Do your very best to present yourself before God as one who has passed the test — a workman who has no need to be ashamed, who can carve out a straight path for the word of truth.” – 2 Timothy 2:15 (NTE)

My mom is a skilled pianist. She’s the kind of musician who makes you regret quitting your piano lessons as a kid. She’s an amazing sight-reader, too, so just about everything she plays sounds good on the first try. Of course, she wasn’t born that way. She developed the skill over a lifetime. She’s told me what it was like to learn. She told me that a few years into learning, it stopped being fun before it started being fun again, and that took powering through. She told me how her dad (also a musician) said you only really know a piece when you can play it three times in a row without a mistake. My mom is a skilled pianist not by chance, but because she spent years fine-tuning her gift, working hard at it, making sacrifices for it, and dedicating time to it. 

In today’s passage, Paul exhorts Timothy, a young church leader, to dedicate himself fully to the work God has called him to. Paul says “do your very best…[be] a workman who has no need to be ashamed.” Paul is inviting Timothy to develop skill and proficiency for what he’s called to do. Paul is challenging him to give his all in following Christ so he can share the gospel with confidence. 

This is the kind of development we’re called to as Jesus’ disciples. Sometimes it’s fun; sometimes it stops being fun and we stick with it. Sometimes it comes easily; sometimes it takes massive perseverance. We do not become better disciples by chance, but because we spend years fine-tuning our gifts, working hard, making sacrifices, and dedicating our time to this pursuit of following Jesus wholeheartedly. We become better disciples because we rely more and more on God, who is always with us, challenging us, encouraging us, empowering us. The more we commit ourselves to living this way, the more confidently we will live this way.

My mom has been playing the piano for 64 years, and she still practices almost every day. I suspect this is for three reasons: first, even as a highly skilled musician, she knows she’s never finished growing. Second, because she’s gotten really good at this skill, using it brings her joy. Third, because she’s gotten really good at this skill, using it brings others joy. Those three things are true as we practice a life of discipleship, too. May you give your all in following Christ; may your growth beget confidence, and your confidence beget joy; and may you share the gift of Jesus’ love so as to bring joy to others, as well.

“The Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” —Proverbs 2:6

I have a bad habit that I’m usually able to convince myself is actually a good habit. Most days, I bombard my brain with data and information for as many seconds as I can tolerate. I read the news. I read analysis of the news. I read about sports. I look at statistics. I listen to podcasts. I read books (not as much as I’d like). I read email newsletters. I read emails from real people I actually know.

And I read the Bible. And I pray. And I spend a little bit of quiet time with God.

But too often I feel overwhelmed and unfocused, like the information is all coming at me too fast for me to do anything with it. I’m like a hungry man being pelted with fresh fruit and vegetables by the 30 best pitchers in baseball throwing at me simultaneously. It’s not really that helpful.

I think at the heart of the problem is misplaced faith. When I was in seminary, each day on the way to class I would walk past a stone engraving with words from Proverbs 9: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The verse from Proverbs 2 that is part of today’s Daily Texts gets at the same idea. Knowing the Lord and being known by the Lord is the path to real, lasting, meaningful wisdom.

I’m not suggesting that followers of Jesus shouldn’t read anything but the Bible. All truth is God’s truth, and learning about God’s creation and our fellow beloved human beings is a central way of loving God with our minds.

At the same time, we must remember where trustworthy wisdom and understanding really come from. So often, I get overwhelmed, anxious, or confused trying to take in all the information around me. In these moments, when I’m forced to slow down, to encounter God, to remember God’s truth and God’s promises, I’m able to see the world around me through the lens of my faith-in-Jesus worldview.

When I’m worked up about the sin and lack of integrity in the world at large, it helps to be reminded that this is exactly the same sin and lack of integrity that exists inside of me. And it helps to be reminded that God is not surprised by this sin and lack of integrity. In fact, he has already worked his master plan to deal with it comprehensively through the love of Jesus Christ.

When I’m anxious about the future of my career or community or country or world, it helps to be reminded that God’s promises and presence are much bigger than any of the fears that I can conjure (real as those fears may be).

The Confessing Church leader Karl Barth reportedly told young theologians “to take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.” Those of us committed to loving God are all young theologians, and so the call to us is the same. By all means, learn. Learn from anyone you can. But do not forget the true source of wisdom and understanding. Do not forget the promises the Lord has made to you. Do not forget that our Lord has a plan for you and for this world he loves so much.

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” – Mark 4:26-29

Jesus talked a lot about the kingdom of God. What we see from his teachings and the manner in which Jesus lived, just how different God’s kingdom is from Earthly kingdoms. Where earthly kingdoms rule through force and oppression, God’s kingdom rules in service and love. Where Earthly kingdoms place the highest value on those things that separate us and actually diminish our enjoyment of life, God’s kingdom shows us that the highest values are love of God and love of neighbor. It’s living those principles out that will bring us true life and freedom.

Jesus’ promise in this parable is that when we look around and it seems impossible that earthly kingdoms will ever be unseated or that sins of greed, bigotry, or sexism will ever go away, through his life, death, and resurrection the seed was planted. The coming of the kingdom of God is “as inevitable as seed growing and producing fruit for harvest.”[i]

So then, may we encourage the growth of God’s kingdom today through our thoughts, words, and deeds.

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[i] Klyne Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, p. 336

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. –Deuteronomy 10:17

If you zoom out from today’s verse, you’ll see that it’s nestled among other verses (Deuteronomy 10:12-22) that capture two different, but equally essential, elements about God’s character.

In verse 15, God is intimately personal. Moses shares with the Israelites God’s message about their unique history: “..the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all nations, as it is today.” Words like “affection,” “loved,” and “chose” remind the Israelites that they are beloved, and they have a special covenantal relationship with their Lord. A few verses later, Moses also reminds the Israelites that God cares deeply for individual people, especially those who are easily left out and marginalized—the widow, the homeless, the fatherless—and that they should be concerned for all people, too. God is personal. 

At the same time, this passage is peppered with unambiguous pronouncements that God is infinitely powerful. Moses reminds Israel that their LORD rules the heavens and the earth, is great and mighty and awesome, is God of gods and Lord of lords, and is worthy of fear and service. God reigns over everything that was, and is, and will be…all of it. God is beyond our comprehension.

God is both personal and infinite. God takes an interest in the details of your life, and God is also omnipotent and limitless. That’s hard for me to wrap my mind around. Holding both of these truths about God’s character in balance is tricky. It may even seem counterintuitive. But it’s important as we seek to know God more fully. It’s a balance I need to ask God’s help to maintain. Sometimes I find myself thinking only of God’s friendship, and I forget that God is infinitely powerful; sometimes I think only of God’s vastness, and forget that God is relational and loving. But how truly wonderful that we get to serve a God who really is both of these things all the time.

“…put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” —Ephesians 4:24

A couple years ago, Jade and I were invited to a wedding being held outside in September. September in this area seems to have more than its fair share of beautiful, pleasant days. This particular early September day was beautiful, but also quite hot. The prospect of attending a wedding outside on a hot day led to some (attempted) negotiating on my part to figure out just how casually I could dress and have it still be appropriate for a wedding. In the end, I think I avoided needing to wear a suit jacket. But the tie, the long sleeved shirt, the long pants, the closed toed shoes—those were all ruled mandatory. Fair enough.

We’ve probably all experienced the awkwardness of being overdressed or underdressed for a social event. Usually it’s not as dramatic as it appears in a movie or TV show, but there is something that throws us off about not looking like we belong where we are. And, conversely, there’s some truth to the idea that feeling like we “look the part” helps us to relax and bring our best selves to a situation.

In his letter to the Ephesian Christians, the apostle Paul picked up on this idea. Paul used the metaphor of clothing to describe taking off the “old self” and putting on the “new self.” This isn’t about physical appearance. There’s no uniform or single way to dress for followers of Jesus. Rather, it’s about what happens inside (in our minds) and what happens outside (in our words and actions). Paul recognized that there are patterns of thought, words, and actions that no longer make any sense once we’ve been told about Jesus.

Once we know about Jesus, the old way of grasping whatever we can get our hands on doesn’t make any sense. The new self lives simply, with openness and generosity.

Once we know about Jesus, the old way of fear and anxiety over the future doesn’t make any sense. The new self looks forward with hope, because the future rests in the Father’s hands.

Once we know about Jesus, the old way of fighting back every time we’re wronged doesn’t make any sense. The new self is formed by the same mind that Jesus had when he suffered for sinners and forgave his executioners.

For so many of us, the old self is like an old outfit that we keep in our closet and try on every once in a while. It’s not a comfortable outfit. To be honest, it never really worked for us. But it’s familiar and hard to get rid of. But if it wasn’t any good for us before, it’s even worse for us now. Why? Because now we have new and better clothing, clothing that brings out our unique beauty, that fits us perfectly, that feels like it was made just for us.

God has made you with purpose. God has made you to be you. God has given you the gift of the new self. So put away the old self, the old clothes that never really worked for you. And put on the new self, created to be like your Father in heaven.