Tag Archives: Physical

Chapter-a-Day

Today

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But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Hebrews 3:13 (NIV)

Wendy made a quick run to Des Moines yesterday for a couple of medical treatments to help her with some stiffening and body aches. Meanwhile, I have been continuing to work out multiple times a week to keep my own body moving and avoid some of the natural effects of age.

“This whole getting older thing is for the birds!” Wendy exclaimed yesterday as we commiserated.

Indeed, it is. Our physical well-being requires more daily attention than ever.

In today’s chapter, the author of Hebrews continues his message to the weary, persecuted believers of the first century. His message has been laser focused on Jesus. In the first chapter Jesus was the celestial Creator exalted above the angels and all heavenly beings. In the second chapter, Jesus was the humble servant – God made human – who understands our suffering.

Today’s chapter begins with the author making the point that Jesus was greater than Moses. For the Jewish believers, this was a crucial truth. In Jewish tradition, no one was greater than Moses. The end of Torah states:

“Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”
Deuteronomy 34:10-12 (NIV)

Moses was “faithful in God’s house,” the author says, but Jesus “made the house.” And now? “We are the house.” God’s house is no longer bricks-and-mortar, it’s flesh-and-blood. He then warns the weary and persecuted believers against the very thing that their ancestors experienced in their wilderness wanderings with Moses: allowing their hearts to get hard and giving up on faith.

The Greek word the author uses for the “hardening” of hearts is sklērynē and it’s the root of our English word “sclerosis.” Literally, a stiffening. The antidote for this spiritual stiffening that leads to loss of faith is daily encouragement. He even quotes Psalm 95 to add emphasis on “Today.”

“Today” you need to encourage one another.
“Today” you need spiritual exercise to keep from getting stiff.
“Today” you need to “fix your thoughts on Jesus.”

Spiritual well-being requires daily attention to avoid hardening of the heart, the same way that daily attention is necessary to avoid sclerosis of the joints and muscles in my physical body.

Today’s chapter whispers a simple but fierce truth to me in the quiet this morning: Faithfulness is a daily choice. Every “today” is an invitation to trust again, to soften again, to listen again. My spirit calcifies easily—through disappointment, cynicism, habit—but Christ keeps calling to me: “Come, enter my rest.”

Encouragement is holy work. Each word of grace I speak may soften another’s heart just enough to keep faith alive another day. We build God’s house one tender faithful act of kindness at a time.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Body, Mind, and Spirit

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“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.”
1 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)

Part of my routine of late has been to get in a two-mile walk in the morning at least three to four times a week. It’s been interesting to find a community of walkers in our neighborhood who all walk around the same time. It’s been fun to wave, to greet, and to feel a sense of camaraderie with others as I try to keep my body healthy. The encouragement and feeling of community is something that’s good for me.

The truth is that I have typically been very disciplined in my spiritual exercise regimen over the years. This chapter-a-day blog will celebrate its 20 year anniversary next March. Spending time with God in the quiet, studying the Great Story, meditating on what it has for me each day is something that has become like breathing for me. I don’t even think about it. It just comes naturally.

Physical exercise, on the other hand, is something I have to consciously choose to do. Over the years I’ve had stops-and-starts. My weight has fluctuated. I go through a season of being disciplined and feeling the benefits of improved health, and then my discipline wanes.

As I have greeted my fellow walking community comrades in recent weeks, it strikes me that I’m probably not typical. I think more people are given to physical training more than they are to spiritual training.

In today’s chapter, Paul encourages his young protégé Timothy in this very subject. Paul urges Timothy to be disciplined in spiritual training that leads to godliness. The word for training he uses is the Greek word gymnaze from which we get the word gymnasium. Paul then references the physical training that the Greco-Roman Timothy knows quite well as everyone in that day was familiar with athletes training for the Olympic games in gymnasiums. Even in Paul and Timothy’s day, the Olympics were major event in the Roman Empire. Roman Emperors loved to leverage the spectacle and popularity of the Olympics to show off their prestige.

Paul leveraged the metaphor of athletes, training, games, and victory over and over again in his writings. It was one of his favorites, and the connection is very real. Training, whether physical, intellectual, or spiritual requires a conscious choice, regular discipline, and perseverance over time to realize the long-term benefits.

I’m reminded in the quiet this morning that God continually calls me to wholeness in body, mind, and spirit. Paul urges Timothy in spiritual training. He likewise urged the believers in Corinth their bodies were the Temple of the Holy Spirit and to take care of that Temple. He urged the believers in Rome to be transformed by training and renewing their minds.

Body, mind, and spirit. God reminds me that being a healthy follower of Jesus requires choice, discipline, training, and perseverance in all three areas.

It’s raining this morning, so no two-mile walk. Time to hit the gym.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Boundary Stones

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“The Lord said to Moses,“Command the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have these boundaries…”
Numbers 34:1-2 (NIV)

For a brief period season in my college years I worked as an abstractor. An abstract is a legal record of the history of a plot of land. For most people it’s a whole lot of indecipherable legalese, but it’s a necessary part of lawfully setting and keeping boundaries. And, in some cases when you learn to read through the legalese you can learn all sorts of interesting tidbits about the history of a property, the people who owned it, what was built on it, how it may have been contested, and how it changed hands through the generations.

As we get near the end of this chapter-a-day trek through the book of Numbers we run into some classically boring chapters. Today’s chapter is one of those. Moses and the Hebrew tribes are making preparations to enter the Promised Land, and God through Moses lays out instructions for the boundaries and how to allot land to the tribes and their families. In essence, God is being an ancient abstractor. The process isn’t willy-nilly. It’s not a situation in which the most powerful get whatever they can take and maintain. The process is orderly and structured so as to create equitable allotments and boundaries in which every family and every tribe can find protection, build fruitful lives, and flourish.

As I meditated on this in the quiet this morning, I was reminded of a season of my own life journey in which everything fell apart. When you go through a divorce life can seem like boundaries are erased. Everything moves and shifts, what was once established is now contested and negotiated. All parties in the family both nuclear and extended get pulled into the ripple effects of the boundary lines of family and life shifting. It is not a pleasant experience even when it is a relatively mutual parting of ways.

In the wake of this season, I had a prophetic friend who had received a word for me from the Holy Spirit. It’s written down. I still have it:

“I saw like in Ireland they have those, those stones where they mark “this is the edge of my property.” I saw that those stones had been burned, that they’d been turned down, they’d been removed in your life. And the Father said, “This is the season. I’m going to restore all the boundaries, all the things that I’ve designed for you to walk in.” 

Boundary stones and abstracts are good things. Having them means you have a plot on which to live, flourish, and be protected in a place you call home. Christian commentators through the ages have noted that while the Hebrews were given physical boundaries and allotted physical land in Numbers this was just a metaphorical foreshadowing of the spiritual Promised Land, allotment, and inheritance that Jesus would provide to every believer.

After all, Jesus told us that our hearts were soil and on that soil things grow and are built. Jesus cautioned us to grow good fruit and to be careful how and what we build on that soil in our hearts. Jesus’ teaching provides boundaries intended for my safety, my security, for growing good things, storing eternal treasures, and building those things that will equally last for eternity.

Looking back, I can testify that my prophetic friend channeled a good Word from God’s Spirit. The boundary stones were re-established and restored. Within those boundary stones God has blessed me and I have flourished in ways that I once thought were simply not possible.

I hear the Psalmists words echo in my heart this morning:

“Your boundary lines mark out pleasant places for me. Indeed, my inheritance is something beautiful.”
Psalm 16:6 (GW)

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Dedicated

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“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of dedication to the Lord as a Nazirite…’”
Numbers 6:2 (NIV)

This past week Wendy and I were blessed to spend time with our friend, Eric, who just returned from completing 29029, a three-day endurance event in which participants hike a marathon each day for three days at high altitude. Our friend has been steadfastly training for this event for months. It was fun to listen to him share about his experience and the lessons he learned along the way. The lessons were layered: physical, mental, and spiritual.

What has been clear over the past several months is that completing this event required our friend to be dedicated. It was an all-day, every day endeavor from a mental and physical perspective. Like most people, I struggle just to get the amount of exercise to be healthy. My friend is in a special class of individuals dedicating themselves to reach a completely different level of physical performance.

Today’s chapter is unique and fascinating. God is preparing the recently delivered Hebrew slaves for an entirely new way of living life in relationship to God, one another, and the people groups around them. In the book of Leviticus God laid down the regulations for every Hebrew as it related to conducting themselves daily in the camp and in community together with God in their midst. In today’s chapter, God gives every man and woman a choice to reach a completely different level of spiritual dedication.

It was called a “Nazirite” vow and the person who took this vow was referred to as a “Nazirite.” The term comes from the Hebrew word nāzar which means dedicated, separate, and abstain. The Hebrew word nāzîr from which the term “Nazirite” springs is translated as a special class of people dedicated to God. It could also mean “prince” and was used to refer to grapevines that went untended and dedicated to God during God’s prescribed “sabbatical” year of rest. In other words, choosing to take a Nazirite vow as the spiritual equivalent of our friend’s choice to hike three marathons in three days.

The Nazirite could choose the length of his or her vow and period of their consecration. The Nazirite vow wasn’t complicated:

  1. Abstain from all alcohol, don’t even a grape or raisin.
  2. Don’t cut a hair on your head during the period of your vow.
  3. Don’t be in the presence of a dead body, even if your parent dies.
  4. Upon completion of the vow, go before the Lord at the entrance of the traveling tent temple, shave your head and burn it as an offering as part of a prescribed ceremony.

If someone accidentally had a coronary and dropped dead in a Nazirite’s presence, it was a complete do-over. They had to complete a seven-day purification and then start back at day-1 of their consecration period.

One of the details in today’s chapter was that the reason for a Nazirite not cutting their hair was “because the symbol of their dedication to God is on their head.” In other words, this is a public dedication, which both ups the accountability of the Nazirite to keep their vow and challenges everyone else with the daily public reminder. If the every day Hebrew struggled just to keep up with God’s daily spiritual prescriptions for life, the Nazirite was there to remind them that there is an entirely different level of spiritual dedication to which they can ascend.

As I meditated on these things, I was reminded that periods of spiritual consecration and dedication have always been part of the spiritual tradition for Jesus’ followers. When Jesus was asked why He and his disciples feasted and drank with sinners, Jesus replied that everyone celebrates and feasts with the Bridegroom. He then noted that a time would come when “The Bridegroom” would depart. Then His disciples would fast. And, followers of Jesus have always traditionally done so in various ways at various times.

Fasting during the season of Lent leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday is probably the most common, but from the early days of the Jesus Movement there emerged a group of dedicated mystics known as the desert fathers. Their dedication to an ascetic life was the precursor to the monastic movement that is still with us thousands of years later.

To be honest, this morning’s chapter feels a bit like a divine appointment. In recent days and weeks I have had thoughts about a special, personal season of dedication. Spiritually picturing the ancient Nazirites and their long hair in the quiet this morning served God’s original purpose, reminding me there’s an entirely higher level of spiritual dedication. So, I find myself in contemplation and conversation with God about it.

Along this life journey I’ve learned that there are times to dedicate myself to taking things to another level.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Chapter-a-Day

Spiritual Senses

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“For we live by faith, not by sight.”
2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV)

I have genetic hearing loss that is slowly and surely progressing as I age. Wendy and I play a daily game called, “Did He Hear Me or Not?” I’m really good at fooling her. I’m a trained actor. She always wins in the end, though. I eventually always ask her a question that she’s already answered just minutes before. Oops.

Over the years, I have prayed many times for healing. I have had multiple people approach me to ask if they could pray for my hearing to be restored. It has yet to happen this side of heaven.

I had a friend who recently asked me about my feelings regarding my diminished auditory capacities. As annoying as it is (and it is annoying for me and those who have to live with me), I have also pondered my physical hearing loss from a spiritual perspective. I think it might be very possible that as my physical hearing dulls my spiritual hearing becomes more sharpened. I answered my friend by telling him that if I had to choose between clearly hearing the world around me or clearly hearing God’s Spirit, I will choose God’s Spirit every time.

I recently got a pair of “smart glasses.” The technology is still relatively new and growing, but there are already devices on the market that translate what is said into closed captioning that appears on the inside lens of a pair of glasses. I’ve got my eye on this. It could eventually be a game changer for me.

In yesterday’s chapter, Paul told Jesus’ disciples in Corinth that he fixes his eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. It is very much the same thing I’ve come to understand about hearing. There are physical senses and there are spiritual senses. Jesus taught that we should make it a priority to seek after God’s kingdom and store up treasure there. This requires having spiritual sight, and fixing my eyes on what is unseen.

In today’s chapter, Paul continues to riff on this metaphor. Throughout his letter, Paul references “other teachers” among the Corinthians who have been critical of Paul and his entourage. Paul describes these other teachers as ones who “peddle God’s word for profit” (2:17). Paul famously worked a day job wherever he went, plying his family’s tent-making trade, so that he wouldn’t be a financial burden on the local gathering of believers. Others, however, made the teaching circuit and demanded healthy compensation for teaching the local believers. In today’s chapter, he describes these individuals as those who “take pride in what is seen.”

Paul, however, says that he and his companions “live by faith, not sight.” His eyes are focused on what is unseen, trusting that God will take care of his daily physical needs. He suffers physical troubles as He travels and shares Jesus love and message, but he’s not worried about that. Yes, he groans under the burden of it, but he spiritually considers how temporary it is in comparison to the eternity awaiting him. The eyes of his spirit are fixed on the eternal, and it gives him a different perspective of what is physically seen and experienced.

As I ponder this in the quiet this morning, I am reminded that being a follower of Jesus can really be boiled down to this one simple metaphor. It’s the same question I ended with yesterday. It continues to resonate and reverberate in my soul this morning.

Earth or Heaven?
Physical or spiritual?
Temporal or eternal?

Will I live this temporal, physical life on earth today with spiritual senses fixed on Jesus’ eternal truth and the heavenly investment He asks me to make? Or, will I mindlessly be fixated on what I physically see, hear, crave, feel, and need?

My spiritual ears hear God’s Spirit urging me toward the former.

I think my physical ears hear Wendy in the kitchen starting to make breakfast, indicating it’s time to end this post.

I’m not sure, though. My physical hearing is always suspect. My spiritual hearing, however, always proves to be more accurate.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Outward Appearances, Inward Realities

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/1X5CEZNC2plgBQDIp33Kay?si=egXbcZiDT7SJ_pLydqAJhg

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 (NIV)

Around our house there is a lot of conversation about generations. In our company’s customer research we are regularly discovering that our clients’ customers are segmented into very different generational groups who have very different expectations and preferences. Companies who don’t recognize and address the differences risk losing business. Personally, I fear that if the institutional church does not recognize and address the differences we may risk losing souls.

For several years now, Wendy and I have followed the writing of Dr. Jonathan Haidt. He has been at the forefront of understanding the negative effects that smart phones have had on children. He was also among the first to cry the warning of what closing schools during COVID was doing to our children. He is also seeing how these things are creating differences in generations of children. Haidt has signed on a young woman named Freya India to his team. She has written an amazing post about Gen Z that everyone should read about why Gen Z will not look back with nostalgia at their own childhood, but rather they are nostalgic about the childhood of previous generations that they never had.

What’s fascinating to me as I ponder the emerging generation of young people is that they are arguably the product of the most blessed, advanced, and affluent society in the history of human civilization. Nevertheless, they are experiencing record levels of anxiety and depression.

This came to mind this morning as I read today’s chapter in which Paul shares with the believers in Corinth the troubles and sufferings that he and his companions have been experiencing as they tirelessly share the message of Jesus with others and lovingly concern themselves with the Corinthians’ well-being. Paul describes his daily realities as “hard pressed on every side…perplexed…persecuted…struck down.” Despite these external physical hardships, Paul says that they are “being renewed inwardly” daily.

As I read this, I thought what a contrast this is to the description that Haidt and India provide us with our current younger generation. Outwardly, it would appear that they are outwardly blessed with affluence, education, technology, safety, security, and health in ways and in levels that no generation before them has ever experienced. Nevertheless, they are inwardly wasting away. In today’s chapter Paul calls his sufferings “treasure” inside the “jar of clay” that is his body. It reminded me of a contrasting reality Ms. India wrote about recently:

I worry because young women like me were raised with only one vision of hell. Now our only nightmare is being restricted by religion, by a relationship, or burdened by responsibilities. But what if hell is also the opposite? What if hell isn’t the faith that makes you stay, but the doubt that makes you leave? What if sometimes the devil is not the voice keeping you trapped, but the one whispering that you are being restricted, wronged, held back—deserve a fresh start? Have we ever considered that the most dangerous ideology might not be the one asking us to have faith through hard things but the one training us to doubt what is good, to see something that should be treasured as a trap?

In the quiet this morning, my heart and mind are pondering how much all of us in this affluent, technologically advanced, safe, secure, and healthy modern reality are suffering the same malady as Gen Z, just not to the same extreme. Outwardly we appear to be healthy, wealthy, and blessed. Factually, we are. Is our “inward” reality the same?

Jesus repeatedly told His disciples that the requirement of being His follower was selflessness, sacrifice, service, and even suffering. For almost every one of His twelve disciples that included suffering excruciating death. It will be the same for Paul. Yet, Paul says his inward reality is Life and love that is renewed daily and flourishing.

God’s ways are not our ways.

As Paul put it, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

I’m in daily need of this reminder.

Where are my eyes fixed this morning?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Don’t Read It, Eat It

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Don't Read It, Eat It! – Wayfarer

Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
Ezekiel 3:3 (NIV)

The other day, The Babylon Bee posted one of its usual satirical memes that pictured a man with children on his lap reading. The headline said, “Man Sits Down With Children To Read ‘The Hobbit’ for Nightly Devotions.” I sent it to our family chat string with the comment “I’m not sure what’s satirical about this.”

I read both The Hobbit and the entirety of The Lord of the Rings to our girls when they were young. They were preteens when the epic Peter Jackson film adaptations began being released, so they grew up watching those with me, too. It’s a thing in our family.

A few years ago I received a strange text in the middle of the day from Taylor asking the name of the character King Theoden’s horse. “That’s random,” I thought as I immediately replied with the answer: Snowmane. Turns out she was at a Pub Trivia night in a pub in the UK and knew that I’d know the answer. For the record, I could have named most of the other character’s horses, as well.

There’s a difference between reading a book and digesting it.

That’s exactly the metaphorical point of today’s chapter. We’re in the final of three chapters describing Ezekiel’s vision of being ushered into God’s Throne room and called to be a prophet to the people of Israel exiled in Babylon. Zeke is handed a scroll with God’s message of “lament, warning, and woe.” In today’s final chapter describing the vision, Ezekiel is told to “eat” the scroll. He does so and finds it sweet as honey.

There’s a difference between reading a scroll and eating it.

Throughout the Great Story, God tells His people to devour His Words. Not just to read them, but to feed on them spiritually; To digest them as they meditate on them day and night. Like the old PSA I grew up with on television stated: “You are what you eat.” That is not only true physically, but also metaphorically. Spiritually we become whatever our mind and spirit feast upon daily.

This chapter-a-day habit is, for me, a spiritual breakfast that gives me a good spiritual start to my day. Just like the blueberry-spinach smoothie Wendy will make for me an hour from now, that does the same thing for me physically. Just as that will not be the only thing I eat today, this chapter-a-day rumination is the only time I spend reading, studying, meditating, or memorizing.

Having devoured the text for over forty years, I have a few observations regarding why God would ask His people to do so:

First, everything in life begins to relate to the Word. Having devoured it and digested it, I begin to find that my heart and mind translate everyday events, conversations, and interactions through the spiritual lens of the Great Story. I can’t help it. It just does.

Second, there are important verses and passages that I have on instant recall just like the name of King Theoden’s horse. The difference, of course, is that life isn’t always trivial. In moments of fear, stress, anger, temptation, conflict, or tragedy I have instant recall of God’s words to instruct, inspire, guide, and comfort. And, it not only works for me intrapersonally but also for others interpersonally as I’m conversing with them.

Third, the deeper I get in my reading, meditating, and memorizing the more deeper, more rich, and more fulfilling it becomes to me spiritually. There’s always more for me to learn, understand, and connect to as I return to it. It humbles me how much I know that I still don’t know after a lifetime of study, but it excites me to keep going back to dig deeper knowing that it will continue to yield even sweeter fruit in my life.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded why I’ve developed this chapter-a-day habit and why I continue to do it. I’m grateful for the experience that digesting the Great Story has been for me and my life. And, I recommend it. It’s never too late to start, and I guarantee it yields positive spiritual results.

And, for the record, in the Lord of the Rings:

Gandalf’s horse is Shadowfax.
Sam’s pony is named Bill.
Aragorn rides Hasufel.
Legolas and Gimli ride Arod.
Merry’s pony is called Stybba.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day, Uncategorized

Seeing and Believing

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Seeing and Believing (CaD Jhn 9) – Wayfarer

Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
John 9:39 (NIV)

A few weeks ago there was a congressional hearing regarding prejudice, specifically anti-semitism, on college campuses. The Presidents of three elite universities were asked simple, direct questions. Their responses were evasive, murky, and unclear. Two of the three resigned in subsequent weeks.

These events came to mind today as I read today’s chapter. This is the third chapter in a row in which John gives witness to the rising conflict between the religious leaders in Jerusalem and Jesus. The religious leaders were elite, educated, and wealthy. They occupied the highest rung of their society. Jesus was a sharp contrast. Jesus had no formal or elite education in the established educational system. Jesus was not wealthy, and He depended on the generosity of others to fund His traveling ministry. Jesus lived and operated in the rural, backwater regions of the country.

John carefully chose the healing of a blind man as one of the seven miracles, or “signs” as he chooses to call them, as it fits perfectly with the narrative on multiple levels. In the previous chapter, Jesus refers to Himself as “the Light of the World” multiple times. As if to literally prove His point, today’s chapter begins with Jesus healing a man who had been blind since birth. Out of the darkness of his blindness, the man can see for the first time in his life.

This event led to three hearings before the elite, educated, powerful religious leaders. The first was with the former blind man himself who recounted the event of his healing. There is division among the religious leaders. Some are entrenched in their fundamentalist belief that the fact Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath (the religious “day of rest”) negates the “godliness” of the miracle. Others argue that the very act of giving sight to a man born blind can only come from God.

Then, something fascinating happens. These educated elites ask the formerly blind beggar his opinion, but they aren’t happy when the man proclaims Jesus a prophet. Some of the religious leaders are so adamant in their disbelief of Jesus that they choose to believe that the blind man is lying about being blind since birth.

Hearing number two is with the blind man’s parents. John records that they are “afraid” of the religious leaders and the power these elites have to excommunicate them from the synagogue and socially ostracize them. This is another clear indicator of toxic fundamentalism. The elite few at the top of the food chain use power and fear to control the masses. In this instance, the parents testify that their son was born blind, but when it comes to his healing and his testimony about Jesus, the parents know the narrative their overseers want to hear. They deftly plead the fifth and deflect to their adult son.

The blind man is called back before the leaders for the second time. It’s classic. The dumb, poor beggar responds to the repeated questions with wisdom and reason. He makes the leaders look foolish in the mental gymnastics they are exercising to justify their unbelief. The result is what one might expect from humiliated fundamentalist elites. They insulted him, threatened him, and threw him out.

John then records that Jesus introduces himself to the formerly blind man. The man proclaims his personal belief that Jesus was the Son of Man, and he worships Jesus. Jesus then proclaims that He came “so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

A couple of thoughts in the quiet this morning. First, I love the progression of the formerly blind man’s faith. He begins not knowing who Jesus was or who healed him. He then calls Jesus a man, then progresses to calling Jesus a prophet. Finally, he meets Jesus personally and places his faith in Jesus as the Messiah and worships Him. Healing the man’s physical blindness led to the healing of his spiritual blindness. Jesus not only opened the man’s physical eyes, but his spiritual eyes as well. Which leads me to my second thought.

Along my spiritual journey, I have encountered religious, label-wearing Christians who I observed to be spiritually blind. I have also encountered individuals who claim no faith label but I observe that they clearly see the heart and Spirit of Jesus’ teaching. This is a constant reminder to me that every person is having their own conversations with Life and that God’s Spirit is perpetually at work to open the eyes of our spirits to see the Light of the World. Today’s chapter is a reminder that staunch, educated religious people can be spiritually blind while humble, uneducated and irreligious individuals can have spiritual sight that is 20/20.

A friend once asked me about my increasingly poor hearing. I told him that if my impaired physical hearing contributes to being able to hear spiritual things with greater clarity, I will always choose the latter.

I’m back on Facebook for those who liked to read my chapter-a-day posts there! Facebook refuses to give me access to my old, hacked account, but I have started a new account. Please search for me on Facebook and friend me. If Facebook won’t let you friend me, please go to my Facebook profile and “Message” me, which should then allow me to friend you. Cheers! -Tom

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The Deeper Need

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The Deeper Need (CaD Lk 5) – Wayfarer

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 5:20 (NIV)

I have a sticker on my iPad cover of Caravaggio’s The Calling of Matthew. It’s one of my favorite works of art both because no artist has brought the dramatic moment to life than then the troubled Italian. And, it’s one of my favorite stories in all of the Great Story because of what it represents.

In today’s chapter, Jesus continues his Miracle Ministry Tour as the crowds of followers continue to grow. Twice, again, in today’s chapter Luke mentions the swelling and astonished crowds as Jesus prompts a miraculous catch of fish, heals a leper and then a man with paralysis.

But underneath the obvious miracles and the public spectacle, Jesus begins to hint at something deeper.

When the paralytic man is lowered through the roof to reach Jesus, Jesus initiates the encounter, not by healing his physical paralysis, but by forgiving his sins and healing what sin had done to his soul. For the first time, the religious leaders get bent out of shape, because they know only God can forgive sins. Jesus uses the conflict as a teaching moment, healing the man’s physical paralysis as well.

In the very next episode Luke shares, Jesus calls the local tax collector to be one of his disciples. Remember that Jesus’ base of operations in Capernaum is a diverse population of both Jews and non-Jewish (aka Gentile) residents who were Greek an/or Roman pagans. Levi was considered a traitor by his fellow Jews because he worked for Rome and got rich off the taxes he charged and collected. I’ll bet Levi made sure Peter made a hefty tax payment on that miraculous catch from earlier in the chapter. Jesus’ choice of Levi (aka Matthew) could not have been popular with his growing crowd of Jewish followers.

Jesus, however, ignores His Jewish critics and visits Levi’s house for a dinner party. Being a tax collector Levi rubbed shoulders with other tax collectors as well as prominent Romans and Greeks who were pagans who also lived in Capernaum. Jesus’ own people considered these people dirty and socially unacceptable. Simon, James, and John would never have crossed the threshold of Levi’s doors so as to show consideration for the Roman traitor or to be contaminated by the Gentile “dogs” he considered friends.

But Jesus did. I think The Chosen captures the moment well:

Once again, the good Jewish religious leaders are appalled by this Miracle Man. He certainly does miraculous things, but He refuses to stay in the well established and accepted Jewish lane.

Jesus response? “The healthy (God’s people) don’t need a doctor, but the lost sheep (Levi) and sinners (Levi’s Gentile friends) do.” Jesus’ choice to dine with Levi and his Gentile friends would have made Him a pariah to his Jewish followers, but would have won a lot of friends among their Gentile neighbors who were typically treated with contempt by the Jewish residents.

In both the forgiving of the paralytic, the calling of Levi, and his attendance at Levi’s dinner party, Jesus is firing a shot across the bow of the religious establishment. He can heal people all day long, but a paralytic who now walks makes just another walking sinner in need of a remedy for his spiritual affliction. Jesus’ mission is to bring spiritual freedom and healing to every tribe and nation and people and language.

In the quiet this morning, I confess that for many years I ran in certain Christian circles, and the religious establishment among those Christian circles were no different than the Jewish establishment of Jesus’ day. I was told to avoid modern-day Levis and their non-Christian ilk, just like Jesus. The further I got in my journey as a disciple of Jesus, the further away I was led from those religious establishments.

I love that Jesus was so bold in crossing religious and cultural boundaries right out of the gate. I love God’s heart, that all the way back in Genesis looked at everything that He created and loved it. Being a disciple of Jesus has led me to believe that any human religion that does not reflect the love of God for all of His creation does not reflect the heart of God.

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Chapter-a-Day

Sometimes I Need a Lecture from Doc

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Sometimes I Need a Lecture from Doc (CaD 2 Sam 21) – Wayfarer

Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted. 2 Samuel 21:15 (NIV)

The man who has been my doctor for most of my life is retiring at the end of this year. He has been my family’s primary physician since about the time I was entering my teens. Doc was a young man fresh out of medical school. The first time I saw him was when a large sliver from my the wooden skateboard, which I had received for my birthday, lodged deep in my thigh and required both a minor surgical extrication and a lecture about being careful with my toys. Lately, he’s lecturing me about fiber, cholesterol, and prostate health.

One of the things I have always loved about Doc is his blunt and honest way of giving it to you straight. He doesn’t mince words, though he may add a little colorful verbiage. Once when were discussing a minor procedure I needed done he simply laughed and said. “Get ready. It’s gonna hurt like hell.” It did. A few years ago I wrenched my knee in a waterskiing accident at the lake. He stormed into the examining room after reading my chart. His first words were an exclamation spoken so loud the the people the waiting room had to have heard it: “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?! WATERSKIING?! AT YOUR AGE?!“

Thanks, Doc. Nice to see you, too.

He was half-joking with me, but only half. The truth is, every season of the journey comes with its own threats and opportunities. I can’t do some of the things I could do physically even ten years ago. At the same time, experience and maturity afford me the opportunity to do some things better than I ever have before. C’est la vie. I might as well embrace reality because I can’t change it.

One of the things I appreciate about the story of David is that we get to follow his story from a young boy to an old man. Unlike many biblical stories in which a life span can be reduced to a sentence or two, we have two entire books and part of a third that are dedicated to his biography. We started with the young shepherd boy slaying Goliath with his sling. In today’s chapter, David discovers that he can’t wield the sword like he once could. His men, speaking like predecessors of my family doctor, gave King David their own “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!” lecture. He’d reached that age. It was time for him to hang up his sword and lead from the rear.

A few weeks ago I posted about the threat of early retirement. On the surface it may seem contradictory with today’s post about about not trying to overdo things once you reach a certain age. As with so many things in this life journey, truth is found at the point of tension between the two extremes. I’m discovering that wisdom lies in channeling my available resources in the most constructive, efficient and effective ways. Where I best channel them changes at different waypoints on the road of life.

 A Note to Readers
I’m taking a blogging sabbatical and will be editing and re-publishing my chapter-a-day thoughts on David’s continued story in 2 Samuel while I’m taking a little time off to focus on a few other priorities. Thanks for reading.
Today’s post was originally published in May 2014.

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