​By Andy Kind *  

The film that spawned an infinite number of sequels and (bizarrely) a state governor, The Terminator is the 1984 action horror that many have mimicked, none have bettered. And yet the film itself is a pale imitation of a story already told further back along our timeline.  What you may have missed in this epic horror/blockbuster is a surprisingly accurate rendering of the incarnation of Jesus. Come with me if you want to read on.

Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is sent into our time on a rescue mission by his own son (OK, so the father is sent by the son on this occasion, but stick with it). His mission is to save humanity – starting with someone who doesn't know him. He arrives naked and vulnerable and the weaponry he would otherwise use can't make the leap, so he has had to give up his full power to get here. He arrives in the early hours of the morning and the authorities are quickly onto him (like a thief in the night?). The only witness of the event is a bearded vagabond who asks Reese if he 'saw a bright light?' This homeless man is the John the Baptist figure who testifies to the light coming into the world.

The rest of the film centres on Reese's attempts to get between Sarah Connor and death (Arnie's Terminator). At the climax of the film, he lays down his life for hers, and takes death down with him. Because of the brain-melting paradox of time, Kyle Reese saves Sarah's life in a time before his own physical birth. This is a nice allusion to John 8:58, where Jesus says, 'Before Abraham was, I AM'. The decision to save and rescue predates the incarnation.

Now obviously, plenty of films use the idea of self-sacrifice as a plot device. But they use it because it's a theme that has universal resonance. The theme of self-sacrifice itself has an origin story though, and it's found in the pages of the New Testament. The Terminator is a fictional retelling of a real, historical event.

But why do we resonate with themes of rescue, self-sacrifice and redemption. I think because we are wired to respond to them. The temptation at this point might be to say, 'Well, it's not just Christianity – all religions have these themes.' But that's just not true. You will not find any other religion where God offers to rescue you. You cannot find another worldview where you are worth dying for. No other religion says that God is coming to find you, or where death itself can be conquered. With any other God, your cries for help are either unheard or unheeded.

If there is no God at all and atheism is true, then The Terminator is a fictional story about a very real truth – that Death is coming for you. So listen and understand: that Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead. The words Reese used to describe the T101 apply absolutely to your relationship to Death on an atheistic worldview.

Maybe that's why the movie is so terrifying. Because on some level we sense the slow pursuit of Death which will one day come for us, whether we are ready or not, whether we think we deserve it or not.

But what if there was a real story about the unstoppable foe of Death bearing down on you...but then a hand grabbing your arm, looking you in the eye and saying, 'Come with me if you want to live'? What if that person didn't just stand between you and death and say, 'Run, save yourself, I'll hold him off as long as I can'? What if the person who offered to save you could not only beat death but offer you 'fullness of life'? What if the relief we feel when Kyle Reese drags Sarah Connor out of the Terminator's line of fire isn't just about the thrill of entertainment – what if we are wired to respond to that story because that's the rescue plan God decided on long before we were born?

What if salvation wasn't just a poorly-rendered spin-off, but the direct sequel to saying 'yes' to that offer of rescue?


*Andy Kind (@andykindcomedy) is a leading comedian, preacher and writer. This article is reproduced with the author's kind permission.

​A small finger ring found in the ruins of the Fortress of Herodium in Israel some 50 years ago has now been cleaned, studied and identified as very possibly being the ring of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate who governed what was then the Roman province of Judea in the time of Christ from AD 26–36. It was Pilate, of course, who famously tried Jesus and turned him over to be crucified.

The ring was found along with a great many other artifacts in excavations conducted at Herodium in 1968–1969 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but it was not thoroughly cleaned and its inscription read until only recently at the request of the current excavation director, archaeologist Roi Porat.  The results of this cleaning were published just this last week.

In addition to the image of a large wine vessel, the ring was found to bear a simple inscription in Greek – which the Romans used to communicate with the people of the Eastern Mediterranean areas that they controlled. The inscription reads “of Pilate” meaning “belonging to Pilate.” Could this be the Pontius Pilate of biblical fame?  Although the name of Pilate is known to every Christian today, Pilate was a somewhat rare name in the 1st century. The name is derived from the Latin “pilum” (armed with a javelin) and is a Roman cognomen – an extra name sometimes given to Roman citizens.  But there was only one Roman Governor of Judea called Pilate, and it is perhaps unlikely that the ring would have belonged to another individual of the same name.   
 
In fact, only one other artifact has been discovered in Israel bearing the name of Pilate – the so-called “Pilate Stone” – a massive inscribed building block discovered in 1961 excavations at Caesarea which was a Roman headquarters in Judea.   That stone bears four lines of text, two of which read, “[Po]ntius Pilate … [Pref]ect of Juda[ea].”

But what of the newly identified ring – could it be an item personally worn by Pilate himself? The answer is that this is unlikely.  The ring is made of relatively inexpensive copper alloy and its workmanship is somewhat rough (see photo) – not what we would expect of the personal ring of the most powerful man in ancient Judea at that time.   

However, the fact that the ring probably was not worn by Pilate himself is of little importance.  Kings, governors, and other rulers of that era commonly wore signet rings by which they impressed seals on the documents they sent out in order to “sign” them – just as we sign letters or official documents with our names today.  Ancient rulers of that time also often gave, loaned, or had cheaper copies of these rings made for their highest-ranking assistants so that they could issue commands and seal official documents on behalf of the ruler himself (for an Old Testament example, see Esther 3:10; 8:2). 

The newly identified ring is very likely such an assistant’s seal – a secondary ring entrusted to an individual who had been given the authority to relay or issue commands or statements on behalf of Pilate himself.  But this does not make the connection between the ring and the biblical figure of Pontius Pilate any less real.    

The “Pilate Ring” joins the already known “Pilate Stone” as further confirmation of an individual mentioned in the Bible –   in this case, an otherwise little-known Roman governor who, through his mention in the New Testament, would become one of the most famous or infamous Romans of all. 

Originating in the United States in 2012, “Giving Tuesday” has become a global movement that encourages individuals, organizations, and communities to focus on year-end giving to good causes rather than just to ourselves and those we know, as so many do around the holiday season. 
 
Giving Tuesday is scheduled to closely follow the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on the last Thursday of November each year and the immediately following shopping-frenzy days of “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday.” In strong contrast with these totally consumer-oriented days, Giving Tuesday focuses on the way of giving rather than getting, so it is something that deserves our thought and support.

Naturally, the concept of Giving Tuesday does not suggest that we should only give to those who need help on this one day of the year. But it does focus our minds on needs we can perhaps alleviate at a time of year when support for charities and other ways of helping others typically falls off as many people spend the greater part of what they receive on themselves and their family and friends.

Now in its seventh year and fueled by press coverage, social media, and internet discussion, Giving Tuesday has been tremendously successful in bringing a great deal of funding to many excellent causes around the world.  However, so many charities exist that it can be confusing and somewhat overwhelming to try to decide where to give if we do want to participate.  That’s how a good online charity rating site can prove tremendously helpful. We recommend CharityNavigator.org. Although there are several similar sites, Charity Navigator clearly shows what percentage of the moneys received by various aid organizations go to their claimed targets –  and the site also provides an advisory  about charities that are suspect in terms of what they are doing or how much of their funds they are using on administration. A few minutes spent checking charities on a site like this can help guarantee that what we can give gets to where it needs to go.*

But of course, giving doesn’t always have to be about money.   Although this day may be a great opportunity to think about how we can give financially, as we are able, there are other ways we can give that are just as valuable.  Giving of our time, assistance, concern, and encouragement can be just as valuable as giving money in many circumstances – and even better in some.  The end of the year holiday season is often a particularly hard time for those who are by themselves, single parents, widows, widowers, and others.  Ironically, the “season of good will” is often a time of heightened levels of loneliness, depression, and even suicide.  

Thinking about Giving Tuesday provides us not only an extra incentive to give of what we ourselves have received, but also an extra opportunity to think about those we may know who could use some extra encouragement or help as we go into the winter season.  These are things which should continue to be concerns for us throughout the year, of course, but Giving Tuesday provides a valuable opportunity to begin or to focus on our ongoing efforts in the area of giving.
 
*See also our article “The Savvy Samaritan” here.

Eagles are magnificent birds. It is easy to see why they are called the “King of the Birds” and, as a result, why various myths have grown up around them.  One of the most commonly heard myths is that after a number of years of life, eagles fly to remote mountain areas where they pluck out all their feathers (and in some versions of the story, even their talons before breaking off their beak) in order to grow new ones over a few months before rising as renewed creatures. 

It may be an inspiring image, but it really has nothing to do with reality.  If eagles lost all their feathers at one time – or even just their large wing pinions – they would be unable to fly, and as raptors they would not survive while the supposed process of transformation took place.  Ornithologists know that eagles do not lose all their feathers at once and become transformed in such a short space of time. In fact, the story really tells us nothing about eagles, but it does tell us a lot about human psychology.  

The process of transformation is not easy. It’s a painful and tiring one that most humans dislike and would gladly avoid if it were possible.  Hence there is appeal in the stories of eagles that are completely renewed in a few months, mythical Phoenix birds that rise, transformed, overnight from their ashes, and so on. They are great stories, but they mainly show how much humans would like transformation to be quick and easy. We want to fast-track the process, skip to the end of the story, and avoid the pain of the slowness of actual change.

So how are eagles transformed? The answer is simple: one feather at a time. Feathers do become worn over time, but eagles and other raptors generally do not pluck them out. Like all other birds, they go through a slow, ongoing process called a molt in which each feather is replaced, one or two at a time. And that is really how we change, too.  And change we must. Christian change or “transformation” is not seeking salvation in works, but seeking to please and honor God in our lives.

The apostle Paul wrote: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2), and: “… we all … are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord …” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Being changed to reflect the nature and character of Christ is one of the great goals that every Christian aims for, but we must be realistic about it.  It is a process of transformation that takes time. Notice that in 2 Corinthians 3:18, above, the ongoing, “ever-increasing” nature of the change is made clear.

It’s easy to become discouraged when we don’t see change occurring quickly in our spiritual lives.  But it is the nature of all real change that we don’t always see it happening before our eyes. The part of our nature we seek to replace is worn away slowly like a stone in a stream – but it is gradually worn away. The part of our nature that is growing to what we want to be is growing like the seed in the earth – we don’t see the growth, but it is happening nonetheless (Mark 4:26-29).  We may know this intellectually, but it is a great key to encouragement to realize at the end of each day, no matter how discouragingly slow our growth may seem, as long as we are continuing to fight against what we have rejected and to work for what we believe – the stone is being worn away, the seed is growing.

We know that according to the plan of God, eventually “We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and Philippians 3:21).  That is something to which every Christian looks forward. But for now, until we get to that point, transformation comes slowly, with patience: one feather – one small change – at a time.

We take glass for granted –  it’s everywhere in our lives, in windows, windshields, mirrors, bottles and so many other things. But glass is one of the very few solid substances that have the ability to both reflect and transmit light.  We all discover this at an early age, of course, when we catch a glimpse of ourselves or some reflected object in the window we are looking through –  because glass can function both as a window and as a mirror.

The word of God has both those abilities, too.  We can see things “through” it – the stories, lessons, and events it records –  and we can also catch occasional glimpses of ourselves in the way it describes our own human natures and tendencies. 

This dual nature of the Bible –  as both spiritual window and mirror –  is something the Scriptures themselves describe.   The well-known words of the apostle James speak directly about the Bible’s ability to act reflectively as a spiritual mirror, of course: “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like” (James 1:23-24).

Many other scriptures talk about our ability to see things through the word of God, as well.  Paul’s words regarding his own letter to the Ephesians are an example of this: “In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:4). Elsewhere Paul speaks even more specifically about the things we are able to see through the Spirit-inspired word of God:  “… these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10).

So it is clear that the two great purposes of the word of God are to teach us about God and what he has done for humanity, and to teach us what we need to know about ourselves.  And that, of course, is why we study the Bible.   But that is also where we sometimes fall down in not studying as effectively as we could. Often, even devoted Christians fall into the habit of either looking at or through the word, but not both.

For example, if we are not careful it’s easy to just read through the Bible by reading its stories and focusing on them, but not seeing the reflections of ourselves that we frequently need to see.  To do that we have to keep “two hats” on at once, so to speak –  to  be able to read about events, stories and descriptions while constantly watching for aspects that “reflect” on us –  things that are condemned or encouraged that we need to change or to develop.

On the other hand, it is just as possible to focus too much on ourselves in our Bible reading, to mainly think about scriptures that encourage, guide, or even correct us, but at the same time to not focus on the real subject of God’s word – God himself.  God certainly desires to speak to us through his word, but his message is not primarily about us, it’s about him and his plan for his whole creation. 

So if we are mainly looking at our own reflection in our study of the Bible, we are not seeing a major part of its message; though on the other hand, if we are only looking “through the glass” we are missing something very important, too. Effective Bible study consists of a careful balance of these two ways of looking.  If at the end of a session of Bible reading we have only been personally encouraged or corrected but have not learned or been reminded about some aspect of the nature of God, we may have missed seeing something or may need to read a little further.  If we feel we came to better understand some aspect of God’s nature and his dealing with humanity but missed any application in our own lives, we may have missed something, too.

As the apostle Paul wrote: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Scripture gives us both doctrine – things to know – and instruction – things to do.  In order to get both those intended results we need to continually remind ourselves to look both at the glass and through it.

​He had been invited, of course – not that he needed an invitation! – and we had saved a place for him.  But he had not come to dinner for the past week, and it was beginning to look as though he would not be coming to dinner again any time soon.  He may just have been busy, of course; any apostle – and especially the chief apostle – must have so many responsibilities. But it was strange, nonetheless. Some were even beginning to wonder if they had offended him, or if fellowship with the Gentile converts was not  a pressing issue just now.  But surely, it couldn’t be, as some had even suggested, that Peter named Cephas viewed us –  the Gentiles – as somehow less than equal in the fellowship of Christ … could it?

In the second  chapter of Galatians  Paul tells the amazing story:

“When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face … For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray” (Galatians 2:11-13).

Paul’s stand against Peter’s hypocrisy must have been a legendary event in the early Church. Paul certainly did not skirt the issue:

“When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?” (Galatians 2:14).

Fortunately, Peter had the humility to accept Paul’s reprimand (something worth thinking about in itself) and changed his behavior – fellowshipping again with the Gentile believers.  Clearly, he learned a valuable lesson, one which lies behind the words written in one of his own epistles years later: “Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers…” (1 Peter 2:17).

But this story is given in the Bible for our admonition, not Peter’s.  Do we avoid certain people in the faith for any reason? Do we not fully accept other believers because of some difference in doctrine or belief?  The apostle Peter made this mistake – are we above it? 

We know that we are to “keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching …” (2 Thessalonians 3:6), but that does not apply to believers who are sincerely trying to do God’s will.  The writings of Paul as well as Luke in the book of Acts make it abundantly clear that Gentile believers were to be fully accepted as brothers and sisters in the faith – even though they may not have had complete doctrinal understanding (Acts 15:28).  

​This principle also applies directly to us, of course, in dealing with fellow believers of other doctrinal persuasions.  We may not agree with each other on things that we consider to be important, but that does not preclude our fellowship and helping one another in the faith.  Even though we may understand that principle intellectually, we must all ask ourselves whether there is some reason we are not showing up for dinner.

* Extracted from our e-book Lessons in Christian Living from the Early Church –  Download a free copy from our sister site, here. 

​What’s the difference between our two websites –  TacticalChristianity.org and LivingWithfaith.org ? It’s a question we are sometimes asked, so we thought we would explain!

Tactical Christianity.org was our first website, launched in October, 2013. Then, a few months later –  in January 2014 –  we launched LivingWithFaith.org. Both websites are non-denominational, non-profit, and dedicated to making the Bible clear and meaningful in everyday life.  Both sites have hundreds of articles and blog posts on a great many subjects that are easily accessible through the site indexes and blog archives. Both sites receive hundreds of thousands of visitors from almost two hundred countries around the world. 

So why two websites, and what’s the difference between them?   The main difference is one of approach and type of material covered.   TacticalChristianity (as its name might suggest) concentrates more on topics having to do with Christian living, while LivingWithFaith (as its name might also suggest) tends a little more to matters of faith and belief.   That doesn’t mean that we never talk about faith on Tactical Christianity or Christian living on Living With faith, but that’s where the stress is, respectively.

That same difference is reflected in the free e-books we publish under the imprints of the two websites. Our “Tactical” books are frequently about practical subjects such as prayer, study, and everyday living, while our “Faith” site books tend to include more on subjects like Christian beliefs and biblical understanding.  Once again, however, there is overlap and many of the e-books we publish could be on either site. As it is, we list all our free books on the e-books download page of each site so you don’t have to site-hop in order to see what is available.

On the other hand, a little site-hopping is sometimes a good idea. We publish new blog posts or articles on each site every week so checking out our two sites gives you twice the material there would otherwise have been.  And here’s an insider tip.  If you haven’t noticed, our new material is auto published every Sunday on TacticalChristianity.org and every Wednesday on LivingWithFaith.org – so many of our followers routinely check the blog on each site on these two days.  

So there you have it. Both our sites are committed to providing quality Christian information based on sound biblical scholarship, and –  as always –  without charge. We have nothing to sell, but lots to give, and if you have only visited one of our sites we hope you will try the other!

“Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft” (Deuteronomy 32:11).
 
A good deal of “urban legend” has grown up around this verse from Deuteronomy. Many who have not had the opportunity to observe eagles have thought that the verse talks of parent eagles teaching their offspring to fly by either dropping them and catching them up on their backs or wings before the young hit the ground, or just carrying them through the sky to “teach” them the mechanics of flight. 

In reality, eagles don’t do either of these things, and the verse doesn’t really say they do. It seems to refer to the parent eagle using its wings to keep the eaglets away from the edge of the nest when they are still very small. “Carries them aloft” is better translated “bearing them on its pinion [feathers]” (as in the ESV and other translations), and the whole verse is simply talking about the eagle protecting its young in the nest.

But interestingly, this is not to say that the adult eagles do not help their young in learning to fly.  The help the parent eagles give is not of the hand- (wing-) holding type, but of encouragement.  Once the young eaglets have grown flight feathers and are getting ready to fly, the young birds usually begin to jump up and down in the nest, flapping their wings in “baby steps.”  The adult birds encourage the young to leave the nest and to begin flight in various ways. They often stop feeding the young or cut down feeding to give the young incentive to find food themselves. They will also fly around the nest repeatedly, again encouraging the young, and even sometimes visibly carrying food in their talons. It is this ongoing encouragement that helps the young eagle learn to fly.

So if there is an analogy for Christian life to be found in eagle flight school, it is simply the lesson of encouragement.  Eaglets, like children, and like those new in the faith, profit from encouragement; and it is certainly a part of Christian responsibility and opportunity to help those who are only beginning to come into the truth.  There are many ways we can “encourage the young” – and encourage one another at any stage in our growth (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
 
There is both a positive and a negative aspect to this encouragement. If you will permit one more detail regarding eagles, it is this. Adult eagles, while feeding and caring for their young in the nest, often ball their feet to prevent the young from being skewered by the parent birds’ talons. So it is with us.  Encouraging others can take the form of treating them with concern instead of unwarranted criticism and can also take the form of positive encouragement by what we say and do that helps them along the way. Think of it as flight school – it’s certainly an important part of Christian living.

​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.
​
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).
​
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.
​
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.
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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.