Daily Meditations

Revelations from REVELATION [part 2] chapter 3

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I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name…Because you have kept my word with patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. ~Revelation 3:8b & 10 [NRSV]

Even though your strength is small, you have stayed true to my message and have not turned away from representing me…Because you have walked with firm steps and stayed true to my message, I will watch over you and keep you safe from the time of great trouble that is coming upon the world, to test the ones who walk the land. [First Nations Version]

Patient endurance.

A central point in Revelation, and indeed of the entire New Testament, is perseverance, or as it is sometimes translated, “patient endurance”.

This seems to be a somewhat underrated quality despite its own perseverance to be hammered into us via the sacred pages of our holy text.

The church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3 is highly commended by our Lord for their patient endurance, especially as they had very little power in the economy of this world. We too, in many ways, have very little power when, say, going up against an earthly juggernaut such as the U.S. Government. There’s just not much we can do in an earthly sense. But in the spiritual realm, we are quite unstoppable. This battering ram of Spirit and Love-which the gates of hell have no chance of blocking-spreads and takes over, in large part, simply by way of patient endurance. Through persevering in the face of mighty earthly opposition.

Was it Churchill who said, “If you’re going through hell, just keep going.”? Excellent advice!

Much of life is just showing up day after day after day, whether it’s raising children, being a spouse, going to work, helping people in desperate need…. You can’t be an epic rock star everyday, but you can keep showing up, even bedraggled.

Jesus gives us such high praise for this remaining-faithful perseverance, that we are compelled to take a closer look at it. He absolutely loves when we keep following Him and leaning on Him even in the face of what looks to be insurmountable odds or the greatest evil.

Just keep pursuing.

Just keep loving.

Just keep believing.

You will be protected and preserved, in the end, from the seemingly hopeless times of trial, if you can muster your little part of remaining faithful, enduring, keeping your attention turned toward God.

Bonus Material

All the commentators I read agree that this means the church in Philadelphia will go through tribulations on earth, even the Great Tribulation; yet God will preserve them, keep them ultimately safe, and not allow them to go astray and be lost, because they have stayed true to Him.

We are not snatched out of the world before the bad things happen; we are preserved in the midst of suffering, therefore, we are motivated to endure, thanks to this magnanimous promise.

Here is from Craig Koester, a Revelation scholar:

Dispensationalist interpreters argue that believers will be spared this testing by being snatched up, or “raptured,” from earth to heaven before the onset of a seven-year period of tribulation that they expect to occur before Christ’s return (LaHaye; Thomas). Helpful critiques of this view point out that the promise is made to a first-century congregation at Philadelphia, and if it concerns the rapture at the end of time, it would have no meaning for its intended readers. Moreover, Revelation pictures the faithful being protected from divine wrath but not from all earthly suffering. An analogous idea appears in John 17:15, where the same expression (tērein ek) is used; “I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one.” The related expression tērein apo can also mean protection from evil for those living in the middle of evil (Prov 7:5; Jas 1:27; Gundry, Church, 54-61; Beale).

Articles, Daily Meditations

Revelation from REVELATION [part 2] chapter 2

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I do, however, have one thing against you: you have abandoned the love you showed at the beginning.  So remember the place from which you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at the beginning. If not—if you don’t repent—I will come and remove your lampstand out of its place. ~REVELATION 2:4-5 [Kingdom New Testament]

The Lord has many positive things to say about this church in Ephesus. He compliments them on their hard labor, patience, not tolerating evil people, testing those claiming to be apostles and demonstrating them as frauds, on putting up with so much (patience again), and the fact that through it all they have not grown weary. If I had to roll all these positives into just one word, I’d say the good Lord was affirming them for their perseverance. (My friend Joe and I talk often about how underrated the quality of perseverance is in this life. That’s a Ripple for another day.)

The Church in Ephesus was killing it.

But…

There is one thing the Lord has against them.

He says that they have abandoned the love they showed at the beginning. Or as some other translations have it, their “first love” [great Stryper song by the way].

Most people tend to think that this means they abandoned their love of Christ, but pretty much every commentary I read disagrees with this conclusion, for everything in the context seems to say that their love of Christ has definitely not waned.

So what love have they abandoned that they first had?

It is most likely the love they had for one another at the beginning.

It may also refer to their lack of dependence on the Holy Spirit’s power.

G.K. Beale goes into the issue of how we can be so Spirit-led and guided at the beginning of our spiritual journey, but then succumb to the world’s ways and power for trying to further the Kingdom. Here are his poignant questions from his excellent commentary:

“can it be said that the church in the west has suffered in its evangelism through a lack of conscious dependence on the Spirit’s work in witnessing? Is it possible that we in the western world have relied too much on resources the world also has–techniques and technology–and lost sight of that greatest resource only believers in Christ have access to–the powerful work of the Holy Spirit?”

Now let’s talk about the problem of losing your love for others, which I think is linked to the Spirit dependence issue. It appears that this Ephesian church did in fact love the Lord, but at some point started going a little too far trying to ensure those around them were believing the right way. William Barclay says it like this, “It may well be that heresy-hunting had killed love, and orthodoxy had been achieved at the price of fellowship.” It’s possible that they got so hell-bent on maintaining orthodoxy that their love for one another started to ebb. This is the beginning of the end.

Brian Blount puts it this way:

“one might reasonably conclude that Christ was annoyed because the church had developed some sort of ‘works litmus test’ to determine which efforts of resistance, such as a love for Christ’s lordship, were worthy and which were not…Apparently, the Ephesians became too discerning. Preoccupation with the work of love for the lordship of Christ overwhelmed an allegiance to the first love they had once demonstrated toward each other…Once known as a loving community, they suddenly had become a policing one. Ephesian faith had become a matter of Ephesian quality control. Assessment became more important than love.”

I said this is the beginning of the end because Jesus calls them to repent, to turn back from this unfortunate place they have drifted to, or else He will remove their lamp stand out of its place. This does not mean they are annihilated or sent to hell, but that they will lose their status as a leading witnessing church for Jesus. He will have to take that away because they are off course. Sometimes we need a course correction, which is good, because it shows we were on the right path before and that Jesus cares about us. No one can pluck us out of His hand, yet He cuts off every branch that does not bear fruit. This is one of the many tensions we must balance in the spiritual life.

I don’t hear a harsh rebuke here, but rather a gentle Pneuma nudge. There are 10,000 ways in which we can abandon the love we once had. For me, a little over a year ago I received this Pneuma nudge telling me that I had drifted from my earlier practice of one to two hours a day spent with the sole purpose of connecting with Jesus. I had even told myself, “Don’t ever forsake this! Let nothing crowd this out, no matter how good it may seem.” And yet, over time, I allowed it to evaporate. Thankfully Jesus lovingly brought me back to what I so desperately need every single day; time simply connect, commune, converse, soak, dwell. be….ABIDE.

So the first step is to recognize and admit where we’ve gone awry. Then to turn the other way and return to whatever we need to return to. This of course does not mean going back to milk from a ba-ba, but rather back to that meat we know we require for spiritual vitality.

Matthew Henry is so dang good. So let’s finish with his words on this passage:

Those that have lost their first love must remember whence they have fallen; they must compare their present with their former state, and consider how much better it was with them then than now, how much peace, strength, purity, and pleasure they have lost, by leaving their first love–how much more comfortably they could lie down and sleep at night,–how much more cheerfully they could awake in the morning,–how much better they could bear afflictions, and how much more becomingly they could enjoy the favours of Providence,–how much easier the thoughts of death were to them, and how much stronger their desires and hopes of heaven.

Daily Meditations

Revelations from REVELATION [part 2] chapter 1

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John, to the seven churches in Asia: grace to you and peace from He Who Is and Who Was and Who Is to Come, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne… ~Revelation 1:4 [Kingdom New Testament]

Who are these “seven spirits”?

There are two main interpretations.

The first interpretation is that they are the seven angels of the seven churches in Asia. These are the seven angels who John saw when the Lamb opened the seventh seal in Revelation 8:2. In early Judaism there was a concept of seven archangels, or “angels of the presence”, before God’s throne, so there is some precedence here. Their names are kind of cool, so for extra credit, they are: Uriel, Rafael, Raguel, Michael, Gabriel, Saiquael, and Jeremiel.

The second interpretation is that the seven spirits are, in fact, the one Holy Spirit. John uses the number seven quite frequently. In his time and culture, seven represented fullness or completion. There is some very early commentary linking the seven spirits to the Septuagint version of Isaiah 11:2-3. The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament which the New Testament writers quoted extensively from. In this version, Isaiah writes of the seven traits of the Spirit of God which are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (in the Hebrew version there only 6). Apringius of Beja made this link way back in the mid 5th century, and before him, Victorinus of Petovium (died 304 A.D.) quoted this Isaiah passage in order to interpret the seven spirits of Revelation 1:4 as the Holy Spirit. Also, it was quite common in John’s day to open a letter with a greeting in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so this interpretation would give that traditional Trinitarian opening.

So what? What are we to take from this?

Well, I’m glad you asked. There is a third way to look at this passage which I think sort of ties the two main interpretations together, and is wonderfully encouraging. This third way is the idea that there is a share of the Spirit for each of these seven churches and, indeed, for every church following Christ. Again, John may very well be choosing to write to seven churches in order to convey that this is for every church. I shall leave you with the words of William Barclay who states it beautifully:

In Hebrews 2:4 we read of God giving “gifts of the Holy Spirit.” The word translated gifts is merismos, and it really means shares, as if the idea was that God gives a share of his Spirit to every man. So the idea here would be that the seven Spirits stand for the share of the Spirit that God gave to each of the seven Churches. It would mean that no Christian fellowship is left without the presence and the power and the illumination of the Spirit.

Articles, Daily Meditations

Inner Chamber

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But whenever you pray, go into your innermost chamber and be alone with Father God, praying to him in secret. And your Father, who sees all you do, will reward you openly. ~Matthew 6:6 [The Passion Translation]

One day I was thinking of the difference between conjuring and dialing. And this, specifically with regard to speaking with God and making requests. Conjuring connotes some sort of incantation or magic. But that is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is not the God Jesus revealed to us.

So instead of “conjuring”, we might think more along the lines of “dialing”. I’m reminded of Dallas Willard’s humorous question and answer, “You know God’s address, don’t you? The end of your rope.”

But what would God’s phone number be?

The first thing that came to mind was “a humble and contrite heart” which David said the LORD will definitely not reject [Psalm 51:17]. We don’t use the word contrite much these days, but it means penitent. Well shoot, we don’t say penitent anymore either. It means being very sorry for any wrong you have done. So maybe we could say that in order to dial God’s number we would need to “press” humility, contrition, love, mercy…

This is how we enter our innermost chamber, that deepest part of the interior castle that Teresa of Avila wrote about 500 years ago. This is the center most room within us where only God may enter–or perhaps more accurately where God, and only God, already is. This is where we can most intimately commune with Jesus, more so than in those rooms closer to the surface where many others are allowed to enter and compete for our attention. It is in the innermost chamber where we drink freely of the Living Water and feast upon the Bread of Life, as opposed to those outer rooms where the food offered is cheap, sugary nutrient-deficient snacks.

How rewarding indeed it is to get to the place where the only voice you truly are hearing is God’s; to settle down and hear the Wind blow [John 3:8]. Oh to go there for just five minutes every day! It may require quite a few steps of descent, depending on where you’ve been hanging out and for how long, but oh so worth it.

Whichever room you spend the most time in will strongly influence your perception of reality, and color what you see as most prevalent, as well as most powerful. For example, if you stay in the room with wall to wall, ceiling to floor TVs covering political news, you will likely believe that politicians are the most powerful force in the world. (May I suggest Frank Laubach’s little book Prayer: The Mightiest Force in the World as a counterbalance. Or, you could come down to Outreach and witness the young people there being seen, known, and unconditionally loved, and then tell me if you think world leaders really possess the greatest power.)

Jesus said your Father will reward you when you meet him in the innermost chamber.

How?

I would say the reward is that divine peace which is beyond our human comprehension, the experience of the deepest connection for which we were made, as well as a more intense love for others. Is there really a greater reward than that? Than the absolute shalom that precipitates from being bathed in unconditional love?

Daily Meditations

Torches, Lanterns, & Weapons

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So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.~John 18:3 [NIV]

How ridiculous was it for these guys to approach Jesus, this nonviolent man of meekness and peace, as if he were a dangerous threat to their well being?

Yet, how many still approach Him today with torches, lanterns, and weapons?

Torches: Ready to burn down anything in my way, anything I don’t like. I can wave it around to make Him back off and keep Him at a distance (how welcoming!). I can use it as an interrogation spotlight in His face–“You’ve got some explaining to do, Jesus. I’ve got questions and you better have answers!” [You might ask Job how that approach went for him.]

Lanterns: I brought my own light, thank you very much! I don’t need to see anything in any other light than my own perspective. Forget about “shedding some new light on the subject”; I have all the light I need with my own lantern I brought to the conversation. My personal, limited view is quite enough to see clearly.

Weapons: Armed and ready to do violence to what I don’t agree with-verbal violence, and maybe even physical! We especially like to attack that which is peripheral, like Jesus’s followers and their failures, instead of staying focused on Jesus Himself and the actual Kingdom He inaugurated.

We must approach Jesus empty handed if we are to truly get to know Him and learn from Him. Though there are occasions, it seems, in which God may just knock all the items out of your hands, kinda like with that Saul guy on the road to Damascus.

Drop everything.

Perhaps this is what Jesus is waiting for….

Articles, Daily Meditations

Bears Mauling Boys

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From there he [Elisha] went up to Bethel. As he was going up along the road, some young boys came out of the city. They mocked him saying to him, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!” So he turned around and looked at them and cursed them in the name of ADONAI. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the boys. ~2 Kings 2:23-24 [Tree of Life version]

Alrighty then.

This has got to be one of the most obscure stories, if not the most bizarre account, in all of the Bible.

What in the world is going on here? Well, first of all, we need to approach the Bible on its own terms, as biblical scholar Michael Heiser used to say. And we do that by adhering to the context, language, and worldview of the inspired biblical writers.

The first thing which the original language helps us to clear up is the age of these mocking boys. Most people who read this tend to picture little 5 or 6 year old children having some innocent fun, thanks to some not-so-great early English translations. But the Hebrew words used here indicate that these young guys were somewhere between the ages of 12 and 30. Most scholars believe they were teenagers. I’m so glad I was never that disrespectful in my teens… By the way, Elisha was about 25 years old at this time, not a grumpy old man as many seem to think.

Next, we see Elisha is going to Bethel. There is a LOT going on there. Bethel means “House of God” and it was there that Abraham built an altar, and Jacob had his dream. But by this time Bethel had become a center of idol worship. One of Jeroboam’s golden calves was there. So this had now become a place hostile to Yahweh and the prophets.

Why were these dudes saying, “Go on up, baldy!“? Here’s where context and language help us immensely yet again. Just a little before this incident, Elijah–Elisha’s mentor–had been whisked away to heaven (without having to die for it) in a whirlwind with fiery chariots. This was quite the buzz around town. People were talking. In the Hebrew the exact same verb for Elijah’s “going up” is used by these mocking boys indicating the author’s intended connection. Therefore, these Bethel inhabitants, who despised Yahweh and the prophets, were telling Elisha to get on outta here and disappear just like Elijah because we don’t want any of you people in our town, ever. To call someone a baldhead back then was a tremendous insult, a term of scorn and contempt; it was often related to having a skin disease. These guys were cruelly insulting Elisha, and spitefully blaspheming Yahweh.

Elisha looks over at them and curses them in the name of God. He may very well have had Yahweh’s words from Leviticus 26:21-22 in mind: “if you keep walking contrary to Me and will not listen to Me, then I will multiply the plagues on you seven times like your sins. I will send the wild animals among you, which will rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you so few in number that your roads will become deserted.” Then the two she-bears come out and tear 42 young men to pieces. Notice that Elisha did not specifically call the bears, he just cursed these guys for dishonoring God. Apparently Yahweh sent the bears..? One final context to look at is that it was common in the Old Testament for there to be some display of power at the beginning of a prophet’s ministry. This was quite the memorable display!

So….what’s our practical application?

Uhhhhhh….

Don’t mock God or God’s true spokespeople?

I did like what the old Interpreter’s Bible commentary said, bringing an aspect of this odd story up to our times: “Lawless youth may not be torn asunder by bears, but they are rent by passions, devoured by appetite, until their characters and careers and all their hopes for happy, useful living are destroyed.”

What do you think?

Articles, Daily Meditations

Haggai

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Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider how you have fared. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD. You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little, and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses. ~Haggai 1:7-9

There seems to be a plethora of small obscure prophetic books near the end of the Old Testament. Lately I’ve been thinking about them, wondering if I know off the top of my head what any of them are about.

I don’t.

For some reason, Haggai rose to the top of my pool of curiosity, so I dove into it. I like it.

First, a couple of quick fun facts: Haggai is the second shortest book of the OT; only Obadiah is shorter. Also, as you can see from the photo, we can accurately date the events of this book to September 1, October 21, and December 24 of 520 B.C., which is kinda cool.

Here’s the gist of this small book so you can be prepared for your next church trivia nite: In 538 B.C. Cyrus of Persia issued a decree allowing the Jews who were in Babylonian captivity to return to their land and rebuild their temple. They got started in 536 B.C., but after a couple years, they lost interest and abandoned the project. Fourteen years later comes Haggai with a message from the Lord that they are to get back to the work Yahweh gave them to do and finish the temple. In one of the few examples we have in the Bible of quick and tangible results, the people got to work just 23 days after Haggai cracked the prophetic whip, and the temple was completed in 516 B.C.

Ecstatic to be out of captivity, the Israelites returned to their native soil to unfortunately find that it was in rough shape as far as farming potential goes. In addition, there were enemies all around them there. So it did not take very long for them to lose heart and slip into pessimism after their initial excitement. This led to a spiritual lethargy making conditions quite conducive to becoming preoccupied with their own building projects and forsake what the Lord gave them to do.

This did not go well.

The more the people devoted themselves to their own self-serving projects, the more nature worked against them in this situation. And by “nature” we mean Yahweh.

This short book is about priority. It is not about God needing a temple for Himself. Rather, the LORD’s house was to be at the center of this community in order for them to thrive. No other center will do. No other priority will yield Life. Their lives were designed to be centered on Yahweh and not themselves.

What God gives us to do is always best for us to do. How easy it is though to get distracted by shiny things, our own untamed desires, or like these Israelites, by unfavorable circumstances.

One of the most self-harmful moves we can make is to focus even more on ourself when we face some sort of challenge in life. Part of the deal of this life is suffering. It’s definitely going to happen. It could come in the form of a physical ailment or limitation, the loss of someone, oppression by cruel people… There will always be the temptation during these times to abandon what God has given us to do and retreat into “Me-Land”, but God always gives us what we need to do to live fully.

Is there anything you’ve abandoned which you need to pick back up and continue?

What is God asking you to do that you’ve not done because you’re too preoccupied with your own projects?

What spiritual exercise do you need to return to?

What self-serving activity has taken the place of serving others?

Who have you stopped praying for?

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UNDO

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From my Journal to Jesus January 3, 2025 A.D.

[BANANAS=The BAre NAked Nothingness of Abandonment and Surrender]

You gave me a word today while lying in the BANANAS, and I am so grateful for it. The word You gave me was “UNDO”, and You also gave me an accompanying visual with it: I have become overweight to the point that, not only do my clothes no longer fit, but I cannot even peel them off due to the taughtness. So I must first fast, purge, diet in order to get to the point in which I can even take off these clothes which so tightly cling to me. Once I do that, I simply need to be naked for a while-however long until You show me what clothes to put on. That was the vision, and the meaning was given clearly and simultaneously. I have been over-ingesting on that which is shallow, more shallow than what my spiritual diet requires. Therefore, I’ve allowed too much to cling to me (science says fat around the brain clouds our thinking?). It is time to go on a mind diet so that the extra weight can be shed in order to remove ways of thought that now cling too tightly to be quickly and easily removed. This will come through BANANAS with You over time. As I “undo” and unlearn I will get back to a good naked point of no-mind. Here I must stay until You give me directive (and until I can sense it!) to don the clothing which You choose for me. This is the consequence of spiritual laziness, inattentiveness, eating the bread of this world for too long a period. The “new” clothing, the new wineskin, will be fresh yet familiar; that steady diet of Your Word-a fresh Word from You every morning? Manna. This realignment could take the entire year, possibly three months, maybe just a week; I must be patient, consistent, waiting on You.

This seems to be my word of the year, from You. May I re-establish, and never again stray from the most vital practice of waiting listening to You. As I’ve read, and now experienced, the road back is one of significant effort. And yet, there You are, open-armed as You always are, ready to receive me, to help me get there. There’s just a way things work, I know. Thank You for always dragging me back to Yourself, and always with that comforting, joyful smile of Yours. It’s too much! Where else shall I go??

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The Unforgivable Sin..?

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“I’m telling you the truth: people will be forgiven all sins, and all blasphemies of whatever sort. But people who blaspheme the Holy Spirit will never find forgiveness. They will be guilty of an eternal sin.” This was his response to their claim that he had an unclean spirit. ~Mark 3:28-30

Alrighty then, let’s tackle the unpardonable sin, shall we?!

This is that subject which I’m pretty sure we’ve all heard of, at one point fearfully wondered if we committed, and now don’t ever really think about. It is interesting (and significant?) that it is mentioned in all three synoptic Gospels. It’s not a one-and-done mention in the back of the book of Haggai or something. So perhaps it is worth taking a deeper look into.

What the heck is this “Unpardonable Sin”? Is there really an act we can commit which God will never grant us forgiveness for?

Let’s first take a look at what it literally is according to Scripture and context. As you can see in our passage above it is to “blaspheme the Holy Spirit”. And what is “blaspheming the Holy Spirit”? According to the context it is to verbalize that God’s Son Jesus operates by the power of the prince of demons*. So, unless you have audibly uttered in front of other people that Jesus’s power comes from a demon, it is a safe bet that you have not committed the unforgivable sin. As every commentary I read on this subject made clear, if you are worried that you have committed the unpardonable sin, then you have not committed the unpardonable sin; for the commentaries also make clear that Jesus is referring to someone with a conscience so seared, that they would not even realize that they are blaspheming the Holy Spirit, nor would they care one iota that they are working to lead people away from Jesus.

This is the condition we find these “experts” to be in who are accusing Jesus of casting out demons by the power of demons. They cannot even tell good from evil anymore. They are so set in their ways and interpretations which they have given such an abundance of energy to, that when they actually encounter God in the flesh doing the most wonderful and powerful of good works, they call it evil power because it does not fit their paradigm which they have devoted themselves to. And therein lies their major problem. They are devoted to a paradigm itself more than the person God Himself. Here we have a disturbing example of people who were so dedicated to a system that they mistook the real thing for an imposter. (By the way, as scary as this passage can be, bear in mind that Jesus mercifully warns these people about, but does not yet accuse them of, the unpardonable sin.)

What I am seeing here that may be of significance to us today is the sin of closing yourself off to the working of God, to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. God is God and can work through any place and any time and any person. When we start falling in love with our systems and interpretations we shut off avenues to Christ’s working. Before we know it we are down to only four possible ways in which we think Pneuma can operate, and if it doesn’t look like those four ways it must be of the devil. Dangerous territory.

Perhaps another way to say “Blaspheming the Holy Spirit” is “Limiting the Holy Spirit”. Perhaps. Again, dangerous ground. We must guard against and catch ourselves when we start thinking or saying that the Spirit does not work through this certain denomination, or this group of people, or in this way or that. The Wind blows where it will and no one can predict where it will come from next [John 3:8]. This does not mean that every single thing is right and ok (i.e. the Roman government of Jesus’s day which God used to bring about His salvation plan was not exactly pure and righteous), just that God can work in mysterious ways which often blow up our self-imposed boxes.

(And for the record we are not saying that if you have ever limited the Holy Spirit in any way then you have committed the unforgivable sin. These are simply points to ponder and hopefully grow from. There is no record in Scripture of anyone asking forgiveness of God and being denied it!)

Frederick Dale Bruner has a wise word of caution in his commentary on this topic. We must definitely keep from using this passage to clobber those with whom we disagree. This might seem obvious, but it is probably good to speak it since it has been used so many times over the years to condemn without really comprehending the weapon which we are wielding. Always keep in mind who the real enemy is.

At the risk of too many words, here is a summarized take away: Be careful of closing yourself off–to the Spirit of course, but be vigilant of the many ways this may play out. Closing off to an ethnic group, an entire religion…Could Spirit be speaking through them and your heart is closed off? Turn this passage inward, not out of fear of going to hell over a mistaken word spoken, but out of reverence to not blaspheming the Holy Spirit with a shut down, hardened heart. There seems to be a point we can reach which proves extremely difficult to return from (impossible on our own?). Stay open to the Voice, for if you ignore it for too long, you may forget what it sounds like.

Am I ignoring Pneuma nudges?

Have I closed myself off to the Spirit of God in some way?

*Frederick Dale Bruner says in his commentary, “In Mark, saying Jesus has an unclean spirit is the sin against the Holy Spirit. In context, in all three Gospels, the sin against the Holy Spirit is not some arbitrary curse of deity or some foolish remark about either God or the Spirit per se; it is trying to ruin Jesus in the eyes of others.”

*James Edwards in his commentary: “The sin against the Holy Spirit is thus not an indefinable offense against God, but a specific misjudgment that Jesus is motivated by evil rather than by good, that he is empowered by the devil rather than by God…This is an ‘eternal sin’ (v.29) since anyone who, willingly or not, cannot distinguish evil from good and good from evil, darkness from light and light from darkness, is beyond the pale of repentance.”

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Advent Reflection

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And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. Luke 2:1-7

The week leading up to Jesus’s birth was not exactly smooth sailing. His mother Mary and her fiancé Joseph get word that Rome is requiring a census for taxation purposes which, in turn, requires them to travel back to the place of Joseph’s ancestry in order to register–Bethlehem. The trek from their current home in Nazareth all the way to Bethlehem is some 90 miles, and Mary, who is well into her third trimester, gets to do this journey…on a donkey. Pretty much upon their arrival it comes time for Jesus’s arrival. Great timing. Not only that, but there are apparently no guest rooms available anywhere in the vicinity, so she gets to give birth out in the barn area with the animals.

And yet…

Look what came of this not so extravagant event. Look who came from these not very ideal conditions. Only the Person who has changed more lives for the better than all other humans combined.

Isn’t this the way life, and God, work much of the time? Bringing something wonderful out of something so difficult and seemingly pointless? Commentator Luke Timothy Johnson points out that, “Nothing very glorious is suggested by the circumstances of the Messiah’s birth. But that is Luke’s manner, to show how God’s fidelity is worked out in human events when appearances seem to deny his presence or power.“

It was not ideal for Mary and Joseph to travel such a distance for a census required by Rome. It was not ideal to give birth so far from home and family. It was not ideal to lay their baby down in a feeding trough in the barnyard area.

And yet…

Immeasurable good.

It’s almost as if God purposefully chose to bring Jesus into the world under an oppressive occupying government just to show the world that He can bring the greatest gift out of the most horrific human circumstances. Have you ever gone through something terrible only to come out the other side with a new and rewarding friendship?

As the magnet on our refrigerator says, “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” Much goes the way we would rather it not, but God, who is pure Love, will see to it that your ultimate good will be brought forth from even the worst of experiences as we remain faithful. This does not necessarily mean that God likes every single thing that has happened to you. But He asks for your trust that He will take care of you in the end; that He can and will bring good from ill. I am here reminded of Brennan Manning who always preached that he believed upon meeting God after death He would ask us one question: “Did you believe that I loved you?”

Powerful question indeed.

I have come to experience and know a few foundational truths that I hope you can take away from this reflection. God has loved you for billions of years already–which I find unexplainably comforting. God only wants what is best for you and will bring it about no matter how badly things have gone in the past or how awful circumstances look at present. For God, who knows what is best for you better than you do and who is also perfect love embodied, is ultimately in control. No human has authority over your destiny, in this life or the next.

Always remember that God uses even the twisted decisions and actions of highly imperfect human beings to bring about divine goodness. God can take unfavorable circumstances beyond your control and mill them into glorious blessing.