Category: The Bereans

The other evening, I gave my retirement speech. As I thought about how to end it, I realized there was really only one word left.

Aloha.

In Hawaii, where I grew up, it is a word familiar to all of us. Depending on the setting, it can mean hello, goodbye, and I love you. For that evening, it meant all three. Afterward, I found myself thinking about that word. Maybe some of the most meaningful moments in life contain all three meanings at once. A wedding is a hello. But it is also a goodbye. Two people begin a new life together while saying farewell to the lives they once knew. Parents understand this as well. Every milestone—a first day of school, a graduation, a wedding—brings joy. Yet somewhere inside, we know that something precious has passed.

Perhaps that is why goodbyes become harder as we grow older. Not because we love less. But because we have been given more to love. When I was younger, I thought life was mainly about accomplishment. There were goals to pursue, responsibilities to carry, and work to be done. Those things mattered, and they still do. But looking back, I find that the things I treasure most are not accomplishments. I remember people. Conversations. Meals shared. Unexpected encouragement. Acts of kindness. Laughter. Ordinary moments that seemed unremarkable at the time. And perhaps that should not surprise me.

Years ago, the apostle Paul wrote:

We were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
1 Thessalonians 2:8 (ESV)

Those words strike me differently now than they once did. Paul wasn’t talking about accomplishments. He was talking about affection. He was talking about relationships. He was talking about people who had become dear to him. Maybe that’s why saying goodbye hurts. Not because something went wrong. But because something beautiful happened.

The pain of parting is often the price we pay for having loved deeply. I think about Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders. They embraced him and wept, knowing they would not see him again. Scripture never criticizes their tears. Love and sorrow have always walked together. And for Christians, goodbye is never the end of the story. Because of Christ, every farewell carries the hope of another hello. Which brings me back to the word I spoke at the end of my remarks.

Hello. Goodbye. I love you.

For that evening, it meant all three.

Aloha.

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

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #aloha #1Thessalonians2:8

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“And it begs the question…”

“Oooh!”

I looked at my co-worker, surprised by her outburst. “Is something the matter?”

Embarrassed, she stammered, “No, no.”

I knew she would never react like that unless something truly bothered her, so I persisted. “What’s wrong?”

She hesitated. “It’s just that the phrase ‘begs the question’ is always used incorrectly.”

I was confused. “And you’re saying I used it incorrectly? How?”

She smiled apologetically. “Most people use it to mean ‘raises the question,’ but that’s not what it originally means. To ‘beg the question’ is to assume your conclusion without proving it.”

I laughed. “So all these years…”

“…you’ve been using it like almost everyone else,” she replied.

And she was right.

Strictly speaking, “begging the question” is a logical fallacy. It means assuming the very thing you’re trying to prove. Yet in ordinary conversation, people commonly use it to mean “raises the question.”

I had no idea.

That conversation stayed with me. Not because I suddenly became interested in grammar or logic, but because it reminded me how easy it is to assume we know something simply because we have heard it repeated often enough. Sometimes we don’t examine our words. Sometimes we don’t examine our opinions. And sometimes we don’t examine ourselves.

The apostle Paul wrote:

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. 
2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV)

As Christians, we should love truth—not merely what is familiar, popular, or comfortable. It is possible to repeat phrases we have heard all our lives without understanding them. More seriously, it is possible to hold spiritual assumptions we have never carefully examined. Why do I believe what I believe? Am I trusting Christ because I truly know Him, or simply because I have inherited certain traditions? Am I seeking God’s will, or merely assuming that my will and His are the same?

My co-worker wasn’t trying to embarrass me. She was reminding me—without realizing it—that humility means being willing to learn, willing to be corrected, and willing to follow truth wherever it leads.

Perhaps that, in itself, raises an important question.

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

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #begsthequestion #2Corinthians13:5

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The villain met a violent death at the hands of the hero. It was the climax of the plot…or was it? I was surprised to discover there was another hour left in the movie. The villain’s death, while important, was not the climax after all. It made me wonder: What exactly is the climax of a story?

I was always taught that if the climax didn’t occur, the story could not end. Literary scholars generally define the climax as the decisive turning point of a story—the event toward which everything before has been moving and from which everything afterward inevitably follows. Remove the climax, and the story has no ending.

The climax is the moment when the central conflict is finally resolved and the story’s most important question is answered. That made me think about the greatest story ever told. Many people think the crucifixion was the climax of the Gospel. Certainly, nothing is more dramatic or more important. But if Christ had remained in the tomb, could the story have ended?

The Apostle Paul answered with a resounding no:

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
1 Corinthians 15:17 (ESV)

Without the resurrection, there is no conclusion. No victory. No Gospel. Perhaps that is why the empty tomb is not merely an epilogue to the cross. The cross and the resurrection together form the decisive event without which the story of redemption could never end.

And perhaps we should remember that in our own lives. Sometimes what appears to be the end of the story is only the chapter before the climax. Joseph was sold into slavery, but the story was not over. Job lost everything, but the story was not over. Peter denied his Lord, but the story was not over. The disciples watched Jesus die, but the story was not over.

Perhaps the defining chapter of your life has not yet been written. The diagnosis is not the climax. The disappointment is not the climax. The betrayal is not the climax. The grave itself was not the climax. God is the Master Author, and He has a way of bringing hope where we expect endings and life where we expect death. Perhaps what you think is the end of the story is merely the chapter before the climax.

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

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #plotclimax #1 Corinthians15:17

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Years ago, I attended a medical meeting where a respected physician shook his head and sighed. “Medicine isn’t what it used to be.”

Others quickly agreed. Administrators were blamed. Insurance companies were blamed. Government regulations were blamed. Everyone seemed to have an explanation for how things had gone wrong.

As I listened, it struck me that many of the people around the table had served on committees, voted for leaders, and supported changes that had gradually brought us to this point. It is easy to criticize those in authority. It is harder to ask whether we ourselves have contributed to the culture that produced them. Perhaps this isn’t just true in medicine. Perhaps it is true in families, churches, communities, and even nations.

President John F. Kennedy once remarked, “We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.” Although he was speaking about politics, the principle itself is much older. The prophet Isaiah delivered a warning to Judah during a time of spiritual decline:

And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them.
Isaiah 3:4 (ESV)

God’s people had turned away from Him. They had become proud, self-indulgent, and unjust. Weak and immature leadership was part of His judgment. The rulers reflected the condition of the nation. We see the same pattern elsewhere in Scripture. When Israel demanded a king in the days of Samuel, they wanted one for the wrong reasons. They wanted to be like the surrounding nations. So God gave them Saul. Their king reflected what they desired.

That thought should make all of us pause. We spend a great deal of time talking about politicians, judges, pastors, and leaders. Yet perhaps the more important question is not, “What kind of leaders do we have?” Perhaps it is, “What kind of people are we?”

A nation that values image more than character should not be surprised when appearances become more important than integrity. A people that rewards outrage should not be shocked when angry voices rise to power. Churches that prefer entertainment to truth should not be surprised when biblical teaching becomes shallow.

Leaders matter. But leaders do not appear in a vacuum. More often than we would like to admit, they reflect the desires and priorities of the people who put them there. That is uncomfortable because it shifts the focus away from “them” and back to “us.” It is much easier to point fingers than to look in the mirror. Real change has never started in Washington, Rome, or Jerusalem. It starts in the human heart.

Revival begins when people humble themselves before God. Families change. Churches change. Communities change. And sometimes nations change. Perhaps our greatest need is not better politicians. Perhaps our greatest need is repentance. For long before God changes a nation, He changes people. And maybe the leadership we deserve says more about us than it does about those who govern us.

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

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #leadershipwedeserve #Isaiah3:4

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I had been listening to a conversation between a church leader and one of our college-aged members when the subject turned to dating and choosing a future spouse.

“And you always have to be careful to pick a partner who is spiritually mature and truly loves the Lord.”

“Absolutely!”

“Sometimes, we make excuses for the other person, hoping they will grow in faith and eventually become a good spiritual partner.”

“Got it. I don’t flirt to convert!”

There was humor in the comment, but there was also wisdom. Love has a way of seeing possibilities. We can become captivated by who someone might become rather than honestly seeing who they are today. We convince ourselves that things will eventually change, that spiritual maturity will come later, or that marriage itself will somehow draw a person closer to God.

Certainly, God changes hearts. Every believer is a testimony to His transforming grace. But hope is not the same thing as wisdom. The prophet Amos asked a simple question:

Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?
Amos 3:3 (ESV)

Although the immediate context concerns God’s relationship with Israel, the principle is timeless. Two people cannot journey together for very long if they are headed in different directions.

Marriage is difficult enough when both husband and wife are seeking the Lord. It becomes far more difficult when one is pursuing Christ and the other is pursuing something else. A relationship cannot thrive indefinitely on potential. Character matters. Direction matters. Faith matters. As one old pastor put it, “Marry someone you can pray with, because someday that may be all you can do.”

And while we should never underestimate God’s ability to transform a life, neither should we presume upon it. Entering a relationship with the expectation that we will eventually change the other person places a burden upon us that belongs to God alone. Perhaps that is why Scripture repeatedly emphasizes wisdom over wishful thinking.

For those who are single, this means paying attention not merely to attraction, chemistry, or promises, but to the trajectory of a person’s life. Where are they headed? What do they love? What are they pursuing? What occupies their heart?

And for those who are married, this principle becomes an invitation rather than a warning. Continue walking together. Encourage one another. Pray together. Seek the Lord together. Spiritual intimacy, like physical intimacy, grows when two people intentionally move in the same direction. After all, the goal of marriage is not simply finding someone to spend life with. It is finding someone with whom you can walk toward Christ.

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

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #flirttoconvert #Amos3:3

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There is an epidemic of essays, reports, and homework assignments being completed by artificial intelligence. Professors and teachers, human resource managers, and publishing houses are overwhelmed. The question many are asking is simple: How can we distinguish a person’s true writing from AI?

Of course, AI has an answer for that as well. There are now AI programs designed to analyze writing and estimate whether a piece was written entirely by a human, assisted by AI, or generated mostly by AI.

I was curious how accurate such programs really are. So I performed a simple experiment. I submitted an essay that I had written entirely on my own, without any AI assistance, and another essay that I had created with the help of AI. The results were surprising. One AI detection program identified approximately 20% of my own essay as likely generated or assisted by AI. For the essay that actually utilized AI, the same program estimated only a 40% likelihood that it had been AI-generated or assisted. I repeated the exercise with a different AI detector and obtained similar results.

What does it mean? Perhaps it means we are not nearly as good at discerning truth as we imagine. The experts have their algorithms. The software assigns percentages. Institutions search for certainty. Yet even the machines themselves disagree. An essay written entirely by me was judged to be partially artificial, while an essay created with AI assistance appeared only somewhat more suspicious.

Maybe that should humble us.

We live in a world increasingly dependent upon probabilities and appearances. We assign confidence scores, calculate percentages, and speak with certainty. Yet certainty often proves elusive. Thousands of years before artificial intelligence, David wrote:

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
Psalm 139:4 (ESV)

Long before a word is spoken or a sentence is written, God already knows it completely. Human beings may speculate. Algorithms may estimate. Experts may disagree. But God is never confused. He knows what we have written. He knows what we have borrowed. He knows what we have created. And He knows the motives behind it all.

Perhaps the deeper question is not whether artificial intelligence can perfectly recognize human writing. The deeper question is whether we ourselves are committed to truth and integrity. After all, God is not trying to determine whether our words are authentic.

He already knows.

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

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #thisisnotAI #Psalm139:4

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The nation is divided.
The President’s approval ratings are near historic lows.
An unpopular war drags on.
Inflation is rising.
Violence fills the headlines.
Popular public leaders have been assassinated.
Many people wonder whether the country itself is coming apart.

No, this is not 2026.

It is 1968.

The Vietnam War had deeply divided America. President Lyndon Johnson’s popularity had fallen so far that he announced he would not seek another term. Inflation was beginning to rise. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. Cities erupted in riots. Protesters filled college campuses. Many Americans feared the nation was unraveling.

Sound familiar?

Perhaps every generation thinks it is living through unprecedented times. My parents lived through World War II. Their parents endured the Great Depression. America nearly destroyed itself during the Civil War. In 1968, many wondered if the country would survive.

Yet here we are.

History has a way of humbling our predictions. The headlines change. The fears change. The names change. Human nature does not. Neither does God. Psalm 46 was written in a troubled world, not a peaceful one.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1 (ESV)

Notice that the Psalm does not promise trouble-free times. In fact, it assumes the opposite.

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter…
Psalm 46:6 (ESV)

Nations have always raged. Kingdoms have always tottered. Leaders come and go. Markets rise and fall. Wars begin and eventually end. But God remains. Perhaps our greatest danger is not political division or economic uncertainty. Perhaps it is forgetting where our hope was supposed to be in the first place. The world has seen troubled times before. God has seen them all. And He has never once surrendered His throne.

So, in the middle of the noise, the Lord speaks the same words He has spoken to fearful people for thousands of years:

Be still, and know that I am God.
Psalm 46:10 (ESV)

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

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #whatifwe’vebeenherebefore #Psalms46:1

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“I wasn’t sure which direction to go, but I knew God would provide the answer. So I opened my Bible and told God the first verse I landed on would be His sign to me. This is how I made my decision.”

I have heard some version of this story for years. A young person deciding whom to marry. A family considering a move. A believer trying to choose between two jobs. Someone standing at a crossroads, desperate for direction. The story usually ends the same way. A Bible is opened at random. A verse appears. The decision is made. Most of the people telling the story are sincere Christians. They genuinely want God’s guidance. They are not rebelling against Him. They are trying to honor Him. That is what makes this issue worth discussing. The desire is commendable. The method is not.

Somewhere along the way, many Christians have adopted the idea that God primarily guides His people through hidden signs, impressions, coincidences, and isolated verses detached from their context. We may not admit it, but sometimes we treat the Bible less like God’s revelation and more like a divine answer book. We want immediate certainty. We want a personalized message. We want God to tell us exactly what to do.

The problem is that Scripture never teaches us to seek guidance this way. In fact, when people in the Bible sought signs while neglecting God’s revealed truth, it was often a mark of spiritual immaturity rather than spiritual maturity. The Lord has never had difficulty speaking. The issue is rarely that God has not spoken. The issue is that we often want Him to say something different. Consider how much God has already revealed.

He has told us to love Him with all our heart.
He has told us to love our neighbor.
He has told us to forgive those who wrong us.
He has told us to pursue holiness.
He has told us to be humble.
He has told us to be truthful.
He has told us to flee sexual immorality.
He has told us to care for the poor.
He has told us to make disciples.
He has told us to trust Christ.

The pages of Scripture are overflowing with God’s revealed will, yet we sometimes ignore what is clear while searching for what is hidden. I sometimes wonder how many prayers for guidance are actually requests for permission. “Lord, show me what to do.” What we often mean is: “Lord, show me what I already want to hear.”

The heart is skilled at disguising its desires as spiritual discernment. A person wants a particular relationship, so every verse seems to confirm it. A person wants a particular job, so every circumstance becomes a sign. A person wants a particular outcome, so every coincidence becomes divine direction. Before long, we are no longer listening to God. We are listening to ourselves. Then we attach God’s name to the conclusion.

This is one reason Scripture repeatedly points believers toward wisdom rather than signs. James writes:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
James 1:5 (ESV)

Notice what James promises. God gives wisdom. Not secret information. Not advance knowledge of the future. Not a detailed map of every turn in the road ahead. Wisdom. That distinction matters. When I was younger, I wanted certainty. I wanted God to tell me exactly which door to walk through so I could avoid every mistake. Over time I discovered that God was doing something different. He was teaching me to trust Him.

A child needs instructions for every step. A mature son or daughter learns the character of the Father and begins making wise decisions that reflect that character. God is not raising fortune tellers. He is raising disciples. He is not training us to decode secret messages hidden between the lines of Scripture. He is teaching us to know Him. That process takes time. It requires studying His Word rather than sampling it. It requires prayer rather than superstition. It requires wisdom rather than shortcuts. It requires faith rather than certainty.

The Bible was never intended to function as a collection of random answers to random questions. It was given so that we might know the God who authored it. The more we know Him, the more clearly we recognize what pleases Him. The more we understand His character, the better equipped we become to make decisions that honor Him. Sometimes there is no hidden answer. Sometimes two options are equally permissible. Sometimes God allows us to choose. Sometimes His guidance comes not before the decision but through the experience that follows it. That can be uncomfortable for people who want guarantees. But Christianity has never been about guarantees. It has always been about trust. The Christian life is not learning how to force God to reveal the future. It is learning how to walk faithfully without knowing it.

Perhaps the next time you face an important decision, resist the temptation to flip open your Bible looking for a secret message. Instead, open it and read it. Study it. Pray over it. Seek wise counsel. Examine your motives. Ask God for wisdom. Then trust Him enough to take the next step. After all, God has not promised to show us everything. He has promised to be with us.

And that is far better.

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

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #showmetheanswer #James1:5

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Many years ago, a friend of mine was going through a difficult period in his marriage. He discovered his wife was cheating on him. Although he confronted her and she denied it, he confided in me that he loved her so much, he would be willing to allow her to have an open marriage, if that is what she wanted. He simply did not want to lose her. At the time, I was stunned. Marriage was designed by God to be exclusive. Yet my friend was willing to surrender even that, hoping it would save the relationship.

A few months later, it was clear that this arrangement was not working for him. He was not interested in pursuing other women, but she was seeing the other man. Frustrated, he shook his head. “I don’t care anymore.” I nodded and hugged my friend. For years, I have thought about those four words. At first, they sounded like anger. Later, they sounded more like exhaustion. People rarely stop caring all at once. More often, it happens one disappointment at a time. A broken promise. A sleepless night. Another difficult conversation. Another unanswered prayer. Another hope that slowly slips away. Eventually, something inside us begins to harden. The sad irony is that those who say, “I don’t care anymore,” are often the very people who cared the most.

My friend had fought for his marriage. He had compromised convictions he never thought he would compromise. He had endured pain he never imagined he would endure. He had given more of himself than most people knew. And then one day, there was simply nothing left.

Scripture says:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12 (ESV)

That verse is not merely describing disappointment. It is describing what happens when the object of our hope continually fails us. The heart grows weary. The soul becomes exhausted. The truth is that all of us are tempted to place ultimate hope in something other than God. A marriage. A career. A ministry. A child. A friendship. A dream. None of those things are wrong. In fact, many are gifts from God. But gifts make terrible gods.

When we ask any person or circumstance to carry the weight of our deepest hopes, eventually they will collapse under the burden. No human being was designed to bear the weight of another person’s worship. Perhaps that was part of my friend’s struggle. His desire to save the marriage was understandable. Noble, even. But somewhere along the way, the marriage itself may have become more important than the God who ordained it.

I understand that temptation. We all do. Sometimes we cling so tightly to what we fear losing that we slowly lose ourselves in the process. The Lord, in His mercy, often allows our idols to disappoint us—not because He enjoys our pain, but because He loves us too much to let us build our lives on something that cannot save us. C.S. Lewis once wrote, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

There are seasons when we feel like saying, “I don’t care anymore.” Perhaps what we really mean is, “I can’t carry this anymore.” That is a very different statement. One is surrender to despair. The other is an invitation to surrender to God.

The good news of the Gospel is not that we will never be disappointed. It is that our deepest hope rests in One who will never disappoint. People will fail us. Dreams will die. Bodies will age. Plans will change. But Christ remains. When everything else feels uncertain, He is still faithful. When our hearts grow weary, He is still sufficient. And when we finally reach the end of ourselves, we often discover that He has been carrying us all along.

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

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #idontcareanymore #proverbs13:12

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The room was filled with gamers, training to become better at their sport. Hooked up to sophisticated monitors, their reaction times were being measured. If they could improve their reaction times when given a stimulus, it might result in a better score.

Reaction time is important in many arenas. Gaming, athletics, medicine, aviation, and the armed forces all value the ability to respond quickly to changing circumstances. In these settings, fractions of a second can make a difference.

This is a worthwhile pursuit. Yet I could not help but wonder if there is something even more important than our reaction time. How do we respond? Life constantly presents us with stimuli. A harsh word from a spouse. An unexpected diagnosis. A financial setback. A betrayal by a friend. A promotion. Success. Failure. Praise. Criticism. The stimulus arrives instantly. Our response reveals what is already in our hearts.

Jesus taught that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). In other words, our responses are rarely created in the moment. They are exposed in the moment. Pressure does not create character as much as it reveals it. Many of us spend tremendous effort trying to control our circumstances. We wish difficult people would change. We hope painful situations would disappear. We want life to provide better stimuli.

But God is often doing a deeper work. He is less concerned with what happens to us than with what is happening within us. A delayed flight may reveal impatience. Criticism may reveal pride. Success may reveal self-reliance. Suffering may reveal where our trust truly rests. The event itself is often less important than the condition of the heart it uncovers.

James wrote:

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.
James 1:19 (ESV)

Notice that James is not primarily giving a communication technique. He is describing a transformed heart. A heart that is no longer ruled by impulse. A heart that pauses before speaking. A heart that trusts God enough not to demand immediate control of every situation.

Charles Swindoll once said:

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.”

There is wisdom in those words. Yet the Christian might take it one step further. Our response is important because it reveals who we trust. Anyone can react. The follower of Christ is called to respond in a way that reflects the One who reigns over every circumstance.

The next time life presents an unexpected stimulus, resist the urge to measure your reaction time. Instead, examine your response. It may reveal far more than you expected.

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

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #reactiontime #ChuckSwindoll #James1:19

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