​One of the primary laws of success is not to try to pursue too many goals at one time. When we attempt many goals at once, we tend to stretch our efforts too thin – and if we are not careful we can become mediocre in everything we do.  As a result, many leadership experts stress that it is best to focus on one major goal at a time, and to put most of our efforts into that single, primary, goal.

So how does this fact balance with what we are called to do in our Christian lives?  The apostle Paul actually gives us at least three major goals for which we should be aiming – and we are not given the luxury of tackling one goal at a time!  But let’s look at those biblical goals and then consider how we can fulfill them without lessoning our success with any one of them.

Goal One: Perhaps the primary goal Paul gives every warrior of the Way is to glorify God. The apostle made it clear when he wrote: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).    In context Paul is talking primarily about food and drink, but the words “whatever you do” add a breadth of application that clearly means we are to glorify God in everything we do – and of, course, everything we think or say.  That’s a huge goal, but it meshes perfectly with what Jesus himself said about the greatest commandment being to love God (Matthew 22:36-38).  If we truly love God, we will be seeking to glorify him in every aspect of our lives.

Goal Two:  Although the first goal of the Christian life we looked at is already incredibly broad, we can now add on a second goal: helping and strengthening others.  Just as Jesus taught that in addition to love of God we must love our neighbor (Matthew 22:39), so Paul stresses the importance of loving others through helping them in whatever way we can: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10).   We should note that Paul urges us not only to apply love in our dealings with everyone – but also especially to do what we can to help fellow believers.

Goal Three: We already have two major goals to contemplate, but Paul adds a third one: being a light to unbelievers.  This is fulfilling the “Great Commission” Jesus gave his disciples before his ascension (Matthew 28:18-20), and it is called a “great” commission or goal for good reason. As Paul wrote: “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth”  (Acts 13:47 and see also Acts 26:18, Philippians 2:14-16).  In a figurative sense, of course, “Gentiles” includes all who are not part of “spiritual Israel” (Romans 2:28-29, 1 Peter 2:9, Galatians 6:16) – in other words, all unbelievers – which is another huge goal.

So the biblical evidence is clear. As Christians, we are given not one, but at least three major goals, and we are expected to fulfill them all! But given what we said at the beginning of this article, how can we possibly fulfill three such massive goals without diluting our efforts and producing only mediocre results in what we accomplish?  Fortunately, the Bible answers this question in a very encouraging way.  Unlike physical goals which usually require focused attention and effort that can be applied in only one area or another, the New Testament makes it clear that if we are diligently working toward one of the three goals we have been given, we will, in effect, be working toward them all.

Consider a small example of this.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught his disciples: “… In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16 ESV).   Did you see it?  If we are fulfilling the goal of letting our light shine before others, we will also be fulfilling the goal of bringing glory to God!  Paul made exactly this same point when he wrote that through the spreading of the word: “… the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:15).

Putting this example in a practical context means that helping a stranger or a fellow believer in some way not only fulfills the goal of serving and helping others, but our action also glorifies God – whether the person we help knows we are a Christian or not.  A little reflection on the three goals we have been given will show that every one of them overlaps and interacts with the others in the same way.
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This does not mean that we need only attempt to do one of the things we have been given to do in our Christian lives, but it helps us to see that unlike attempting physical goals, we can successfully accomplish multiple spiritual goals at once.  That is one of the most encouraging things we can know about the Way to which we have been called, and it is a powerful antidote to feeling that we are responsible for managing long lists of spiritual goals.  We are given multiple goals, but when we strive to fulfill any one of them, very often we are working on fulfilling them all.

​Puah and Shiprah were the two women mentioned in the Book of Exodus who were in charge of the midwives who delivered the Israelite children in Egypt.  Exodus tells us:

“The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives … “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live” (Exodus 1:15-17).
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Because the two women placed their fear of God before their fear of the Egyptian king, Jewish tradition presumed that they were Hebrew-born women, but the traditions disagree.  While one links Puah with Miriam, Moses’ sister, and Shiprah with Jochebed, the mother of Moses,  another tradition viewed the women as Jewish proselytes who were not related to Moses at all.
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The fact that they are said to be “Hebrew midwives” could mean  that they were Hebrew or that they were “midwives to the Hebrews.”  The names of the two women also seem to reflect underlying Egyptian names, and it is possible that they were indeed Egyptian converts.  This possibility seems all the more likely as we continue to read the story:

“Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”  The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.  And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own" (Exodus 1:18-21).

The fact that Puah and Shiprah could contrast Hebrew with Egyptian births suggests that they may have acted as midwives for both, and their excuse would be all the more believable if that were the case.  The ancient Jewish historian, Iben Ezra, states that the two women were in charge of “more than 500” midwives; if this was true, the  women were likely appointed by the Egyptian government and would almost certainly have been Egyptian women.

In any event, these women  acted with faithfulness to the law of God and demonstrated a measure of faith in doing so.  It is clear that  their faith was rewarded.   We are told not only that “God was kind to the midwives”  in the sense that they were spared the anger of the Egyptian king, but also we are told “the people increased…” (vs. 20), and “…because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own” (vs. 21). 
 
This last blessing may have been a particularly kind one, as scholars believe that midwives in that era were often women who could not have children of their own.  In the Hebrew of the Old Testament the expression “families” is literally “houses,” however, and Jewish tradition has it that these were “distinguished” houses from which many Hebrew civil and religious leaders descended. 

Whatever the case regarding the various traditions about them, it is clear that God did bless the two chief midwives, and the positive outcome of the story should not obscure the extent of their faith and faithfulness.

Historically, this is the earliest known example of civil disobedience in the face of a specific command by a powerful regime to disobey the law of God.  Even today it remains as a wonderful example of the power of faith in difficult circumstances.  The two courageous women did what they could to protect themselves, and others.  And in doing what they did Puah and Shiprah saved not a few, but a generation.

  
If you have read the Gospel of Mark, you may well have noticed examples of what scholars call “interpolations” or, more playfully, Markan “sandwiches.” These are sections of the narrative where a story is broken into two parts and a second, seemingly unrelated story is inserted in the middle – thus resembling two literary slices of bread with the sandwich filling in the middle.
  
For example, in the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree (Mark 11:12-14) Mark splits the story and inserts his account of the cleansing of the temple directly into the middle of the narrative (vs. 15-19).   This literary technique is thoroughly Markan and when we compare parallel stories in the other Gospels (for example, Matthew 21:18-22 where the same story of the cursed fig tree occurs), we find that the same stories are not split in two as Mark has them.

Now, we may often be aware that Mark is making these narrative “sandwiches,” but we may not always realize what his point is in doing this.  There is, however, a clear pattern in what the Evangelist was doing. Time and again we see that Mark inserts material that may seem different, but which powerfully compares or contrasts with the outer story and in this way teaches additional lessons we might not have thought about otherwise. Take, for example, the story of Jesus being anointed at Bethany which is inserted into the middle of the story of Judas’ betrayal, as we see in the following three paragraphs from Mark 14:

Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.” 

While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly ... .

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over (Mark 14:1-11).

We may not immediately see the direct connection between these two stories – or any reason to insert the one inside the other – until we notice the common denominator, which is money.  In both stories Mark shows individuals going to extraordinary lengths either to get or to give money (or that which was of a great value specified in a monetary amount).  Mark’s juxtaposition of the two stories makes it impossible to miss the difference between the attitudes of get and give exhibited by Judas and the unnamed woman, along with other details. 

Even the small fact that the woman’s generosity was met with self-righteous scorn compared to Judas’ greed which was met with approval (Mark tells us the priests were “delighted” to hear his offer) adds another layer to the story.  We see the depths of Judas’ hateful attitude and grasping actions precisely because they are shown in contrast with the loving attitude and generous actions of the woman who anointed Christ.

The contrasting details are easy to see in this example, but each Markan sandwich has its own reasons for the insertion of one story into another. It is our job as readers of the Word to read carefully in order to see what the lessons are that Mark is showing us in each case. 

We all remember the story of the teacher of the law who asked Jesus, “Who is my Neighbor?”  This was the question that prompted Jesus to reply with the Parable of the Good Samaritan – showing that even our enemies are neighbors when it comes to the law of God.

But what if the teacher had asked the question in a slightly different way, saying, “Who is my Friend?”  Could the answer to that question also impact our understanding of the Way of Christianity?  We don’t have any indication in the New Testament of that question being asked of Jesus, but we do have Jesus’ answer to it, nevertheless.

In his Gospel, Matthew tells the story of Jesus’ betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas Iscariot, the disciple turned traitor, had led a group of soldiers and other armed men to where he knew Christ would be in order to betray him for a cash reward.  As Judas approached Jesus in the dark of night and greeted him with a kiss in order to identify him to those who were to arrest him, Matthew records Jesus’ surprising  words:  “ ‘Do what you came for, friend.’ Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him” (Matthew 26:50).

Think about this. Jesus was not one to soften the truth. He was the one who called the Pharisees “whitened sepulchers” and a “brood of vipers” – to their faces.  But at the very moment of his betrayal , Jesus did not call Judas all the things we probably would have done. He did not call Judas “Traitor!” “Enemy!” “Back-Stabber!” – he did not even call him “False Friend!”  Amazingly, he just called him “friend.”

Now if we want to get technical, the word the Bible uses to record what Jesus called Judas was not philos, the Greek word usually translated “friend” and meaning “dear” in the sense of a close friend.  It uses the word hetairos meaning “friend” in the sense of a comrade, one who is a friend without necessarily having any affectionate relationship.  But he did call Judas by a word that means “friend” in the general sense (Matthew also uses the word in this sense in Matthew 20:13 and Matthew 22:12).

How do we apply his example?   The Old Testament gives us some clues.  Hebrew has a word, merea, which is very similar in meaning to the Greek hetairos – it also means friend in the sense of companion or comrade and it is found in Job’s words: “He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty” (Job 6:14). It is the same word that is used to tell us that after Job prayed for his “friends” (the individuals who had been haranguing him), God forgave them (Job 42:10).  

So if righteous Job prayed for the “friends” who mistreated him, and Christ could even call Judas “friend” as he betrayed him, can we learn a lesson from this? When we pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44), do we pray grudgingly, with reservations, or do we pray for them as we would for a friend?  ​

By John Teichert

​“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ:  that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.”  Philippians 1:27.

In July of 1932, 20,000 World War I veterans gathered in Washington DC to demand the immediate payment of delayed bonuses from their service during the Great War.  These veterans set up a community of tents and huts in two locations in our nation’s capital, the first in a location on Pennsylvania Avenue to the east of the Capitol, and the second in an open space on the southeast side of the river at a place called Anacostia Flats.

On July 28th, 1932, General Douglas MacArthur accompanied by Major Dwight D. Eisenhower and Major George C. Patton assembled military forces to move against these veterans who were not much different than themselves in order to remove them from our nation’s capital.  They did so with great violence and strife.  Soldiers on horseback and armed with sabers stabbed those in their way.  Infantry forces armed with tear gas and torches dispersed the crowd and burned their lodgings to the ground.  Tanks rolled against these unarmed veterans, crushing their remaining huts and shacks.  It was a military rout, with current military members dismantling and destroying those heroes who had fought so valiantly only a generation before.  It was a dark day for America when there were plenty of real enemies that should have been the focus of our forces.

Far too often, Christians move against other Christians who aren’t much different than themselves, sometimes with great violence and strife.  We metaphorically stab those in our way.  We disperse the crowds and burn their lodgings to the ground.  Our tanks roll against our unarmed veterans, crushing them.  Each time this happens, it is a dark day for the cause of Christ when there are plenty of real enemies that should be the focus of our forces.

PLEASE PRAY FOR UNITY AMONG BIBLE-BELIEVING CHRISTIANS IN AMERICA IN ORDER TO PROPERLY OPPOSE OUR REAL ADVERSARY.  We must strive together for the faith of the gospel!
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*Republished, with the author's permission, from the PLUS website.

By Philip W. Shields
 
Any of you who have travelled abroad realize you have to go through Customs, have a passport, in some cases show your visa as well, declare your purpose for coming into their country, answer a few questions – and then you can proceed. But we can’t just step into any other country without the proper paperwork and acknowledgement that we are entering as a foreigner into someone else’s country.

I start with this because, for some reason, some in this country want us to act as if we have no border. Even the former president of Mexico recently made the statement “God did not create borders”.  But Scripture is clear:  God did create borders.  Let me show you. 

What’s the first “border” you can think of that is clearly mentioned in scripture –  a border that God himself imposed?  The Garden of Eden. When our ancient parents transgressed the Almighty’s command they were ejected from the Garden.  But then what?  God placed a flaming sword at the one entrance to the garden, keeping out anyone unauthorized to enter.  This is something God did.  So our God clearly intended to enforce his borders. Let’s read it: “So He (God) drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24, emphases added here and in the scriptures below).

A case can be made there was a prior illegal border crossing. Jude 6 gives us a hint that the first unauthorized border crossing was when Heylel (improperly called Lucifer) and his rebellious angels left their proper domain and attempted the first coup d’état against God himself.

Scripture mentions “border” or “borders” close to 200 times. For example:  “And the ​border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza...” (Genesis 10:19).

Did God create boundaries and borders?  How about these examples:

Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations.  Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you:  When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:7-8).

God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings… (Acts 17:24-26).

Next let’s look at Numbers 34, where indeed the Almighty Himself specifies the borders and boundaries for each of the tribes of Israel:
 
Then God spoke to Moses, saying, "Command the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance — the land of Canaan to its boundaries. Your southern border ...  As for the western border ...  And this shall be your northern border ... You shall mark out your eastern border ... This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries'" (Numbers 34:1-12).
   
That was God himself speaking!  So did God create borders?  Pretty clear, isn’t it.  He updates Israel’s borders for a future time in Ezekiel 47 and 48. Check it out. 

In Psalm 74:17 Asaph wrote the following:  “You have set all the borders of the earth ...”

So you see, the former president of Mexico was wrong when he said “God did not create borders.” 

Now, having borders does not mean we should not allow visitors, immigrants and new citizens.  But borders are of God. They should be respected.  And foreigners are to be loved and respected  - but they must abide by the same laws that existing citizens have to obey.

 
*Adapted from the author's blog at LightontheRock.org. Scripture quotations taken from the New King James Version.

The word empathy doesn’t appear in most translations of the Bible (although the concept is certainly there), so we don’t tend to think of it as a powerful biblical idea like faith, hope, or love. But empathy may be a vital virtue you are neglecting  –  a biblical super-weapon that every Christian needs.

Our new article looks at empathy in a way that may be new to you - as a tactical spiritual weapon that can help us both to do what is right and not to do what is wrong.   You can read this new article –  and find out why empathy is so important to you personally, here.
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The seasoned and successful warrior learns to recognize dangerous terrain from which ambush or sniper fire might come. This is just as true of the spiritual warrior as it is of physical soldiers – if we are oblivious to where attacks may come from, we are likely to fail repeatedly.

As a highly successful warrior, the biblical king David doubtless learned to be aware of areas that might conceal enemies and from which a salvo of arrows or other sudden attack might come, and we have only to read his psalms to see that he was just as aware of the directions from which spiritual attacks might come – whether from his own nature or from external enemies. 

Our new article looks at what we can learn from David's psalms about where spiritual attacks are likely to come from. It's spiritual "military intelligence" that may surprise you. You can read it here.

Most of us at some point in our lives have experienced parents, elementary school teachers, driving instructors, drill sergeants, or others saying “Pay attention!”  If we heard the statement, we probably snapped into focus quickly. But “Pay attention!” is advice we don’t always recognize if it is not spelled out that clearly.

So when most of us read the word “behold” in many translations of the Bible, we tend to see it as just an archaic pleasantry –  a routine biblical way of beginning sentences that we do not pay a lot of attention to.  But the Hebrew word hinneh in the Old Testament and the Greek word idou in the New Testament which are so frequently translated as “behold” (or sometimes “look”) actually have a much greater force of meaning. 
 
Although it is hard to find a single word in English that really conveys the thrust of these biblical words (which is why so many translations still use the somewhat outdated “behold”), the expression “Pay attention!” comes close.  Now it is true that the words translated “behold” appear a great many times in the Bible (for example, “behold” appears well over 1,000 times in the King James Version, the English Standard Version, and others), but their frequency does not undercut their importance.

We should realize that the words translated “behold” in both the Old and New Testaments are usually used of important statements that the writer or speaker wanted to emphasize. For example, in Genesis 6:13 when God tells Noah: “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth,” the word “behold” (emphasized here and in the scriptures below) is much more than “filler” or “polite speech” –  it is a verbal highlighting of a fact of great importance.

That is why the Hebrew word hinneh appears in Isaiah’s pivotal prophecy:  “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14), a prophecy that is quoted using the Greek word idou in Matthew: “Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:23). 

“Behold” may be used several times in a biblical passage to signal an account of particular importance – for example, the word appears six times within just a few verses in Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus. The word is used in the same way at other key times in Jesus’ life –  his baptism, temptation, miracles, crucifixion and resurrection.   Notice for example: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
 
Finally, “behold” is often used to draw our attention to particularly important commands or to stress important points we must not miss:  “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
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So next time you read “behold” or “look” in a scripture, remember that the word is probably there to help us focus on something of particular significance.  Remember to pay attention!

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​ “The Bible … has rhythms. If we examine the people who did great works for God, most of them underwent a similar pattern. God humbled them, taught them the important lesson of dependence, and exalted them in due time when their characters could accept praise with humility. God humbled Moses for 40 years in the wilderness, taught him the valuable lesson of dependence, and exalted him to challenge the king of Egypt.

God did the same with David. Everyone overlooked him. When Samuel came to the house of Jesse to anoint a king, David was not even present; no one thought he could be king, not his father, not his brothers, and no, not even the most discerning prophet in the land, Samuel. When David came to the court of Saul, further humbling took place to the point he became a fugitive. There in the caves, abandoned and rejected, he learned to depend on God. Eventually, he became the king of Israel.

Examples can be multiplied, even in minor leaders like Gideon; God chose him because he was from the feeblest clan and the weakest family (Judges 6:15), and when God finally called him to deliver his people, he reduced his army from 32,000 men to 300: humility, dependence, exaltation, repeat.”
 
*From “All We Need Is the Rhythm Divine,” John Lee, Christianity Today, March 8, 2018

It’s a peculiar aspect of human nature that we remember the bad things that happen in our lives so much better than we remember the good things. We may remember painful events from years ago but forget even the most encouraging things that happened only recently. All too often, our feelings of gratitude wash away like words writen on a sandy beach. It is not that the memory of good things has really vanished in these situations, but that the force of good memories and their effect on us diminish quickly. Bad things that happened in the past can continue to make us feel bad, but good things don’t always continue to make us feel happy or thankful.

There is a prime example of this aspect of human nature in the Book of Exodus.  We read that soon after leaving Egypt and witnessing the great miracle that saved them at the parting of the sea: “The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin … on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron” (Exodus 16:1-2).

It took only about one month from the time they were spared from the plagues sent on the Egyptians and freed from total slavery (Exodus 12:2) for the people to become unthankful and complaining.  It was an even shorter time since they were saved from the pursuing Egyptians at the Red Sea, yet the very people who had so much to be thankful for had already forgotten the feeling of thankfulness they showed earlier (Exodus 15:1-18) and now exhibited no gratitude at all for the past when they began to concentrate on their current needs.

Understanding how the human mind naturally does repress or fail to remember things for which we should be thankful when new needs come along can help us better understand the Israelite’s apparent lack of lasting gratitude, and it can help us understand a related story from this same chapter of Exodus. After God supplied the need of the people of Israel in the form of manna (Exodus 16:13-31), we are told that he gave Moses instructions to help the Israelites with their memory issues: “… Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt” (Exodus 16:32).

God understands the way our human minds work in forgetting things for which we should be thankful, and this is one of a number of biblical examples in which God gave the people of Israel physical reminders of the things they needed to be thankful for.  It’s easy to read over these stories and think of them as applying only to the people in the story, but physical aids to remembering can be just as valuable –  and needful – for us today.

For example, in the next chapter of the Book of Exodus, after helping Israel again, God tells Moses  to “… “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered…” (Exodus 17:14).  Today for many of us simply keeping a “gratitude journal” in a small notebook can make a tremendous difference in our ability to remember the good things in our lives and to be thankful for them.  A study conducted in 2005 by Dr. Martin Seigleman at the University of Pennsylvania found that people who every evening simply wrote down three things that went well that day felt increased levels of appreciation and thankfulness.  The experiment also showed a very positive result of this activity.  People who kept such a journal for as short a time as one week often experienced increases in general happiness for several months afterwards.

It’s a simple enough procedure. Writing down three things a day or, if that is difficult, then writing down at least something for each day of the week, only takes a few minutes of our time, but it can have measurable affects on our ability to remember the good things and to maintain appreciation for them.

Some people find other ways to help them remember things for which they can be thankful, and we discuss some of them in the article mentioned at the end of this post. But whatever method we may choose, utilizing some physical method of enhancing our “gratitude memories” is worthwhile.  This is particularly true because feeling and expressing gratitude are only the first two-thirds of true thankfulness. Continuing to remember what we are grateful for is the other. But sometimes it takes a pot of manna or, in our case, some other physical reminder to help us to remember and to truly make gratitude last.
 
* For more ways to make gratitude last, see “Making Appreciation Stick” on our sister site ​here. 

If you have read the biblical book of Ruth, you probably think you know it well. But whether you have read it once or many times, we think you will find a lot more in this beautiful story with the help of our short new e-book.

Many people think of the book of Ruth as a simple love story, but in reality it is far from simple, and it is not really a “love story” in the modern sense of “romantic love” either! Instead, Ruth is a story of deep courage, strength, loyalty, determination, and kindness with an underlying message that reaches from the ancient world to our lives today.

You can download a free copy of our latest e-book in your choice of three formats (PDF, Kindle, and Nook (E-Pub) to read on your computer or e-book reader.  There is no registration necessary and you do not need to give an email address - just click on the file type you want to download!  Download RUTH from the e-book page on our sister site, here. ​

Scripture in Focus  Ruth 3:1-15


​In the Book of Ruth, the heroine’s mother-in-law, Naomi, tells the widowed Ruth:

​“My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for.  Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.  Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.  When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do” (Ruth 3:1-4).

This may sound like strange advice, and it is a part of the story that often troubles readers –  especially because even some Bible commentaries have attempted to see sexual innuendos in what is said.  But, as we will see, there is really nothing in the language used or in our knowledge of Hebrew culture of the time to suggest anything sexual was involved. Ruth’s distant relative Boaz is shown to be an honorable man throughout the book, just as Ruth herself is shown to be honorable at every point.    According to the law of Moses (as Naomi doubtless explained to Ruth), when a man died leaving his wife without children, the man’s nearest relative was bound to take her as a wife and provide a child for her (Deuteronomy 5:5-10).  This situation helps us understand what happened next.

The story continues by telling us that when Ruth went to the threshing floor where Boaz had been working and had gone to sleep: “Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.  In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet! “Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family” (Ruth 3:7-9).

To understand this part of the story we need to realize that in the Ancient Near East servants often slept crossways at the feet of their master when working outdoors and were allowed to pull any available blanket over themselves in order to keep warm.   That is why Ruth told Boaz that she was his servant – and thus eligible to lie at his feet – and that he was her guardian-redeemer (Hebrew goel) who bore a responsibility to marry her to provide a son to perpetuate the name of her deceased husband – so he should “cover her with his garment” or marry her (Ezekiel 16:8, etc.).

But why uncover his feet?  Certainly this caused him to eventually awaken in the dark, but Ruth could simply have woken Boaz to talk.  The “uncovering” of Boaz’s feet was necessary because it relates to what she tells him – and in the culture of that time a shoe would be removed to signal a responsibility or to seal a contract.  We see this signaling in Deuteronomy in exactly this situation when a man would not fulfil his responsibility to his brother’s wife: “his brother’s widow shall go up to him …. take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, ‘This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line’”(Deuteronomy 5:9).

We see the same act of uncovering the foot to seal an agreement later in the story of Ruth when Boaz cleverly persuades Ruth’s actual nearest of kin to forgo his responsibility and allow Boaz to marry her: “(Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)” (Ruth 4:7).

So Ruth’s uncovering of Boaz’s feet on the threshing floor has nothing to do with the uncovering of any other part of the anatomy (the Hebrew is literally “uncover the place of his feet,” which is never used euphemistically).  Rather, it fits into what we see specifically in this part of the story –  the signaling of a responsibility on the part of Boaz to marry Ruth and provide children for her.  This was a responsibility that this ancient story shows Boaz was more than happy to fulfill – without ever experiencing “cold feet” again! 

“How great are your works, LORD, how profound your thoughts!” (Psalm 92:5).
 
Although we may be more used to offering praise to God for his deeds rather than his thoughts, Psalm 92:5 shows that both are, indeed, worthy of our praise.   But what exactly are the thoughts of God? While that may sound like an abstruse philosophical question, another psalm gives us a concrete example of what God thinks about:

“Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered” (Psalm 40:5 NKJV, emphasis added).

In this psalm, David also speaks about the works and thoughts of God; but in this verse he stresses an important aspect of those thoughts by telling us that they are “toward us” (ESV, NKJV, etc.), in other words, about us and regarding us – for our benefit and good.  And David also tells us that God’s thoughts about us are so extensive they cannot be numbered. 

Another verse that ties directly to this concept is one we know well – Jeremiah 29:11. Although this verse is frequently translated “For I know the plans I have for you ….” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV, etc.), it uses the same Hebrew word, machashebeth, that is translated “thoughts” in the scriptures we have quoted from the Psalms – and it is translated that way in versions such as the NKJV: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Machshebeth is also translated “thought” by the NIV and by many other versions in verses such as “…On that day thoughts will come into your mind” (Ezekiel 38:10, etc.).

The Scriptures tell us quite a lot about the thoughts of God, and much of what they say stresses the fact that he has innumerable thoughts “toward” or about us and for our good.  Now, if we believe we are to strive to learn and live the character of God in this life (Matthew 5:48), to become more like him in every way we can (Ephesians 5:1), to think like him (Philippians 2:5, etc.), we might well look with particular interest at what these verses say. If, as David tells us, God’s thoughts toward us cannot be counted, we might want to ask how many of our thoughts are toward others, for their benefit.  
 
This is not a small question.  You may have heard the expression “out of sight, out of mind,” and as we go about our normal every-day lives it is true that we naturally spend most of our time thinking about our own work, needs, problems, goals, etc.  The fact is, we have to train our minds to consistently think about others and their needs.  Most of us certainly do not have “innumerable” thoughts about others; but if we desire to become more like God, that should be our goal.  The more we love others, the more we think about them. That is why God’s thoughts for us cannot be numbered, and why we should be thinking more and more about others.

Although this idea is not as directly expressed in the New Testament, it lies behind several statements we read there. For example, the apostle Paul tells us: “Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults” (1 Corinthians 14:20).  In the context in which this verse occurs (speaking in tongues), it is clear that Paul is discussing thinking about how we should strive to profit others rather than just elevate ourselves through our gifts (vss. 19-21).

Paul talks more about thought and thinking than any other New Testament writer, but it is sometimes easy to miss his point.  When he tells us: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8), he is not just talking about praiseworthy things, but about praiseworthy goals and behaviors.

The apostle Peter writes something similar in his second epistle: “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking” (2 Peter 3:1).  These exhortations go beyond just thinking thoughts about positive uplifting things – they are urging us to use our minds to think thoughts like God does. The examples we saw in the Old Testament show we should be  thinking frequently and consistently about others –  about how we can encourage, uphold, help, and serve them.
​
We know that Christians should be “walking the walk” as well as “talking the talk.” We should also remind ourselves that we should be “thinking the thoughts” –  not just positive, uplifting thoughts, but concrete, real, and continual thoughts about others and how we can help them.

 “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7 KJV).

In the King James version of the Bible quoted above, this verse from the Book of Isaiah is one that has puzzled countless people over the centuries since that translation was made.  If God is good, we might naturally ask, how can he create evil?  But three lines of evidence show that the KJV translation is not accurate in this instance and must be revised in order to properly understand what Isaiah wrote.  We will look at the three factors individually.

First, the Hebrew word ra translated “evil” in the KJV of Isaiah 45:7 can mean moral evil, and it is often rightly translated that way in the Old Testament; but the word also has the meanings of physical adversity, calamity, disaster, injury, ruin, or even misery.  So while evil is a possible translation in Isaiah 45:7, it is only one of many and we must look at the immediate context of the scripture and the context of the whole Bible to see which meaning would be most appropriate in this verse.

Second, the immediate context of Isaiah 45:7 indicates that Isaiah did not have moral evil in mind when he composed this verse. Chapter 45 has a clear context in which God says he rewards obedience (for example, vss. 8, 17) and punishes disobedience, rebellion and sin (for example, vss. 9, 16). This immediate context makes it far more likely that Isaiah 45:7 is using the Hebrew word ra in the sense of calamity or disaster that comes upon the wicked as a result of their own actions. We can see this in the exact wording of the verse –  notice how “light and darkness” (two direct opposites) are compared with “peace and evil.” But evil is not the opposite of peace – this second pair of words should clearly be “peace and calamity.”

Finally, everything we are told throughout the Bible about the goodness and righteousness of God indicates that God does not himself create that which is wrong or morally evil.  The prophet Habakkuk tells us of God: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil” (Habakkuk 1:13); the Psalms tell us: “The LORD is upright…there is no wickedness in him” (Psalm 92:15); Isaiah himself tells us that “Those who walk righteously … shut their eyes against contemplating evil” (Isaiah 33:15).  These and a great many other biblical verses show that God clearly does not and cannot contemplate evil.

The fact that the Hebrew word translated “evil” has many other meanings, the fact that the immediate context of Isaiah 45:7 is one of the calamity of punishment for sin rather than the creation of moral evil, and the fact that the Bible is consistent in showing that God does not even look at evil all indicate that it is not moral evil that God creates, but the punishment that comes as a result of sin. 

That is why English translations made since the King James was translated in 1611 have almost all chosen to translate the Hebrew ra not as “evil” but with a word reflecting some kind of punishment. The New International Version, for example, translates the word “disaster,” as does the Holman Bible. The English Standard Version translates it “calamity,” as does the New King  James Version, which brings the English of the King James Version up to date.  God does not ever directly create evil, though he creates beings that may of their own free will turn to evil and bring punishment upon themselves. 

​
We might not often think of it this way, but honesty has two sides – an “outside” and an “inside.” Honesty isn’t just about what we tell others, it is also about what we tell ourselves. In other words, full honesty is not only speaking the truth to others, but also speaking the truth to oneself.

Psychologists know that these are separate activities. We can deceive others while not deceiving ourselves in some situations, but we can also deceive ourselves (while not always deceiving others) at other times. The Bible contains many verses based on this truth.  We tend to notice and remember those scriptures which speak about telling the truth on the “outside” –  as when the apostle Paul wrote: “… each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor …” (Ephesians 4:25), but we may not always notice the distinction when scriptures talk about telling the truth on the “inside.”

Consider an example from the Old Testament.  In Psalm 15 David asks the question, “Who can dwell with God?” and begins his answer by saying: “He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart” (Psalm 15:2, emphasis added here and throughout).  Although the New International Version translates the final part of this verse as “who speaks the truth from their heart,” the preposition used in the Hebrew Bible means “in,” and this translation is followed by almost all other modern versions (ESV, NKJV, HCSB, NASB, NET, ISV, etc.).  The International Standard Version translates this verse with particular clarity: “The one who lives with integrity, who does righteous deeds, and who speaks truth to himself.”

This need to speak truth on the inside is the underlying meaning behind many other scriptures in the Old Testament, such as Psalm 51:6: “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being …” and Proverbs 23:7: “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he...” (NKJV). But how do we speak honestly to ourselves, or perhaps more precisely, how do we not speak dishonestly on the inside?  Here are four points we should keep in mind:

1) Know yourself.  We may know it intellectually, but we must continually remind ourselves that the Bible clearly teaches that the mind and its underlying human nature is not intrinsically good (Jeremiah 17:9, etc.).   Our first reactions are so often wrong ones, and then our minds may take over to justify them.  Speaking truth within ourselves begins with understanding ourselves (Lamentations 3:40, Psalm 19:12).

2) Don’t avoid inner conversations you need to have. We have all heard the words “I don’t want to talk about it” or “I don’t want to think about it,” but speaking truth to ourselves often means not allowing ourselves to avoid the inner working-through we need to do regarding problems we do not want to face. As Christians we know that God often directs our “conscience” through his Spirit (John 16:13), but we cannot speak truth to ourselves or follow the Spirit’s guidance if we are avoiding truthful “conversations” that should occur.

3) Don’t allow divisions between what you say outwardly and inwardly.  Whenever we find we are thinking something different from what we are saying out loud, we need to stop and assess the situation carefully. Most of us are deceiving ourselves in small ways every day, and we can only overcome this pattern through constant vigilance.  Divisions between what we say and think – outside and inside honesty –  create psychological dissonance and put us in the position of being what the Bible calls a “double minded” person (James 1:8; 4:8).

4) Police your personal narrative. We have to separate ourselves from the narrative we construct about why we do what we do if we are to speak to ourselves truthfully and be able to grow and overcome our own nature. This involves not only being conscious of what we’re doing, but also asking ourselves why we’re doing it. Most of us have internalized a number of rationalizations about various aspects of our behavior, but anytime we find ourselves feeling that we are too old, too busy, too sick, too poor, too tired, or anything else that stops us doing what we know we should do, we need to “pull over” our own attitude and examine our own excuses. Likewise, whenever we do what is not right because we feel we owe it to ourselves, others are doing it, it’s only a small sin, we are just weak, or whatever, we need to police ourselves also.  Perhaps the greatest part of spiritual growth involves assessing, and if necessary rejecting, our own rationalizations.

Ultimately, learning to speak the truth to ourselves is a never-ceasing process that underlies spiritual growth itself.  Being honest with ourselves is a daily, hourly, and even minute-by-minute endeavor, but don’t let that fact ever discourage you –  it just means that being honest with ourselves reaps constant, ongoing benefits and rewards.

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“Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies …‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there  (Joshua 2:1).

In this ancient spy story, whatever else the two spies did in Canaan is not disclosed (if this were a modern intelligence report, the information might have been redacted!), but the Bible tells us the spies came to the house of the prostitute Rahab.  Perhaps God led them there because He was willing to save this woman of faith, but it is also possible that her house which was “on” or “in” the great wall of the city (some ancient “casemate” walls contained rooms in which people lived) was actually an inn. This tradition is mentioned by the 1st century historian Josephus, as it was not uncommon for inns to function as brothels in the ancient world. In any event, the spies came to the house of Rahab and were hidden there from the king of Jericho who was searching for them.  This was, as one-time CIA director Allen Dulles remarked, the first known “safe house” for spies in history – and it proved, of course, to be the only “safe” house when Israel destroyed the city!

The story of the Canaanite woman Rahab and her house is an interesting account at a number of levels – not least that of understanding the right kind of faith that we should all have. Rahab is included in Hebrews 11, the Bible’s “Faith Hall of Fame” chapter, for this specific quality: “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace” (Hebrews 11:31, NKJV).

But we might question here exactly how Rahab exercised faith.  Certainly she believed that God was with the Israelites, but the Biblical account makes it clear that most of the inhabitants of Jericho felt exactly the same way.  Notice what Rahab told the spies:

“I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed ... for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below” (Joshua 2:9-11 and see also Joshua 5:1).

Clearly, the inhabitants of Jericho had human faith in the fact that God was with the Israelites. So what made Rahab different?  From the perspective of Jericho she was just a traitor who sided with the enemy, but from the perspective of the Bible it was precisely her actions to save the Israelite spies that made her faith real.  The other inhabitants of Jericho had the same information she had, but they reacted differently to the same knowledge. Once the Israelite army reached Jericho we see the people of Jericho’s reaction: “Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in” (Joshua 6:1).

Rahab not only protected and helped the spies when they were with her, but also exactly followed the command she was given to distinguish her house by a piece of red cloth (Joshua 2:18-19), perhaps symbolic of atoning sacrifice and certainly reminiscent of the Passover placing of blood on the houses to be spared (Exodus 12:13).  Her actions may have been simple ones, but they contrast starkly with those of the other inhabitants of Jericho: while they hardened their attitudes and shut themselves in, Rahab reached out and was obedient to what she was told to do. 

It is not that Rahab was physically saved by “works,” but by working faith – belief that was active – as Hebrews says: “Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe.”  Joshua 5:1 and Joshua 2:9-11 show that the other inhabitants did believe, but not with full, active belief – which is what Hebrews must mean. Unlike her believing but fearful neighbors (James 2:19: “…the devils also believe, and tremble”), Rahab believed with an active belief that was complete in its expression of obedience, and her story stands as a lasting example of faith that works as opposed to empty belief without action.

What became of Rahab? She evidently married Salmon - one of the two spies she had saved – and through him became one of the ancestors of  Joseph, adoptive father of Jesus (Matthew 1:5).  Her active faith not only enabled her to physically save the spies, her family and herself, but also to include her in the genealogy of the One who would enable the salvation of us all.

* This post was first published on our sister site, LivingWithFaith.org on 2/4/2014.

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If you were to think of a hero who seems to come out of nowhere to block tyranny, thwart injustice, and assist those needing help, perhaps you would think of some fabled medieval knight or a caped comic book hero. But one person mentioned in the Bible displayed the trait of heroically fighting against injustice to an exceptional degree, and that individual, surprising as it may seem at first, was Moses.

You may not have thought about it this way before, but the Bible paints a very interesting picture of the character of Moses before his calling.  Of course, the evidence we have comes from the first five books of the Bible – written by Moses himself – but what I would like to look at here is the way Moses is portrayed: the characteristics he displayed and chose to record as opposed to any other traits he may have had. Remember that Moses tells us nothing about his childhood and youth apart from the fact that he was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:10). The first time we are given a glimpse into the adult life of this future leader we are told that:

“One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand” (Exodus 2:11-12). 

Fighting injustice on the work site

We must understand that this was no simple homicide on Moses’ part. When the text tells us he “looked this way and that and saw no one,” it probably does not mean that he checked to see that he could get away with intervening, but rather that he saw there was no one who would help the man and so intervened himself. We are not given the details, but the furious slave driver may then have turned on Moses who may have killed him in self-defense as well as defense of the slave who was being ruthlessly beaten.  We should remember also that the word used of the slave driver’s “beating” of the Hebrew man is makeh – which can have very strong connotations involving injury and even death. Moses stepped in and halted a tyrannical situation that may well have been life-threatening for the man he protected.  
 
Fighting injustice on the street

The very next day we are told that a similar situation arose in which Moses attempted to intervene in an unjust situation: “The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” (Exodus 2:13). Note that in this case there was no casual argument involved. The expression translated “the one in the wrong” (NIV) in the Hebrew is literally “the wicked one” – clearly an individual who was wrongfully assaulting another Hebrew. But once again Moses stepped in as soon as he saw the altercation and realized what was happening was an unjust situation.   

Fighting injustice at the well

Exodus tells us that Moses fled to Midian after this event, when the Pharaoh found out that he had killed an Egyptian taskmaster (Exodus 2:15). In Midian the next recorded incident is that Moses steps in to defend and help a group of women – the daughters of a local shepherd – when they tried to draw water from a well for their sheep: “Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock” (Exodus 2:17).

This is the third and final glimpse we are given into the life and character of Moses before God appears to him in the burning bush and calls him to lead his people out of Egypt. Although this event occurs quite some time after Moses arrived in Midian (see Exodus 2:23, a “long period”), we are not told anything more about his actions during that time – whether he worked hard or cared well for the flocks in his charge or anything else. What we are told – and all we are told – about the life of Moses before God called him to the great work he was given to do is that on three occasions Moses stepped in to fight injustice under various circumstances.

But notice that these incidents do not run from the least to the greatest – they do not show the growing heroism of Moses as an individual. Instead, they run from the most serious offense to the least, so they show his gradual coming to awareness of and willingness to stand up against even small injustices that he encountered. 

Perhaps there is a lesson in this. Perhaps Exodus is telling us that God called Moses to free his people because of his growing commitment to fight injustice. Perhaps God knew he could use such a person to fight the great injustice of the slavery of the Hebrews in Egypt. If this is the case, then this is a prime example of how the more we grow in our desire to fight what is wrong and to support what is right, the more God can use us, too.

So you are one of the many millions of people on twitter? Great! 

So you are one of the many Christians on twitter? Maybe we should talk. 

According to a report published by the Pew Research Center, fifteen percent of adult Internet users in the United States are on Twitter, and that number is multiplied many, many times, of course, in nations around the world.  Of these millions of twitter users, a great many are Christians –  few of whom give much serious thought to how they use the service and the effect they are having on others through it.

The writer and speaker Jon Acuff once said that “Social media’s like a brick — you can use it to build an orphanage or throw it through somebody’s car window.” That statement graphically summarizes the good and bad that can come even from Christians’ use of twitter. 

In saying this, we are not even talking about the kind of content a person tweets.  Most (though sadly not all) Christians are in the habit of tweeting positive, clean and uplifting messages that are not attacks on individuals (Ephesians 4:29-31).  It’s sometimes the behind the scenes –  but still visible – aspects of twitter use that can be problematic.

For instance, many people –  many Christians included –  seem to view twitter as a giant game of  “get followers.”  As a result, many do not choose to follow people back who follow them because they want an impressive follower/following ratio.  It’s always a bad thing if we allow our mental approach to become focused on an attitude of “get” and an unwillingness to give, and this is certainly a situation where the golden rule can be followed (Matthew 7:12).

But even more disturbing is the habit of many (and yes, many Christians) of following people back  and then,  a day or two later, dropping them.  If the person who has followed us is not tweeting objectionable material, dropping them simply to improve our own numbers is nothing short of selfishness, and we should consider how this looks to others.   If we don’t want to receive a follower’s frequent messages regarding what they had for dinner last night or whatever, twitter does have a “mute” button. If we need to we can mute followers where unfollowing is not called for.

Being a Christian on twitter is not just about numbers, though.  When we receive follows from others and don’t follow back, or follow back then drop them, we lose one of the great ways social media can be used for good by depriving the person of ever reaching out to us through Direct Messages.  In our own @tacticalbelief and @livingbelief twitter accounts we receive many DMs every week from people asking for guidance, encouragement, prayer, or just basic information about Christianity. Not following back or dropping followers unnecessarily limits engagement with others whom we might help and  denies them the opportunity to receive “an answer regarding the hope we have” (1 Peter 3:15) –  in an area of our lives where we might be most likely to be asked. 

There are many other ways that we should perhaps consider how, as Christians, we come across to others on twitter, and how we either serve them or perhaps cause them to stumble through our twitter behavior.  But basically, being a Christian on twitter can be boiled down to three simple things. 

First, we need to realize how conspicuous we are as Christians on twitter and how hypocritical it can appear to others if we label ourselves as “Christian” or quote Bible verses in our twitter bios, but are knowingly following porn or treating people selfishly in our social media practices. 

Second, we need to resist any temptation to “flame” or ridicule others by always being desirous to “tweet  others the way we would want to be tweeted.”

And, finally, we need to remember – as one preacher so aptly once put it (in a tweet): “Your words will tell others what you think. Your actions will tell them what you believe.” That is just as true on twitter – or on any other social media –  as it is in other areas of life.

​“​Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2 ESV).
 
​The Bible has quite a lot to say about vanity, but its use of the concept is often misunderstood. Today, when we speak of someone who is “vain,” we mean someone who is conceited or overly concerned about their own looks or abilities.

​But when the words “vain” or “vanity” appear in the Bible, they have very different meanings. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word hebel from which these words are translated means something that is only vapor or wind – in other words, something that has no lasting substance and is ultimately pointless. That was the main meaning of the word “vain” in English back when the King James Version was translated in 1611, and we still use the word “vain” that way when something does not turn out as we planned, and we say that our efforts were “in vain.”

This original meaning of the word vain is why the Book of Proverbs tells us: “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (Proverbs 31:30 ESV). Notice it is the fleeting beauty itself that is said to be vain, not the person! In the same way, the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us: “Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, For childhood and youth are vanity” (Ecclesiastes 11:10 NKJV), and the Book of Psalms says: “Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!” (Psalms 39:5).  In other words, childhood, youth, and even our adult lives pass all too quickly, they are not lasting, but are vain –  just like a breath of air or an early morning mist: “…What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). 

In the New Testament, the Greek word kenos often translated “vain” has a similar meaning –  that of being empty or of no purpose –  so the biblical meanings of “vain” have nothing to do directly with our attitudes toward our appearance. The Bible certainly does not condemn our reasonable efforts to look our best (see our blog post “Does the Bible Condemn Women’s Adornment?”), though it also points out the futility of making self-concern and self-pampering the focus of our lives – which would truly be an exercise in “vanity.”  As always, balance is a good thing and reasonable focus on the care for our physical bodies is not wrong – just as the apostle Paul reminded us regarding physical exercise: “For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).

What Paul says to Timothy in this verse underscores the whole biblical approach to “vanity.” Anything that is not “godliness” – in other words, that does not contribute to becoming more like God and helping others on that path –  is ultimately “vain.” That is why Paul also wrote: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).  This does not mean that doing our everyday work and chores is meaningless – the Bible clearly shows we should do everything as though we were doing it for God (1 Corinthians 10:31).  Such an attitude elevates whatever we do from the “vanity” of life without God to the realm of the truly meaningful.
 
So, to return to the title of this article –  "Are You Vain?" –  we can clarify that question.  If by “vain” we mean the way the word is usually understood today – as a reflection of prideful or narcissistic self-focus – then hopefully that failing is held in check in our lives by understanding what small importance our present outer appearance or inner aptitudes have in the eternal scheme of things.  But if by  “vain” we mean the original sense of the word –  as empty and without purpose – then the answer depends entirely on us.
 
Without God, in biblical terms, we are all “vain,” but when we place God at the center of our lives then they are given a purpose that transcends meaninglessness and “vanity.”  Then, our thoughts and actions have the potential to take on a purpose they would never have had –  because God is in the business of making meaning in our lives. As the apostle Paul wrote: “…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13, emphasis added). If we have “…been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28) and made his purpose ours, we need never be concerned that our lives are “vanity” or that they have been lived “in vain.”

​Strange as it may sound, every Christian is called to a love-hate relationship with the practice of secrecy. On the one hand we are told to love secrecy (Matthew 6:4, etc.), but on the other hand we are instructed to avoid it (Job 13:10, etc.).  How should we understand this seemingly contradictory situation?

The answer, of course, is one of context. Both in terms of our beliefs and our behavior, secrecy may be good in some situations, but not in others. We should not hide what should not be kept secret and we should not expose what should be kept secret.  Consider some of the ramifications of these principles.

We should not hide what should not be kept secret.

It is certainly wrong to keep things secret that should be out in the open. The principle can apply in various ways regarding both our beliefs and behavior.  The New Testament talks about a number of individuals who kept their faith secret – like Nicodemus who visited Jesus under the cover of darkness (John 3:1–21) and Joseph of Arimathea who secretly met with Pilate to request Jesus’ burial because of his fear of the Jewish religious leaders (John 19:38).  There may certainly be a time for care in dangerous situations, but John, who relates these stories, tells us Jesus reminded Nicodemus that keeping our beliefs secret lessens our ability to be a witness to God’s transforming power: “Whosoever lives by truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly what has been done through God” (John 3:21).

But the main danger of wrongful secrecy, of course, is when we keep problems or sins secret in our lives that must be brought to light if we are to do away with them.  In Ephesians 5:12 the apostle Paul tells us: “It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.” We are called to a life without this kind of secrecy.  As Paul states elsewhere, “Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways” (2 Corinthians 4:2).  Naturally, nothing is hidden from God (Jeremiah 23:24), and Paul reminds us that this applies to anything we attempt to keep secret: “… God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ” (Romans 2:16).

But this fact does not just apply to sexual immorality or sinfulness. For example, although we may not think of it this way, the principle applies to gossip. The Book of Psalms tells us specifically: “Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret, I will put to silence…” (Psalm 101:5).  In other areas, we should not “hide” the good that others do in the sense of not giving credit where it is due, nor should we hide wrongdoing we are aware of that needs the involvement of society (1 Peter 2:14). 

To summarize this side of secrecy, we can say that in terms of belief, in most circumstances we should not keep our faith a secret; in terms of behavior, we should not keep wrongdoing that needs to be corrected a secret – or the right doing of others who should be commended, either.   
 
We should not expose what should be kept secret.

On the other hand, the opposite side of secrecy must be applied in many situations.   In terms of belief, there are times and circumstances when it may be better to hold back details of our knowledge of the truth.  For example, proclaiming to strangers that they are “sinning” is not an activity to which we are called. That is really the opposite of the attitude the apostle Peter showed we should have when he wrote: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

As for our own behavior, we all need to learn to keep secret good works that might otherwise be done  only for appearances.   The teaching of Jesus was clear on this matter: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them … so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:1-4).  Jesus also applied the same principle to prayer: “… when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).  This does not mean, of course, that we keep it a secret that we pray, only that we keep our personal prayer private so that, again, it is not done for the wrong reasons.

Finally, there are times when the apparent faults and failings of others should not be openly discussed.  The principle that “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8 and see Matthew 18:15-17) sometimes has an interpersonal application regarding other people’s mistakes or perceived sins.  We need only look at the example of Joseph who, when he did not yet realize that Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit, was still careful not to shame her:  “Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly” (Matthew 1:19).

So there certainly are two very different sides to the matter of secrecy –  and the Christian is called to live according to that understanding.