Over the years, when I’ve felt a bit depressed or anxious, I’ve noticed that it often follows times when I’ve spent too much time with the news and current events. The ugly sights and sounds of the new media depress and distress me. Ugly sights and sounds produce ugly, thoughts, feelings, words, and actions.

One of the things that’s helped me get out of these ugly moods is filling my eyes, ears, and mind with beauty. Sometimes I go out and walk in the creation and, in Michigan, I almost always see some beautiful birds, animals, or even fish as I do so. Michigan winters are not so easy! But I found that watching nature programs about animals, birds, fish, and varied environments around the world really lifted my mood and calmed me down.

Why was that? I wasn’t sure until I read Genesis 1:20-25 and realized that this was part of God’s original plan. The good world he created, creates good thoughts and feelings. Let’s walk around the Garden of Eden with Genesis 1:20-25 in our hands and open our eyes and ears to the amazing sights and sounds.

GOD GAVE US VARIED CREATURES

• There were varied environments: sea, air, land
• There were varied categories: fish, birds, animals
• There were varied types or kinds within each category.

They were varied, but were they beautiful?

GOD GAVE US BEAUTIFUL CREATURES

• Beautiful sights
• Beautiful sounds
• Beautiful touch

They were beautiful to look at, but were they happy themselves?

GOD GAVE US HAPPY CREATURES

• Happy individually
• Happy together

They’re beautiful and happy, but are they useful?

GOD GAVE US USEFUL CREATURES

• Useful for one another
• Useful for food
• Useful for clothing
• Useful for transport

Yes, there’s much that’s ugly and depressing in the world, but God gave us varied, beautiful, and happy creatures to give us varied, beautiful, and happy thoughts and feelings.

The media world is samey, ugly, sad, and useless; but God’s world is varied, beautiful, happy, and useful.

LIVING THE BIBLE

Use the varied, beautiful, happy, and useful creation to re-create varied, beautiful, happy, and useful thoughts and feelings about God, yourself, and your world.

This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 1: Day 2 in  Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.

Sometimes the world feels like a dark place, doesn’t it?

• We feel spiritual darkness: so much religious error, so little knowledge of God
• We feel intellectual darkness: so many lies, so little truth
• We feel moral darkness: so much evil, so little goodness
• We feel emotional darkness: so much depression and anxiety, so little joy and peace

Is there any light in this darkness? Yes, there is. God is light and in him is no darkness at all (1 Jn. 1:5).

GOD BRIGHTENED THE WORLD WITH CREATION

• Light was God’s first word (Gen. 1:3)
• Light was God’s powerful word (Gen. 1:3)

But sin came in and darkened the world. Can God do anything to restore the light?

GOD BRIGHTENED THE WORLD WITH CHRIST

• He brightened the world at his birth (Luke 2:9)
• He brightened the world with his life (John 8:12)
• He brightened the world with his resurrection (Matt. 28:1-3)            

But Christ has gone back to heaven. Can God do anything to restore the light?

GOD BRIGHTENS THE WORLD WITH CHRISTIANS

• God brightens the world of Christians: He brightens our minds, our feelings, our future (2 Cor. 4:6)
• God brightens the world through Christians: We are God’s lightbulbs in the darkness (Matt. 5:14-16)

We live in a dark and darkening world. But God is still saying, “Let there be light!” God brightens our dark world through creation, through Christ, and through Christians.

When the world says, “Let there be dark!” hear God saying, “Let there be light!”

LIVING THE BIBLE

• Receive the light of Christ to brighten your world.
• Reflect the light of Christ to brighten the world.

This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 1: Day 1 in  Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.

Introduce kids to the Savior of sinners. This is a series of audio podcasts for kids who want to meet with Jesus by using Meeting with Jesus: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids (RHB). Listen to previous episodes here.

I wasn’t good at math when I was at school. I knew I wasn’t going to do well in the exams, so I didn’t even try. I just gave up without a fight.

If I’d thought I could actually do well, I would have studied much harder. I would have put in the time and effort because I had a hope it would all be worth it.

But I was hope-less. I was defeated before I started. So I didn’t even try.

Sometimes we feel that way about the devil’s temptations. We don’t even try to beat them, because we think we’re going to lose anyway. We don’t even try to win, because he always wins. If we knew that we cold beat him, that we would win, how much harder would we try?

Let me share one short verse that I use to beat the devil’s temptations: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

This is a promise from God. It’s a promise of victory. God promises that if we fight the devil, we will win, and he will lose. In fact, you won’t see him for dust! He will flee from you! Doesn’t that encourage you to fight the devil’s temptations? Fight and he will flee.

Here’s how one person paraphrased this verse: “Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time.”

Or, as I would put it: Resist the devil and he’ll run from you. Resist the devil and God will run to you.

.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify.

Most Americans are not prepared for the end of their working lives. Americans in their 50’s have an average of $117,000 in retirement savings. It should be closer to $400,000. Those in their 60’s have $172,000. It should be closer to $700,000. Nearly 48% of Americans age 55 and older don’t have any retirement nest egg or a traditional pension plan.

The government is not prepared either. Forbes magazine reported that “Many government pension schemes haven’t set aside the assets needed to pay the benefits they’ve promised to current and future retirees. They can delay the inevitable for a long time but not forever. And “forever” is just around the corner.”

Many are going to be shocked at how unprepared they were for the end of their working lives and will spend their later years in financial pain. If preparation for the end of our working lives is seriously lacking, preparation for the end of our lives is even more seriously lacking. This impacts the young as well as the old because our lives can end at any age. The majority are not prepared for their end and their eternal future.

• Most don’t think about it
• Most don’t think it will be soon
• Most don’t treat it as urgent

Yet, “forever may be just around the corner.” How many will be shocked at how unprepared they were for the end of their lives? How many will spend their eternal years in pain?

How can we fix this? Let’s visit the ant hill to learn titanic lessons from a tiny creature. It teaches us a general lesson about the wisdom of preparing for the future in every area of life, but we will focus on the wisdom of preparing for the eternal future. We’ll also look at the steps of preparation.

Read the rest here.

It’s been a dreadful week or two hasn’t it? So much anger and hate, so much murder and mayhem, so much pain and destruct-ion. I seriously thought about leaving Colossians this week and looking for a text that would bring a relevant message from God’s Word that would help us all navigate these days. However, when I looked at the Colossians 3:12-17 passage I had been planning to preach on, I realized that it was perfectly relevant for and suited to our situation. How so?

Well, let me ask you, what’s the great need of our society and of the various warring communities in it? Change. No matter what side we are on, what community we represent, what color of skin, or what political party, we are all agreed that change is needed. However, although there is some agreement about some of the areas that need change, there’s still a lot of disagreement about other areas, and huge disagreement about how to effect any change.

In this passage, God points us to the area that must change first and also to the way to effect that change: Deep, long, and wide societal change is only possible through personal change which is only possible through heart change.

Yes, changes are needed in laws, training, education, and so on. But these will be shallow, short, and limited without personal change through heart change. People need to change through heart change. Let’s see how God uses Paul to point to what needs changed and how to change.

Read the rest here.

Introduce kids to the Savior of sinners. This is a series of audio podcasts for kids who want to meet with Jesus by using Meeting with Jesus: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids (RHB). Listen to previous episodes here.

Jennifer’s soccer team had reached the play-off semi-finals. By half-time, they were 3-0 up. But the coach was worried. She saw that the players thought they had already won the game and were in the final. She tried to calm them down, stop their premature celebrations, and keep them fighting hard the whole game. But she could tell that they weren’t listening. Within ten minutes of the restart, the score was 3-2 and just before the end of the half, it went to 3-3.

Jennifer and her team-mates trudged off the park to prepare for extra time. They had worked so hard all season and now they felt defeated and wanted to give up. If they were over-confident before, they were under-confident now.

The coach realized she had to inspire them if they were to have any chance of winning in extra time. “You’ve all worked so hard through the year. You’ve trained and trained, practiced and practiced. Now, just one more big effort and all that hard work will be rewarded. Come on, think of the reward. You’ll be in the final and all the hard work, sweat and tears will have been worth it.”

In one game, Jennifer’s team had fallen into two dangerous attitudes. They were too confident at half-time. They had lost confidence at full-time. They thought they couldn’t lose at half time. They thought they couldn’t win at full-time. Over-confidence and under-confidence. These were two dangers that Jesus faced as well in Luke 4:9-15. He had beaten the devil’s temptations three times and might have been tempted to over-confidence by his wins or tempted to give up because the battle was just so hard.

VICTORIES OVER TEMPTATION ARE SHORT (13)

• The Devil gives up for a time: “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him.”
• The Devil is looking for opportunities: “He departed from him until an opportune time.”

Jesus is reminded here that despite beating the devil three times, he is still in a battle. The Devil is still trying to beat him and he must not drop his guard or get over-confident.

VICTORIES OVER TEMPTATION ARE REWARDED (14-15)

• Jesus was empowered by God: “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.”
• Jesus was used by God: “And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.”

Jesus is encouraged here that fighting temptation is worth it because victories will be rewarded by God. The battle is worth it. The effort will be repaid.

Let’s learn from Jesus’s victories over temptation. When we beat temptation, don’t get over-confident. When we are lacking confidence and ready to give up, remember the reward for victory.

You want to know the final result don’t you? Jennifer’s team won 4-3 in extra time and went on to beat their greatest rival in the final to win the State championship. The coach was so happy to see them with their medals. But she was even happier that they had learned about two massive dangers in life: the dangers of over-confidence and under-confidence. And they had learned two massive lessons: Never stop fighting and never forget the reward.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify.