Author: Chris Luzio

After feeding the 5000, Jesus made it clear that He would not continue feeding the multitudes physical food. He had come to be the Bread of Life, not to simply feed people on bread. And contrary to what the people wanted, He wouldn’t prove Himself to be Messiah by giving them bread out of heaven, as Moses had done. Besides, they had apparently forgotten how dissatisfied the Israelites were with the manna.

Manna, you may recall, was the food that miraculously appeared every morning for forty years. What it was, we don’t know. Neither did the Israelites. In fact, manna means, “what is it?” Whatever it was, it was nutritious, and they were instructed to gather as much as they wanted every day. Other than on the Sabbath, of course.

The manna started appearing after only a month and a half in the wilderness, when the Israelites started grumbling about being brought into the wilderness to starve to death. They had left Egypt with their flocks and herds, and had apparently been rationing the food supplies they had brought with them, but longed for the pots of meat they had in Egypt and the freedom to eat bread to the full. God responded by promising to send them all the bread they wanted every morning, and even some quail to eat in the evening.

After a year or so at Sinai, they were led by the cloud and pillar of fire to continue on their journey to the Promised Land. In a matter of days, they started complaining about the manna, and longed for the quantity and variety of foods they had had in Egypt. God responded by covering the ground with quail three feet deep, and they gorged themselves on it. Before long the quail became as loathsome to them as the manna.

The problem they faced in the wilderness wasn’t a lack of food, it was what is today called “food insecurity.” They didn’t trust that the God who had miraculously delivered them from bondage would care for their needs in the future. And, of course, they hadn’t been taught to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

While James does make it clear that we cannot ignore the physical needs of others, we must never forget that our primary responsibility is to teach, and to practice, walking by faith, and trusting God for our daily needs.

God Bless, Rick

“I did not enjoy going to church last Sunday” was the first sentence in an article entitled, “A painful apology to a kid at church” that I found on Fox News last week. Obviously the article caught my attention.

The author began by explaining that he had taken his three kids to church by himself because his wife was ill. He faced more than the usual struggles to get everyone to church, and while trying to find a parking place found himself thinking, “I shouldn’t have tried to come.” When he got there a half an hour late, almost on time for CCC I should probably note, he was asking himself, “Why am I even here?“

At the sign-in table he noticed a little girl clinging to her mother, afraid to go to Sunday School, and told his daughter to say hello. She responded, “I don’t want to.” He explained the importance of doing so, and said, “Do it!” She again responded, “ I don’t want to, Daddy.” He was determined to win the battle, so kept ordering her to do it until she had tears in her eyes. He then sent her off to class with a stranger she didn’t know.

During the worship service his baby needed a bottle, so he went to get it. As he passed his daughter’s class he saw her, and started feeling ashamed for what he had done. He knew he had to do something right then and there, so went into her classroom, knelt down beside her and whispered in her ear, “How did it make you feel when I forced you to talk to that little girl?” She responded, “Sad.” When she then acknowledged that he had indeed embarrassed her, her lip started quivering.

He picked her up, took her into the hallway, and with tears in his eyes, said, “I’m really sorry, will you forgive me?” She nodded, and he said, “I’m going to pray and ask God to forgive me too.” In his prayer he asked for forgiveness for being a bad father. She then whispered in his ear, “You’re not a bad father.”

Indeed he’s not. He did exactly what needed to be done.

Paul warned fathers about disciplining their children in ways that lead to unintended consequences. An apology for making a demand without considering the tone of voice used, or how it was received, doesn’t diminish authority. It only makes better fathers.

God Bless, Rick

If you’re still at it, you are to be commended. If you’re not, I want to encourage you to get back with it. What am I talking about? I’m talking about something many of us were encouraged to do when we saw Norma Chasco’s record of annually reading through the Bible.

I have to confess it had been awhile since I had systematically read through the Bible in a year, and I hadn’t done so chronologically, so I decided that would be the way to go this time. I really enjoyed reading through Genesis again. The chronological Bible I’m using then took me to Job, and it’s always good to read of his struggles, the poor counsel that he was given by well-meaning friends, and God’s answer to the question of suffering. I then actually enjoyed pondering afresh the laws that are recorded in Exodus.

Then came Leviticus and Numbers, the Achille’s heel of Bible readers. Even a blending of the two books to maintain the chronological flow didn’t help much. The repetition, the detailed instructions, and the lists of names can cause even committed eyes to glaze over.

If you are still on target for 2017, you’ve made it through the toughest part. You may, however, be feeling a tad guilty for skimming through some passages of God’s Word. My pastoral advice to you is to get over it. Get over the guilt, and just get over the passage. I really don’t think every word in the Bible demands our undivided attention and thoughtful meditation.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s all there for a reason, and it’s all important. It just may not be necessary for us to deeply ponder every passage. Then again, pondering can come even after skimming.

That realization came to me when reading about the offerings brought by the twelve tribes at the dedication of the tabernacle. After reading the list once, I really didn’t read it carefully eleven more times. In fact, I started wondering why Moses didn’t simply say ditto, they all gave the same things. Then I realized God may not have wanted anyone to think He appreciated their offering any less than anyone else’s.

So even if your eyes glaze over, and you find yourself skimming, just keep going. Besides refreshing your memory, you may discover something you never saw before, or even better, gain a new insight into God’s love for us.

God Bless, Rick

Which is more important: listening to a biblical sermon, personal Bible study, or studying the Bible in a small group? Trick question.

Obviously I believe in the importance of good biblical sermons. I’ve spent over forty years trying to craft them and deliver them. When Paul asks, “How shall they hear without a preacher,” I believe he’s stressing the importance of hearing the Word of God proclaimed.

However, when he tells Timothy, “Study to show thyself approved to God,” I think he has personal Bible study in mind. And when Luke commended the Bereans for “Examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so,” he was commending them for studying the Scriptures together. So all are important, and the question that needs to be asked is, are you doing all three?

The value of group Bible study was again made very evident at last week’s Wednesday night Bible Study. We are studying Romans, and are currently in the 7th chapter. When we got to the statement, “When the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;” Casey spoke for most of us when he said, “I don’t get it!”

That led to a lot of productive discussion about what it meant, and a conclusion that did make sense. That discussion then led to a discussion about the distinction between the Law and commandments, which was concluded when Chris noted that Paul was still talking about a specific commandment, “You shall not covet,” not making a general statement about the Law and commandments. And that led to Carole sharing something she found online about the supposed distinction between God’s Law and the Mosaic Law. We agreed the statement was off- based because it ignored the fact that Moses didn’t write laws, he simply relayed God’s Law to His people.

I hope you get the point. If you are not currently studying in a group, you need to get in one.

God Bless, Rick

“Honor your father and mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” (Exodus 20:12)

As the Apostle Paul made clear in Ephesians, that commandment contains a promise to children, encouraging them to obey their parents. When I read it again last week, something else became clear. God is also saying that He will allow the Israelites to live in the promised land as long as they respect the family structure He has ordained. While on the elliptical last week, I read something in Touchstone that confirms that additional truth.

“We agree with (Edmund) Burke that the foundation of the political order is the unalterable biological condition of human experience, particularly the mutual relationship of the two sexes and the proper, coherent structure of the family as the source of order and the living channel of tradition. These are the source, not only of fundamental moral responsibilities, but also of those profound emotional sentiments without which it is impossible to call a society ‘human.’ No political entity can long survive, we are persuaded, that ignores, scoffs at, or attempts to alter the human sentiments that bind husband and wife to one another, and parents and children together. The very idea of patriotism, to say nothing of the myriad political responsibilities of human beings in society, begins with the natural affections that bind a family together.”

In other words, society falls apart when the family structure is diminished.

The importance of acknowledging and honoring the family structure as ordained by God is further supported by another new understanding of Scripture I came to last week.

I have long thought the thrice repeated command, “You are not to boil a kid in the milk of its mother” made little sense. Now I believe it was given to make certain that we never demean the relationship between parent and child. And to make certain we never do, God wants it recognized even in the animals He has given us to eat.

God Bless, Rick