Jeff’s Favorites – Page 22 – Three Minute Bible

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020

Hyperopia – 2 Samuel 19: 6a

You love those who hate you and hate those who love you.

Today’s passage is a bit odd for a theme verse. Joab, the king’s commander of the army, has just killed Absalom and saved the kingdom for David. Instead of thanks and praise, David rewards him with recriminations. Here is the passage in context:

“Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, ‘Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.’”

— 2 Samuel 19:5-7

For the most part, David lived a noble life. He was courageous before his enemies, and faithful to God, even to the point of respecting the life of the man who was bent on killing him, King Saul. It was only when he had achieved relative peace and had been established as king over Israel that the wheels started to come off.

March 1, 2020March 1, 2020

Anger’s End – Psalm 85: 1-3

You, Lord, showed favor to your land;
    you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

You forgave the iniquity of your people
    and covered all their sins.

You set aside all your wrath
    and turned from your fierce anger.

This passage from Psalm 85 gives us some clues to resolving anger. In this short series of essays on anger, we defined anger as, “the feeling that results from an imbalance between our expectations and the situation we find ourselves in.”*

God expects that his Creation will recognize Him and honor Him. When this doesn’t happen God becomes angry. God says:

“Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not arouse my anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.”

— Jeremiah 25:6

Because of God’s great love for us, he provided a means for us to be redeemed from his anger. In the Old Testament, that meant dumping all the foreign gods in the Kidron Valley and submitting to God’s will. Unfortunately over the centuries, the Israelites turned their back on God so often that they made a mockery of his willingness to forgive. Instead, when the old covenant was in tatters, God formed a new covenant in his son, Jesus Christ.

February 29, 2020March 1, 2020

Anger’s Judgement – 1 Corinthians 6:1-3

If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!

So far we have talked about what causes anger, and about the power of anger. The main thesis has been that anger by itself is neither good or bad, but is a sign of a deeper pain. In “Anger’s Power” we discussed the good or bad part. Anger based on a violation of God’s values is more righteous than anger based on a bruise to our ego. Today I would like to look at ways we can evaluate the anger we are confronted with in ourselves or someone else.

There is a touching story in 1 Samuel about the friendship between David and the son of King Saul, Jonathan. Saul has been stricken by a wild jealousy of David. The jealousy has roused a fit of powerful anger in Saul and he tries several times to skewer David on a spear. David escapes only to be reconciled to Saul by the efforts of his friend Jonathan.

February 28, 2020March 1, 2020

Anger’s Power – Zechariah 1:14-15

Then the angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment.’”

Yesterday in “Anger’s Cause” we talked a little about where anger comes from. But anger is not like a light switch. We do not simply become angry. There are many degrees of anger, just as there are many degrees of happiness.

When things in our life do not match our expectations (here I should add that we are talking about those things that are worse than what we expect) we start to become irritated. Irritation leads to frustration, and frustration can lead to anger. As we see in today’s verse, anger can range from a little angry to very angry.

Sometimes the change from happy to angry happens so fast that we miss all the warning signs along the way. And that is what irritations and frustrations are; warning signs. They tell us that there is danger ahead. If we heed the warnings, sometimes we can avoid the anger. The main point today though is that there are degrees of anger.

Where does this power for being very angry come from?

February 27, 2020March 1, 2020

Anger’s Cause — Jonah 4:4

But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Today we are going to change gears for a while and talk about a topic that affects everyone’s life at some point or another: Anger.

People tend to think anger is a bad thing but actually, anger itself is nothing more than an indicator like a gauge on the dashboard of your car. The problems that we have with anger are manifested in how people react to it.

So what causes anger?

February 25, 2020February 25, 2020

James 3: 1 – Understanding

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

I don’t think of myself as a teacher, even when I am teaching. This verse is why. I don’t want to be “judged more strictly.” Yet to the extent that I do teach, I am sure James’ words will apply.

So let me tell you what I teach:

I teach that God is real and that Jesus is his Son.

I teach that the Bible is written by God and exists exactly the way He wants it to be.

Everything else comes from the Bible and God Himself.

February 22, 2020February 22, 2020

James 2: 26 – Candlelight

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

I was just reading an interesting article about candle burn marks on the wood beams and walls of ancient buildings. The article goes into a long history of the candle and its association with funerals, church rites, and daily life. No one knows for certain what the burn marks were for but they may have been there to ward off evil spirits. As I read through the rather long text I was taken back in time to the fourteenth century and reminded about how much I take for granted in this day and age.

At night our house is full of light. Little glowing lights are found everywhere. From the nightlight in the bathroom to the alarm clock on the nightstand. Need to make your way to the kitchen at one in the morning? No problem! Even the thermostats have glowing lights on them. There are little light markers everywhere not to mention the glow given off by the streetlights outside.

February 14, 2020February 14, 2020

James 2: 18 – A Puppy Named James

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

If you ever have had a puppy dog for a pet, you know how they like to play tug-o-war. It doesn’t matter if it is a $15.00 toy from Pets-R-Us or an old sock. Given the chance to chomp down on something, growl fiercely, and throw their head back and forth, they will take it every time.

Like a puppy with a sock, James has sunk his teeth into this idea of faith and deeds.

Grrr-rrr-rr—rrrr—rrrrrr—rrr!!

He just won’t let go!

So here we are, talking about faith versus deeds again.

Like a puppy who wants to play, James growls out a challenge: Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds!

Let’s accept his challenge. Let’s show James our faith. And we will do it without deeds. How does that work?

February 7, 2020February 7, 2020

Hearts and Deeds – James 2: 12-13

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.

Some people have told me that they feel put off by James’ letter because of his emphasis on what they call “works.” There seems to be a lot of confusion on this point. Paul spends a lot of time in his writings defending the Gentile Christians against the demands of Jewish law. Time and again he returns to this theme which is summed up in his letter to the Ephesians:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

The “works” that Paul refers to are a kind of righteousness defined by the laws of Moses. These are the laws of the covenant or agreement God made with the Israelites through Moses. (If you would like to know more about this covenant in general terms read Deuteronomy, chapters 27-30.) Under this agreement, the Israelites were to remain faithful to God. Not just in their actions, but in their hearts as well. God taught the Israelites the difference between right and wrong actions in the hope that their hearts would follow.

Sadly, that didn’t work.

February 4, 2020February 4, 2020

You Break It You Buy It – James 2: 10

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

There are a lot of curio shops at the beach. Each shop is filled with hundreds if not thousands of little curiosities. Many of them are glass or porcelain. They are things that easily break. Some shops have a little sign on the shelves that says, “YOU BREAK IT, YOU BUY IT.”

Now you might say that breaking a wing off of that little glass angel was not such a big deal. With a little glue, you can make it “as good as new.” The problem is, no matter how good you are, the break is still there. It is no longer “new.” As far as the store is concerned, it is now worthless. So if you are the one who broke it, you buy it.

The law is kind of like that little glass angel on the shelf at the curio shop. Break one little chip off of one wing and POOF the whole thing is broken.