Category: The Bereans

I was listening to the radio the other day when an advertisement caught my attention. The announcer said that the most popular beverage in America was not water, but coffee.

Coffee?

I had to look that one up.

Sure enough, according to recent surveys from the National Coffee Association, about two-thirds of American adults drink coffee on any given day. By that measure, more American adults drink coffee than bottled or tap water.

That is quite an accomplishment for a little bean.

Actually, it isn’t even a bean. What we call a coffee bean is the seed of the fruit of the coffee plant, sometimes called a coffee cherry. Somewhere along the way, someone figured out that you could take that seed, roast it, grind it up, pour hot water over it and end up with something that billions of people would eventually drink.

How did anyone ever think of doing that?

There is a wonderful old story from Ethiopia about a goat herder named Kaldi who noticed that his goats became unusually energetic after eating the red berries from a certain plant. Kaldi tried them himself and apparently discovered that the goats were onto something.

Unfortunately, the story is probably just that—a story. It appeared long after people were already drinking coffee.

What we do know is that coffee drinking was well established in Yemen by the 15th century. Coffeehouses eventually spread throughout the Middle East and then into Europe, where they became gathering places for conversation, commerce, politics and ideas. Coffee made its way across the Atlantic, and eventually America fell in love with it too.

Today we hardly give it a thought.

We wake up and make a pot. We pick up a cup on the way to work. We sit down with a friend and say, “Let’s have coffee.”

I started thinking about how much of our lives revolve around drinking something. We drink because we’re thirsty, of course, but drinking has become much more than satisfying thirst. We drink to wake ourselves up. We drink to relax. We drink socially. We even carry enormous insulated cups around all day so that we are never very far from our next sip.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus sat down beside a well in Samaria. A woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her:

Give me a drink.
John 4:7 (ESV)

It was such an ordinary moment. Jesus was tired from His journey. It was the middle of the day. There was a well. There was a woman with a water jar. But as so often happened with Jesus, an ordinary conversation became something much deeper.

He told her:

Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.
John 4:13–14 (ESV)

She had come to the well looking for water. Jesus knew that she was thirsty for something much more. Aren’t we all? We spend much of our lives going back to the well. We think the next accomplishment will satisfy us. Or the next purchase. The next vacation. The next promotion. The next relationship. Maybe even the next cup of coffee. And some of those things are wonderful. I certainly have no intention of giving up coffee. But eventually the cup is empty.

C.S. Lewis wrote in “Mere Christianity”, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” I think Lewis understood something about thirst. There are desires within us that nothing in this world can completely satisfy because they were never meant to be satisfied by this world.

Jesus did not tell the Samaritan woman that she needed a better well. He offered her Himself. Later He would stand before a crowd in Jerusalem and say:

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
John 7:37 (ESV)

The next time I have a cup of coffee, I may think about that little seed that traveled from Africa to Arabia, through Europe, and eventually into my kitchen. Quite a journey for something we barely think about anymore. But perhaps it can also remind me of something else.

Tomorrow morning, I will probably wake up wanting another cup. And the morning after that, another. That’s the problem with earthly water. We always have to come back for more.

Jesus offers Living Water.

And once again, something seemingly ordinary points me back to Him.

Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #coffee #John4:13-14

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On the last day of my sophomore year in college, a friend drove me to the airport. We stopped for dinner, parked on the street, and went into a restaurant. About an hour and a half later, we returned to find that someone had broken into his car.

Among the things stolen was my large duffel bag. I hadn’t had time to wash clothes during finals week, so I had stuffed it with dirty laundry to take home.

The thief may have thought he had found something valuable. He got my dirty laundry.

You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
Psalm 90:8 (ESV)

For much of my life, I feared that someone would discover my other dirty laundry: the sins I wanted to keep hidden. I have done things I am ashamed of. I have hurt people, damaged my reputation, and fallen short of what I and those who cared for me expected. Even after accepting Jesus Christ, I sometimes struggle with that fear.

But none of it was ever hidden from God. He knew the worst about me when Christ died for me.

His promise is greater than anyone’s accusations, including the ones I still make against myself. Scripture says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” —1 John 1:9 (ESV)

I cannot wash away my own sins. Jesus paid the price I could not pay. I have confessed them, turned to Him, and trusted Him as my Lord and Savior. I serve Him out of gratitude for mercy I did not deserve.

That duffel bag may have been full of dirty clothes. My life has held things far harder to bring into the light. Yet the Lord who sees them all has forgiven me and made me clean.

Thank You, Lord Jesus Christ.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

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Paul, where is the tent we ordered?”

“Paul, the tent you made has a leak. We need you to fix it now!”

Scripture doesn’t record anyone saying those words. But I can imagine the interruptions in a tentmaker’s workshop. Acts tells us that Paul stayed and worked with Priscilla and Aquila because they shared the same trade (Acts 18:2–3). Paul was an apostle called to proclaim the gospel. He also had a vocation. Like many of us, he knew what it meant to have work waiting for him each day.

For years, I felt that tension in my dermatopathology practice. I wanted to write, teach, and share the gospel. I also had cases to review, reports to complete, and physicians who needed answers. When a call interrupted a full day, it was easy to think only of what it was keeping me from doing. Yet behind the question was often a patient waiting for a diagnosis.

Perhaps you know that pull. You want to serve Christ, but your work has deadlines, demands, and people who need you. Then you go home to a family with needs of its own. Where does your calling fit?

Paul’s tentmaking helps me see that question differently. We are called to share the gospel and to be ambassadors for Christ. Our responsibilities at work are among the places where we live out that calling. The way we speak to a frustrated customer, respond to a coworker, or complete a task matters. So does finding the courage to speak about Christ when the opportunity comes.

That doesn’t make every interruption welcome. I suspect I would have sighed if someone brought back a leaking tent when I had somewhere else to be. But the person standing before me would still deserve an honest answer and my best effort to make things right.

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)

Whatever you do includes proclaiming the gospel. It also includes the work on your desk and the person at your door.

We may not all be tentmakers. But we can ask God to help us honor Him through both our vocation and our witness, even when the day does not go as planned.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #fellowtentmakers #1Corinthians10:31

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During my first year of medical school, an internal medicine specialist taught us how to perform a physical examination. We took turns examining one another while he watched and offered guidance.

When he looked at the skin on my back, he stopped.

“What’s this?”

The other students gathered around me. I couldn’t see what they were looking at, but I could hear the concern in his voice.

“I’m not a dermatologist,” he said, “but I remember learning that if it’s blue, it must be bad. You’d better get it looked at right away.”

My heart pounded. Was I about to be diagnosed with skin cancer? I had barely begun medical school, and already I imagined my career ending before it started.

I went upstairs to see a dermatologist. He examined the spot and decided to biopsy it. Then I spent an anxious week waiting for the result.

It was a blue nevus. Benign.

The dermatologist was right to examine it and obtain a diagnosis. What frightened me was the verdict I had already heard—and the one I had begun repeating to myself.  It’s blue. It must be bad.

One feature had become the whole story before we knew the answer.

God’s Word warns us about reaching conclusions too soon:

If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.
Proverbs 18:13 (ESV)

My professor had told me he wasn’t certain, but his memorable rule sounded certain to a frightened student. I took that uncertainty and filled it with the worst possibility. The biopsy answered a question that neither his first impression nor my fear could settle.

I have done the same thing in other parts of life. I hear a few words and decide what someone meant. I see one troubling moment and assume I know what will happen next. Sometimes the concern deserves attention, just as the spot on my back deserved a closer look. But concern is a reason to seek the truth, not permission to declare a verdict before I have it.

What am I calling “bad” today when I do not yet know the whole story? What might I learn if I listen, look more carefully, and resist the urge to let fear supply the answer?

The blue nevus was harmless. The lesson has stayed with me: take a concern seriously, but give the truth time to be heard.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #bluenevus #proverbs18:13

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During our first year of marriage, my wife and I were learning how to bring two different personalities into one home. There was laughter, closeness, and the occasional moment when one of us had to raise a delicate subject.

One day, I thought I had found such a subject.

“Honey, I really appreciate you doing the laundry. But could I ask a favor? Could you run my clothes a little less in the dryer? I think the heat is shrinking them.”

My new bride smiled. “Of course, honey. I’ll make sure I don’t run the dryer too long.”

Months later, I discovered the truth. My clothes weren’t shrinking. My waistline was expanding. My wife had known all along. She had also been kind enough to let me discover it for myself. That little misunderstanding still makes me laugh. But it reminds me how easily we can become convinced we know what is wrong. We see the evidence, reach a conclusion, and may never think to ask whether we have missed something.

Some disagreements are far more serious than laundry. Even Paul and Barnabas, who had served God together, had a sharp disagreement over whether to take John Mark on another missionary journey. Barnabas wanted Mark to come. Paul objected because Mark had left them during an earlier journey. Their disagreement became so strong that they went their separate ways (Acts 15:36–40).

Scripture does not tell us that every wound between them was healed, or how it happened. But it does give us a remarkable later glimpse of Paul’s changed view of Mark. Near the end of his life, Paul wrote:

Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
2 Timothy 4:11 (NKJV)

The man Paul once refused to take along was someone he now wanted beside him.

When a relationship is strained, I may be certain of my own account. Yet God can help me listen more carefully, admit what I got wrong, and leave room for another person to grow. Reconciliation may take time, and it does not always happen as we hope. Still, I can take responsibility for the part that belongs to me.

If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
Romans 12:18 (NKJV)

Is there a conversation you have been avoiding because you are sure you already know the whole story? Ask God to show you what you may have missed. Then, as far as it depends on you, take a step toward peace.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #yourerunningthedryertoolong #Romans12:18

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Through the years, I have interviewed many people for positions in my practice. Before meeting a candidate, I review the résumé and letters of recommendation. They help me decide whom to invite in, but they cannot tell me everything I need to know.

An interview often tells me much more. I listen to the candidate’s answers, ask about their experience, and imagine how they might work with our team. Sometimes I leave the conversation ready to make an offer. But before I decide, I conduct one more interview—with my staff.

I ask what happened when the candidate spoke with them. Was the person courteous? Did they listen? How did they treat the people who welcomed them, answered their questions, and helped them through the day?

More than once, the answers have surprised me. Someone polished and respectful with me had been dismissive, even rude, to a member of my staff. The candidate knew I would make the hiring decision. Perhaps they did not realize that I would ask the others what they had seen.

Their impressions mattered. I could teach a new colleague our procedures, but I could not build a healthy team around someone who only showed respect for the person in charge. How we treat people when there seems to be nothing to gain reveals something that a résumé cannot.

Jesus told a parable about a servant whose master forgave him an enormous debt. The servant then demanded payment of a much smaller debt from a fellow servant and had him imprisoned when he could not pay. When the master learned what had happened, he called the first servant back:

Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?” And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.
Matthew 18:32–35 (NKJV)

The master’s question exposes the servant’s failure: he pleaded for mercy when he was in debt but refused to show compassion when someone else owed him. Jesus ends by naming what matters—whether we forgive from the heart. The servant’s actions toward his fellow servant showed what his appeal to the master had concealed.

That is what my staff’s impressions made me think about. The candidate’s conduct toward me was respectful, but the encounter with someone outside the hiring decision revealed another side. Jesus’ parable is about forgiveness, not employment. Yet it presses a question I cannot set aside: Do I extend to others the mercy I have asked God to extend to me?

God sees the difference between the impression I try to make and the compassion I actually show. I need to confess the times I have withheld patience or forgiveness from someone else and ask Him to help me forgive from the heart.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #therealinterview #Matthew18:32-35

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A friend from medical school became a respected pulmonologist in Los Angeles. He and his wife both grew up in Hawaii, and they still love the islands. So I once asked him whether he might move back someday.

“No. I don’t want to go home.”

I was surprised. “Why not?”

“Here, people know me as the doctor who diagnosed botulism and saved a man’s life,” he said. “Back home, I’m just Jerry.”

As a young resident in the emergency room, he had recognized a rare and dangerous illness in a patient whose life depended on getting the diagnosis right. The story traveled through Southern California’s medical training programs. His reputation was well deserved. Yet he feared that the people who had known him longest would see none of it. They would see the boy they remembered.

I understood why that hurt. We all want the people closest to us to recognize who we have become. Sometimes they are the ones least able to see it.

Jesus experienced something far deeper when He returned to His hometown. The people heard Him teach and knew of His mighty works, but they could not get past the familiarity of His face and family. “Is not this the carpenter?” they asked. They took offense at Him.

Jesus said, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”
Mark 6:4 (ESV)

They knew His history, or thought they did. Their familiarity kept them from receiving the One standing before them. Mark tells us that Jesus marveled at their unbelief. Still, He continued His work beyond Nazareth.

Perhaps you have returned to a family gathering and felt yourself become the awkward child you once were, no matter how much your life has changed. Perhaps you have tried to share your faith with someone who can only remember your past mistakes. That can be painful. Their response, however, does not determine the truth of your message or the worth of the person you have become.

And this story asks something of us as well: Are we so certain we know someone that we no longer listen to them? The people of Nazareth thought they knew Jesus. They missed who He truly was.

When familiar people dismiss you, remember that Jesus understands. Continue to love them. Speak with humility. Leave room for God to work in their hearts—and in yours.

Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #Mark6:3-5 #Idon’twanttogohome

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“Don’t just stand there, do nothing!”

It sounds like terrible advice, especially when someone is having a seizure. The scene can be frightening. Every instinct tells you to grab the person and make the movements stop. But forcing the movements to stop can cause harm. The helpful response is quieter: stay with the person, clear nearby hazards, protect their head, turn them gently onto their side when possible, and time the seizure. Know when to call for emergency help. You are doing something important, even though you cannot make the seizure end.

I have felt that same urge to act in situations I could not control. If I could just do something, perhaps I would feel less helpless. Sometimes action is necessary. Other times, my need to act gets in the way of what I most need to hear.

Peter knew something about that moment. He had gone up a mountain with Jesus, James, and John when Jesus was transfigured before them. Moses and Elijah appeared, speaking with Him. Peter offered to build three tents.

I can imagine Peter trying to make himself useful in a moment too astonishing to take in. I might have done the same. But while Peter was still speaking, a voice came from the cloud:

This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!
Matthew 17:5 (NKJV)

Peter had a plan. God directed his attention to Jesus.

There are times when love requires us to act immediately. There are also times when we need to stop reaching for a solution long enough to listen. I find that difficult. Doing something makes me feel useful; listening asks me to trust.

If you are facing a problem you cannot fix today, you do not have to pretend it is small. Bring it to God. Ask for wisdom. Then give yourself room to hear what Jesus is saying before deciding what to do next.

Don’t just stand there, do nothing. Stay present. Listen. Trust Him.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #Matthew17:5 #dontjuststandtheredonothing #seizure

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At first glance, the Cape buffalo resembles the domesticated water buffalo. But it is a different animal entirely. Wild, powerful, and fiercely protective of its herd, the Cape buffalo has long been feared by hunters. Stories tell of wounded buffalo turning back to confront those pursuing them.

I once heard a safari account that has stayed with me. A woman said that hunters camping nearby had killed a buffalo. That night, she heard a thundering commotion. According to her account, buffalo entered the hunters’ tents and killed the men, while the people in the other tents survived.

I cannot verify the details of that account. Yet I kept thinking about the tents that were spared. If I had awakened to that noise and lived to see morning, I would have felt relief. Then I might have asked a harder question: Why was I spared? Was I any better than those who died?

That question came to mind when I read what happened after Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rebelled against Moses and Aaron:

Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.
Numbers 16:31–33 (NKJV)

God’s judgment was swift. The earth opened beneath those involved in the rebellion, while the rest of the assembly remained. The passage shows that God knew who He was judging. But it does not invite me to stand among the survivors and declare myself innocent.

I have rebelled against God in my own ways. I have wanted my will instead of His. When I read about judgment, the question is not only Why them? It is also Why has God been patient with me?

The answer leads me to Jesus Christ. God has shown His love and mercy by offering His Son to sinners. Through faith in Jesus, we can be forgiven and reconciled to God. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and helps us grow to be more like Christ.

God’s patience is a gift, but it is not a promise that I can put off responding to Him forever. Jesus will return as King and Judge. I do not know when that day will come. I do know that today, His invitation remains open.

The image of those untouched tents still troubles me. It reminds me how easily I can take another morning for granted. I have been given time to turn to Christ, trust Him, and live in the mercy I could never earn.

Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #Capewaterbuffalo #Numbers16:31-33

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God doesn’t make mistakes.

This is a touching video that shows the interaction between a young boy with Down Syndrome and a dog. No words are spoken. None need to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSH8PYmYDBo#t=151

The video ends with the message, “God doesn’t make mistakes.” The world will tell us that conditions such as Down Syndrome are proof that God is not in control of this world or creation. They tout that advances in medicine and science will “cure” these conditions. They exalt man’s intelligence to fix all “problems.” But Down Syndrome isn’t a mistake, a problem, or a condition that needs to be fixed. It is but one way that God reaches out to His creation to demonstrate His love.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, or your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)

My son has Down Syndrome. As a physician, I may understand some of the medical reasons. As a father, I may understand some of the challenges of life that lie ahead. But as a child of God, I only understand that God has blessed our family with our son so that we can begin to understand the unlimited and unfathomable grace and mercy that He shows to all who believe in Him and place their trust in Him.

God doesn’t make mistakes.

He never does.

Love and trust the Lord, seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #Goddoesn’tmakemistakes #Isaiah55:8-9

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