8:1-6]

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.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

I’ve Got Water, How About You?

I've got a clean water

Although April began with the proverbial showers that are reputed to bring May flowers, it has been quite arid the past two weeks. So much so that I have had to resort to watering my lawn.

I feel a bit guilty doing so.

You see, as I dump hundreds of gallons of pure, clean water on my lawn, over a billion people on this planet have no clean water drink. 

I would gladly forgo my lawn watering ritual if it would somehow quench the thirst of those with parched throats.

But alas, any water sacrifice that I make in Michigan does nothing to satiate those who are thirsty in third-world countries.

Even so, there are ways to help. Countless organizations provide inexpensive and simple water filtration units to those with dirty, germ-laden, disease-infested water. Even a small donation can provide a safe source of water to those in need. 

Other organizations drill wells in areas lacking nearby surface water. Wells are more expensive, but can serve thousands for many years.

I just did a Google search for “provide clean drinking water” and was treated to 284 million matches—I’m sure one of those organizations will click with you.

So, go ahead and irrigate your lawn if you must, just remember to do your part to “water” thirsty people in the process.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

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.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Categories
Christian Living

Do Christians Need to Read the Old Testament of the Bible?

All scripture

Since the New Testament Focuses on Jesus Isn’t It All We Need?

We read the Bible because it reveals God to us. It is the foundation of our faith. But do we need to read all scripture, the whole Bible?

The New Testament Is Enough

As Jesus wraps up a lengthy sermon, the one we call the Sermon on the Mount, he gives us a one liner that we recognize as the Golden Rule. He tells us to treat others the way we want them to treat us. Then he adds a curious addendum.

He says this one instruction summarizes the whole Law and all that the prophets wrote (Matthew 7:12). These writings—the Law of Moses and the prophets—encompass what we call the Old Testament of the Bible.

If treating others right, the way we want them to treat us, distills everything in the Old Testament, there seems no point in reading it. Right?

In fact, the New Testament provides all the essential information we need to follow Jesus and be made right with Papa. This informs our present physical life and anticipates our future spiritual life with God in heaven.

The New Testament is enough. Or is it?

The Old Testament Magnifies the New Testament

Yet early in the same sermon, Jesus says he didn’t come to abolish (that is, do away with) the Old Testament—the Law and the prophets—but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).

If Jesus isn’t tossing out the Old Testament but is instead building upon those writings, aren’t they also foundational to our faith and understanding of God?

Yes.

Though we can view the New Testament as containing all the essential faith information we need, understanding the Old Testament adds meaning; it deepens our understanding of the symbolism, power, and purpose of the New Testament.

For example, how can we fully appreciate Jesus’s sacrifice and dying for our sins, without knowing the backstory in the Old Testament?

We can’t.

That’s why we need the Old Testament. Though the New Testament may be enough, the Old Testament amplifies it.

All Scripture Is Useful

Consider what Paul writes to his protégé Timothy. Paul says, all scripture is useful to inform us in our faith and life (2 Timothy 3:16). He doesn’t say the New Testament is useful, which, by the way, didn’t exist when Paul wrote to Timothy.

From Paul’s perspective, he refers to all the scripture that existed at that time.

This includes what we now call the Old Testament and the Apocrypha. (The Apocrypha was part of the Septuagint, the Bible Jesus and Paul quoted from. The Apocrypha was also part of the original King James Bible.)

From our understanding today, when we read Paul’s words that all scripture is useful, we conveniently include the New Testament in this. It’s not wrong to do so, but it is an expansion of what Paul wrote nearly 2,000 years ago.

Which Is It?

As we study the Bible today, we will do well to study all of it.

Yes, the New Testament is more applicable. Yet the writings of the Old Testament—all them—carry meaningful significance.

Therefore, we should keep in mind to not focus so much on the New Testament that we ignore the Old.

As Paul wrote, all scripture comes from God. It is the Word of God, God breathed. It is useful to us in our daily life. It teaches us, rebukes us, and corrects us. It trains us in how to live right. It prepares us to do good (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

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.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

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.

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Personal Posts

Do You Lie to Your Doctor?

lie to doctors

At work I received a shocking press release. In part of it said, “It’s an open secret in healthcare communities: patients lie.”

The reasons were many. Some lie because they don’t want to admit unhealthy behaviors to their doctors. For others, by not voicing a concern they subconsciously deny its existence.

Still, others make their own determinations as to what’s important and what’s not, lying to keep from revealing what they deem to be irrelevant.

Yet I think I understood this.

I’ve made casual comments to doctors and the next thing I know they would want to schedule me for a series of tests unrelated to my visit or they would prescribe a medicine for a minor issue and the drug’s side-effects were worse than my minor ailment.

Sometimes these trivialities were verbally regurgitated visit after visit, long after I’ve forgotten them. As in, “Are you still suffering from blurred vision?”

I respond, “That was three years ago and I haven’t accidentally poked myself in the eye since then.”

Too often doctors only half listen. Once they hear a certain keyword, they tune out the details that surround it. They leap to diagnosis or treatment for a problem that isn’t there.

Sometimes when we lie to doctors, it’s simply to keep them from reaching a wrong conclusion and subjecting us to needless pain.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

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.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Categories
Bible Insights

Women in the Bible: The Widow’s Oil

Widow

The widow of one of Elisha’s followers comes to him for help. Her husband left her with an outstanding debt, Since she has no means to pay off the debt, the creditor demands her two sons become his slaves.

Elisha asks what resources she has. “Nothing,” she replies, “except for a small jar of olive oil.”

Elisha has a plan. He tells her to borrow empty jars from her neighbors, lots of them. Then she is to go home, close the doors, and begin pouring olive oil from her small jar into all the other jars.

She does and the oil continues flowing until every jar is full. Then it is gone.

She sells the oil. With the proceeds, she pays off her debt and has extra to live on.

What if she had borrowed more jars? What if she only borrowed a few? When God tells us to do something, do we do it half way (and possibly miss his bounty) or go all out?

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 2 Kings 1-4 and today’s post is on 2 Kings 4:1-7.]

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.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.