[Originally published June 30, 2026]

Nicky Cruz (6 December 1938-present) was born in the mountains of Las Piedras, south of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to poor parents who practiced witchcraft. One of eighteen children, he grew up watching seances, satanic rituals of sorcery and voodoo, and horrible atrocities every night. His mother called him "Son of Satan" and his parents abused him physically and mentally, often forcing him to participate in their despicable practices. Nicky's heart rebelled at an early age, and an angry resentment, and then an overwhelming hate, began to grow inside. His teen years were full of rage.

In Puerto Rico at the time, it was customary for parents to send their children to the United States when they became old enough to find work and provide for themselves. At the age of fifteen, Nicky's father sent him to live with an older brother in New York City. Nicky was hardhearted and sullen, toughened by his years of tortured experience. He loathed the world and all of the people in it, he said in later years.

Soon, Nicky ran away and took to the streets. He joined a notorious gang, known for its lawlessness, called the MauMaus. Within six months, Nicky had become its fearless Warlord with a reputation for a volatile temper, ruling Fort Greene in Brooklyn through violence and intimidation. Even after being arrested many times and watching his best friend die in his arms, Nicky was seen as a hopeless case. 

One day in 1958, when Nicky was twenty years old, a new preacher from Pennsylvania came to New York City for an evangelistic outreach to gangs and the lost youth who lived on the streets. His name was David Wilkerson. Viewing him as a threat to the MauMaus, and wanting to humiliate Wilkerson, Nicky and his gang showed up at the place where Wilkerson was preaching. They heckled, jeered, and broke up the meeting with their disrespectful behavior. Wilkerson confronted Nicky, telling him that Jesus loved him. Nicky refused to listen. He spit on the preacher and beat him up.

Pastor Wilkerson did not give up on Nicky. Instead, he showed him relentless love and forgiveness. He kept telling him how much God loved him. Several months later, Wilkerson scheduled a meeting at a boxing arena near Nicky's neighborhood. The MauMaus boarded the bus sent especially by Wilkerson and traveled to where the meeting was being held. According to Cruz, when he arrived at the arena, he "felt guilty about the things he had done" and began to pray in his heart. Later in the evening, after preaching the Gospel, Wilkerson gave an altar call and a large number of gang members responded. Wilkerson prayed with Cruz personally, and was with him when Nicky asked God to forgive him and save his soul. Nicky was miraculously changed from the inside out!

Afterward, Cruz and some of the newly-converted gang members went to the police station and turned in all of their bricks, hand guns, and knives, shocking the officers in the station. The police stated that if they had seen the group approaching, they probably would have shot them down.

Cruz began to study the Bible and attended the Latin American Bible School (now the Latin American Theological Seminary) in La Puente, California, from 1959 to 1962, where he met his wife, Gloria. He became a preacher himself and returned to his old New York City neighborhood, where he preached and witnessed the conversions of more of the Mau Maus to Christ, including the gang's new leader, Israel Narvaez.
 
Since that time, for nearly seventy years, Nicky has been traveling the world, preaching the Gospel of Jesus to millions of at-risk young people and reaching many others through his books. He worked with Wilkerson for many years in Teen Challenge, helping urban youth to find Christ, and then started Nicky Cruz Outreach in 1976 to help troubled teens internationally. He has preached in more than forty countries, in prisons, inner cities, and stadiums. Nicky says the thing that means the most to him is when he shared the love of Jesus and his own forgiveness with his parents and brother. And they came to Christ!

Cruz is now eighty-seven years young, the father of four daughters, and he and Gloria have seven grandchildren. He is still strong in his faith and witnesses every day to the powerful, life-giving grace of Jesus Christ that transformed his life completely. The day he gave his fear and hate and anger to God, he became a new person inside. This month, we celebrate with deep gratitude the victorious life in Christ which is freely offered to everyone who believes on His name. 

Karen O'Dell Bullock

[originally published June 30, 2026]

"The law of the instrument" maxim states that a hammer’s great temptation is to treat everything as a nail. Anger has become in our culture a metaphorical hammer in search of the proverbial nail! Perhaps the reason wrath is so prominent is because we view our challenges in such a way that the negative emotion seems to be the best route to a solution. Therefore, wrath has become unsurprisingly one of the most pressing moral concerns of our day. The word simply means, “A strong feeling of displeasure, annoyance, or hostility,” but its potential harmful effects belie the simplicity of the definition.

Aristotle knew the dangerous ease with which this emotion pervades our lives when he writes, “Sweeter it is by far than the honeycomb dripping with sweetness, And spreads through the hearts of men.” He knew that anger too often leads to hasty reasoning and bad consequences. The Proverbs warn in similar fashion: “Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end” (29:11). Christ knew well the dangers of unresolved ire, so he warned his disciples against falling prey to chronic anger (Matthew 5:21-22). One would think that good reason and sound judgment would lead people to keep anger in check; however, this often is not the case.

Captured social media videos of heated outbursts on airplanes, in town hall gatherings, and in schools, to name but a few places, clamor for attention on a regular basis. Social media has become a go-to repository of flash-fire anger reels. From vexation over denied airplane seats, to venomous outbursts at city council meetings, to teen violence on school campuses, everything, as the truism goes, is beginning to look like a nail!

Hurtful anger holds deep significance for life’s sanctity and dignity, for liberty and rights, and for justice. This negative emotion, evident since the dawning of human history, can, and often does, lead to destructive behavior (Genesis 4:5), so we ought to consider the ethical obligations surrounding anger and several principles to bring it under control.
 
Anger leads us to ridicule and rob people of their inherit dignity. It contributes to an infringement upon the liberties and rights that all citizens, regardless of their color or creed, are due to receive. Anger also leads to violations of justice. Justice, in Christian understanding, includes not only fairness shown toward others, but also includes moral integrity. This begs a critical question. How do we equip Christians with other tools besides hammers? In other words, how do we find calm on such stormy seas?

First, Jesus did not proscribe all anger. Indeed, there is no biblical clear injunction against the emotion. The Bible attributes anger to God as an active response to human sin, in particular, idolatry (see also Matthew 21:12-17; 23: 17; Mark 3:5). “God’s anger should not be thought of as uncontrolled fury or personal spitefulness. Rather, it is more in the nature of righteous indignation.” God . . . “is not the enemy of anyone; he loves all and hates none. He loved enough to send his Son to die for us while we were yet sinners and at enmity with him" (Romans 5:8–10). [1] Jesus’ followers, likewise, do not hate their fellow men or women! He calls us, His disciples, to avoid misdirected anger (Matthew 5:21-26). He wants us not to become stuck in a vicious cycle—being angry, insulting, or harming one another. [2]

Secondly, recognize that destructive anger is a character issue. Therefore, the scriptures speak often of anger and the need to control it (Genesis 3:7; Proverbs 15: 18; Matthew 5:21-26; Galatians 5:20; Ephesians 4:26; James 1:19-20). Stanley Hauerwas reminds us that the kind of decisions that we confront, including the way we describe a situation, is a “function of the kind of character we have.” [3] Simply stated, we respond to what we see. [4] We’ve all known people that see and act through a cloudy lens of anger and the results are not pretty, for wrath often clouds our judgment. Christ invites us to see clearly as His disciples and as His leaders (cf. Luke 9:51-56, esp. James and John and Christ’s rebuke).

Thirdly, make love, not anger, a first response to relationship struggles. A way to avoid anger growing out of control, for Christians, is to re-frame our view of moral circumstances with the love of Christ. Sometimes, I am cut off in traffic and anger boils up inside me. I now imagine that someone I truly love is driving that other car! I would not wish to hurt them, so I diffuse my anger by feeding my response with love.

We all know that Jesus, while commanding His followers to love God and love their neighbor and to be agents of peace, did not leave them with a specific "code of ethics" to apply to their circumstances (see Matthew 5:9; 12:30-31). There are, however, core ethical principles that Christ and the biblical writers taught that will enable us to frame challenging moral circumstances with His love.
 
First, choose to hold and show respect for all human life (Genesis 1:26-27; Matthew 12:30-31). This principle is bedrock to human interaction and forms a critical element in displaying love for all humankind. Secondly, choose to use your freedom wisely (1 Peter 2:16). We do not want to do that which gives those who believe differently an occasion to mock the name of Christ (1 Peter 2:12). Thirdly, choose to do that which is good to give glory to the Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:13-16; 1 Peter 2:12). Finally, choose to treat others fairly; including those with whom you have differences (Micah 6:6-8; Romans 13:8-10).

We will not be able to throw open our arms of love if we cling tightly to the hammer of anger in our hearts. The love of Christ leads us to lay down the hammer of anger. The words of Paul challenge us to dispense with hurtful attitudes: “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:5-7).

Larry C. Ashlock

Notes:
1. Erickson, Christian Theology, 621-23).

2. Stassen and Gushee, Kingdom Ethics, 134.

3. As stated in Truthfulness and Tragedy, 20.

4. Gula, Ethics in Pastoral Ministry, 38; cf. hate-filled worldviews.

“If a spring has not been opened in a soul, a spring of living water from God’s own Son, no waters can flow and there is no life in you.” G.V. Wigram (1805-1879), wrote the English theologian and an early leader among the Plymouth Brethren. He echoes what Christ had taught: Living water must spring from within the well of one’s own heart or a person will die of spiritual thirst. Let’s examine anew this famous focal passage and listen to the words of our Savior about living water.

God-created moral status. All humans, regardless of circumstances or capacity, have moral status (person-hood). We do not think twice about this “at-the-well” meeting in our culture, but John knew that the arrival of this woman at her village’s well created something of a crisis for traditional Jews (4:7-9). They did not mingle with Samaritans (considered “half-breeds”), and devout Jewish men did not speak with women in public. We may all have heard these facts before, but there is something deeper still at work here. Webster defines “person” as “human,” and “individual.” I find it also quite applicable that the dictionary defines the term as “one of the three modes of being in the Trinitarian Godhead as understood by Christians.” Our passage today shows us an encounter between Jesus, the Divine Person, and this individual woman, a human person. Something catalytic must happen when heaven touches earth in this way. Let’s see what takes place!

Intrinsic value of persons. Wells were places where folks gathered in the ancient world. Abraham’s servant met Rebekah (Genesis 24:11, 15-17), Jacob met Rachel (Genesis 29:2-12), and God met Hagar (Genesis 16:7) at wells. One obviously comes to fill water containers at such places, so there is nothing extraordinary in the physical sense when Jesus requests that the woman give Him a drink. However, there is something amazing in the spiritual sense—when the Lord discusses theology with a nameless, faceless woman. He treats her as a person. I’m tempted to hover here, but I hope we see that women have been ignored for centuries and this must never be. God creates male and female in His image. They never lose their God-given value by anything they might do or not do. There is more, because this is an important narrative in John’s good news about Jesus.

Jesus demonstrates the woman’s value by offering her “living water,” meaning life eternal (4:10). First, she must see who He is, Divine Person, and then request from Him the gift of cleansing for her entire being. John shows us that this “gift” was the “hope-for fulfillment of God’s promises” in this setting (NAC). Jesus was drawing deeply from the Old Testament scriptures at this point and offering her the opportunity for an outpouring of new life (Isaiah 1:16; 55:1-3; Jeremiah 2:13; Zechariah 14:8; cf. John 3:3-6)! There would be no more laboring to find the few drips of the physical to quench her life’s thirst. Instead, Jesus offered her a bubbling spring that would burst forth from within her soul. Jesus offers this sort of life-changing transformation to every person.

The AIDS epidemic struck in the 1980s and, at that time, to become HIV+ was tantamount to a death sentence. I do not recall the exact moment in time, but men with AIDS diagnoses were referred to me for pastoral support and counsel. Most of these individuals had been rejected by their families and, in large measure, by society. I recall meeting a man in my office who was dying from that disease. We met several more times across the months as he declined in health and a last few times while he was in the hospital. One of my pastoral acts included giving him water through a syringe as he neared the end of this life. That moment stands out in my mind because it helps to picture the way he had lived his life. He had had a precious family, but had fallen prey to some terrible thirsts that both hurt them deeply and ultimately destroyed his life. He was estranged from his family and his Heavenly Father. 

God’s presence in the direst circumstances. There was a powerful John 4 moment in the hospital when that man sought and received God’s forgiveness. I cannot help but think today how his focus changed from receiving water in a syringe to quench his physical thirst, to embracing the living water that nourished his soul. That same living water is available to you today in Christ.  

1. Now, this question may be painful to answer, but what do you thirst for the most? Look at your social calendar and your checkbook register. These two areas will help you to pinpoint just how deeply you thirst for living water. “Bottled?” or “Bubbling?” Choose well!

2. For Families: A fun way illustrate this truth, along with a snack of milk and cookies this first week of August, is to serve your kids a saucer with a cookie on it, and an eye-dropper, along with a small glass of milk. 

Explain the story about the woman at the well, how she tried to make herself happy with all kinds of things that were not right. Ask your kids, have they ever tried to do that too? Then share that living like that is kind of like being very thirsty for a long drink of cold milk, but using eye-droppers instead! 

Let them try this for several minutes (they might be delighted with it!). If they are really thirsty, the eye-droppers will not work very well. Toward the end of snack time, let them drink deeply from their cup. Jesus wants to bring them joy by the glass-full!

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

A Bible commentator catches my eye when he writes, “Affliction either drives one into the arms of God or severs one from God” (NAC). This perspective often proves to be true, but thankfully Peter opens our eyes today to a useful aspect to affliction that we may have failed to consider. He shows us clearly how we sometimes interfere with God’s good work in us when we are experiencing bad things in life! Let’s look closely today at God’s word about humble submission when we suffer in His name.

Peter has reached the place where he takes up concerns related to the house churches throughout Asia Minor (see 1:1-1). He has just concluded a section on suffering at the hands of outsiders. Even though a conjunction begins this section, some scholars do not see the logical link to the previous subject (cf. NAC). However, we may well understand the strains that would occur within the church, due to suffering, and the need to encourage and strengthen the internal fellowship to prevent stress fractures in the body. 

We read of two possible sources of distress in the church. Leaders and younger followers needed to respond appropriately to other members in the church (cf. 5:1-5, compulsion, greed, domineering behavior). Peter has also inserted the reminder that “judgment begins with the household of God,” so there is a deeper theological current of submission to the Lord running through his instructions (cf. 5:17-18). An anti-Christian backlash is evident today in sections of our culture, so we should recognize the importance of sustaining healthy relationships in our extraordinarily stressful contemporary society.

There appears to be a paragraph division in our English translations between verses 5 and 6, but the thought carries over—the call to humble submission to God. We need to examine this passage through a theological lens. Here, Peter links our suffering to God’s sovereignty. He wants us to submit to God’s will and purpose in our suffering because we trust God and know that He will bring all things to a good end (cf. Romans 8:28). We get this, but we often do not avail ourselves of the benefit God offers to us in our sufferings!

First, we must submit to God. When we submit to God, not only for our salvation, but also our entire lives, then God will exalt us and give us the full reward of eternal life, the one that we can know in part now, on the last day (v. 6; cf. James 4:10). This means that we are to submit ourselves to God when we suffer persecution for being a Christian and not to chafe at His will. We need to realize that He is purifying His church (1 Peter 4:17). The use of the expression “God’s mighty hand” reminds us of His deliverance from Egypt. God delivered Israel, and He also will deliver these believers (we, too) from their (our) sufferings. The goal is to receive God’s final reward, life eternal. 

Second, humility means that we hand over our worries to Him (v. 7a). Sometimes we create our own hardship that leads to emotional suffering! We fail to recognize that worry hinders our relationship with God. Worry is a form of pride, since it denies the care of a sovereign God. We all have worries, don’t we? A long-time friend, and Christian counselor, writes, “None of us is immune from the circumstances that feed anxiety and worry.” Peter writes and tells us that we should cease our worrying (cf. Matthew 6:25-34). The antidote to worrying is to believe and rest in God’s care for us. He wants us to see that the way to humble ourselves before God is to cease with our worrying. We fail the humility test when we worry because we are then showing God that we remain convinced that we must solve all our problems on our own. When we throw our worries on God, we show Him that we trust His mighty hand. We do so because He cares so much for us.

We have a magnetic notepad at home that sticks to our refrigerator. If something is written on the pad, then I will soon find that item inside the refrigerator or pantry. It is not rocket science! Imagine that you have a mental notepad of anxieties that your emotions and physical body store. These fears that lead to worry rob God of the space He requires inside your life. Peter challenges us to clean out the “spiritual refrigerator,” so that it may be filled with God’s presence and care. 

Part of the trouble rests in the fact that we too often do not see that God can bring any good out of our difficult circumstances—specifically enduring hardship for being Christ’s followers. We often foolishly slip back into the old ways of trying to fend for ourselves, when all the while God is shaping us for our full and final eternal purpose. Let’s spend time reflecting upon ways to turn our worries over to God.

1. Jot down your top five worries and then, in a moment of solidarity with God’s will for your life, give them to Him. Follow up at the end of the next several weeks and write down ways God has replaced worry with His peace.

2. For Families: If you have junior-high and high-school children, they may have already started “two-a-days” for football, band, cheer-leading, and many other sports/activities. These early morning and afternoon sessions take their toll. Perhaps some extra attention and consistent encouragement will help them as they enter into a difficult few weeks. Challenge your kids to use these sessions as “two-a-days” in walking with God too!

As they awaken in the early morning, be ready to greet them with a sweet word of love for their hearts and something nourishing for their bodies. In the afternoons, give them cheerful send-offs and welcoming returns as they complete each daily round. Place a small verse of inspiration in their hand each day, so they can remember that God will be with them, and there will be spiritual work for them to do too. Click here for a list of verses to lighten their hearts as they work out. Perhaps tomorrow you can begin with our verse of the day:

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

Words are cheap, or so the expression goes, so Christians will choose to show their genuine faith by staying committed to Christ. This introduction encapsulates the point of our focal passage today. The recipients of the Hebrews letter had been tempted to pull away from Christ, so the writer encourages them to remain steadfastly committed to the Lord. The writer uses the symbol of a veil beyond which believers may enter God’s presence. The veil symbolized the life Jesus offered to God when He suffered for our sins (1 Peter 3:18; HCBC). This emblem presents us with a beautiful picture of the cost of our access to the Father and the love that made it possible. Let’s invite the Lord to inspire our hearts as we consider how we may prove our commitment to Him.

We learn in this chapter that the law, as a precursor to Christ and His way, was a mere shadow in contrast to the substance that was to be found in Christ (10:1-4). We must keep in our minds that the first readers of our passage were Jewish Christians who were deeply steeped in the Mosaic law (10:5-18). Gentile readers like us may pick up the theme at the point of declaring that Jesus is the real thing. The author would challenge us not to throw off Jesus and return to our pagan lifestyles (cf. Hebrews 11:1-3; faith gives us eyes to see that this temporal world is not what is real and lasting). We will move from the classroom, so to speak, into practical daily Christian living.
 
A sea change occurs at this point. The doctrinal argument that forms the main section of the book now shifts to instructing believers to apply the scriptural principles to daily living. The Bible, we would say, is the basis for living a flourishing life. The good news for us is that Jesus’ high priestly work has made a meaningful life possible and His Spirit stands ready as our guide to this end (cf. 10:19-25; let us: “draw near,” “hold fast,” and “consider”).

Strong encouragement for us to remain committed has a purpose. Pastors and Christian leaders urge us not to be like those who profess Christ with their lips but without a heartfelt commitment. Instead, we look to these faithful ones for our model. These had passed through the crucible of suffering and emerged with the blessings of Christ intact. Some had met verbal persecution, while others had endured hardships of various kinds. Others among them had suffered disrepute by being associated with the ones who had been persecuted and even had their property confiscated. This commitment to Christ that had sustained them so well, concludes our writer, should not now be thrown away (10:35)! To persist in a life of wrongdoing, without qualms, leads one to judgment (10:26-31).

Have you ever been in a “clean the house” mood and given away something that you thought was no longer needed? Let’s say that I have quite a few “new” books in my library, because I gathered up an important book I needed into a box of “giveaways” and passed them on to someone else. In other words, I later discovered that I had discarded what I had really needed and then had to buy a new copy!
 
Here is the spiritual point. We live in a “jettison Jesus” kind of age, with so many people looking at the faith of our Christian fore-fathers and mothers as being out of date. Many decide to do away with their former commitment to the biblical Jesus. Secondly, some churches today have adopted a spirit of “accommodation” with the world on key and core biblical essentials. They no longer see Christ, for example, as the only way to forgiveness of sin and eternal life. This passage challenges us to give very careful thought to the doctrines of the Christian faith before we choose to discard them. Exercise great care when determining the value of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Keep true to Christ.

1. I regularly hear testimonies about Christians who are suffering ridicule and are being passed over for promotions because they refuse to engage in the immoral practices of their work associates and supervisors. Some of you are encountering similar persecution on the job, with friends, and even in the home. Resolve to remain committed to Christ. Pray for those who are in such circumstances.
 
2. For Families: Much of the Old Testament Covenant with Israel is difficult for adults to understand and even more so for children! We may illustrate the importance of building a life on the right foundation by simply using a deck of cards. Have the children build one house of cards on a table top, and then have them do the same on top of a soft surface, like a pillow. They will recognize that anything built on a pillow will soon collapse with the least amount of movement. 

Teach them that a life pleasing to God, and one that will bring true happiness for them, will be one that is built on the strong foundation of God’s Word and the example of Jesus Christ. Help them to know that the best way to live is to be totally committed to Jesus Christ.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

God does not lose those souls He has saved (1 Peter 1:4, “kept in heaven”). There can be no more powerful statement than the one with which this devotional begins. It was written because the first readers of Hebrews needed to remain steadfast in their commitment to Christ. Since then, this chapter has created libraries full of commentary based upon a flawed interpretation of verse 6 and the phrase “have fallen away.” Let’s look more deeply into the passage to find encouragement to remain committed to Christ.

Interpreters have varied in their understanding of our focal chapter. Some see it as a warning that one may lose his or her salvation. The New Testament, however, knows nothing of a true Christian losing his or her salvation (cf. John 10:27-29; Romans 11:29; and Philippians 1:6; HCBC). Others believe the warning in the passage is hypothetical, but the repeated counsel in 10:26-31 makes this unlikely. Some even see it as a warning given to those who are “almost Christians,” but not yet genuine believers. Yet, the fact that the passage includes “shared in the Holy Spirit” (v. 4) makes this interpretation an impossibility. 

The most reasonable interpretation is to see the passage as being addressed toward professing Christians. We are exhorted to show the reality of our faith by enduring through trials and hardship without falling away (cf. 10:23; 10:32-11:40; HCBC). The author believed all his readers to be genuine Christ followers because their love and work for the Lord had convinced him that none were apostates. So what may we glean from the text?

The chapter “warns us not to claim allegiance to Christ without actually possessing this allegiance” (HNTC). True believers provide evidence of real salvation (vv. 9-12). Evidently there were some whose hearts were so hard they would never repent. The irony is that God had offered freely mercy and forgiveness to them, but they were in danger of rejecting it! This was the same type of human spirit that was mentioned in Romans 1:28. 

We do not like to admit it, but we have known folks in our churches who attend church ritually for years, but who show “zero” evidence spiritually of a changed life. The outward appearance of doing Christian acts is not confirmed by the inner working of God’s Spirit. “Those who profess Christ but turn from Him and never produce credible evidence of commitment need the reminder that God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29; HTNC). So, what is the evidence of a changed heart?

We know the proof of a changed heart when we live productive Christian lives. First, we “work” in Jesus’ name. We show concern for others, live rightly, and demonstrate the Christian virtues (Galatians 5:22-23). Secondly, we love through ministry to others—some who may even be quite unlovely! We continue to spread the love of Christ in our relationships. Thirdly, God’s justice has produced our salvation. It would be inconceivable to the writer of Hebrews that God would overlook the works and love that were evident products of His grace. He urges us to find assurance in the fact that we are working and loving others in the name of Christ and to continue like the heroes of the faith have done before us (Hebrews 11).

Lee Rogers was bent over and worn down when I met him. He farmed a few acres of land, and I helped him to haul his hay and put it into his barn. I also helped him to plow his garden. The latter was no easy task, because he only had a horse and an old rusty plow. It was like stepping back into the 19th century! I recall struggling mightily with that plow as the horse dragged me and that old implement off the mark. My row looked like an arc instead of a straight line, and it became frustrating to continue. All at once, that fragile old man stood next to me and encouraged me. “Larry, I always figured you could plant more potatoes on a crooked row,” he said. “Don’t give up.” 

Here is a spiritual word of encouragement. We may be wobbly in the Christian walk, but God will produce fruit if we simply endure. Keep up the good work and love!

1. Perhaps you look back today over your Christian life and see several “crooked rows” in your commitment. Take a moment to examine the time following those experiences and give God thanks for helping you through them. Take time to write God a paragraph of thanksgiving for saving and keeping you. Then make a fresh commitment to follow Him daily.

2. For Families: Children always enjoy dress up games where they pretend to be a superhero, a favorite athlete, or a movie character. They even enjoy pretending to be a doctor or lawyer or scientist. Play this game for a while, then ask them why they are not the character they are pretending to be. 
 
Then, share with them the vital importance of being who we say we are. We must never just pretend to follow Jesus Christ. Teach them that it is a life commitment that must come from the heart. Then pray with your children and thank the Lord for their precious lives. 

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

Some of the most memorable testimonies I have ever heard come from people whose lives have been radically transformed by God. From addictions to newfound freedom in Christ, they have been reborn! Their journeys toward healing led them to reach out to God and invite Him into every thing they thought or did each day. This required them to slow their lives down and think about each decision and subsequent action. They were now connected to God and this encounter with the Lord was life changing. We will do well to listen to Isaiah today in our age of addictions. He has a message for our hearts.

Isaiah 1-5 has described how God’s people had rejected their “Holy One,” but Isaiah 6 tells us of a face-to-face encounter with Him. The year was 740 B.C., and it was the year that king Uzziah died, seemingly taking the hopes of a nation with him to the grave. Our national leader is alive, but there has been considerable political turmoil across all levels of government in recent years. The same holds true around the globe. Let’s imagine today that the prophet’s message freshly comes into our lives. Isaiah called the people (and us) to lift their eyes to receive a vision of the real King, the Lord, sitting on His heavenly throne (cf. HCBC)!

Recognize the value of a direct message from God. Isaiah’s lips were purified by the Lord for him to preach God’s word to a spiritually insensitive people. His was not an easy call. He was to proclaim God’s truth until Israel faced God’s judgment and the people were carried into exile! Only a remnant would remain. We need to recognize something about the context that would also be the case with the first Apostles—the message is more important than the messenger (cf. Philippians 1:15-18). God’s message, clearly proclaimed, must go forth. Hold on to this thought.

Receive the message directly into your heart. Please notice that Isaiah speaks in the first-person singular (“I”) in this section of the book, which may also be compared to the “we” passages in the book of Acts. There is an immersion of the messenger into the message, so that his or her soul is soaked in God’s saving word of hope. The importance of the message belied the fact that so many people participated indifferently in temple worship. We, too, often sit apathetically in our pews, insensitive to the call of God to heed, then herald, His message. 

Humbly offer your life in service to God. This is the only passage in the Bible where heavenly beings are called “seraphs” (EBC, NAC, comparison to Ezekiel 1:5-14). The name literally means “burning ones” and they were either standing higher than God or flying above the throne. These beings were “very much alive and worshiping God.” With two sets of wings, they were covering their faces and feet, not from shame or guilt, but because of humility (cf. NAC). These creatures, as strange as they were in appearance, are worthy of our focus here because of their response to God! Their “antiphonal declarations” of His holiness are key to getting the message right (6:3).

The old maxim reminds us that it is quite difficult to light a fire with wet firewood. This truth leads me to ask, “What type of spiritual kindling are we?” Can the fire of the Spirit set our lives and churches aflame with our unholy attitudes and practices? Seek God’s fire when you worship, and then fan the flames with your life, so to speak, throughout the week.

We may learn much by observing the seraph’s worship behavior before God. First, God is not our “Buddy.” Like Israel and Judah, we too often adopt a casual attitude about God. Isaiah’s vision of a God who is separate from everything that is vile and ugly in a profane world is critical to understanding how we are to relate to Him. This holiness is revealed in both God’s actions and His will (NAC). So, when the seraphs say that the “whole earth is full of his glory,” they likely mean that the design of God’s work is such that His holiness should become manifest. How may this be the case when we live in such a wicked world? 

Secondly, this level of worship should be our longing. Holy messengers communicating God’s vital message is the key to the realization of the longing. In other words, God’s way should fill the earth and we, ourselves, are to be filled with His way (cf. John 14:6; Leviticus 20:26; 1 Peter 1:16; Franz Delitszch). Our starting point in worship is to see the need, and then to be radically changed by what we encounter in God’s presence. Isaiah (we, also) could only see his unworthiness (6:5) and need for atonement (6:6-7). Isaiah cried out in his sin, and God reached out with His grace! One wonders how anyone, or any church, could fail to herald God’s salvation after an encounter like that one? One does wonder!

1. When and where was your Isaiah moment? Write it down in a paragraph or two. If your worship is cold and lifeless, and you see no essential need of bearing the message of hope, then go back to your Isaiah moment and find renewal.

2. For Families: If it is possible, plan to take your children early one morning this summer to a special place. Choose ahead of time to travel to a tall mountain or hill, where you can park the car, take your picnic blanket, and watch the early morning unfold. Hopefully, you can find a hill, an elevated mound, or a lake – somewhere you can feel the wind and watch nature as it awakens to a new day. 

Ask your children to be very still to listen for five minutes. Ask them to sit in the silence and to listen carefully to sounds that only God makes. Not man-made sounds, like airplanes and car engine noises, but God’s sounds. Ask them to remember what they hear. Then spend the moments of silence together. When the time is up, ask your children to tell you what they heard (wind, animals, leaves in trees, grass blowing, birds, even thunder or rain). Remind them that God has filled the earth that He has made with signs of Himself. God is amazing and not like us. Show your children the majesty of God’s creation – as Supreme Creator and Sustaining Artist of our world. This God also lives in us, and we can share our magnificent God with other people too.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

“Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you” (Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering). Paul’s testimony here provides us with a clear example of the cause-effect nature of his ministry. His primary call to share the Good News led directly to the suffering he experienced. There is a key element to his testimony that we must not overlook, or we will misunderstand his ability (and ours!) to bear up under such incredible stress. Paul holds such confidence in the Gospel because of his close relationship with the “central figure” in the Good News, Jesus Christ (Handbook). We never see Paul separated from Christ throughout his entire ministry! This critical relationship enabled him to withstand the pressures he encountered. Let’s learn about the fullness of his Christian life that enabled him to remain true to Christ in the most desperate of circumstances.

Paul pens this letter to Timothy, his beloved son in the ministry, while waiting for what would likely be his death (cf. 4:6-8; NAC). Despite these circumstances, he seeks to strengthen Timothy for the ministry he would face and to encourage him to remain steadfast. Our focal passage is embedded within a wider section where Paul presents the qualities needed for effectiveness in ministry (1:6-18). He follows this section with some “images for assessing” whether a minister is effective (2:1-7). Then, he presents several truths that will promote an effective ministry (2:8-13). We may understand the power in Paul’s words once we have this background in mind (NAC).

Stay committed to Christ and the Gospel. The Apostle, in writing to Timothy, has stated three important loyalties for Timothy: to Christ (and His Gospel), to Paul, and to his own ministry (Fee, as quoted in NAC). Notice that there is no mention made of quantitative tools of measurement, such as size of church, size of budget, and numbers in attendance. All of Paul’s loyalties involve God, fellow believers, and the God-given opportunities for service (1:8). The truth is, the Gospel works because God had issued a call for people to share in His kingdom outwardly through the preaching of the Gospel and inwardly by the working of the Holy Spirit through the word (1:9). Each believer, as a result, has been enabled to produce a life of obedience and holiness to God. 

The certainty of the life to come. None of this was by human merit. Those who were saved experienced a new quality of life, holiness, and enjoyed fellowship with God and other believers. There is one further reality that makes the “package” complete. There had always been hope of immortality in the world prior to Christ’s coming, but the resurrection had converted it into a certainty (1:10). Christ obliterated death and the grave, and Paul knew this for a fact! So?

Attach your finite life to an eternal cause. Paul was not the least bit ashamed of his imprisonment and suffering; indeed, his present travail was part and parcel, as we say, of his role as a messenger of the Gospel. He knew what he had believed, and he was entirely confident that God was able to keep a life or ministry committed to Him in a perfect position of safety (cf. NAC). He was imprisoned, but the Gospel was not chained! It is from this red-hot confidence in the abiding truth of the Gospel, and the flame of the Holy Spirit that indwelt his life, that he writes to stir up the embers of courage into a burning blaze in the life of Timothy (1:12). It should stir us, as well, to deeper commitment to the Good News.

I can think of a lot of sports I might take up and enjoy at my age, but bull riding is not one of them. I watched a television news story about a man who was diagnosed six years ago with terminal cancer. His doctor told him that he had five years to live. He beat the diagnosis in a most unusual way, by riding in rodeos. Specifically, despite the cancer and being in his 60s, he rides bulls in rodeos for senior adults. The pain from his disease keeps him in bed for most of the day, but he rises to the occasion when it is time to mount up on the back of a bull. The goal for riders his age is seven seconds. He does not always last that long, but the ride and the family atmosphere of rodeo participants keeps his mind off the cancer. Furthermore, his faith has provided him with perspective even amid his sufferings.

Here is a point of application. The Christian life and its struggles have been likened to many things that are intended to provide us with a challenge to endure faithfully. Books like Pilgrim’s Progress come to my mind. Paul offers us today the practical example of such pilgrim strength for any and every trial—the life that transcends suffering! He had it, and so do we, because Jesus has us in His care. 

As Timothy Keller writes: “Jesus lost all his glory so that we could be clothed in it. He was shut out so we could get access. He was bound, nailed, so that we could be free. He was cast out so we could approach. And Jesus took away the only kind of suffering that can really destroy you: that is, being cast away from God. What suffering remains now will only make you great. A lump of coal under pressure becomes a diamond. And the suffering of a person in Christ only turns you into somebody gorgeous” [italics mine].

1. None of us, I dare say, have suffered like Paul suffered for the cause of Christ. All of us, however, may live daily with the same depth of commitment to Christ. Use Paul’s sufferings for Christ as your inspiration to live entirely given to the Lord.

2. For Families: Loyalty is a mighty fine character trait, and one we hope our kids develop, right? This devotional is a great one for opening a conversation about what loyalty is and means as Christians.

Ask your kids at the supper table to name the top three things they are loyal to. Loyalty is being faithful to someone or something to which one is bound by pledge, duty, or love. It means allegiance (which they cite each morning at school when they say the “Pledge of Allegiance” to the nation’s flag). 

When they have had a chance to think through and share their “loyalty list,” let them know about what Paul says here. If we are loyal to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to fear. We can even suffer for being His followers with deep joy. Talk together about what this might look like in their lives, and pray that God will keep us faithful to Him.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

“Call America to Pray Again,” may be the spiritual campaign theme we all need to adopt in this tumultuous era! Of course, it is a deliberate play on words regarding the recent campaign slogan used by the current presidential administration. Everyone who truly knows me will know that this rubric is neither an endorsement of, nor a swipe at, this current administration. I write it because prayer for those who govern, despite their often fickle natures, is what the Apostle Paul instructs believers to do in our focal passage. In this case, “prayer does a body good”— this is, the church, which is Christ’s body.

Here are some “fast facts” about this letter to Timothy. The date is about 64-67/68 A.D. The site is Ephesus, where there is a source of trouble; quite likely straying leaders (cf. Acts 20:30; 1 Timothy 1:18-20). These false teachers were quite possibly having their best results among younger women who were misled (1 Timothy 5:11-16; 2 Timothy 3:6-7). Paul writes to deal with these false teachers (1:3-11) and offers an outline of how to live as members of God’s family (3:1-15).

Ponder the issues in Ephesus that we can see in our current church culture today. The bad leaders: loved controversies (1:3-4; undermines unity), denied the future resurrection (2 Timothy 2:17-18; undermines Gospel message), promoted strife (1 Timothy 6:3-5; fosters distrust), and took advantage of gullible church members, in this case, younger women (2 Timothy 3:6-7; robs people of their dignity). They were bitter on the inside and contentious on the outside (cf. 1 Timothy 2:8). Truthfully, there is much of the same discord within our churches and our larger denominational bodies. Nothing will drain the joy out of a fellowship of believers quicker than false teaching and phony lifestyles. Paul’s solution was to exhort all to be Spirit-led instead.

True conversion to Christ. The path to renewal follows the Gospel entirely as it was given to the Apostles by Christ, and put to work by inviting all to come and receive Christ. All who aspire to lead should embody this pattern. Paul provides the church with a framework for making this possible. Perhaps, as some have indeed suggested, chapters 2:1-3:13 represent something of a church manual that was intended to help congregations to organize themselves properly (Handbook). 

Sincere worship. Paul specifically instructs the church to worship well by praying for others. This was of utmost importance (2:1a, “first,” as in, “above all”). Then he looks back to the preceding section and directs the focus of believers to a way to put an end to the confusion (2:1, “then”). He has my attention here, because our churches too often resemble a carnival of sights, sounds (numerous and differing appeals), and smells (from the coffee shops and bistros), rather than a gathering of “called out ones” who unite in worship. At the top of Paul’s list is what many of us have no room for (literally and figuratively) in our faith communities—prayer!

United in humble submission to God. Simply, the noisy chatter is silenced when we submit our hearts and minds to God and His will through prayer. We are to pray both specifically, based on a presumed need (supplications), and broadly (general prayers). When our worldview is shaped by God, then “love for our neighbor” takes the forefront in our church communities (John 13:5, 14-15, 34-35). We also should intercede by “speaking on behalf of another” (e.g. spiritual and physical needs of church members). In other words, become serious about the sobering troubles that others are facing. We should eliminate entirely the church lip service that says, “We’ll be praying for you,” but then does nothing to be an answer to that prayer (e.g. James 2:14-17, i.e. the prayerful “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”). Finally, we are to offer prayerful thanksgivings, meaning we are to express gratitude to God for His extraordinary blessings (e.g. forgiveness of sins; 1:12-15).

There is an ever-growing movement across the nation that seeks to allay homelessness by building tiny houses for those without a roof over their heads. The loss of employment income, lack of education, and poor health are riveted to homelessness and contribute to a vicious cycle of poverty. So, people build affordable, efficient houses and then address the broader needs these folks have for employment, education, and improved health, all within “tiny house communities”! 

Let’s use this social parallel to address a spiritual illness within the body of Christ. Too often the lost around us (2:4) cannot “see” the banquet table (Psalm 23; Luke 14:23)—that is, salvation—because we present ourselves as fractured communities (they already live in those!), are insincere about meeting needs (supplies for only a quick meal or one night’s lodging), and offer a message that does not transcend their human plight (cf. false teachers and no resurrection hope). The problem is that there is no real room for these folks inside our “tiny churches” that are filled with people who have “tiny hearts” (lack of genuine, effective prayer; James 2:16b). Trust me, I am not blaming anyone. I, too, stand convicted. Paul challenges us today to see this word from the Lord as a path to blessing others. We begin to clean up our spiritual messiness by returning to the whole Gospel and relying upon the Spirit through sincere prayer.

1. Take time to invite the Spirit to inspect your spiritual house. In what ways may you be contributing to confusion in the body of Christ? What steps—consider the three remedies above—will you take to bring true unity in your church community?

2. For Families: To illustrate the truth of this passage and Paul’s exhortation to be Gospel people who pray for each other and worship Christ wholeheartedly, ask your kids to bring their Legos to the table. Invite them to build the largest and most “fancy” church they can imagine. Give them some time to construct such an intricate building.

Then ask them to build a very simple “tiny house church” right next to it. When they are finished, give your kids some 3 x 5 cards and markers and ask them to write words that describe the way church should be, and the way it should not be. Make your own set of cards while they are working on theirs.

Then get together and go around the churches, examining them in great detail. Notice everything that is the same and different when compared. Then work through your cards. Is the church warm toward visitors and welcoming, or cold? Is it a place where one can meet Jesus, or only a place where people go to be seen? Is it a praying church? Does it help people know Christ? Does it meet the needs of families, men, women, teens, children, babies? As you finish your cards, talk about what makes a Church one that God approves. Share Paul’s list above, and ask whether a small church or a big church can pray and worship and follow Jesus better. The answer, of course, is that both can. If the people are right in their hearts, the church will be unified and “do rightly” in the community.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

What’s in a name? Names meant much in the Scriptures, and a person was expected to live up to the name given to him. Rehoboam’s name meant, “one who enlarges the people,” but today we will learn the irony of his name. Instead of enlarging, he actually divided the people, due to his lack of wisdom. Wisdom is a key element to God's creation and to a flourishing life (cf. Proverbs 1). His folly became the watershed moment in the book of Kings because the unified kingdom of Israel split, and he was left as king over the greatly reduced realm that became known as Judah (HCBC). We do well to learn from Rehoboam’s weakness today.

Many people fail to understand that good decisions, in one sense, are made like a person in a rowboat, looking behind at what has transpired, before he or she even reaches the point when a choice must be made. Rehoboam obviously did not do this. He had no true grasp of history under his father’s rule, for he does not assess accurately the level of dissatisfaction with Solomon’s policies (cf. NAC). He meets the people of Israel in Shechem, and their presence indicates they were ready to give him the benefit of the doubt about the nature of his leadership. However, he was not looking at either the people or their needs, so this quickly eroded the support he could have experienced (12:1).

Value human life. The northern tribes were weary of being used as conscripted labor for building projects in the southern kingdom. Their burden had been a heavy one and they were wanting to receive some relief from the load they had been forced to carry (12:2-5; cf. 1 Kings 11:28). Solomon's rule had grown abusive, robbing the people of their God-given dignity (Cf. Genesis 1:26-28). Political and sectional divisions had always been present, even during the reigns of David and Solomon, so one would think that Rehoboam would have been alert to the fault line that ran down the middle of his kingdom (cf. EBC). He failed to understand a key element of leadership; namely, that unity does not require uniformity to be successful.

Hunger for Godly counsel. Rehoboam was given some sage advice by the older leaders that provided him with counsel. They knew the circumstances of Solomon’s reign and how the people were near the point of rebellion, so they counseled the new king to blaze a new trail of success by taking on the role of a what was essentially a “servant leader!” (12:7). They knew that respect for this value begins within the home and extends into church and culture (Ephesians 4:1-6; 5:21-6:9).

Lead by serving. The word “servant” means that he would yield and offer to serve the needs of the people who were downtrodden (cf. Matthew 9:36). The word is used typically of a slave in Israel, but this status involved rights. The King could have been a “type” of what would later become understood as a messianic designation, but instead, he refused to lead in this way (cf. Isaiah 39-53; “servant” is mentioned 20 times in the singular; Theo Wrdbk). Let's apply a key principle from this passage to our lives.

If I plant an acorn, then I will grow an oak tree. If plant a mimosa seed, then I will get a “weedy, short-lived, insect- and disease-prone” tree. The tree looks good for about two weeks per year, but it is not worth it! You get what you plant and nurture. 

Here is a spiritual point: One wonders how many leadership opportunities have been squandered and legacies diminished because of a bad seed—an unwillingness to serve others? (cf. John 13:12-20; Matthew 20:24-26). Rehoboam, the one whose name was intended to enlarge the people saw his kingdom come to an end. Jesus, the one whose name means “God is salvation,” served his people and his kingdom will never end (Philippians 2:9-11). Choose your name and life path well! Legacies depend upon it.

1. If the fruit in your life is poor leadership, then check the tap root. Is it being fed by God’s wisdom that calls you to lead by serving? Plant your roots in God’s wisdom.

2. Lasting legacies are built across a lifetime of commitment to the Lord. Choose this day to serve and honor the Lord with your life and watch Him bless you and your name for generations to come.

3. For Families: Our families are training grounds, or schools of character, for the instruction and identity-building of our children. That is a sobering responsibility for us as parents! Godly wisdom begins with the reverence of God. 

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 reminds us to:
In Matthew 22:37-38, Jesus quotes this Old Testament verse as the greatest commandment, and then adds to it, declaring that the second greatest commandment is to "Love your neighbor as yourself." 

A good way to reinforce the wisdom of loving God and loving people might be to paint these verses from Matthew on your ceiling's crown molding, or upper wall, all around your dining room, or even upon your door frame. Help your kids visually to see, memorize, and act upon these words of wisdom.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

“Everything is meaningless” reads like the mantra of some postmodern philosopher, but these are the words of Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes. This phrase forms the theme of the book, but the meaning in the words is a mystery (1:2). He writes literally that all is a “vapor” or “breath,” and we might say, “here today and gone tomorrow.” Poof! Well, this is a mighty depressing way to begin the morning devotional, isn’t it?! Rather than despair, however, we will dive more deeply into this passage and resurface with hope in heart after swimming for several paragraphs in Ephesians 2!

Live life with the right purpose. Solomon, by claiming that all is vanity, does not want us to throw up our hands and question whether life is worth it. Instead, he is calling to our attention that life is fleeting, so we should make certain to live it properly and with the right purpose. 

Be aware of a morally warped world. Solomon may also be pointing out the injustices that the righteous must often bear when he uses the word “vanity” (Hebrew, hebel; cf. 8:14). In these cases, he intends for his readers to understand that life can seem to be “absurd” (NAC). Injustice is not how the world was meant to operate; in fact, it violates God’s moral order in creation (cf. Proverbs 8 and “wisdom”). Solomon knew that the world was “warped,” and he longed for people to receive what they truly deserved.

Shun pleasure that produces a meaningless life. There is more to Solomon’s word “vanity.” He also points to the fact that the pursuit of pleasure is a “waste of time” and “fails to satisfy” (2:1-2; NAC). One may say that “vanity” in this context may be best translated as “meaningless” (cf. “foolish”). We must keep in mind that the king was not presenting to us a treatise on futility; instead, he wanted us to know the ultimate benefit of making God the center point in our lives. “Everything is transitory and therefore of no lasting value. People are caught in the trap of the absurd and pursue empty pleasures. They build their lives on lies” (NAC). Solomon recognized this truth, so let us resurface now in Ephesians 2 before we drown in all of this uselessness!

Life is murky, and we are all drowning in it, according to Solomon, so it will do us well to seek the clear truth from God Himself. Humankind bears the fault for living meaningless lives; but rather than reject us, God has chosen to save us. Paul writes to let us know that love led to “mercy” (Ephesians 2:4; EBC). God in His compassion dove into this murky mess called a world and rescued us from sin and death (cf. John 1:14; Romans 5:8). We were dead in our futile sinfulness, but He made us alive together in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:5). This rescue comes to us by God’s power. He will also raise us from the grave in the end times and seat us with Him in the heavenlies, forever erasing the wretchedness of an earthly existence. Why? Grace, grace, God’s grace; grace that has pardoned and cleansed within!

A tragedy occurred in our area when a young seven-year-old child drowned in a pond near a popular restaurant. The child’s family was nearby, but it is believed that the little one somehow left the restaurant and walked to the pond where she slipped beneath the surface of the water. They found her body in the murky depths after an area-wide search. That family is certainly experiencing gut-wrenching grief over the senseless loss of innocent life.

Life is filled with horrible tragedies. Nature and human nature are filled with injustices and unjust behavior. We are reminded that we may not have tomorrow when we reach tomorrow (Luke 13:1-5). We know that there are countless people in our world, even some of whom may be reading this devotional, that have slipped metaphorically beneath the murky waters of a fleeting, unjust, and meaningless existence. Perhaps they are thinking that no one can rescue them. BUT! Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (2:8). God has reached into your world through Christ. Grab on to Him in faith. God cares and gives to you fresh hope and new life today in Christ.

1. For the hopeless: Read again the two focal passages and write down the ways you feel your life is fleeting, riddled with injustices, and filled with meaninglessness. Then, read God’s invitation to receive new life! Ask God to rescue you from the sin that is pulling you beneath the surface. He will.

2. For the flailing Christian: Sometimes it takes passages like these to remind Christians that Christ has been given to us as a lifeline, so we have no need to despair in this life. We have been redeemed, so we need to live as those who have been given new life. Live with joy today. 

3. For Families: Our children, youngsters and teenagers alike, can also have despondent days. Obvious reasons, like major life changes, such as a family death or separation, or a move to another state, can leave them sad and discouraged and lonely without their familiar support group and friends. 

Other more subtle reasons, like a broken relationship, or a failure to be accepted into one’s desired group at school, or the slow death of a dream, can make them feel the hopelessness of meaningless life.

In times like these, the reassurance of God’s Word, gently shared, together with the hope of Christ, can lift the despair. When we stay close to our children, are sensitive to their hearts, help to bear their burdens, and spend much time on our knees, we are better equipped to walk with them during their dark days. Solomon was right. Without a vibrant relationship with God, life can be overwhelming at times. Yet Christ is always with us, holding out His hand of rescue. We are praying with you as you raise your children to love and serve Him.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

Long-range planning requires the right foundation, or the result will fail. This bold claim rests entirely upon a biblical worldview seen through Solomon’s lens of faith in God. Our focal verse encapsulates this life principle and provides us with an excellent guide to ensuring success in our own lives and ministries. Let’s look more carefully at our focal passage for today.

This proverb, and the one that follows, when taken at face value, follows a theme—unwise action leads to disaster and wise action provides security. The difference is that the first maxim refers to national concerns (11:14), whereas the second takes up the focus of personal business (11:15). We would say in contemporary language that the counsel of many helps to avert failure. Keep in mind that Solomon writes Proverbs with the core theme that God is the ultimate source of wisdom, and He is to be the true Guide for success. Let me enlarge upon the point being made.

We may examine the negative side of the coin and state that an unwise ruler or governor can squander the resources of a nation or a city. The same holds true for an individual who is dragged into foolishness by unwise friends. One only needs to pick up a newspaper and read the headlines or scan one’s social media feed to find examples of such foolishness. It should go without saying that the positive view of the text encourages us to seek godly wisdom whenever we make decisions that hold deep moral significance. Solomon teaches us how to utilize biblical wisdom when we make choices.

How to apply biblical wisdom to daily life

Utilize scriptural guidance. He writes of “guidance” and uses a word that is comparable to “steering a ship,” in this case the ship of state.* Proper guidance is necessary to maintain the stability of a nation. In other words, no one can rule or govern based solely upon his or her own strengths. Call to mind our nation’s political history to examine the pattern of its founders. Truly, the Founders were not all good Baptist folk. In fact, none were Baptists, although some relied upon the counsel of Baptists as it regarded church/state issues. The early leaders of our nation, however, sought wise counsel that enabled them to forge a form of governance that made it possible for people like you and me to experience life, freedom, and to pursue human flourishing. Nations do well when wise moral voices are heard. Yes, and our nation’s leaders also need to open their ears to the social cries that continue to surface (e.g. millions who have low food security).

Solicit good scriptural guidance. Solomon refers to “counselors” in our text. The word is used regarding Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, and the administrative advice that he gave to Israel’s prophet-leader. These people of wisdom provided organizational planning and advice on how to rule and judge people (Theological Wordbook). We know intuitively that ruling and governing are not solely about military strength and economic prosperity. People cannot eat arrows when they are hungry, and money alone cannot provide security from outside attack. A circle of active wise counselors helps to provide for the broad needs of a people. Keep in mind that a leader may have a dream team of wise counselors and still fail to heed their advice (cf. Rehoboam’s rejection of elder wisdom; I Kings 12:8, 13). So, where do we go from here?

Here is my personal testimony. I recall a pivotal moment as a young adult when I had thrown up my hands in despair and decided to change my life path from pastoral ministry! Some of the best words of counsel that I ever received were entirely contrary to the course of action I then had in mind. All these years later, I am glad that I followed the advice of that godly man. Furthermore, there were wonderful men and women of godly wisdom in my churches that very often held different ideas about how we might achieve God’s purpose for the congregations. I listened, even though it may have been a bit uncomfortable at times, and I sought to incorporate their counsel into the final decision. To this day, I sincerely consult the counsel of our Board of Directors and Leadership Team at the Baptist Center for Global Concerns. God has blessed because we all pursue His wisdom in our forward direction.

Here is the takeaway. There are so many I wish to thank for bearing me up—and sometimes bearing with me—as I seek to lead. I am forever indebted to them. Looking back, I thank the Father that those precious people never stopped praying for me and offering their advice to me. I give them the lion’s share of credit for success (11:14). All of us do well to build future national, church, and personal successes upon the wise foundation of godly counsel.

1. We spend a whole lot of time and energy in opposition to our national leaders, when we would likely fare better in apposition to them. I mean by this turn of phrase that we would do better to draw alongside our leaders today in prayer. We should ask God to empower us with His wisdom, so that we may offer them wise counsel.

2. Pray daily for God’s wisdom to be poured out upon those counselors who advise our leaders. 

3. For Families: This teaching has immediate application to our families, doesn’t it? During the next week, at breakfast, lunch, supper, and bedtime, include our nation’s leaders, and our church leaders, in your prayers to God. It would also be wonderful to pray for the leaders in your home – both parents and children. Ask God to grant wisdom and to surround them with wise and godly counselors.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

*Cf. Whybray, Book of Proverbs, as quoted in EBC.

John Muir was born to Daniel and Ann Gilrye Muir in Dunbar, Scotland, on April 21, 1838, the third of eight children. His earliest memories were of taking long walks with his grandfather when he was three. He grew up re-enacting romantic battles from history with boyhood friends, hunting birds' nests to watch chicks hatch, and loving the out-of-doors, where he spent most of his time.
            
John's family was deeply grounded in Scripture. His father was a Calvinistic preacher, who guided his young son to read and memorize the Bible every day. John could recite the New Testament by heart and almost the entirety of the Old Testament before he turned fifteen. In 1849, when John was just eleven, the Muirs immigrated to America from the East Lothian rugged coastline and cliffs he loved so well. They settled in a lovely acreage in Wisconsin, which they named Fountain Lake Farm. John retained his "Scottish home" memories and lovely brogue the rest of his life, and kept close at hand his little worn copy of Robert Burns' poetry.
            
As a young man, John's father became a preacher in a new religious group, the "Campbellite" Restoration Movement, later called the Disciples of Christ. John found his heart yearning for the God he also saw reflected in Creation. At twenty-two, he enrolled in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and paid his own way to study botany, biology, chemistry, and geology. He then spent several years in Canada as a sawmill operator before returning to the United States. Five years later, while working as a shepherd in the Sierra Nevada foothills in California, Muir discovered his true calling—the great outdoors.
            
For the next 45 years, he explored and wrote passionately about the American natural landscapes he was experiencing. He was able to study plants and animals in an environment he believed "came straight from the hand of God, uncorrupted by civilization and domestication." He described the mountains and wildlife of California, the Cascades of Washington and Oregon, the Arizona desert, and the glaciers of Alaska. He soaked his soul in what he called, the grand “cathedrals” with “every crystal, every flower, a window opening into heaven, a mirror reflecting the Creator.”
            
Scripture helped him understand the origins of the natural world. He believed God was always active creating life and thereby kept the natural order of the world. Muir saw nature as a great teacher, "revealing the mind of God," and this belief became the central theme of his later journeys and the "subtext" of his nature-writing. With a plant press in his backpack, Muir walked more than 1,000 miles from Kentucky to the Gulf of America, collecting specimens along the way. His curiosity carried him further to California and Alaska, where he studied snowscapes in action. He discovered glaciers in Yosemite and was the first to suggest that ice had shaped its valleys. 
            
Like St. Francis of Assisi, who spoke in familial terms of the birds, the Sun, and the Moon, and like the prophet Isaiah, who saw a world of singing hills and trees joyfully clapping their hands, John Muir discerned “divine lessons” in the natural world and reveled in listening to God’s “water and stone sermons.” For Muir, the interconnections of all things, and our human curiosity about them, stems from a Creator distinct from the universe he has made, echoing the biblical teaching that: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).

Muir’s passion for nature took him to every continent except Antarctica. He lived through incredible adventures—climbing a 100-foot tree during a thunderstorm, inching across a narrow ice bridge in Alaska, and spending a night in a blizzard on Mt. Shasta. Muir transformed his adventures into articles and books that sparked people’s interest in the natural world, championing the revolutionary idea that wild spaces should be preserved for everyone to enjoy.
            
Muir’s popular writings caught the attention of US President Theodore Roosevelt, who invited him on a camping trip in Yosemite. Leaving behind reporters and Secret Service agents, Roosevelt spent three days with Muir, two park rangers, and an army packer, exploring meadows and waterfalls and discussing conservation around campfires. One night, five inches of snow fell, leaving the president to wake up with snow on his blankets. Inspired by his trip with Muir, Roosevelt set aside more than 230 million acres of public land—an area larger than Texas—that included five national parks and 18 national monuments.
            
Muir’s advocacy played a critical role in establishing several more national parks, including Sequoia (1890), Mount Rainier (1899), and Grand Canyon (1908). His ideas ultimately led to the creation of the National Park Service in 1916. Thanks to Muir’s vision, there are now over 400 National Park Service sites. Often called "America’s Best Idea," the U.S. system of protecting natural and cultural heritage has inspired other countries to follow suit. Muir also co-founded the Sierra Club, a nonprofit organization dedicated to outdoor recreation and environmental advocacy to protect nature.
            
This month, we honor those who find and know God in ways most of us never have the opportunity to experience. We are grateful for those who sing the glory of God's artistry and point us to the beauty and interconnectedness of God's Grand Design. He reveals Himself both in His word and in His Creation. Simply indescribable!

-Karen O'Dell Bullock

William Wordsworth's powerful words, "My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky. . ." recently came to mind when I saw one arching itself across the clouds. The poet wrote of the joy he felt in nature as a child, an attitude he longed never to lose as he became an old man. Wordsworth possessed what is termed a "natural piety," an innate, spiritual reverence for the natural world, which minimized the role of scripture in his Romantic era worldview. [1]

I also recall some memorable childhood encounters with nature. The scent of warm, briny ocean water from the Gulf of Mexico along the seawall in Galveston, Texas, and the faint sweet aroma of dogwood flowers in the Piney Woods of East Texas come to mind. Each of these encounters with the world around me aroused childhood praise for God's creative majesty and still abide within my mind and heart as an adult, now mature in years.

Wordsworth's immortal line "the child is father of the man," reminds me of the importance of cultivating, from earliest days, physical encounters with nature. The moral identity of children is shaped partly by their active experience in the world around them. This truth invites us to consider a question: How well are Christians nurturing their children to honor God by participating actively with them in His creation?

It is interesting to me that Wordsworth's engagement with nature was focused on the miracle of ordinary things minus any direct application of God's word, while mine included the miracle of God's extraordinary presence in all that I was experiencing. I believe that both the physical and spiritual, as well as the mental and emotional, are keys to the total moral development of children. We see two present concerns regarding this holistic development, however.

Insufficient physical outdoor activity. A recent longitudinal study reveals the troubling truth about a generation of children across the globe. [2] Current research demonstrates the startling fact that seventy-six percent of boys and nearly eighty-five percent of girls are insufficiently active. They are physically inactive and spend less time in the outdoors than past generations. The culprit has been indoor screen-time with television and gaming devices that have replaced outdoor activities.

Research demonstrates that outdoor play causes multiple positive benefits, including "better motor and cognitive development, greater cardiovascular fitness, reduced cardio-metabolic risk, and improved bone health." Being active outside is more healthy for kids. At the same time, being physically active alone will leave a child still underdeveloped if their way of seeing the world lacks a growing awareness of the God who created the universe.

Incomplete understanding of God's role in the world. For all the amazing beauty of Wordsworth's poetry, I humbly believe his perspective falls short of a well orbed view of nature. His poetic view of the world leaned heavily toward a perspective that linked the natural universe to God as if they were one and the same. The natural world became fundamentally sacred. This approach holds moral implications for humankind.

If we are not careful, our own involvement in creation will similarly become shortsighted. In truth, it is God, not nature, who is of ultimate value and all things exist for his glory. Secondly, while theology was not a primary consideration for Wordsworth, the Scriptures provide the key element in helping us to shape our children's lives inwardly and outwardly (cf. Footnote #1 below).

Maltbie Babcock, the hymn writer of "This is My Father's World" states, "all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres," precisely because the Heavenly Father is not only the Creator, but also the Ruler over all He has made! [3] Therefore, God's word is an essential "field guide" for all our activity in God's creation.

Is all left to revelatory chance? God has left nothing to chance in the way he created our world. The Bible adds a vital theological explanation as to how we are to engage in the world around us. Psalm 19, as an example, celebrates God’s glory as revealed in nature (vv. 1-6) and provides praise for his rules for a flourishing life, in which God reveals his will (vv. 7-14). Both perspectives are needed for the formation of a robust view of creation. That God leaves nothing to “revelatory chance" is central to the entire witness of scripture. Its theological significance cannot be overstated. 

So nature does indeed reveal the Creator-God (El), but God's precepts also reveal the “Covenant God” (Yahweh), both aspects of his Being. Both provide a clearer understanding of who God is and what he expects of us. The natural order truly declares the majesty and glory of God. However, God’s word in the Bible goes beyond nature’s general revelation, teaches us specifically, and revives the human heart. In my thoughts, nature calls forth inspiration, but the word of God brings about salvation. Therefore, specific meaning exists in the universe's design. There is more to consider, then, as we think about our children and involve them in outdoor activities.

Moral meaning in the universe? Truly, the heavens reveal to us a broad awareness of God’s majesty. The cycle of night and day contribute to the regularity of God’s world (19:2). God’s moral wisdom is also revealed in this type of creation (cf. Proverbs 8:22-31). Humankind may speak a variety of languages, but God’s creation, being without words, speaks a universal language to those who are “inclined” to hear (19:3-4b).

The psalmist did not understand the solar system as we do today, for example, but he knew how to describe God’s majesty as reflected in it! The sun, likened to a bridegroom leaving the wedding canopy, also reveals God’s glory, power, and wisdom (19:4c-6). We must always keep in our minds and teach our children that, while the revelation of himself and his will does indeed come to us through sunrises and sunsets, mountains and valleys, and insects and all of marine and animal life, the Scriptures provide a deeper essential level of the Lord’s revelatory majesty.

As spectacular as this universe is, it begs for something more! And God provides what is morally needed through the light (truth) in his word (John 1:9; 8:12). “Walking in this light, the believer is moved to seek divine forgiveness and approval."

Many folks have told me through the years, “My family can worship God just as well at the lake as we can in church.” I think to myself, “Yes, we can worship God at the lake, but our worship remains incomplete until God's word rolls like a wave over our lives and transforms our hearts” (John 4:12-14). Our families, whether they are indoors or outdoors, will lack a vital part of their moral development if they fail to receive an understanding of God's world and their place in it through the Scriptures (cf. John 4:12-14).

I wholeheartedly support getting our little ones into the outdoors for physical play, but never to the neglect of God's active presence in all that they encounter. And at the end of the day, their young hearts should be taught to praise and thank him for the beauty of the earth he has made.

God's word helps us to experience and understand His world in its fullness. The big decision for us to make today is to choose God’s way for our life trek in his creation. You and your children will be rewarded greatly by responding to God’s full revelation (19:10-11; See esp. Colossians 1:15-20!). Maltbie Babcock's hymn text provide us with a challenge to become actively engaged as families in God's creation. "I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; His hand these wonders wrought."

Larry C. Ashlock

Notes:
1. William Wordsworth, "My Heart Leaps Up," in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 3rd Ed., Volume 2, 174. Cf. FN 1, 174. When Wordsworth wrote of "piety," he was not referring specifically to the Scriptures, where God makes the rainbow a token of his covenant with Noah and his descendants. Wordsworth's use of "piety" meant a responsiveness to the miracle of ordinary things.

2. Richard Larouche, et al. "Determinants of Outdoor Time in Children and Youth: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal and Intervention Studies," in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2023, 20, 1328ff.

3. Maltbie Babcock, "This is My Father's World, in The Baptist Hymnal, 1991, #43.

John of the Cross said, “Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent.” The Thessalonians had endured some stiff suffering because of their commitment to Christ, so Paul writes to strengthen and encourage them. They were “pressed out like grapes,” but they did not whine (see 1Thessalonians 1:6)! It may surprise you to hear where their affliction came from, but it should be no surprise as to how they handled it. Paul stands in their behalf and expresses some powerful words of hope and help that will also help us when we must endure trouble in the Christian life.

Catherine Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army, remarked, “The waters are rising, but so am I. I am not going under, but over,” and I sense something of the same in Paul’s encouragement, found in verses 1-5. Let’s link the letter together well. He has just responded to their concern over false and troubling “end-times” teaching (2:1-17). He now uses this place in the letter to address several ethical concerns and begins with the call to spread the Gospel despite evil, faithless people who opposed Paul and his associates.

Fortifying the fellowship against evil

Build upon our fellowship in Christ. The union with Christ provides us with a unifying foundation. How do we overcome evil when faced with specific challenges, like the one presented in chapter 2, or the more general ones we currently face in the Christian life? The answer? Our fellowship in Christ! Paul reminds them of their common Lord (v. 1), their common experience in suffering (vv. 2-3), their common fellowship in prayer for one another (v. 1), and their common effort to spread the message of hope. The word Paul uses for effort indicates a runner who strives to do well in some endeavor. We would say, support one another and “carry on!”

Practice Christian virtues. Paul turns his focus to those who were living idle lifestyles (ongoing, not temporary) and apparently disrupting the life of the church. The exact nature of their behavior is unclear, but it had become a serious hindrance to the health of the church. A debate is ongoing about what motivated the people’s actions; nevertheless, the passage begins and ends with, and focuses on, exhortations to those within the church who were living properly (vv. 6, 13-15). 

Live consistent Christian lifestyles. Paul mainly focuses on giving instructions about how to handle church discipline, but there is a kernel of application we also may take away for our devotional benefit. Our lifestyles matter to the health of the whole community of believers. Some folks in that church were living contrary to apostolic teaching (vv. 6, 10) and the example of working hard (vv. 7-9). They also were busybodies—perhaps end-timers who believed falsely that the day of the Lord had already arrived (v. 12; cf. 2:2). Like the old saying states, “They were so heavenly minded that they became no earthly good.” Regardless, we need to bring forward the emphasis on brotherly and sisterly “commonality” I wrote about above, and see the focus on a recognized “Christian lifestyle.” This was evidence of “the tie that binds,” as we used to sing.

Seek God’s blessing on all. Paul inserts a prayer for peace, though scholars are divided as to what it refers. Does it apply to the preceding section on church discipline, or does it stand as a broad benediction to the entire letter? Well, I say: Yes! I do not see a need to parse the benediction. After all, it is a prayer of blessing, and always fitting in a church that holds all things in common. 

Now, I am going to throw open the door a bit wider and insert a pastoral word here. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the body of Christ were to pray for a benediction of shalom to fall upon the lives of all believers rather than call down fire from heaven upon them (akin to Luke 9:54)? We have ample evidence in our nation of the difficulty in containing wildfires once they begin. This is why I’m not in favor of a mere Christian “détente” or easing of hostilities. Instead I am calling for believers to “cease and desist,” by putting an end to strife between one another. This takes place when the true church, who calls upon Christ as Lord (v. 1), invokes His blessings of grace and peace (v. 16; “Lord of peace”). What follows is a way to challenge the evil around us.

Michelangelo wrote, “True painting is only the image of the perfection of God, a shadow of the pencil with which he paints, a melody, a striving after harmony.” These words invite us to ponder a serious call to strive for harmony amid our troubles outside and inside the church. Paul takes each of us by the arm and positions our separate brushes so that they paint again as one. He calls us all not to look upon the strokes that others are putting upon the canvas, but to gaze upon the Master Artist and to strive to paint as He paints.

1. Imagine your Christian life as a paint brush you are using to glorify the Lord each time it touches the canvas of church community. What will you “paint” for His glory today?

2. Pray that God will use you to encourage others in your church community to become “as one” in faith and fellowship (2:15, 3:15). 

3. For Families: This is another remarkable lesson from Paul about Christian unity, and a call to be “one in the Spirit.” Have your kids ever heard the song that became popular during the Jesus Movement years of the late 1960s and early 1970s? “We Are One in the Spirit” was sung in coffee-houses, after-glows at camp, crusades, and in smaller student meetings all across America and the UK.

Your children may enjoy learning a new version of this song and singing it wherever they go. Ask them to learn the line dance that goes along with the song in the video and teach it to their friends. It has lots of lock-step and copy-cat movements to represent our being one as a community of Christ-followers. Maybe your whole family can learn it too, including Mom and Dad and Grandparents! You could take a video and send it out to share this unity challenge.
Click here to hear, sing, and dance along: We Are One

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

[Photo credit: Sue Carroll on Unsplash]

John Newton, the great hymn writer, once said, “If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer—His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.” The psalmist knew this calming truth about God’s favor when he penned the Psalm 91. Let’s look carefully to see the ways that God cares for us amid severe trials.

Godly wisdom gives us spiritual eyes. The psalm may be divided broadly into two sections: a wisdom psalm (vv. 1-13) and a “divine oracle” (vv. 14-16; EBC). The heart of the psalm’s message rests in his call for the faithful to pursue the path of godliness despite the troubles of life. Wisdom to see through the difficulties of life enables one to know that the Lord “renews his promises to those who love him” (cf. Proverbs 1; Romans 8:28). 

Follow God with complete trust. Reading the companion psalms 90 and 92 will help you to interpret this one. Psalm 90 focuses on God’s blessing and favor, while our focal psalm confirms God’s beneficence by His promise and oracle (cf. EBC). The Lord will help us to know better how to praise Him, if we will follow a similar framework in our prayers and praise. We ask God for His protection (vv. 1-2, 9-10), praise Him for the ways that He does protect us (vv. 3-8, 11-13), and give praise to Him for His salvation (vv. 14-16).

Know and follow God. Verses 11-12 tug at my own heart when I read them devotionally. I recognize immediately that Satan used this passage to tempt Jesus during the temptation encounter (Matthew 4:6)! First, we should know that Psalm 91:11-12 is not a shield that allows us to pursue reckless behavior. Secondly, the tempter will intentionally fail to tell us the entire story when he uses the Bible to lure us away from trusting and obeying the Lord. For example, he conveniently neglects to mention the part of committing our lives to God and His way. Verse 11 grows out of verse 9, “Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place. . .”

Make your relationship with Him your highest priority. We must learn to keep our gaze on the Father and our glance on His benefits. This is a simple analogy, but I noticed that on Mother’s Day last Sunday, the moms in my family were interested in family being together, not the gifts they were given. They value the relationships more than material things. The kinds of relational divine protection are stated here again to “assure God’s care and sufficiency.” There are parallel statements that will help us to recognize the benefit of God being in control: “no harm . . . no disaster” (v. 10), and “he will command his angels . . . to guard you” (v. 11; EBC). 

Make choices that honor your commitment to Him. God’s angels will lift the godly out of peril and rescue them (cf. Exodus 19:4; Isaiah 63:9). The roads in Palestine were often treacherous, so the image rang true when the psalmist writes that the Lord commands His angels to keep us from coming to harm on our life’s journey (v. 12b). Willem VanGemeren writes, “In life the Lord may permit many terrible things to happen to his children (cf. Job), as he did to his own Son, our Lord. But his children know that no power is out of God’s control. They trust their heavenly Father, while they act responsibly” (EBC).

Many of you, like my family, have loved ones that require extra helping hands to perform the daily tasks that come their way. We often are equipped with “waiting hands,” so to speak, to lend our strength in case a “wobble” makes it difficult to walk and remain upright. But here is another reality: falls still occur, despite the highest level of attention! Does this mean that we do not care or there has been some lapse in our abilities to provide support? Certainly not! 

Here is the spiritual application for today. I am not blind to the tragedies you face. Furthermore, the enormity of evil that we see in the world does not seem to balance with the promise to protect and deliver. I also know that the fact of Christ’s own hardship and eventual crucifixion, while cognitively understood, is sometimes quite difficult to know how to apply as a soothing balm in painful trials. So, what are we to do when we pass through the “valley of the shadow of death” and are not borne aloft “on angel’s wings” (Psalm 23:4; Exodus 19:4)? The psalmist has taught us to fix our gaze on the Savior because we want Him, our ultimate Benevolence, more than anything this world may promise to give.

1. This may take some time today but write down the trials in your life that are requiring you to reach beyond the limits of your ability to comprehend. Then thank God that He is standing by even as you reach toward overcoming the trials.

2. Take time to read aloud God’s oracle of salvation in verses 14-16. Praise God for He has said, “I will be with him/her in trouble.” 

3. For Families: There is a marvelous worship song your family may know that grows out of, and echoes, the truth in this passage. Even our youngest children can find God’s reassurance and comfort in its words.

Click to hear and learn this song, and then claim God’s promises and sing to Him when you are struggling. God is faithful to deliver us. Here is the song link: He Will Hold Me Fast

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

[Originally published April 30, 2026]

The study of "body and soul care" is a fascinating one. We know much, but not all, about how different cultures and peoples along the human timeline have approached illness and end-of-life issues. The care provided for people with aging, disability, and mental health concerns has run the spectrum from abandonment to long-term comfort and care. 

In the case of mental illnesses, specifically and historically, people were most often confined at home, boarded with paid "caretakers," or even abandoned, left to reply upon the limited and often harsh charity of the community. Christians established hospitals early, like the Basiliad, founded by pastor Basil of Caesarea in AD 369 in the city of Cappadocia (modern Turkey), or the one pastor Fabiola built in Rome in 400. But these hospitals, as helpful as they were, did not care for mental illnesses.

In medieval Europe, Christians in monasteries offered refuge and care for those with acute or mental illness. Another example are the residents of Gheel, Belgium, who have taken mentally ill pilgrims into their homes for observation and care since the 13th century. Quakers also helped establish the York Retreat in England and the Friends Hospital in Philadelphia, two pioneering institutions in psychiatric treatment in the 1800s.

Following their lead, a pivotal shift moved the treatment from mere confinement toward a more "moral" treatment of patients and the establishment of dedicated and government-supported asylums. Even then, as these institutions evolved, they often fell short of holistic care. By the mid-20th century, many of these were bleak. It took the peace communities to show modern medicine a better way forward.

The Mennonite peace communities have developed a special approach to general health care, as well as mental health and long-term care, across the last five centuries. The Mennonites are one of four main branches of the Anabaptist movement—along with the Hutterites, Amish, and Church of the Brethren. Anabaptists separated from the mainstream Protestant Reformation in 1525, mainly because they rejected infant baptism. They emphasized the authority of the New Testament and, among other tenets, refused to swear oaths, rejected violence, and demanded the separation of church and state. Such views led many Anabaptists to reject military service and embrace Christian pacifism as well. They would serve to heal, but not to kill.

During World War I, conscientious objection, even on religious grounds, often meant imprisonment. However, by World War II, U.S. law made allowance for religious objection to military service, but required Civilian Public Service (CPS) instead. More than 3,000 Mennonites, working without pay, chose to perform their CPS work in mental hospitals. For most of these, often from farms or small towns, with only high school educations, the sights, sounds, and smells of the large public psychiatric hospitals that predominated in 1940s America were a sobering revelation. What they saw were deplorable conditions. Wards were so crowded that the floors could not be seen and patients were often naked and restrained with straps and locks.

No other church group ever had such a concentrated experience with mental illness as the American Mennonites during World War II. The Mennonites in CPS developed a vision of what might be done to help people suffering with mental illnesses and, by the end of the war, began discussing what they had observed and experienced with their home congregations. The Anabaptist tradition already included an ethos of service to people suffering from poverty, conflict, oppression, and disaster, so the CPS men and women followed talk about changing psychiatric care with action.
 
They began by providing documentation for the exposés of public psychiatric hospitals that led to positive changes in that system, but they did not stop there. The first Mennonite center, Brook Lane, was built on a farm outside Hagerstown in western Maryland, a site that had housed a CPS soil conservation camp. Planning for Brook Lane began in 1946, and the first patients were admitted three years later. Today, there are five Mennonite mental health centers in addition to Brook Lane: Philhaven and Penn Foundation (both in Pennsylvania), King's View (California), Prairie View (Kansas), and Oaklawn (Indiana). 

Several themes informed the care practices of these "peace communities." First, compassionate care is central to the culture. The word “care” is expressed in four Pennsylvania Dutch words: (1) serving someone in his presence; (2) watching over and protecting; (3) being aware of needs and acting; and (4) thinking about a person. Giving care is considered both a moral obligation and privilege of belonging, and humbly receiving care is similarly expected. Care is intergenerational and group-focused. Second, social patterns like routine social activities, close neighborhoods, large kinship webs, and long-term relationships, alert an awareness of others’ needs, providing many opportunities to observe how others care and to mimic how to do so best. Third, active participation in health decision-making involves care-seeking and advice-sharing, which strengthens social bonds that reinforce care. Fourth, while health actions vary among individuals, decisions about health care, such as home vs. hospital births, or supplement types of treatments, are linked to a sense of "belonging."

The Mennonite mental health movement sought to create alternatives to the prevailing custodial model. They also chose not to make patient care an evangelistic endeavor. Instead, they established their foundation upon a spirit of Christian concern for patients, whether people of faith or not. They were committed to the people who needed their services, even when circumstances were difficult. Walking away from or dismissing patients was not an option. The difference was infused in the culture of the organization.

Brook Lane invited doctors and nurses and staff to participate who were grounded in compassion, empathy, and collaboration with the community, whether or not they were Mennonite. They also had an openness to try new things and mesh them with accepted therapies. For instance, Philhaven adopted a recovery model before many other institutions did, and also moved to biological treatments early. 

Peace community members continue to believe that providing this good medical treatment, aligned with their Christian view of the world, is a way  to live out one's faith rather than just talk about it. Grounded in faith, family responsibility, and community care, each member of the community feels a stewardship about the others, and desires to be of help in practical ways.

This balance between faith, home treatment, and modern health care for the mentally ill reflects a uniquely holistic approach to wellness and stands as a benevolent model for other communities of faith to explore and perhaps to replicate. This issue of PeaceWeavers celebrates the noble work of "peace communities," who see, recognize need, and spring into action, modeling deep compassion and healing among the most vulnerable.
           
-Karen O'Dell Bullock

[Originally published April 30, 2026]

Lord Byron wrote that the dew of compassion is a tear. Few would doubt that those who warmly care for loved ones with Alzheimer's and dementia have shed an ocean of compassionate tears. However, there is a cold reality to end-of-life caring for people with these conditions. The numbers are staggering in scope.

Alzheimer's is the 7th leading cause of death worldwide and the sixth leading cause for those over 65 years of age. Between 7.2 and 7.4 million Americans presently live with this disease. There are extreme costs that Alzheimer's and various other dementia conditions create. The estimated economic burden for care in the U.S. alone was $781 billion dollars in 2025 ($232 billion in direct medical and long-term care with $52 billion in "out-of-pocket" expenses). In addition, more than 11 to 12 million Americans provide unpaid care valued at $413.5 billion for persons with Alzheimer's and other dementias! Tragically, more than dollars vanish in situations like these. There are emotional costs, as well. Tears of compassion can also dry up for those in the people-caring business.

Caregivers often experience what is termed compassion fatigue when they overextend themselves and feel overwhelmed by the physical (cf. physical energy and financial strain) and emotional demands imposed by the circumstances associated with caring for persons like those with dementia. Euphemisms like "the water in the teapot boiled away" and "the emotional batteries were drained" help to describe the reality for those who provide constant support.

Humans are social beings and diseases like Alzheimer's cripple the interaction between family caregivers and those who suffer from such diseases. The knowledge that the condition will not improve serves to compound the situation. Additionally, the high cost of care has left individuals and their families scrambling for alternatives to such bleak circumstances. It comes with little surprise that there are those who seek any means of escape from diseases like Alzheimer's.

Sadly, Christians are too often ill-equipped for end-of-life decision making and caregiving, especially when a family member's health condition is chronic and death could be years away. They love the family member, but find that they lack sufficient physical, emotional, and spiritual resources to walk the pathway of suffering with their loved ones (Philippians 3:10, "share in his [Christ's] sufferings"). This article points all of us, who are exhausted by the circumstances of caring for our helpless loved ones, to the One whose resources are exhaust-less.  

Finding deeper meaning in our suffering. John 11 provides us with an example of how the way of Christ adds meaning to a caregiver's sufferings. Jesus models the way to live life, walk along the dying pathway, and face death with hope. Indeed, the Lord was treading his own path to the cross, which was close at hand!(John 18:1-19:37)! He is our example. Despite His own crucible of suffering, he shows the power of God to live triumphantly amidst dying and death (11:3, 25-26, 43-44).

Embody Christ's example. We all shed tears when our loved ones suffer, and then die. Sometimes the tears are for our own helplessness! John 11:35 helps us to see the need to embrace wholly Jesus' way to live life, or the tidewaters of dying and death will inundate us and then wring out our hope. The brief two-word verse, "Jesus wept," may be interpreted in several ways, which impacts how we understand His mission, care for the helpless, even as he lived with the daily stresses of caregiving for all humanity. Here is some important background that led to Jesus' tears. Notice the care he shows to believers and nonbelievers alike.

First, Jesus displays how to be perturbed without becoming petulant (11:33). Most of our English translations render this verse "deeply moved" and "greatly troubled" when the words mean he was angered and distressed. Suffering and sorrow at death often expose family frictions that have been building emotional heat and roiling inside the mind and heart of caregivers. Care providers can become angry when family members and church communities do not understand the challenges of caring for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of loved ones with dementia and Alzheimer's.

Well-meaning people often draw wrong conclusions and offer shallow responses to dying and death. The truth is that both protracted illnesses, and acute health crises that lead to sudden death, often lead to deep emotion and angry outbursts. Jesus understood human frailties, so he demonstrated how to be bothered without blowing up in a rage! It is about channeling our upset into a witness to the greater purposes of God. Allow me to expand this thought.

Secondly, allow the seeds of suffering to produce the ripe fruit of understanding in the way of Christ. Gerald Borchert, I believe, rightly interprets the context when he concludes that Jesus was deeply angered and inwardly troubled because the mourners, which included both believers and nonbelievers, totally failed to see that He was not helpless in the face of the circumstances which included death!

In fact, His resurrection and our resurrection life empower us rather than defeat us. Too often we mouth words about Jesus having power over dying and the grave but fail to receive the message into our hearts that "everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die" (cf. 11:24, 26; italics mine). Borchert states, "All true life is in Christ. In Him is lodged everything that is essential to life, in its origin, its maintenance, and its consummation, and all this is conveyed to the believer in his union with Him. This life is not affected by death. Every believer is in reality and for ever [sic] sheltered from death." [1]

We know that Jesus cares for humankind (John 6:5; 7:37; 10:7-10; 11:3, 25) and that he cares for those who chronically suffer (see Mark 5:25-34). His heart also goes out to the caregivers of those who must offer round-the-clock care to loved ones who are in the grip of infirmities (see John 11:20-27, 28-32).

Even so, there is more to consider. It is vital to understand the depths to which Christ's care will reach. He came to indwell our whole lives, body, mind, and soul, giving us hope in a world that is filled with evil, dying, and death.

Move beyond mere head knowledge of Christ. We sometimes exhibit this "Sunday School knowledge," when we approach superficially Christ's weeping at the tomb, or our own tears over a family member's lost capacity and vitality. Yes, I do believe that Jesus' tears were partly expressive of his sorrow at his friend's passing. Most at the tomb that day believed this to be the case (11:35-36). However, sometimes the sorrow felt by caregivers is derived from misunderstanding the full intent of Christ's mission. That was the case at the grave that day. We show head knowledge of his words but lack spiritual depth when applying them to real life! (See 11:21-27 and 11:39-40.) So, we offer a truth to "take to heart."

Live the truth that death attacks, but cannot conquer us (1 Corinthians 15:54-55, 58). It is unlikely that Jesus wept over death itself. He had already stated that Lazarus' illness would not end in death but would instead show God's glory (11:4). It is most probable that Jesus' weeping was due to the failure of all at the tomb to fully recognize that He was God's Son. Our Lord cares about us when we suffer and grieve. His death on the cross demonstrates that He gave sacrificially so that we might live fully here and now, despite our sufferings, and then eternally in the Kingdom of God.

There is no fountain of youth. Luke Gormally writes that present attitudes in Western urbanized countries reflect a contrasting view of aging, where medical science helps to save people from acute disease and gives them longer healthy lives, but leaves them to be overtaken by death from chronic disease. In this system, a life free from disease and frailty is deemed to be a reward of healthy living and, conversely, an unhealthy life is the result of unhealthy living. From this unrealistic view, old age and its frailties become a "problem" to be solved and the inevitable aging process is robbed of its occasion for self-transcendence.

There is a river of life (John 4:14). In contrast, aging has been viewed biblically as a journey filled with spiritual meaning. Life, with all its fragilities and dependency, offers an occasion for spiritual transformation and other-worldliness—a place where humans affirm their dependence upon God their Creator and their need for His love and mercy (e.g. chronic illness in Luke 8:43-47). Hence, aging provides us with an opportunity to acknowledge our mortality and to choose to depend wholly upon God.

Life's value regardless of human frailties. Caring for the helpless is not futile. The objective value placed upon human life is rooted in the biblical principle of the Imago Dei, the image of God, and is clearly not dependent upon psychological capacity for understanding and choice (Genesis 1:27). The Bible plainly states God's mandate to honor, not harm, the aged in order to show reverence for life and for Him (Leviticus 19:32, Proverbs 16:31; 1 Timothy 5:4). Our solution for compassion fatigue flows from the wellspring of God's love and compassion for all humanity (Exodus 34:6; James 5:11).

Reflexivity: Both the sufferer and the caregiver, entwined in mutual suffering, are invited to depend upon and trust the Creator. Likewise, Christian communities are to be centers of compassion (Matthew 25:36; Colossians 3:12; cf. James 5:14). Churches too often fall well short of supporting caregivers throughout the length and breadth of their own trail of tears. A clear strategy of caring for the caregivers will be reflexive. We will learn to prepare regular meals, provide lawn care, and/ or sit with the loved one who has dementia or Alzheimer's to allow the caregiver to rest or enjoy an afternoon away. In so doing, we will invite Christ to show us our own frailties and remind us of our finitude.

Pastoral ministry gifted me with a roll call of saintly caregivers too numerous to name, whose God-given dignity also shined brightly through their own sufferings and taught me much about the true Source of life's value. I became interwoven into their sufferings. They were guides through the "betwixt and between" of this mortal sphere and eternity (Hebrews 12:1-2). Their example instructs me and Christ's presence sustains me, as I now have stepped onto the long pathway of end-of-life care for a loved one. An ethic of Christian compassion has tears for, and encompasses, life throughout chronic disease. We may thank God for the tears and live in hope of the day when they will be no more (Revelation 21:4)!

Larry C. Ashlock 

Notes:

1. Gerald L. Borchert, John 1-11, The New American Commentary, 

“To err is human, to forgive divine,” is Alexander Pope’s 18th century immortal, heroic couplet from an “Essay on Criticism.” It referred originally to the way writers sometimes overly praise or harshly criticize other writers, but it has come to mean that every human being makes mistakes. The point is that we should be forgiving of those who blunder, since God shows His divine mercy in forgiving sinners. Our focal passage today features God’s extraordinary forgiveness as experienced in the life of King David. We know well that David had engaged in a forbidden relationship with Bathsheba and, to conceal her subsequent pregnancy, implemented a murderous plot against her husband, Uriah (see 2 Samuel 11-12). In this psalm of contrition, even a casual reader will sense the grandeur of God’s grace.

The psalm is classified as one of the seven penitential psalms (cf. Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143; EBC), and is known as an individual lament, because of its personal confessional nature and its corporate use within the Christian community. Its clear focus on prayer includes confession and contrition (51:3-6), restoration (51:1-2, 7-12), and thanksgiving (51:13-17)—a pattern we do well to follow. The psalmist also hopes that the Lord will deal kindly with him and with the worshipers in Zion (51:17-19). It invites all sinners, regardless of the sin, to pursue the path to mercy that David has traveled.

God’s nature as loving and compassionate. We should note the parallel between David’s view of things and the truth according to God’s word. He had shown little regard for the rights of Bathsheba and Uriah, so he knows full well that he has no right to divine blessings. Nevertheless, God has promised to forgive, and this forgiveness is based exclusively on His love and compassion (51:1; cf. Exodus 34:6-7). David knew that the wellspring of mercy flowed from the heart of God and was His desire for all people, so David runs to the Lord for His forgiveness (Numbers 6:25; “be gracious to you”).

God’s justice. Uriah had suffered a grave injustice because David had permitted his own lustful desires to eclipse his regard for the value of human life (2 Samuel 11:14-25). The evil in his heart gave birth to a willful act of misconduct and sin (cf. Genesis 4:7; Exodus 20:13). He no doubt had lain many nights on his bed and seen the horror of his crime against Uriah. Thankfully, the darkness of David’s soul did not prevent God from treating him as a person of value (2 Samuel 12:13). God harbors no evil in His heart, and He always acts justly and righteously. It is His nature. So, the psalmist appeals to the Lord’s “love” (ḥeseḏ) and His “great compassion” and asks Him to cancel or wipe clean (Heb. maha; “efface”) his transgression (51:1; cf. 25:6; Isaiah 63:7; Lamentations 3:32; Luke 18:13; 1 Peter 1:3; EBC). God answered David’s prayer and erased his sin, based entirely upon His own mercy and love.

God’s grace! Sin was canceled because, ultimately, justice was served when God’s own Son, Jesus, suffered the penalty for sin—David’s and ours (Romans 5:8)! God, having satisfied His own requirement of justice, was justified (right) when He raised Jesus from the grave. He has extended the same offer of forgiveness to us that David received because of His great love for you and me (see Acts 2:23, 24, 36-38). We may sing along with David, “my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness” (51:14b).

The most polluted waterway on our planet is claimed to be the Citarum River in West Java, Indonesia. The river is the major water source for millions of people, even though it is heavily contaminated by enormous quantities of untreated industrial and agricultural waste, domestic sewage, as well as large amounts of plastic and debris. The pollution has led to serious health problems for people living along the river and has contributed to ecological damage.

Jesus, our King, reminds us of the pollution that resides within the human heart (Matthew 15:11). He knows the moral blindness of humankind and the need for His purifying work. Thankfully, the Scriptures teach us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

1. Stop for a moment and consider your own heart. Have you treated people unjustly? Devalued another human life in word or deed? Ask for God’s forgiveness and then seek to restore the relationship(s) that you have broken by your sin.

2. For Families: It seems that this theme of forgiveness from sin rises often in Scripture, doesn’t it? We humans need to be reminded of our own vulnerability, our tendency to wander from God and choose our own paths. When this happens, the way David ran to God for confession and forgiveness is a model for each member of our families.

Ask the children to come outside with you to get some fresh air and sunshine. Propose a series of races – around the tree, over to the corner of the lot, back to the bush, and home! Time them with your stopwatch or phone app. After their exercise, while they are resting, serve them a snack under the shade tree or on the porch. 

Share with them the brief story of a king who sinned against God by taking what was not his, and plotting to cover it up. Then share about his running to God for forgiveness, and the steps David prayed as He mourned and confessed his sin to God. He took responsibility, recognized the evil he had done, and asked God for mercy and forgiveness. Just like your kids running around their yard for the finish line, David ran purposefully to God, who has promised to forgive. Give thanks to Him for His infinite love and kindness to us.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

A funny cartoon caught my eye because an overweight, unkempt man was lying on a couch with all sorts of junk food wrappers and empty beverage cans on the floor. The caption read that he had achieved his daily goal of taking zero exercise steps. “Under-motivated” would be a good way to describe the man! If you have ever found it extremely difficult to dedicate yourself to a consistent spiritual routine, then this passage is for you. Jesus begins the latter section of Matthew 19 with a solemn vow, “I tell you the truth,” and it catches my eye—and I hope it catches yours, too. He has something to say directly into our hearts this day and we want to listen.

Let’s take a wide-angle view of Matthew 19. This chapter presents us with a clear example of the situation Christ often faced (cf. Matthew 10:34-39, esp. v. 39; not peace but a sword). In this case, the religious leaders asked adversarial questions of the Lord, but a wealthy young man sincerely approached Jesus (19:16, 22). He realized that all he had done to bring satisfaction in life had not brought him fulfillment! 

Think for a moment about how we define the pinnacle of success. This man was young, wealthy, and held a prominent position—perhaps a synagogue ruler (cf. NAC). He had it all, but found that “all” was not enough. He pursued hollow success and fell down the proverbial rabbit hole in pursuit of the wrong things. The young man truly wanted to know how he might close the void that was left in his heart (19:16). His search was for ultimate meaning, and Matthew shows us that this deepest meaning is wrapped up in “eternal life.” He, like all humanity, longed for the transcendent because he had been made that way by his Creator!

I cannot help but think that these disciples were re-living a few thousand years of ancient Israelite history in these moments. Jesus was calling for the type of radical commitment that their forefathers and mothers had failed miserably to uphold. We see this regular cycle of commitment, followed by rebellion, in our companion passage today (e.g., Psalm 106:6-7, 13-15, 19-21, & 34-39). Jesus zeroes in on a case study in stubborn materialism, the rich young ruler, and how difficult it is for the wealthy to surrender to kingdom priorities (19:23). It is not so much the wealth that is the obstacle, because we all have seen similar failure in those who live with meager means, but it is the prideful self-sufficiency that rubs regularly against the heart and causes spiritual callousness (cf. Matthew 5:3).

I am certainly not climbing onto the back of the wealthy, for there are many who are extraordinarily dependent upon the Lord (note: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; EBC). Jesus uses an analogy in verse 24 that helps us to see His meaning. In hyperbolic fashion He describes the utter silliness of a camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle (cf. “the narrow door” in 7:13-14; NAC). He teaches us that a heart, swollen with pride, cannot squeeze through the needle’s eye of beneficial service to the poor, nor does it want to attempt this demonstration of love for one’s neighbor! In Jesus’s day, most people assumed that wealth was a sign of God’s blessing, but the Lord challenged this misconception. Do you find yourself asking, “Well, who can be saved, then?!” His disciples blurted out this question because their entire value-system was being turned upside down.

To be “saved” is equivalent to entering the kingdom of God (cf. v. 24) or receiving eternal life (v. 16). So, if rich men, who are blessed of God, are not shoe-ins for the kingdom, then who is going to fill those shoes? Perhaps Jesus motions for them to turn their eyes away from the rich young ruler and points toward heaven. The salvation of any person, including the wealthy, is impossible; but with God all things are possible (v. 26; cf. Genesis 18:14; Job 42:2; and Psalm 106: 8, 47)!

Peter raises his hand and speaks for the group: “We have given up everything to follow you . . .” (v. 27). In other words, “We thought that we were giving up a fairly good lifestyle to receive even more. We deserve better than this.” Jesus does not criticize them for being money-grubbing, but He opens their eyes to see the greater scope of a “new world,” where they cannot even begin to imagine the blessings. One thing they can know for certain is that the key to this new world will not be placed in the hands of the unbelieving wealthy, powerful, and influential (v. 30a).

I want to be clear that I am not pointing a finger of judgment at anyone. It is always easier to tell someone else how to spend their money than it is to focus on how we spend our own! Can you relate? I will focus on one values-challenging perennial need, which is hunger, by looking through the lens of the Baptist Center for Global Concerns’ Mary’s Table® ministry to those living with very low food security. 

Very low food security, formerly titled “food insecurity,” means “reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.” I am confident that most of us know that the solution to hunger requires more than simply handing out food. It includes promoting good nutrition, improving food access, and laying the foundation for better education, employment, and stable housing. The deeply distressed people in Hood County, where I live, often reside in rural places, away from access to food, have severely limited means of transportation, and face regular displacement from housing. 

I see the insecurity about food, transportation, and housing in the eyes of the women who walk through our doors, AND Jesus asks me what I—not the organization—am ready to change for Him to be their security. You see, I can hand out food, but fail to be the heart and hands of Christ to feed the entire being of people in need. Why? My consumer-oriented heart too often leaves only crumbs for Christ to use. Crumbs? I cling to my own free time and cash flow, which hinders my kingdom-of-heaven-usefulness to Him to touch their hearts with present and eternal hope (19:19b, 21, and 29). In other words, the hungry often do not see that I, myself, am hungry for the type of change that Christ requires in order to possess eternal hope.

Zygmunt Baumen was a social theorist who spent a career examining social issues that are common to our generation. He stated that part of the problem with people is that their lives are “fragmented.” This perspective means that they are looking side-to-side for peace in every way possible—e.g., possessions, status, relationships—but never looking up for the transcendent. Helping people to make the moral connection between the “liquidity” of this life and the solid foundation of eternal life is what Jesus did that day with the rich man. We need to do the same today. Show Christ to people by reaching into their moral lost-ness and giving them a hand up onto the Savior’s solid ground!

1. We all have been influenced by “influence” in one way or another. Whether it be wealth, power, or sway, we are often tempted to veer off the straight path that leads to life for the wide path that leads to destruction. In what specific ways has life’s allure hindered your total discipleship? Renew your commitment to follow Christ with every bit of your being.

2. For Families: This might be a good week, following this devotional, to take up an exercise in the “last being first, and the first being last.” This week, invite your kids to an experiment that will train their hearts, if they pay attention, to follow Christ more closely.

Every time your kids jostle about being “first,” or line up for meals, or call the best seats in the car, or respond to receive something you are handing out, let the first step to the back of the line, and the last one step to the front. This will be uncomfortable for them at the onset, because it feels a bit unfair. “After all,” they might say, “I was here first.” Each time this happens, however, explain again why you are doing this. It helps train us to be less selfish.

Jesus is trying to teach us in this passage and devotional that constantly “getting” things does not fill the void of hunger in us. Share with your kids that only Jesus can satisfy that “urge to take.” Invite your children instead to be “givers” in the name of Jesus, and to bow our hearts to Him alone. Jesus is enough.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

Sabbath performance was one of the three “most important badges of Jewish life” (NAC). Jesus shows in this passage that He was going to challenge any other oral tradition that had grown up like weeds and choked God’s intent with the giving of the law (12:3-6; “have you not read?”). We currently practice a laissez faire approach to our worship, but there remain unspoken customs in many of our churches that hinder folks from gaining access to God. Our Bible text for today challenges us to discover and remove any hindrance to an open approach to the Heavenly Father.

The disciples had “broken a Sabbath law” by committing one of thirty-nine kinds of work forbidden on that day (12:2; EBC; cf. M Shabbath 7:2). Their failure? They had “rubbed heads of grain between their palms to separate the kernels from the hulls” (12:1; EBC). This level of legalism may seem silly to us, but the Jewish leadership at that time took the violation seriously. The disciples’ behavior was considered reaping and was therefore considered unlawful on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11). Since teachers were responsible for their students, Jesus was confronted about this Sabbath violation on the part of His disciples. 

Jesus replied, using two illustrations to build His argument against these accusers. First, He reminded His challengers of David, when he fled from King Saul to Nob. He and his men ate the consecrated bread that was set apart for the priests (cf. 1 Samuel 21:1-9; Leviticus 24:8-9). Secondly, He called to the attention of His detractors the priests who worked on the Sabbath as prescribed by the Old Testament law (Numbers 28:9-10). The priests had never been declared culpable for doing these things. Here’s the real point of the confrontation: These Jewish leaders were looking for a way to accuse Jesus. And He knew it.

Jesus opens the way to the Heavenly Father. Jesus simply took the circumstances about Sabbath observance and turned the focus to Himself. He was not taking a defensive stance; instead, it was an authoritative one (HNTC). He was the architect of the Temple and the one to whom worship was offered (12:6; “greater than”). He claimed to be the fulfillment of the Fourth Commandment and that it no longer needed to be fulfilled literally (NAC; cf. Colossians 2:16-17; Romans 14:5-6). The Pharisees had robbed the Sabbath of its “rest” by weighing it down with burdensome requirements. On top of that, they had imposed their requirements on everyone else, too. Jesus’ challenge showed the value He placed upon human lives and their access to the Father. We worship properly when we follow His example by valuing human lives.

Jesus sets the example of showing mercy. The account where Jesus heals a man with a withered hand maintains the same theme as the previous section (12:1-8). Jesus moves from the outside to inside the synagogue. It was likely that the man with a withered hand was being used by the Pharisees to entrap Jesus (12:9). Their hatred for Jesus had blinded them from seeing the worth of the disabled man. Healing the man would be work, and work was not permitted on the Sabbath. Jesus uses a variation of Hosea 6:6 with His response that called for a common-sense approach to Sabbath observance. Since everyone accepted the practice of showing mercy to animals on the Sabbath, He extended that mercy to people, so it must be “lawful” to do good on the Sabbath. Mercy toward a human life on the Sabbath—or any day of the week—took priority over mercy toward an animal.

We once lived in a rent house that sat across a vacant lot from the small rural church where I served as the pastor. The lot was overgrown with weeds, but there was a “dog trail” that allowed us to walk directly to the church. The knee-high weeds and thorns would blow in the breeze and stick to our clothes as we made our way to the church. Silly me, but I do not ever recall mowing the lot so that we would have easier access to the church. It sure would have made getting there much easier. 

This begs a key question for me. What “weeds” (i.e. behaviors or customs) have we allowed to grow that hinder the direct access of people to the Lord? We may not have thirty-nine rules about work on the Lord’s Day, but we very often have more than enough “don’ts” to frustrate people as they are trying to make their way to Jesus. A simple way to eliminate these hindrances would be to look through the eyes of Jesus toward broken lives and see what you need to remove to clear a path to Him.

1. The “weeds” often grow first at home and at family gatherings. Be on the lookout for attitudes and actions that hinder your little ones from gaining access to Jesus. I often asked my children if what they heard me preach from the pulpit was evident in my life inside the home. Remove anything that hinders access to Jesus.

2. We all should know by now how difficult our churches often make it for broken lives to come to Jesus. Maintaining “worship order” overrides ministry to folks who desperately need it. Ask the Lord of the Sabbath if there is anything that hinders people from gaining access to Him in your church fellowship. His Spirit will make visible to you the obstacles in the pathway to Him. Make changes accordingly.

3. For Families: Sometimes our own family schedules crowd out opportunities for our children to come to Jesus and learn of Him. With sports practices and games happening more on Wednesday and Sunday evenings, and traveling to and from school-related events on these days, our kids are often not afforded opportunities to become more involved in the life of their church fellowship. 

If your kids are not regularly attending to the things of God along with their own church family, they may miss hearing God speak to them and growing in discipleship. Take a moment to check your family’s calendar and ask yourself if it shows Christ to be in first place – both for yourselves and for your children.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

“He had it all,” as we say, “then lost it all.” Humanly speaking, Saul had everything that people prize in a leader. He was kingly in appearance, a strong military strategist, and popular with the people. He fits a common leadership misconception; namely, that leaders are born, and their charisma wins the approval and following of their people. My how things never seem to change! We often choose our leaders for similar reasons, don’t we?

Our focal passage today demonstrates the actual and contrasting truth. God looks for something different in a leader. Saul was a spiritual rebel and did not adhere to the Lord’s word, so God rejected him as Israel’s leader. We may argue that Saul did not have a predecessor, so how was he to know how a king should conduct himself? But this is not the point here. This is about the heart. Let’s discover the evidence that Saul’s heart was not right and learn from his mistakes.

Every leadership situation has a context, so we do not want to skim past this section of material. The setting and stresses will expose flaws in a leader’s character. All these people and places held moral meaning in Saul’s day, just as they do in our day. The fledgling monarchy faced an immediate need to secure its boundaries. It needed to expel the Philistines from the central part of the country and reclaim what had formerly been a religious center in Geba (13:3; cf. Joshua 21:7; NAC). This would provide the nation with the centralized religious leadership that was lacking. The major “traffic arteries,” as I describe them, had to be secured (13:2). Saul needed to cut off the travel routes the Philistines would surely take to maintain their hold on the nation. He also needed an army, which he “drafted” into service (13:2). 

Every good general not only knows his troop strength and plans for victory, but he also will plan for the counterattack that will likely come. Saul may have underestimated this part of the plan to secure Israel, but there was a more pressing question. How would the king accomplish this goal? Think of your own life and the challenges you face. What are your resources and who provides the counsel for your plans to succeed?

A heart for God and His word. Israel’s religion was based upon revelation from God. This spiritual lesson is a key one to learn. Saul had been given instructions to go down to Gilgal where he was to wait seven days for Samuel to arrive (cf. 1 Samuel 10:8). First, Saul committed the sin of rejecting God’s divine word. Secondly, he took the word of God and added further instructions to it. This moral blunder is as old as the Garden of Eden, and it is a sign that a person's heart/will is opposed to God's leadership (see Genesis 3:3, “neither shall you touch it”). He laid additional requirements upon the Israelite soldiers that went beyond the words God had given in the Torah (cf. 1 Samuel 14:24; NAC). Saul showed quickly that he lacked the required moral character to lead Israel successfully. 

Trust God’s leadership. We very often plot and plan our lives as though we can “see infinitely into the future.” I certainly believe that planning is useful, because it does help us to live and flourish. We steer off course, however, when in our planning we overlook the fact that we are finite and are not able to see every consequence of our plans and subsequent actions (cf. 13:3-4; “the Philistines heard of it” and “had become a stench”). Saul and Israel failed because good looks, a keen mind, and passion for one’s people are not good qualifications to be “God” (cf. 12:25; 13:14). Saul took spiritual matters into his own hands. He blamed his soldiers who were scattering on Samuel, who did not arrive at the set time, and on the Philistines who were assembling at Michmash (13:11). He literally tried to gain the Lord’s favor through his disobedience. In Saul’s case, the penalty was severe: his dynasty would end at his death and God was already seeking a leader whose heart would be obedient (13:14).

Everything I have learned about fighting wasps, I have learned on the internet. I have an ongoing “battle with the bugs” at the Baptist Center’s offices. They are persistent pests, so I applied knowledge gleaned from Google and threw warm soapy water on their hive. It seemed like a good plan, but the problem was I did not anticipate the impact that clean but mad wasps would have on me! I had not contemplated all the possible consequences. It is a simple illustration, but I hope that my incomplete planning demonstrates my human finitude and the need for God’s assistance to live a truly flourishing life. I cannot stress enough the spiritual importance of placing God fully in control of our lives and seeking to obey Him with all our hearts. 

How like Adam was Saul! Both individuals were leaders, and both forfeited enduring legacies because they were willfully disobedient to God’s commands (cf. Genesis 3:1-19). They left God out of the planning and the process. Thankfully, God loves people like Adam and Saul (you and me, too!) and has offered a means by which we may become part of His Son’s enduring legacy (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45-50). Praise God!

1. Notice the progression in Saul’s life. His house of cards was built to fail from the very beginning because God was only secondary to the design. Regardless of where you are in the life-building process, pause today and make a sincere commitment to turn your life and plans entirely over to the eternal God.

2. I believe that successful decisions are made by asking one further question at the end of all the planning: “Then what?” In other words, when we have considered every human possibility and as many consequences as we may conceive, then we should ask, “Then what?” This two-word question opens the mind and heart to consider the eternal implications of our choices. Add this question to your plans today.

3. For Families: For our children and families, a basic application of this passage is that God is God and we are not. God is the one who decides how our lives should unfold, and He has all consequences and next steps firmly in hand.

If you have ordered something lately, maybe for Christmas or a birthday, that contains a booklet of instructions, like something you had to assemble, or perhaps even an appliance manual, bring these to the table and ask your kids to join you. 

Explain to them how you ordered your machine or appliance, and had to crack open the instruction manual in order to make sure you were putting it together, setting it up, and teaching yourself how to use it correctly. You had to read the instructions, step by step. Only a foolish person would think they know everything about all things, so as not to need the instructions. 

Living with God is like that. We live well when we follow His instructions. Everything works best according to a certain plan, and we need our Creator to tell us our life instructions. God’s word helps us learn, as does prayer, and good sound leaders whose hearts belong to God. Encourage your kids to listen to Him rather than trying to live without His guidance! In doing so, they are becoming good leaders.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

What would you wish to write if what you penned were the last words you would ever put to paper? Well, Hannah was not an author, per se, but the last words we ever hear/read from her lips are recorded in 1 Samuel 2, and they speak to this very day! Hannah’s song is 112 words in the Hebrew language and, by comparison, Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address is 272 words. Hers is an “emancipation proclamation” of a soul set free from its overwhelming burden, and it speaks poetically to our hearts in ways that words alone can never do. Let’s ask the Lord to awaken our souls to His message through Hannah’s voice this day.

The monologue by Hannah is often described as a prayer that has been cast as a “poetic hymn” or a Psalm of Thanksgiving, and is believed by scholars to be “among the earliest examples of Israelite poetry” (NAC). The song affirms core elements of Israelite faith: 1) Yahweh is the great judge who “oversees human destinies” and “rewards those who earnestly seek him”; 2) God is the source of “empowerment and victory for those who fear him”; and 3) He is also the “overpowering authority who dispenses fearful judgment” (NAC). Have you ever wondered if there is any justice? Hannah answers our questions with a resounding, “Yes!”

A truly just God. We hear and read much about justice in our day, but this song speaks about a depth of fairness and rectitude that can only emanate from the very nature and actions of a God like ours. God truly elevates those who fear Him even when others may devalue them. This song “foreshadows” God’s dealings with many people we will read about in this book of 1 Samuel, but particularly in the lives of Samuel and David. If ever you’ve reached out in desperate need of a deliverer, only to feel rejected by all others around you, then this prayerful song is for you! God has already reached down into your desperation to provide His rescue (cf. John 3:16; Romans 5:8).

Trust God even when we cannot explain our circumstances. Hannah has been childless and the object of constant ridicule by her rival Peninnah (1:2; 6). This woman was described as Hannah’s rival, or “troubler” (1:6). Hannah’s husband, Elkanah, loved her, but his other wife aggravated and provoked her to anger (TWOT). This was bad enough, but we discover that it was the Lord who had closed her womb. Twice we read that it was God who prevented Hannah from giving birth to a child (1:5-6). This is the same God who had issued the creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28; 9:1; 35:11). Are you wondering how this could be? We must remember that the ways of God are not always understood by us in our human frailty. Even so, Hannah presents to us a model of transparent, soaring faith amid extraordinary sadness (1:10). She alone, among women in the Old Testament, is described as going up to the house of the Lord (NAC). Exercising faith like Hannah’s may seem like a big leap for you to make, but God invites you to trust Him like she did.

Delight yourself in God’s goodness and care. We used to sing a song, “Tell it to Jesus.” Hannah had genuine faith because she tells her troubles to God. Her prayer contains the most “recorded utterances” (18) of God’s name by a woman. Hannah uses the sour experience of her life to produce the sweet refrains that have blessed generations of men and women who live lives of quiet desperation. The four first-person references in verses 1-2 express her unbridled delight with the Lord. Rather than trash the name of God, she trusts that He will ultimately bring triumph. Hannah shows us how to praise. She praises God for His holiness (Leviticus 10:3; 11:44; 19:2; 20:26), His uniqueness (cf. Exodus 15:11), and for being a “Rock” (“bedrock”; cf. Deuteronomy 32:4, 15, 18, 30, 31; NAC). Her rival taunts her but she now boasts in the Lord (2:1; “my mouth is enlarged”). Every woman who has wept tears of sorrow over being childless will immediately understand Hannah’s sheer joy when she discovered that she was pregnant. Yes, it was about the baby, but it was also about so much more. She offers God praise for His deliverance (“salvation”).

Deliverance? Really? Hannah got it, but do we? It was never about her barrenness; instead, it was about the wilderness of life lived with a God who seemed absent!

It’s a simple anecdote, but our back porch is often filled with beautiful plants and flowers of all sorts of colors. Winter, however, plays havoc with this little garden space, and I often look out the window to gaze upon dry and brittle twigs and much dirt. I recall my surprise one year when we discovered that a momma rabbit had tucked away her little newborn babies in one of those dry and empty pots. Living babies where there once was dry barrenness. Of course, my heart swelled with praise to our God, who gives rise to new life amid such bleakness.

Here is the spiritual reminder. My friends, God is never absent from us, even when life appears desolate. Hannah testifies to this truth. Remember our readings in the book of Judges, where the author tells us that “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25)? Samuel, the last of the judges, would reverse this pattern in Israel’s history and would lay the groundwork for Israel’s rise to world power under the rule of King David. Behind this phoenix-like rise from faithlessness was a great-souled woman of profound faith named Hannah! Follow her example in your heartache and wait for God’s deliverance.

1. What personal loss has flooded your heart with grief? Write it down and whisper it to the Heavenly Father. Pray for His aid and train your heart to wait for His deliverance. He will answer your prayer.

2. For Families: Your family may have walked through some dark times, when it seemed God was absent. Recall what God did to remind you of His constant presence, and your delight to know of His closeness. Share this time of God’s close presence with your kids at bedtime, when they are closing their eyes to sleep. God answers our prayer, and is attentive to our prayers.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock

[Originally published March 27, 2026]

Suffering. What a stark and somber word. In Cost of Discipleship we read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's profound statement: "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." This beloved German Christian pastor literally gave his life in faithfulness to the gospel and the way of Jesus. At dawn, on 9 April 1945, at Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, he was stripped, dragged to the execution yard, and hanged. He and many others in history, and many still across the world today, have paid the ultimate price for following Jesus. This is what happened to most of the apostles and early church leaders too, as both historical records and strong traditions reveal.

James, elder brother of John, son of Zebedee, was the first of the twelve to be martyred, killed with a sword by Herod Agrippa I in the year 44 (Acts 12:1-2). James the Younger, son of Alphaeus, was thrown from a pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem for refusing to deny Christ in 62. Eyewitness accounts report that, because he survived the fall, he was then stoned and killed by a blow to the head. He was buried there beside the Temple. 

Simon Peter was crucified upside-down in Rome around 64-65, and Thaddeus (also called Jude, son of James) and Simon the Zealot were recorded as having traveled, preached, and been killed together in 66, although reported locations range from Persia (Iran), to Syria, to Armenia. Matthew (Levi) was killed about 68-70 by the sword in Eduba, Ethiopia, on the orders of King Eglypus (or Hirtacus), where he had gone to preach the Good News. Andrew was killed around 70, tied to an X-shaped cross in Patras, Greece on the orders of Aegeas, the Roman governor, after converting his wife to Christianity.

Thomas Didymus (the twin), took the Gospel to India, as far south as modern-day Chennai on the Malabar Coast, and was speared to death in 72, also while preaching. Philip was crucified in Hieropolis (near modern-day Denizli, Turkey), along with Bartholomew (called Nathanael), in about 80 (Phillip's tomb was discovered in 2011). Finally, John, younger brother to James the Elder and son of Zebedee, Jesus's beloved friend, died peacefully of old age in Ephesus near the end of the first century, around 90 AD, after he was released from Patmos, where he had been exiled for his faith.

These disciples and Bonhoeffer in one sense experienced the reality of what Jesus had said. "Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?'" (Mark 8:34-36).

It is true that the call to take up His cross is a call to die. However, Jesus was not just talking about physical death, as in martyrdom, although some are called to die that way. Jesus was also saying that death and resurrection are not only the means of our salvation, but the pattern of our discipleship. In God’s upside-down Kingdom, we die to live, just as we lose to gain, or serve to lead, or humble ourselves to be great. In Galatians, Paul shows how this dying to self actually works in practice. The Spirit is constantly reforming our new lives in God’s new world. He explains that, in the Kingdom, our new lives are now characterized by love, humility and service (Gal.5:13-15).

History has proven, across these almost 2,000 years, that our community life in Christ, our churches, grow stronger when every member dies to self daily and suffers with Christ. We learn each day to be self-emptying, self-giving, self-sacrificing, sustained by and reflecting His love, which governs all. We simply follow the way of Jesus.

It is easier to empty self, to give, to sacrifice - to die daily - if we are confident in resurrection hope. True believers never underestimate the power of seed that falls to the ground and dies (John 12:24-25). We trust that lives laid down in love always bear more fruit than we know. And in such suffering, even as we continue to hope, we learn to embrace the value of daily affliction.

Since the earliest days of the Church, Christians have taken time during the days immediately preceding Easter to worship in a special way. What has come to be called "Tenebrae" is a traditional Holy Week service that uses the gradual extinguishing of light to draw attention to the sufferings of Christ and the resident darkness of the world. Tenebrae means "darkness," or "shadow," and has been found to be a cherished expression of this significant aspect of living the Christ-life. When we attend a Tenebrae service, we are intentionally creating space in which to meditate on and lament the brokenness of the human heart and the groaning of creation. 

In this week, in the darkness before the dawn, before the Hope of Resurrection is celebrated again, we pause to be silent, to sit in the shadows, to reflect, and mourn, and grieve the sufferings of Christ, the world, and those who experience anguish daily. It helps us to come to terms with darkness in human history, and to find beauty, even when it seems sometimes that hope itself is being extinguished. Today we remember and hold close those who have suffered, and still suffer, across our world. We pray over them, and all of us, the Peace and Hope of the Risen Christ, the Light of the world, and eternal Conqueror over death.

-Karen O'Dell Bullock

[Originally published March 27, 2026]

"If you are not suffering now, you will someday" are words that cause me trepidation, because the man who wrote them, Paul David Tripp, lived what I would call a life without photo-shopping. There was no need to edit the flawless image that his life and ministry represented, as many often do on social media posts. He had the perfect family, ministry, and health until the day the latter crumbled, and he collapsed beneath the weight of his own finitude. His boundless energy and a body that functioned properly without medical assistance were replaced with endless pain and suffering. His plight fittingly led him to write a book entitled Suffering. He concludes that volume by sharing that identifying with Christ's sufferings enables one to find blessing and to be a blessing to others.

Can there actually be some benefit and witness to Christ when we suffer? Assuredly, just as evil and suffering exist, they possess and add value to our lives in this Easter season. The great problem of evil and suffering, known as "theodicy," may be summed up in a classic question: How can it be that God is all good and all powerful, yet allow for the existence of evil and suffering?

God is powerfully present in our suffering. One of the three pillars that support a Christian understanding of evil and suffering in the world is God's unsurpassed power. Our suffering does not mean that God He has somehow failed or abandoned us. Indeed, God is actively present in our suffering, building a context for our comfort and spiritual growth. We must keep in mind that knowledge of God's power must never lead us to look away from pain or pretend that suffering has no power to demoralize us. [1]

God is good and unparalleled in His goodness. St. Augustine does not deny the existence of evil, but reminds us that God would not have permitted it to exist unless He could draw good out of it! [2] The happy result of Adam's fall into sin--and subsequently that of all humankind--is God's far greater good, His great redemption in Jesus Christ. The grievous failure of the first creation opened the way for God's extraordinary goodness to shine forth in His grace. Tripp writes, " The theology of suffering in Scripture is never, ever an end in itself, but is designed as a means to an end of real comfort, real direction, real protection, real conviction, and real hope." [3]

Human evil deeds emerge from the exercise of our God-given free agency (Genesis 3:1-19; Romans 5:12-21). We must not slip into the false belief, however, that God is unable to overcome evil in humans or creation (cf. John 5:14; 8:11; cf. also Luke 13:1-5)! Then, why does God allow the suffering of Christian leaders, like Paul Tripp and you!? There a a number of motifs throughout Scripture that provide insight into the causes of evil, but the why of evil and suffering often remains a mystery (cf. Luke 13:1-5). The quintessential suffering man, Job of the Old Testament, also never received an answer to the "why?" of his suffering (cf. Job 42:1-6).

Even so, suffering may be used by God like a medicine that purges the body of an illness. It also can be a means by which our conscience is awakened, and our moral fiber is strengthened (James 1:2-5). Suffering, in this way, exposes the delusion of our personal freedom and self-sufficiency. Therefore, we must always remember that God is not overwhelmed by evil and suffering, nor powerless to overcome it.

Attendance on Easter Sunday rose about twenty-five percent throughout much of my pastoral years. Anyone and everyone attended those services. There were lifelong committed believers, nominal Christians, those who were unsaved, and even those who were antagonistic toward Christ. I know this reality to be the case because folks would tell me that the only reason for their attendance was to please a parent, relative, or friend. Such diversity and similarity in one place! You may wonder how this may be so. Pain and suffering are common denominators in every worship gathering. Regardless, all who attend worship, across the spectrum, will be confronted at some point in their lives with the unfathomable and crippling reality of suffering. Easter Christians, who recognize their calling to witness even in their sufferings, are poised to testify to the power of the resurrection through sharing in Christ's sufferings.

Identify with Christ by rejecting sin and self. Paul writes of "sharing his (Christ's) sufferings" and "becoming like him in his death" (Philippians 3:10). His testimony here parallels the passage in Romans 6:1-11. Like Paul, we participate in what Christ did on the cross when we die to sin. Participation in the sufferings of Christ does not mean that we take on some "redemptive suffering" like Christ did, nor does it mean that we will necessarily suffer and die like Jesus did.

The Apostle meant that he identified with Christ's death whenever he suffered (see, for example, 2 Corinthians 11:23-28). Our situations will likely not be like Paul's, but we all may have the same hope of resurrection power that results from conforming to Jesus' death. [4] We experience this conformity and the resulting resurrection power when we choose death to sin and self daily (see esp. Mark 8:34; cf. Philippians 3:12-16).

Offer our bodies as "living sacrifices." The Christian body is a key place for meeting and serving others, whether it be individually or corporately as the "body of Christ." Obedience to Christ means faithfulness through the trials we face in this world, as well as our obedience to Him in our daily lives. I contend that Paul David Tripp was successful in his strength, which was on full display through his extensive counseling and conference leadership ministry. He is also successful in his weakness and suffering, which the crippling illness has caused. Following Christ will mean that we cannot expect to be excluded from the ills of life! We are to offer Christ the whole of our lives, strengths and weaknesses, come what may.

None of us lead picture-perfect lives, not even on social media! Pain and suffering will assuredly strike at some point and in some way during our pilgrimage here. The sufferings of Christ serve as a practical call for us to endure travail (1 Peter 2:21-25) and stand always as a chief source of confidence and encouragement (1:3). Christ, our example, lays a foundation upon which we are called to build holy lives which, at times, will require us to endure suffering (1 Peter 2:6; 1:13; 4:12-14). So, as Timothy Keller writes, “Christ literally walked in our shoes,” so we may tighten the laces today and carry on, even when we suffer, until He returns.

Larry C. Ashlock

Notes:

1. Thomas C. Oden, Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry, 224.

2. Augustine, Library of Christian Classics, vol. 7, 342ff.

3. Paul David Tripp, Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense (Wheaton, Il: Crossway, 2018), p. 24.

4. Richard R. Melick, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, vol. 32, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991), 135–137.