Author: Jon Harris

Today’s reading from Luke 15 includes the parable of the prodigal son in verses 11-32. Please be sure to read the full chapter; there are several excellent lessons for us here.

While out for a family dinner this weekend, we challenged our boys to try some new foods. Preston, our picky eater (and picky does not do the situation justice) tried a green bean.

It was an impressive ten year streak, but it was time to end. There were cheers and lots of praise, smiles, and laughs. You would have thought he’d solved a complex math problem or that we were celebrating a stellar report card… nope; one green bean consumed by one small human who cannot be forced to do anything he doesn’t want to do, no matter how hard one tries.

Preston’s older brother is our foodie. He tries new foods all the time, and on this particular evening he tried a couple new foods. I thought we gave him a lot of praise, but he begged to differ. “Why did you have so much celebration for Preston trying just one green bean? I try new foods all the time. It’s not fair!”

I’m sure Peyton was right in that there was more celebration for his brother who took the more drastic step as opposed to himself who did something more usual. It was similar for the prodigal son’s brother. The prodigal son was lost and broken; a slave to sin, but he repented and that is enormous cause for celebration.

The prodigal son’s brother was a rule follower; perhaps a pleaser who only followed the rules out of obedience and tradition. We can see a hardened heart here in that when the prodigal son came home, his brother’s focus was on himself.

But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ (Luke 15:28-30)

The father in this story, responded much like our Heavenly Father likely would.

And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” (Luke 15:31-32)

I love sharing the personal story along with the Biblical parable because I see God’s truth and loving hand in both stories. With Luke 15 fresh on my mind this past weekend, I saw many different story lines in my life in a different light. The Holy Spirit was guiding me to repentance and bringing me closer to himself; it showed me how much God wants our hearts, not empty following with the hope for a reward. It also reminds me that it is risky to compare our own faith or behaviors to that of others. It renewed my spirit because the more I seek God’s presence, the more I find Him.

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

Dear Readers, I believe that God is in every story in our lives; He is the real story, the beginning and the ending story. Would you consider the many stories going on in your life today and pray for God to reveal himself to you? Pick up that Bible of yours, read it, then let God’s truth and the Holy Spirit do their work. What is he asking of you today? When you see him, would you consider writing about it and sharing it with a friend or even on this site?

Today’s reading: Luke 1

In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel visited the priest Zechariah and told Zechariah that his wife will bear a son. The angel foretells of Zechariah’s son:

And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16-17)

Upon the birth of Zechariah’s son (John the Baptist), Zechariah reaffirms what he heard from the angel Gabriel in that John will prepare the way for the Lord:

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, (Luke 1:76)

One question I had after reading the chapter was: Why was it necessary for John the Baptist to “prepare the way” for Jesus? Jesus, being the Son of God has all power, so he could have just called people to himself in many ways. What was different about John the Baptist from other prophets?

My primary understanding is that John’s mission is the fulfillment of prophecy and it was foretold hundreds of years prior through the prophet Malachi, that a messenger will come to prepare the way:

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:1)

God had been using prophets for hundreds of years to send his messages of repentance, faith, and direction. They also told of a coming messiah. John’s special mission was to say he’s HERE. What an honor.

Translating this to my life I think about how we prepare for earthly events. If we know someone is coming to visit us from out of town, we typically clean our homes and put on a welcoming attitude. Sometimes we prepare for days; we prepare food, beverages, bedding, and plan events. We build our anticipation for what is to come and envision some of the conversation that we’ll have with our guests. We tell our neighbors and friends that this special someone is coming.

I believe this same preparation, as well as how John worked to prepare the people is how we should be preparing and anticipating the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be preparing ourselves in our relationship with Him today so that when we do meet face to face, it will be with joy and not with fear. We need to be sharing his love and salvation story with neighbors, friends, and family so that they too may celebrate his glorious return. The prophets from old said he’s coming, John the Baptist said he’s here, and we say he’s coming again – and he is. Prepare the way.

Don’t just take my word for it, Jesus said it best in telling us to prepare for him:

Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. (Revelation 2:25-27)

Father God, thank you for your loving, perfect truth that we can find in the scriptures. Please show us how we should be preparing the way for your son Jesus. Show us how we we should prepare ourselves; give us courage and wisdom to spread your message of love, forgiveness, and salvation to others. Amen.

In a recent conversation with a brilliant leader at a large company, the leader expressed that very few people in the organization understand the value of what his department does – even though his department is crucial to the organization. In summary, this department implements and supports business systems for the entire company with a focus on financial as well as sales systems. He could easily rattle off figures as to how many hours the team worked, the late nights, the number of solutions implemented, and so on.

The aforementioned description might have given you an idea as to what this department does, but the description basically consisted of some facts that few people can relate to, and even if you can relate, you really don’t have a reason to care. I believe that we cannot really relate to these bland facts because we don’t know the story. Further, I believe that the reason we relate to stories is that is how God designed our minds and souls; to relate to stories.

Think about the Bible. It is a series of stories. Hundreds of them, all woven together as part of one big story; God’s story, our story. Our maker, our designer, chose to relate to us through stories.

Today’s reading: Mark 4

With many stories like these, he presented his message to them, fitting the stories to their experience and maturity. He was never without a story when he spoke. When he was alone with his disciples, he went over everything, sorting out the tangles, untying the knots. (Mark 4:33-34; MSG)

Jesus, being the son of God knew how to reach the minds and hearts of the people, and therefore did not speak to his disciples without a story.

I did a little research this week on storytelling and wanted to share some of the secret sauce. Think about your own story and how you will use that story to win lost souls for Jesus.

1. The story must be the right story. Meaning, even a compelling and well crafted story won’t hit the mark unless it is the right story for the situation.
2. If you’re presenting the story as truth, it must actually be true; it must be authentic, and don’t omit crucial detail. Credibility is everything.
3. Share the positive stories. Hollywood knows that every story must have a happy ending. It has been proven that when people hear a positive story with a happy ending, the brain emits dopamine which produces a mild sense of euphoria, a good feeling.
4. Tell the story in a minimalist fashion. Don’t leave the listener stranded or distracted. For example if you’re describing the glorious gift of a beautiful sunrise, don’t distract the listener by talking about how on the same morning the stock market was up by 100 points.
5. If the idea in the story becomes the listener’s idea, that’s when they become champions of the idea. Consider which one of these is more effective: “repent or you’ll burn in Hell” or “I used to be a lying, cheating, backstabbing wretch, but when I realized the impact of my sin and how much God loves me, how could I not repent and give my all for Him?”. One of these was a mandate, the other was meant to inspire and lead the listener to choose their own action. In my 45 years of life on this planet, I cannot ever recall finding joy in any situation where “mandate” was used.
6. Contrast the before and after. I once was lost, but now I’m found. A simple phrase, but I believe “Amazing Grace” is one of the most widely recognized hymns of all time. Pretty tough to keep the tears in when we recognize the truth and contrast in this song.

In closing, I challenge our readers to write out your salvation story and consider the six principles above. Practice the story and share your before and after with someone who would benefit from knowing the saving, loving, amazing grace of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.

-The photo is of a painting named "The Storyteller" by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

One of the many things I love about writing for Bible Journal is that it causes me to constantly look for God’s will, plan, and orchestration in daily experiences. This week, I was in a conversation with a person who shared “I believe in God… I believe life is all about being a good person“. Jesus gives a great response to this “good person” philosophy in today’s reading in the story of “The Rich Young Man”…

And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17)

Today’s reading link: Matthew 19

Striving to be a good person is an excellent goal, except the problem is that there is no measuring stick to tell us how good is good enough. Perhaps you think I’m a good person for writing this blog, or that I’m a good dad, so does that mean I’ll inherit eternal life? Was I a good person when I had mean thoughts about someone, when I cursed (no one but God heard me), or when I was blatantly selfish, all today? There is only one who is good, and that is God. Jesus doesn’t tell the rich young man (nor anyone, ever) that to inherit eternal life they must be a good person. In this story, Jesus tells the man, to be perfect (or complete) he must sell his possessions, give to the poor, and to follow him:

Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)

Perhaps we’re not all called to sell everything, but for this next part I’m going to focus on our possessions or the things we strive to possess. My wife and I have been talking a lot lately about minimalism; specifically relating to letting go of the stuff we don’t need nor want, as well as refraining from buying things that we don’t need. In today’s world of free two-day shipping and online stores selling millions of different products, it is easy to fall into temptation to keep buying and buying things and piling them up. Even if those things we’re purchasing are bought with the best intentions, it is without a doubt that no matter how much we think we need something, often times we are trying to fill a void that will never be filled in this lifetime.

Jesus offers eternal life because life here is flawed. No matter how much money, how many houses, how many devices to make coffee (I have several devices to make coffee and I want more, more, more…), or whatever else, unless we set our sights and hearts on placing our treasure in heaven, it will never be enough. The things of this world weigh us down, even when they’re “good”, so while Jesus’ teaching is heavenly focused, it is also perfect instruction for us here today.

Last week, I mentioned Preston asking if being baptized meant he had to be perfect. My response to him was under the mindset that technically on our own we can never be perfect. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells the crowd that they “must be perfect”, so I have some reconciling to do!

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

Matthew 5

Whenever we read the Bible and sense a contradiction or of something doesn’t seem to fit, we need to pause, pray over it, and seek to understand context. To go with this, I reflect on one of my core beliefs: I believe the Bible is the authoritative, authentic, complete, and accurate divine inspiration work from God Almighty. I also believe that the world wants to deceive us into thinking otherwise.

Another word for perfect is complete, and as I looked around for the word complete in the Bible I found it tied into one of my favorite descriptions for scripture. These two verses bring together the value of the Bible as well as why we need to read it and follow it; so that we may be complete (or perfect).

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Father God, we ask you today to supernaturally make us perfect as we repent and turn from our sin, as we look to your son Jesus for forgiveness, as we seek guidance from your word through the Bible, as we pray for Holy Spirit guidance. Thank you for your words that offer the Kingdom of Heaven for those who are poor in spirit, for comfort to those who mourn, and inheritance to the meek. We ask you to give us a hunger and a thirst for YOUR righteousness; that we seek you and not the world to satisfy us. Reveal to us where we need to show mercy. Give us pure hearts today so that we may see you. Allow us to be merchants of peace in a world full of war, anger, and hatred. Forgive those who persecute us for your sake, and teach us to forgive like you do God. Amen.

Did any posts this year have a significant impact on your life? Many come to mind, and one in particular has stayed with me closely for several months… Do you remember The Big Ask? After reading it I came to several realizations: Often our prayers are too small, too simple-minded, and the prayer reflects a minimized view of a big, great, all-powerful, perfect, and loving God who created us and calls us by name.

The Big Ask redirected my prayer life from prayers of delivering me out of something to bring me into something. The “into” I was seeking was for Him to reveal His will, to let me see His great and mighty plans, and change my heart to choose His will over my own.

No matter what our 2016 was like or what 2017 turns out to be, there’s nothing more important than how we respond to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I love the heading before these two verses at the end of John 20: “The Purpose of This Book”. Young Peyton Harris had a similar observation in that he appreciated that it directly stated the purpose and couldn’t recall seeing this kind of statement elsewhere.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)

This year ended with two public confessions of John 20:31 that brought tears of joy to many. Those confessions occurred during the baptism by submersion of our two boys.

Preston asked to be baptized and Amy and I challenged him a little bit to make sure he was ready. Through this discussion, his response was “wait, does that mean I have to be perfect?” No son, that’s why we get baptized; we come to Christ in our imperfection and He makes us perfect through his sacrifice. Preston is not alone in this line of thinking. Too often we believe some lie that says we need to be better than we are to come to him, but there is no amount of “good” that we can be on our own to stand before God’s throne, hence our need to repent and ask for Jesus to make us perfect… a request that he freely grants.

As for Peyton, he is a super well behaved kid. I’ve talked about him in other posts so I won’t go on much here but Peyton is an excellent example of “how good is good enough?” He knows he’s a very good kid; honest, a rule follower, respectful, and kind. He also knows that no matter how good he is, it isn’t enough. He acknowledges that he, like all of us, is a sinner, and that even one sin separates us from God.  Many adults either do not comprehend this or they try to argue with it, so it is so refreshing to witness this pronouncement of truth in the life of a kid.

As the year closes out, would you consider making the best choice you’ve ever made like these two young boys did? Our Lord is calling you, waiting for you to answer and turn from denial to acceptance of him. He is real, so is his book, and his promises are true. Simply confess your sins to him, repent and ask him to take over. If you’re like me, you’ll have a flood of other sins come to mind, but that guilt can be eliminated forever in a single moment. Confession is telling God something he already knows, it isn’t like we can hide it. Do not delay this decision any longer, we never know which day will be our last.

2 Chronicles 35; Revelation 21; Malachi 3; John 20

Sincere thanks to all of our readers this year; friends, family, and those whom I’ve not yet met. I pray over each of these posts that they honor God and are factual accounts of his truth impacting each of our lives. I pray you have much peace, love, and joy in the coming year.

Over the past week, I’ve felt excruciating pain like I’ve never felt before as a result of improper form while exercising. On a scale of one to ten, there were times that the agony was almost ten and I was very close to heading into the emergency room. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t sit, and could barely think straight (hence I’m writing this journal entry the night before it is scheduled to post).

Many thoughts crossed my mind in my darkest hours; here are some of them:

1. We don’t appreciate being “pain free” when life is good. We need to be praising God every single day, throughout the day for being God and the many blessings he has given us. I recall a commercial a while back with a tagline that was something like, “when you’re not well, nothing else matters”. While not entirely true, it resonates with me because the bulk of my waking moments were spent with the hope to be well again.
2. Did God allow this so that I would grow closer to him? I don’t think God zapped my lower back but I do believe he allowed this to happen. While I wouldn’t wish the situation on anyone, and I hope to never go through it again, I can say that I did grow closer to God through this. There was deep prayer and meditation, crying out, and devout prayer from my wife, children, and others.
3. There are people in the world suffering. I’m certain there are many people around the world who live in similar pain all day every day and this caused me to have a little more compassion for those who are hurting. We never know what people are going through. I’m fortunate to have people who love me and take care of me (like Amy did making a nice makeshift bed on the wood floors as that was the best place for my back to heal).
4. Thankful for medical professionals who are experts and truly care about their patients. This week I talked to a nurse on the phone for a consult, spent time in a medical clinic with numerous people inspecting me to rule out various scary things, and spent time on the phone with a kind and generous friend who is a physician. Every interaction I had with a medical professional was quite amazing, and I’m left in awe at the gifts God has given people. What if everyone found their true calling and lived it out to the fullest?
5. While most pharmacy medication is “man made”, I’m deeply thankful for what the proper dosage and usage of various medications can achieve. There were a couple times when I thought “I cannot take this anymore”, and then the medication kicked in. Praise God for giving people the knowledge, wisdom, and foresight to produce medications that help and heal when utilized appropriately.

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63)

BJ’s post from yesterday titled “Do you want to be healed?” really caught my attention because much like my physical pain and suffering, the weight and impact of sin can bring us to a dark place. I want to be healed physically and I want to live life on this earth, but what I really need is an eternal healer, and eternal life. There is only one physician who can heal us from the shame, sorrow, guilt, and loss that we encounter through our sins, and his name is Jesus.

2 Chronicles 18; Revelation 7; Zechariah 3; John 6

Born in a manger, lived a sin-free life, demonstrated an astonishing amount of wisdom and knowledge of the Torah at a very young age, turned water into wine, drove out evil spirits, enabled the blind to see, raised the dead, miraculously filled nets with fish, healed the sick, walked on water, calmed a storm, fed thousands with a minuscule amount of food, taught the truth out of love, forgave sin, and loved people ridiculously.

In turn, he was betrayed, hated, put on trial, lied about, found innocent but still sentenced to death, tortured, mocked, spit upon, and nailed to a cross to die a slow, agonizing death. His response?

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34a)

His name was Jesus and he stated those words while hanging on that cross. I know I take this statement far too lightly at times. He asked for forgiveness for those who persecuted him, just like he taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:44. He could have chosen to elude or flee from his captors (remember all of the miracles), but he knew the plan and he was all in; and he is still all in for you and me, for all of us.

That’s the man we are celebrating this Christmas season. Let’s not take it lightly. Our sin put him on that cross, but we get the best Christmas present ever should we choose to accept Him; complete redemption and forgiveness, and faultlessness before the throne of God Almighty.

The crucifixion documented in Luke 23 (hint: the underline suggests a hyperlink, and suggests that the author of this blog post would love for you to read this brief account) concludes with a brief story of the two criminals who were also nailed to crosses next to Jesus. One of the men said “save yourself and us” with a seemingly unrepentant heart. The other confessed his sin and admitted that he deserved to be up there dying as well as acknowledged the innocence and authority of Jesus. I love this short story as a model for us today. We’ve all sinned, so we’re all criminals in God’s eyes until we’re forgiven. We can either try and hang on to this broken world and deny him (like the first one wanting earthly rescue), or confess and put our trust in Jesus, and have the hope and promise of eternal life with him in paradise forever. Believe and live.

2 Chronicles 9; Jude 1; Zephaniah 1; Luke 23