Biblical Christianity from Peter DeHaan

The Art of Giving to God

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 12, 2016

By Giving to God We Demonstrate Our Love to Him

Jesus says to give “to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s,” Luke 20:25, NIV. While the context of this relates to paying taxes, the ramifications go beyond money.

The Roman government, in general, and its ruler (Caesar), specifically, have an array of expectations that go beyond tax revenue.

Caesar proclaims himself as god, and we see the far-reaching implications. Caesar wants for himself what the Jewish people reserve for God.

Many critics of today’s church claim “the church is only after your money,” and in doing so they imply God only values us for our bank account.

While this is sadly true at too many church institutions, it’s not what Jesus intends for us and is far from God’s heart.

Yes, God wants us to give ourselves to him. As we seek to put this into practice, however, giving to God becomes more art than rule. Here are some considerations.

Give Our Money

When most people think of giving to God, they only think of money. Yet, we can’t actually write a check and hand it to God – and what would he do with it anyway?

We give our money to God by using it to bless others and support causes that align with God’s heart, according to his Holy Spirit direction in our hearts. This may or may not be the local church.

It could be a parachurch organization, to address a pressing social issue, or to help our neighbor in need. Regardless, when we give cheerfully as God directs us, we in effect give to God.

Give Our Time

We spend time with people we value: family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and so forth. The people we ignore must not be important to us. The same applies with God. Again, this may or may not happen at church.

We spend time with God when we fast, pray, study the Bible, and practice silence and solitude.

We also spend time with him when we sing to him and talk with others about him. And when we invite him to join in our gatherings, we spend time with him, because he is there.

Give Our Worship

In singing songs at church about God and to God, we give to him. We can worship him in other ways, too, such as prayers of praise, sharing with others our stories of his goodness, and enjoying his creation. I often worship him when I write.

Give Our Love

Perhaps the most misused, most misunderstood word in English is love: I love my wife, and I love to watch movies. I love nature, and I love the color blue. I love spring, and I love to write.

And I love God. If our love of God means anything, we show it by how we use the money he blesses us with, how we invest our time, and how we worship him. Our love for him is a fitting response to his love for us (see 1 John 4:19).

Give Our Devotion

The act of devotion encompasses the first four items, but our zeal for God also goes beyond them. We set aside other pursuits to focus on God; we put him first, not in word but by our deeds.

Devotion involves sacrifice and focused attention, as though nothing else matters, because nothing else truly does. Giving to God is a lifelong, fulltime pursuit. As our maker, liberator, and friend, he deserves nothing less.

Let’s look at what we give to God.

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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Tags give, love, money, time, worship

Christian Living

We Must Choose to Follow Jesus Every Day

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 5, 2016
2 Comments on We Must Choose to Follow Jesus Every Day

Each Morning We Decide How We Will Live that Day be it For Ourselves or For a Greater Purpose

In highschool a friend caught me off guard when she said with confidence that “once you’re saved you can’t lose your salvation.” I asked her where the Bible said that. She didn’t have an answer about why she believed in eternal security.

Instead she just insisted it was true. Her minister said so. “Once saved, always saved,” she spouted. She was as sure of that as her own name. She had prayed a prayer asking Jesus into her heart and that was all that mattered. End of discussion.

I worried about her conclusion and her eternal destination. I implored her to not treat something so important with casual indifference. She began acting less and less like someone who followed Jesus. I watched as she turned and walked away from him.

Before long she was talking and acting like someone who didn’t know Jesus at all. She believed she had her eternal get-out-of-jail-card, and nothing else mattered.

The Doctrine of Eternal Security

People who study such things call “once saved, always saved” the “doctrine of eternal security.” Grabbing a spattering of carefully selected Bible verses they build a case for their conclusion.

I’ve spent time with such people who consider eternal security as an unquestionable, absolute truth. I kind of see their point but think the evidence they present is far from conclusive.

I’ve also spent time with people equally convinced that the principle of eternal security is an errant conclusion. They have their own verses to support their contention.

I kind of see their point, too, but I think the evidence they present is far from conclusive.

I agree with both camps, though I hold each of their conclusions loosely. By faith I have a certainly of what life after death holds for me, but I will not treat this confidence carelessly. Too much is at stake.

An Example from Marriage

When my wife and I married, we agreed it was for the rest of our lives. Divorce would not be an option. However, each day we also make this decision again. We choose to remain committed to each other and love each other.

Most days we do this well and other days, not so well. Yet in each of these days we move forward as a married couple.

Only a fool would claim that saying “I do” one time at a wedding ceremony was enough and that actions from that day forth mattered not. So, I choose to say “I do” every day to my wife.

I do the same with Jesus, too. Each day I say “I do” to Jesus again. I choose to follow him anew. I’d be foolish not to.

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Tags follow Jesus, salvation

Bible Insights

The Bible Uses a Third Person Omniscient Point of View

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 29, 2016

Knowing the Writing Style of the Bible Will Help Us Avoid Confusion When We Read It

Since my days as a teenager, I’ve spent time most every day to read and study the Bible. I’m also a writer who writes every day. I like to share what I’ve learned about both subjects. Here goes:

I don’t want to trigger unwelcome flashbacks to junior high and high school, but here’s a brief reminder about point of view in writing: When we tell stories of what we did, we use first person (as in “I drove…”).

When we tell stories about others, we use third person (as in “she drove…”).

And there are two variations of third person perspective

limited (restricted to what only one character can see or know) and
omniscient (knowing everything, like God).

In days of old, writers used third-person omniscient. Nowadays, third-person limited is all the rage, with the industry turning up its snobbish nose at third person omniscient writing.

The books I read in third person are always third person limited. In this I’m restricted to one person’s perspective per scene, just like a movie camera.

Reading, “he thought the idea was silly, but she was thinking the opposite,” is jarring because we hop from one person’s head to another in the same sentence. This is verboten in today’s writing style, third person limited.

Yet the Bible does this all the time.

For example, how was Jonah aware that the seas calmed down after the sailors tossed him into the water (Jonah 1:15)? Or when Philip left the Ethiopian eunuch, how did he know the eunuch went on his way (Acts 8:39)?

With today’s writing style, they can’t. We see things from Jonah and Philip‘s point of view and, according to the rules of third person limited writing, we can’t be privy to what happens when they aren’t present.

Yet most of the Bible uses the third person omniscient point of view, not third person limited. Therefore, consistent with this writing style, we can know these things.

Given that God is omniscient and inspired the words of the Bible, it’s completely logical that the Bible would align with his omniscient point of view.

It took me way too long to figure this out.

Over the years I’ve heard people criticize the Bible’s accuracy because of these passages about Jonah and Philip, as well as scores of others. They assumed the Bible should obey the rules of today’s in vogue writing style of third person limited.

Yet third person omniscient is the style of older literature, including the Bible.

God is omniscient, so it follows that his book would be mostly omniscient too.

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Tags read the Bible, writing

Christian Living

Read the Bible as Literature

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 22, 2016

Studying Scripture Teaches Us about Classic Literature and Inform Our Literary Perspective

My post “13 Reasons Why I Love the Bible” started out as a top ten list, but I couldn’t stop at a round number. I kept going and couldn’t pare my list down to just ten reasons. And if I had kept thinking about it, I would likely have come up with more.

A related topic is considering the Bible as literature, the classic of classics. So much of what we read today has allusions, though sometimes subtle, to scripture. We see biblical themes repeated in TV and movies.

Knowing the Bible helps us to more fully understand God but also to better appreciate literature and entertainment. Consider what the Bible has to offer:

Variety of Genres

The Bible contains different styles of writing. Much of it is history, with some biography and even autobiography. There are several poetry portions (albeit without rhyming and meter), which reveal ancient poetic styles and can inform modern day poets.

The books of prophecy reveal the future, some of which has already come to pass and other portions, not. Books of wisdom give as wise advice.

Other sections reveal God, serving as the first theology text. The Bible also contains letters from teachers to their students.

There are epic dreams documented for us to ponder. And two books, Job and Song of Songs, read much like the modern-day screenplay.

Multiple Viewpoints

The Bible contains four biographies of Jesus (gospels). The four respective authors reveal different aspects of Jesus based on their personal perception and target audience.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s writing contain the most similarities; John is the most different.

Similarly, 1 and 2 Chronicles provides a counterpoint to the books of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings.

Last, some of the prophets provide additional historical accounts to round out what we learn from the prior six books of history (1 and 2 Chronicles, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings)

Different Perspectives

Much of the Bible is written in the third person point of view, while some passages are in first person. I especially enjoy these first person accounts as it places me in the middle of the action, as if I am there, living it with the speaker.

Multiple Levels

Reading the Bible is analogous to peeling an onion. Each time we unwrap one layer, we find another that gives us additional insight and added meaning.

There are many tiers, virtually unlimited. We will never know all of what the Bible says, but we do strive to learn more of what it reveals.

With each successive read we are able to connect different passages together and glean deeper insight into its stories, lessons, and writers – as well as the God who inspired it.

The Bible has much to offer, not only from a spiritual perspective, but also from a literary one.

Reading the Bible as literature will increase our appreciation of other things we read, what we write, and the world in which we live.

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Tags Bible, gospel, Jesus, prophecy, theology, writing

Christian Living

How to Learn about the Bible

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 8, 2016

Don’t study books about the Bible, study the Bible.

In college I was excited to take a class on C.S. Lewis. My enthusiasm, however, didn’t last long. I wrongly assumed we would study the writings of Lewis. Instead we focused on what scholars said about what he wrote.

Yes, we did read one of C.S. Lewis’s books in the class, but the rest of the syllabus had us merely examining books about him. My interaction with Lewis was filtered through intermediaries.

This approach disappointed me. It left me frustrated. With so much we could have learned, we were diverted to secondary sources.

Many people wrongly take this same approach with the Bible.

Instead of reading the Bible, they read books about the Bible. Instead of studying the Word of God, they study what scholars say about it. What if the experts are wrong? What if our authoritarian sources lead us astray?

After all, theologians stand in stark opposition to one another on what the Bible means, so we have a very real chance of picking up the wrong book to teach us about the Bible.

If we want to know what the Bible says we need to simply read it and not scour some secondary source.

I extend this same errant thinking to Sunday morning where trained clergy teach us about the Bible, spending the majority of their lecture sharing what they think the Bible says (and what other people think the Bible says).

Why not just read the Bible together to learn what is in it?

In the past, when the laity was illiterate and didn’t have access to the scriptures in their language, it made practical sense for the clergy to teach what the Bible said.

Never mind that throughout history trained ministers have consistently led their people astray.

If you disagree with this assessment, then why are there 42,000 Protestant denominations in the world today? Why did we need the Protestant Reformation?

We needed it to correct wrong teaching. Surely there is much disagreement among our learned leaders over what the Bible says.

Today we are literate. We have access to the Bible in multiple versions, both in print and online. And if we follow Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us as we study the Bible.

We don’t need a human guide to tell us about God; we have God and his Word to tell us about God.

Yet I write about God and the Bible. Do I consider myself an exception? Certainly not.

My goal in writing about the Bible is to encourage others to delve into it themselves, to read it, study it, and seek Holy Spirit guidance as to what the Bible means. (My website ABibleADay.com focuses on this.)

I seldom cite secondary sources. I don’t hold myself up to be an expert. I share my journey and encourage others to do the same.

Paul affirmed the Jews in Berea as having noble character, for they studied the Bible daily to make sure that what Paul said was true (Acts 17:11). We must do the same.

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Tags C. S. Lewis, Paul, Protestant Reformation, read the Bible

Bible Insights

God Gives Victory and Vindication

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 3, 2016

The Psalms Guide Us in Praising God and in Pleading for His Protection

In addition to proclaiming praise to God, the book of Psalms in the Bible also provides comfort to many facing afflictions. The Psalms offer hope in the midst of turmoil and point us to God for deliverance from the world’s oppression.

David writes many of the psalms recorded for us in the Bible, including all five of today’s chapters.

He ends chapter 60 with a subtle two-point conclusion that’s easy to miss if we’re not careful. First, David says that when we walk with God, we will realize success. The implication is that without God, victory is not likely.

The Bible is full of stories that back this up: with God the impossible happens; without God even seemingly sure things falter.

Next David writes that God will punish our enemies. This suggests we shouldn’t seek revenge, but instead we should turn retaliation over to God. He will deal with those who oppose us.

David models this in his own life. When King Saul chases David, intent on killing him, David has an opportunity to slay Saul and end the matter.

Instead David declines and defers to God (1 Samuel 24:4-6). Though David needs to wait a few years, God does remove Saul and elevate David.

David likely recalls this, as well as the many other times God gave him victory and handled his vindication, when he wrote: “With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies,” Psalm 60:12.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Psalm 56-60, and today’s post is on Psalm 60:12.]

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Tags fear God, King David

Christian Living

Are You a Pastor?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 24, 2016

It’s Time to Reframe Our Idea of What it Means to be a Pastor

I am not a trained minister, an educated member of the clergy, or a professional pastor. These titles all unnerve me. I am not a pastor, at least not in the traditional sense.

About a decade ago a woman left me completely flustered when, full of sincerity, she asked, “Are you a pastor?”

I gasped and then suppressed a laugh. “Oh, no!” I assured her. “I am definitely not a pastor.”

She cocked her head and eyed me quizzically. “Well you certainly seem like one.”

My initial thought was offense. Despite having many pastors who are friends, I apparently didn’t hold the profession in high regard. However, I suspect her words were given as a compliment, even though they freaked me out.

Later I shook my head in disbelief and in a vain attempt to dislodge the memory from my mind.

But this wasn’t the only time someone asked me this question, merely the first. The second time, despite being caught off guard again, I believe I responded a bit more graciously.

This surprising question has been repeated over the years that followed and again resurfaced this past week..

I hope people ask this because they sense something positive in me, such as a caring spirit, a gentleness that transcends self, or the love of Jesus oozing out.

If so, the question “Are you a pastor?” is a tribute to God’s work in my life, even though my answer remains an emphatic, “No.”

Many people consider a pastor as synonymous with minister or preacher. I do not. I prefer to think of a pastor as a shepherd, as one who follows the example of the Great Shepherd. The pastor as shepherd is one who cares for his or her flock.

Simply put, a pastor cares for others. This care comes through both prayer and through action.

In this respect, we are all called to be pastors, or as Peter writes, we are priests (1 Peter 2:5). As followers of Jesus we are tasked with caring for one another. I care for you and you care for me.

We should not wait for the paid clergy to do this. We should act before they get a chance.

This makes us pastors.

Yes, I am a pastor—and so are you.

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Tags minister, shepherd

Bible Insights

Don’t Veil Selfish Motives in Spiritual Terms

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 19, 2016

The Root Cause of Conflict is Our Egos, Even When We Hide Our Agenda by Citing Scripture

In Numbers 12 we see a story of sibling rivalry, one at a spiritual level.

Moses, the leader of the Israelites, is confronted by his sister, Miriam, aided by his brother, Aaron. The two pair up to oppose their younger brother, Moses, the guy who ran away for forty years and abandoned his people.

They had stuck around. They had suffered in Egypt while Moses had escaped.

Though Moses does return and lead the people, the older siblings, especially Miriam, wants greater recognition for the supporting role they play in this. Though her motivation is selfish, Miriam tries to make it spiritual.

She asserts that God speaks to her and Aaron, just as God does with Moses. Maybe God does; maybe God doesn’t. Though there could be some truth to her claim, the Bible says little to confirm this. We don’t know for sure.

At this point in the story, the Bible slips in a parenthetical note. It confirms the deep humility of Moses. The implication is that Moses makes no effort to defend himself or squash her uprising. He leaves it in God’s hands.

God reacts swiftly, putting Miriam (and Aaron) in their place and affirming Moses as his chosen leader.

We see this same type of conflict today with brothers and sisters opposing one another, in both their biological families and spiritual families, the church.

Though usually dressed in spiritual attire, these church conflicts are often (perhaps, always) about ego: selfish motives, greed, and pride. We want our way; we desire more power; we crave recognition.

Even when we quote verses and project pure motives, the reality is that we want to be right, which means we want to prove others wrong. It’s about ego.

Churches split over such conflicts. Christians even kill one another because of such polarized disagreements. Each time we harm the cause of Jesus.

While it would be great if God would take immediate action in today’s disputes, just as he did in the case of Miriam and Aaron versus Moses, he does not. I suspect he’s hoping we will learn from this and one day grow up.

I think the key is that we need to react like Moses, from a place of true humility.

Though our society dismisses the humble, a humble spirit pleases God. That should be our ultimate goal, especially in the face of conflict.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Numbers 10-12, and today’s post is on Numbers 12:2-3.]

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Tags Aaron, church, Moses, pride

Christian Living

Can I Pray For You?

We Never Know Who Has a Deep Need for Prayer or How Much Our Words Could Help

I volunteer at a parachurch organization that helps people in need and shows them the love of Jesus. After the participants had left, I poked my head into a classroom to wave goodbye to one of the leaders.

Not her usual happy self, I stepped in and asked how things had gone.

She had a rough session that morning. Discouragement spilled forth as she shared the ordeal. One of the couples had opened up, revealing more of their situation than they had ever shared with anyone else in the program.

Though skilled at what she does, with lots of experience dealing with participants’ struggles and years of life’s wisdom on top of that, she was at a loss.

Their circumstance seemed unresolvable, a hopeful solution, illusive. She didn’t know how to guide them.

Overwhelmed, their burden weighed heavy on her usually capable shoulders. As she shared their condition, I, too, felt the gravity of the situation and saw no way to help.

“Can I pray for you? I asked.

“Sure,” she answered with little enthusiasm. “Prayer would be good.” Then she continued gathering her things.

I hadn’t communicated clearly. I tried again. “May I pray for you now?”

Her eyes brightened. “Yes!” A hint of her usual smile returned. “I’d really like that.”

Despite her eagerness, I sensed a bit of discomfort, too. I didn’t know enough of her faith practices to understand how she expected this to occur. Some people become unnerved with direct one-on-one prayer.

One man shuddered at the idea of me actually praying out loud for him and asked that I do so silently.

I awkwardly extended my hand. Unsure, one of her hands met mine. As I thanked God for her tender heart, her other hand joined in. She clasped my hand tightly. Her grip grew more firm as my prayer unfolded.

I prayed the words the Holy Spirit gave me. When I said them all, I knew not to add any of my own. What had been said was all that was needed. “Amen.”

She opened her now misty eyes, and the rest of her smile returned.

“Thank you,” she said with sincerity. “It’s been a long time since someone has prayed for me.”

I was glad I was the one to end the drought and, at the same time, sad that there was one in the first place. This woman is a regular attendee at her church, a senior saint, a pillar.

Yet people in her community had not been praying for her, at least not out loud and in her presence.

Instead of being proud for my actions, I was resolute. I pledged to be more intentional in praying for others, to make sure those in my circles don’t have the same lament.

How can you expand your prayer practices to intercede for others? Is God calling you to be more intentional?

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Tags Holy Spirit, prayer

Christian Living

How Do We Give to God?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 10, 2016

The Bible Says to Give to Caesar What is Caesar’s and to God What is God’s

While there is no biblical command to give 10 percent of our income to the local church, that doesn’t mean we should ignore giving.

Jesus’s detractors try to trick him into saying something condemnable about paying taxes. They figure they can use his words against him regardless of how he responds.

If he tells them to pay taxes, then they can accuse him of putting the Roman government over God (of literally worshiping Caesar instead of God).

And if he tells them not to pay taxes to the ungodly Romans, then they can turn him over to the authorities for treason or even insurrection.

Either way they win.

Jesus responds wisely. He tells them to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s (Luke 20:22-25). Once again Jesus foils their seemingly foolproof plan to discredit him.

But how exactly do we give to God?

As a small kid I connected our church’s offering ritual with Jacob’s ladder in the Bible (aka the stairway to heaven, Genesis 28:12). The ushers passed the plates and walked the collection up the aisle to the minister.

I assumed that on Monday he would climb Jacob’s ladder to heaven and actually give our gifts directly to God. It made sense to me then. And it made giving gifts to God so easy.

So the question remains, how do we give our gifts to God? Since I can’t actually make out a check to God and hand it to him, what am I to do?

Again, Jesus has the answer. In a parable he teaches that whatever we do to help the less fortunate, we effectively do for God (Matthew 25:40).

So we give to God by helping the poor. We can help them tangibly address their physical struggles and we can help them eternally by meeting their spiritual needs.

We can do this directly through our own actions, and we can do this indirectly when we support organizations that help those in need as they point them to Jesus.

If your local church can do this most effectively, then give to them. But check their budget first. For most churches only a very small fraction of the money donated is actually used to help those outside the church.

If another organization has less overhead and uses a higher percentage of donations to help others, then give to them.

Remember, we are to be wise stewards of the money God entrusts to us. We want to hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21) and not “You wicked, lazy servant!” (Matthew 25:26).

May we use our money wisely to advance God’s kingdom and hear his approval.

How do you give money to God? How do you ensure you are a wise steward with the money God assigns to you?

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Tags give, offering, poor