Biblical Christianity from Peter DeHaan

Diligence is Rewarded

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 21, 2012

In my prior post, “Listen to Understand,” I noted that listening to Jesus results in more understanding; not listening produces confusion.

This parallels Jesus’ teaching about the “talents” and the “minas” (both words refer to denominations of money).

These parables, though differing in details (likely because they were given to different audiences at different times) have the same conclusion and message.

To those who invest their master’s money wisely, more responsibility (or money) is given; to those who fail to invest, what they have will be taken away.

Just as really listening to God results in more understanding of him, so too being faithful in the jobs he has given us results in greater responsibility and opportunity.

Many followers of Jesus desire to do great things for him, but before he gives us huge opportunities, we must prove ourselves diligent in completing lesser tasks first.

When we are diligent in serving God, he rewards us with more.

[Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:11-27]

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 faithful, reward

Bible Insights

Listen to Understand

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 19, 2012

Doctor Luke writes that Jesus tells the people to listen carefully to what he says. When they do, they will understand—and then even greater understanding will follow.

But there’s a warning, too. Those who don’t really listen will lose whatever understanding they currently have.

Listening to Jesus results in more understanding; not listening results in confusion.

If we are to understand, we need to listen to him—really listen.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 7-9, and today’s post is on Luke 8:18.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

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

Tags hear God, Jesus

Christian Living

Pray Once and Pray Without Ceasing

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 17, 2012

When we ask God for something, is it a “once and done” effort or should we pray repeatedly until our request is granted?

I think the answer is yes!

If we truly believe God hears our prayers, then we only need to ask once. (And what’s the point of praying if we don’t think he hears our every word?) To ask a second time may suggest a lack of faith.

Is incessantly pleading with God akin to children repeatedly begging their parents for candy? Just as a kid’s non-stop plea is irritating to parents, constantly begging God, must also bug him.

However, there are times, when prayers should be repeated. For example, in the parable of the widow petitioning the unjust judge, Jesus commends her persistence. Another time Jesus taught us to ask each day for our “daily bread.”

And while having enough food to eat may not be a concern for most of us, we do need God’s provisions for each new day—and it’s appropriate to make that request every morning.

There are times when we should only petition God once and other instances where we need to ask repeatedly. And part of our spiritual journey is discerning the difference.

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Tags prayer

Bible Insights

Jesus Warns About Six Woes

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 14, 2012

One time Jesus skipped the ceremonial hand washing before he ate. The Pharisees took notice of his omission and were about to criticize him when he took preemptive action, giving them teaching about six woes:

Tithing, but neglecting justice and God’s love (v 42)
Loving others to be noticed and respected (v 43)
Being like unmarked graves—an unseen danger (v 44)
Making unrealistic demands of others (that they don’t do) and not helping out (v 46)
Implicitly honoring the sins of their ancestors (v 47-51)
Hiding the truth from people—and missing it themselves (v 52)

When considering these six woes, ceremonial hand washing isn’t a big deal.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 10-12, and today’s post is on Luke 11:37-54.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

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

Tags Jesus

Personal Posts

Starting a Micro-Garden

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 13, 2012

“Can we have a garden?” My bride’s question caught me off guard. We’ve not had a garden for 25 years, not since we moved house.

“No!” was my emphatic reply. I wasn’t about to dig up the lawn for a garden; plus our rapidly expanding maple trees provided too much shade for there to be any good garden space.

At first home, we did have a garden. This was partly because it came with one and because anything we could do to stretch our food budget was a good thing.

The garden took a lot of work, which I think fell mostly to me. The toil required for a nice garden was not a surprise; as a child, I’d seen the hours my dad spent on his, but then he enjoyed it—I do not.

It was fun to plant and fun to pick, but everything else was a chore, which I was glad to skip.

My wife was not dissuaded by my total lack of support. A few days later she proudly announced she’d planted beans in her flower garden, a small spot under our picture window.

She normally plants annuals there; then she diverted the space for her micro-garden.

About a week later, I saw the beginnings of plants, a nice straight row of delicate tiny sprouts. They were definitely not beans.

“Oh, I planted beets, too,” she beamed.

Later the beans popped up and the rabbits quickly found them, gnawing some plants down the ground.

The internet suggested human hair would serve as an effective bunny-be-gone. That night I was given a haircut.

I don’t know how long the scent will remain on my hair to repel the rabbits, but I hope it’s a couple of weeks, giving my hair time to grow enough to produce the next crop of bunny repellent.

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.

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Tags animals, Sacred-Secular Divide

Visiting Churches

An Intriguing Consideration, But We’ll Pass

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 12, 2012

When we made our list of churches to visit, we included everything found under the heading of “churches,” which we would adjust as needed. Next up is a “meditation group of self-realization fellowship.”

Since our mission is to visit Christian churches, if there’s any evidence of this being a Christian community, we’ll check them out.

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

According to their website the Sunday meeting is a “reading service.”

It includes devotional chanting, short meditations, and readings from the Bible and Bhagavad Gita, which Wikipedia indicates is “a 700-verse Hindu scripture.”

There’s also mention of Kriya Yoga.

I conclude they’re essentially an Eastern religion, with a touch of the Bible thrown in. There’s seemingly nothing Christian there and we decide not to visit.

Nevertheless, I wonder if a Christian could attend and experience a connection with the God who is revealed in the Bible. I suspect so, but caution would be warranted, guarding against spiritual forces not conducive to the Christian faith.

However, my ponderings will likely never go beyond the theoretical, but it is an intriguing consideration nonetheless.

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.

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

Tags 52 Churches, church services

Christian Living

Do You Create for the Creator?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 10, 2012

I’ve never considered myself to be a creative person, not like artists and musicians or architects and engineers. While I may be good at tweaking something existing, making something new is not how I’m wired.

I’m definitely a left-brain thinker: analytical and logical, a processor of information and problem-solver. Yet, I’m also a writer—and writing is creating.

Each blog post, each article, and each book I write is the artistic birth of something not before seen; it is a new creation.

Creating things, be it art, music, buildings, devices, or even literature is a spiritual experience, be it a good spiritual or a bad spiritual. I, for one, endeavor for my creations of words to be a good spiritual.

God is a creative being. He created the universe (don’t fixate on the how, you’ll miss the point) and we are the pinnacle of his creation.

I recently tweeted: “God is the ultimate artist, creation is his masterpiece, and each of us is a work of art.”

We are made is his image, so it is inherently characteristic for us to yearn to make things—just as he made us.

As a child, I gave pictures to my mom; I now give my writing to God—and I believe he receives them with even more joy.

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Tags creative, writing

Bible Insights

Do You Need a Doctor?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 7, 2012

Jesus said, “It is not healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus came for the sick. (Since he came to heal and to save, we may be able to comprehend this both literally and figuratively, that is, the physically sick and the spiritually sick.)

Jesus came for sinners—those who miss the mark.

Conversely, Jesus did not come for the healthy, the righteous. What exactly does that mean? Perhaps:

People who are righteous (good and law-abiding) don’t need Jesus. (Is Jesus implying their path is through the Old Testament covenant and following the Law of Moses?)
People who think they are on the right track will never know they need Jesus, so he is dismissing them.
Everyone needs Jesus, but some people delude themselves, thinking they are the exception.

None of these ideas is an adequate explanation for me of what this text means. Although the first one seems heretical, it is also the most direct understanding of Jesus’ actual words.

The other two responses require an interjection of ideas, some assumptions to be made—of basically reading the text through our own theological glasses.

Fortunately, I don’t need to understand this text completely. What I do know is I need a doctor—and his name is Jesus.

[Mark 2:17, Matthew 9:12-13, and Luke 5:31-32]

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Tags heal, Jesus, righteous, salvation, sin

Christian Living

The Spirituality of Receiving

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 3, 2012

When we give something to others, there should be a spiritual element to our generosity. It’s more than just to be nice to them or to feel better about ourselves.

There’s a spiritual aspect in giving that can honor God and connect us more closely with him.

There’s also a spiritual aspect in receiving. Just as a rightly given gift should be offered graciously, it should also be received gratefully.

Doing so honors the giver and likewise connects us more closely with God, the ultimate giver of all good gifts.

I recently had some minor surgery and was on the receiving end of other’s generosity. Most prominently, my bride became my head nurse for a few days, doing things for me I’m used to doing myself.

Each act of kindness was another small gift.

Although I’m more comfortable in the role of giver, I endeavored to receive each gift well. This was to honor both the giver and the God behind the gift.

We can show God’s love by how we give—and in how we receive.

May we do both well.

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Tags biblical Christianity, generosity, give

Bible Insights

A Card Carrying Member of the Jesus Party

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 31, 2012

Tuesday’s post was about Jesus’ invitation to side with his life-party. This is not a raise-your-hand, say-a-prayer, or sign-a-card decision made without careful consideration, but a total, lifelong commitment regardless of the consequences.

To grasp the enormity of this, contemplate the verses where these phrases appears in the Amplified version of the Bible:

…became His disciples [sided with His party and followed Him] (Matthew 4:20).

…joined Jesus as disciples [sided with His party and followed Him] (Matthew 4:22).

“Be My disciple [side with My party and follow Me],” (Matthew 9:9).

“…be My disciple [side with My party and follow Me]” (Matthew 19:21).

…become Your disciples [sided with Your party and followed You] (Matthew 19:27).

“…you who have [become My disciples, sided with My party and] followed Me,” (Matthew 19:28).

…followed [with] Him [joining Him as disciples and siding with His party] (Mark 1:18).

…went off after Him [to be His disciples, side with His party, and follow Him] (Mark 1:20).

Follow Me! [Be joined to Me as a disciple, side with My party!] (Mark 2:14).

…take up his cross, and [joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me (Mark 8:34).

“…we have yielded up and abandoned everything [once and for all and joined You as Your disciples, siding with Your party],” (Mark 10:28).

…they left everything and joined Him as His disciples and sided with His party and accompanied Him (Luke 5:11).

“Join Me as a disciple and side with My party and accompany Me” (Luke 5:27).

And he forsook everything and got up and followed Him [becoming His disciple and siding with His party] (Luke 5:28).

“Become My disciple, side with My party, and accompany Me!” (Luke 9:59).

“I will follow You, Lord, and become Your disciple and side with Your party,” (Luke 9:61).

“…follow Me [become My disciple, join My party, and accompany Me],” (Luke 18:22).

…many believed in His name [identified themselves with His party] (John 2:23).

This is what it means to follow Jesus.

[Biblical references to Jesus’ party (and a few others, too)]

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Tags disciples, follower of Jesus