Until Full Light

Instruction, inspiration, and resources to help you understand and apply the Bible in your life.

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Pride, what got Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in trouble and the danger to us today

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I was going to write about something else this week, but the topic for the ChurchCOM devotion is pride and this week in the Sunday School class my husband I teach, the lesson has to do with pride. It seems like the Lord wants me to share some thoughts on this.

Partly it is because, no matter what one’s political leanings the prideful, profane public discourse today is simply wrong. It is a horrific example to children and anyone attempting to live a godly life. It should never be a part of anyone in a leadership position if in any way, they associate with Jesus.

God dealt very severely in our reading in Numbers 16 with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and those who acted “insolently” (pridefully) and were not accepting of the place God had given them in ministry. The Lord may not open up the earth and swallow alive people who curse, malign, and boast of power and pride today, but that is only because He is merciful. He expects much better from His people.

How should we act?Continue Reading

The Great Commission—forget the world, how’s it going in your life?

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Don’t forget the world for very long, but for a few minutes, think about the Great Commission and how it applies to YOU.

Just you.

Let’s review the Great Commission:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

Because you are reading this site, there is a good chance you have made a decision to follow Jesus. Most likely you’ve also already been baptized.

The question is, how is your obedience to the rest of it going for you? Are you a disciple of Jesus who obeys everything he taught?

If the answer is yes, you can stop reading and keep doing whatever you are doing, but if like most of us a you feel you are far away from obeying everything Jesus taught, read on.Continue Reading

God’s love language and why we should pay attention

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Imagine this: a husband wants to show his wife how much he loves her, so he buys her things: jewelry, flowers, candy, lots of little gifts of things he thinks are cute. He loves to shop; he has the money so he buys her more.

The wife  is a minimalist. She hates junk, doesn’t like candy, and wears no extra jewelry. She tries to remind herself that her husband is trying to show her he loves her, but her irritation increases with each unwanted gift. She begins to wonder if he really cares for her at all because he doesn’t seem concerned with what she really wants.

Dr. Gary Chapman wrote a very popular book several years ago to discuss situations like this. He called it Love Languages and in it he talks about how different people have different ways of expressing love and how if we truly love someone we will learn their love language and use it to communicate our love.

God also has a love language

God expressed His love for us by sending Jesus to die for us, that is the core reality of the Christian faith. In gratitude for that, we want to show our love back to God, but here is where we are challenged—what can we do to express love in a meaningful way to the Creator and Sustainer of life?Continue Reading

Spiritual Disciplines, one reason why to do them–no money required for life transformation

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For the last several months I’ve read books by Dallas Willard (Divine Conspiracy, Hearing God) and most recently, The Spirit of the Disciplines. Among other challenges, Willard makes significant claims for the validity of the spiritual disciplines. His thinking can be summed up by saying that the spiritual disciplines are training for the body and soul that will enable a person to live as Jesus lived.

I find his ideas are challenging and cautiously hopeful as a way to help me grow as a disciple of Jesus.

In addition, as I was reading recently I realized that one other thing that greatly appeals to me about his ideas and about the spiritual disciplines in the other books I’m reading on the topic is that they don’t cost any money to practice. That may seem obvious, but it answered, what has been for me a huge dilemma. The dilemma has to do with life transformation. How do we change the habits, actions, life-style issues that we know hold us and sometimes our relationships back from being all we know the Lord wants us to be?

I hear a lot about therapy and though it can be wonderful and life-changing for many, and in no way do I want to diminish its values for those who can afford it. But there is the dilemma—who can afford it? I know I can’t. Not possible. And not possible or even a consideration for many of my friends who I know need life changes from significant serious abuse (self-chosen with substances and sometimes afflicted by others).

Knowing the reality of their situation, it bothers me to hear (and this is my problem) Christian leaders suggest therapy when they talk about healing.

I know that lack of money makes doctors visits and dental care and new eye glasses a luxury for many—but is mental health also only for those with the time and money (and lots of it) to afford it? Depressing thought. But that is what many seem to imply.

Not that the spiritual disciplines, as described by Willard and others, are an easy path to follow. Yes, ultimate joy and peace at the end of the journey, but an acknowledged, sometimes rocky road to get there. But here is the hope through them—and they available to all people, all times, all cultures, and at no cost.

For me, that the spiritual disciplines are freely available to all is a sign of authenticity and value.  They are something I can attempt and in good conscience recommend to my struggling friends.

Time management test, not about time but trust

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There is never enough time to do all we want to do.

That is how our world is structured. If we believe in the sovereign ordering of all things by our God, He planned it this way. The question logically follows–why? Did He do this to frustrate us? Did He create time to watch His creation squirm with unfulfilled desires and frustrated dreams, with an always nagging sense of fulfilment?

Or did He do it as a constant reminder that we were not created to live within the limitations of time? The Bible teaches that all people are created as eternal creatures—we will all live forever. The Bible also teaches that it is in this life that we make the decision whether we will live forever where all our noble and worthy dreams and desires will be fulfilled or whether we will live eternally with regret and unending torment.

But even if we have made the decision to trust Jesus as the source of eternal life—what about today? What about the frustrations of here and now? What about the reality that my house is messy, my tiny yard needs to be tidied, plus the blogs, books, and lessons that need to written?

Better time management seems like the answer, but upon further consideration, what a funny thought that is. As if we could manage time, that most elusive and incomprehensible element of creation. All I can manage, or even attempt to manage is myself. I can’t stretch minutes or as Matt 6:27 reminds me, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

The only option I have is to trust the Creator of Time—to spend time with and to quietly listen to my Lord. I need Him to structure my use of temporal time because only He knows what is best for me to do today and what dreams He wants me to wait to fulfill  in His unending tomorrow.