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We can all see what the Bible says. But what does it mean?

How do you interpret the Bible?

Here’s how I decide what it means. Between audio, print, and screen, I’ve been through the entire Bible hundreds of times, and this is what guides me:

I believe we need to start here: If some rogue asteroid plowed into our planet tomorrow and wiped all humanity out of existence, would God die too?

Nope.

No, He would not. God is not a human construct, a figment of our collective imagination, an imaginary friend.

God is who He is. In order to exist, God doesn’t need me; I need Him.

This is why I don’t have a problem with God being supernatural. I don’t have a problem with Him creating the heavens and the earth. I don’t have a problem with the Red Sea parting, Jesus rising from the dead, the axhead floating, a fish swallowing a wayward prophet. I don’t read these stories as the gullibility of an ancient and ignorant people. Rather I see these acts as all part of a working day for a supernatural God.

When I go to interpret the Bible, I don’t try to strip it of the supernatural. I don’t try to tame it or tame Him. I don’t try to get God under my control so He no longer has the power to threaten me.

I let God be God. Or at least I aim to do that.

I believe God is good. So when I read something in the Bible that bewilders me, I don’t immediately try to gut it of all meaning. I ponder it. I ask myself: What is it that I don’t understand here about the goodness of God?

I am fallible. Our culture is fallible. Our collective values are subject to error. But God is not. Through that lens I see God having the right to judge people and nations, to intervene any way He chooses.

That doesn’t mean I always “get it” or like it. On the contrary, I often can’t explain it. But at the end of the day, I need to let God be God.

I believe the Bible is the foundational way in which God talks with us. It’s not the only way, but it’s generally the most reliable way.
As a result, I take the Bible at face value. I believe it says what it means and it means what it says. I aim to let its message mold me rather than trying to mold its meaning to fit my politics, my theology, my biases, my ideas.

Over the last couple hundred years, many people have been persuaded that interpreting the Bible “literally” is a sign of stunted intellectual growth, of ignorance, of a lack of sophistication.

Meh.

How do we interpret any other message from someone we trust? Hmm?

I trust its message. I believe it to be honest, reliable, straight forward.

Yes, I understand that the Bible sometimes speaks in metaphor, in parable, in symbolism. But those instances are pretty clearly delineated to even a casual reader.

And yes, I understand that the Bible sometimes has a message or a command that applied to a specific person or people group at a specific time for a specific reason—and that message or command no longer applies to us today. But again, if you’re paying attention, those things are—as a rule—easy to identify.

Finally, I believe the Bible is God’s message. It’s meaning cannot be fully unlocked without bringing God into the process of understanding. When we approach God’s word and God Himself with humility, with a teachable heart, and with a desire to honor Him, I believe He will show us what we need to understand of its meaning.

Have a super weekend!

Dwight

I love God. I have dedicated my life to serving Him.

So you would think there would be no place where I would feel more at home than church, right?

Well… that hasn’t always been the case.

I was kicked out of one church, stripped of membership in a second, threatened with excommunication in a third, told to sit down and shut up in a fourth, and made to feel like the enemy in a fifth.

Why? Did I do something terrible? No, I was just being me.

I share this for a couple reasons.

(1) If you have ever felt unwelcome, been rejected, experienced abuse, or been kicked out of a church, you’re not alone. And it doesn’t make you a bad person.

(2) If you have experienced any of these things, I would like hear your story if you’re willing to share it with me. You can reply, or you can respond to a short survey here.

If you’ve had a bad experience in church, my heart goes out to you. So many good people have. Maybe we can help each other.

Dwight

PS. Please don’t think I’m anti-church. I’m not. There are many good churches, many good pastors. I’m still active in the church, and happy with the church I attend.

Counterfeit discipleship?

When I was a young believer, I wanted to figure out how to become a good Christian. I wanted to grow.

Is that you? Do you or have you looked for ways to grow in your faith? Is that important to you?

Anyway, I looked at Christians I admired, and I noticed a few things:

1. They knew a lot about the Bible.
2. They knew theology.
3. They were church leaders.
4. They were up front speaking.

Having no further guidance than that, I aimed to become those things. I went off to Bible college to learn the Bible, to learn theology, to become a church leader, to be the guy up front speaking.

Here I need to condense a 200-page story full of my own mistakes and disappointments down to a few takeaways.

Discipleship is the process that takes us from Christian newbie to Christian maturity. There are a lot of people out there hawking discipleship programs. Some are good. Some are horrible. Let me talk about the difference between the two.

 

Examples of Counterfeit Discipleship

“Follow me. I’m a prophet.” Well, hey, I’m a prophet too, and please don’t follow me; follow Jesus instead. I don’t want to be your pipeline to God; I don’t want to control your life in any way.

“Look at all the miracles I can do.” Great. Use those gifts to help hurting people and use them to showcase the goodness of God. Great gifts are a sign of great responsibility; they’re not a sign of maturity.

“I’ll make you rich!” Limousines, private jets, and beach homes are not the building blocks of Christian maturity. If you have them, great. Place them in God’s hands and let Him show you how to use them to bring good into your world.

“I’m Mr./Ms. Christian Big Shot.” Yeah. Maybe you are. Some people are leaders because they’re good leaders. Some people are leaders because they’re pushy and nobody bothered to push back. In any case, sit at the feet of Jesus; learn maturity from Him, so you can help your people find their way.

“You’re sinning all the time.” Some pastors and Christian leaders get stuck here. Every sermon is “yet another 15 ways in which you’re sinning and didn’t know it.” I’m not saying sin isn’t a problem, and I’m not saying we should be lackadaisical about it. But when I asked God, “Is it true that we’re always sinning?” His reply was, That’s not My focus. Let’s find God’s focus and make it our focus. Hint: Let yourself be loved by God; discover and experience His goodness, and then you won’t—as a rule—feel like sinning.

“I have hidden knowledge.” I’ve seen this come up a lot of ways. The Bible teacher who has unlocked all the hidden meaning in the book of Revelation. (Yeah, sure.) The Bible scholar with contempt for those who disagree. The person with their pet translation or teaching or interpretation. The person who works really hard to get the Bible to say what the Bible does not say. The person who condemns all Christians who don’t agree with their teachings.

Let me unpack that last paragraph a bit more. As we grow in Christ, our understanding grows. Things that were previously hidden from us become clear. But this wisdom from above (see James 3:13-18) comes to us as we experience the love of God, as we study the Bible, as we love God and love others, as we live a good life. If any of those elements are absent, our wisdom is warped.

“Vote the way I vote, attend my protest rallies.” Left or Right. The moment you try to paint Jesus red or blue is the moment you lose touch with the real Jesus and replace Him with your own Jesus wannabe. Should you support good causes and vote your conscience? Of course. But understand that Jesus has followers who vote differently than you do, and God has given them wisdom He didn’t give you. I’m not saying they’re right and you’re wrong. I’m saying we need each other.

 

By contrast, Real Discipleship

It works in real life. It’s relevant. It works in good times and in bad. It’s not anchored in platitudes, but it’s anchored in the nearness of God.

It results in love for God, love for people, the fruit of the Spirit, relationships characterized by understanding, respect, trust, and love.

It aligns with scripture, but it also bridges the gap from the page to our lives.

It’s transformational. It brings the broken places in our souls in touch with God. In the process, He grants us His perspective—the paradigm shifts that change how we think, what we feel, how we experience life.

Most of all, it invites Jesus in. Apart from Him, we can do nothing.

Hopefully, all of us can become connoisseurs of the real deal and not be led astray—as I sometimes have been—by the counterfeits out there.

 

Completely unrelated

My wife and I (okay, blame it on me) own what is probably the ugliest garden in America. But I do have a game camera out there, and it does capture some of the critters who visit, prowl, feast at our expense, or just slink on through in the middle of the night. I have videos. Would you like to see them?

Dwight

Is it okay if I share several scattered thoughts today?

I posted my very first YouTube short! It’s on the purpose of prayer. I’m not sure this will be a new revelation to you or if it will be a “Duh! Of course, Dwight,” but here it is.

For those of you who are wondering what ever happened to the End the Divide movement, here’s an update.

Those of you who know me well know that I rarely travel and I haven’t been on a plane since 2005 (when I went to help in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina). But my good friend Neil Mathweg was hosting a summit for real estate agents, and he said he wanted to introduce me to some people who wanted me to help them write and/or publish their books (yeah, I still do that). I went back and forth; I was praying about it, and I felt like God said, “Go! You can make back the money you spend in a day.” Okay, I went. (And, yes, less than two weeks later, I’ve already recovered my expenses.)

Anyway, I met this fellow who was dead for 42 minutes, who met with God, and had a life changing encounter. Powerful story, and he’s asked me to help him tell it. I love helping people tell their story, especially when it’s also God’s story.

And I hope it’s okay for me to say this, but I was sitting at the airport looking around at all these people that I didn’t know. And I was just pondering—isn’t it amazing the whole universe of wonder that’s locked up inside a single human being? What if there was some way to have a real conversation with another person and unlock some of that wonder?

I confess, I don’t know how to do that. I wish I did. But I think heaven must contain some element of this—seeing, maybe for the first time, people as they really are, people as they are imagined by God.

Anyway, I hope all is well in your world. Ping me back if you feel like it. I love to hear from you!

Dwight

Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

This post as a video here…

Do you ever fantasize about what you would do if you were president of the United States?

Or is that just something I do?

Okay, I’m not president. I have no desire to become president. And I think it’s safe to say I never will be president.

But if I were, here’s one thing I would do differently:

I would host a monthly presidential round table.

Let me explain what I mean, why I would do it, and what I think the takeaway is for you and for me.

When I say a round table, here’s what I mean. Each month, we would pick a topic: Climate change, gun control, education, poverty, whatever. And I would invite 8, 10, 12 people representing a wide range of opinions.

And this is important. It would NOT be nine people who are parroting what I’m already saying and one person who sounds like an idiot chosen to represent the opposition. This would be people who can clearly articulate a wide range of different views representing what different people in the country believe.

And it would NOT be a free for all where everyone is yelling and screaming and trying to talk over each other. None of that. Instead it would be highly structured. It would be divided into three parts.

Part one: Each person gets five minutes to present their point of view. The mike turns off at five minutes, and it’s the next person’s turn. That way everybody gets heard.

Part two: Each person gets three minutes to explain how and why they came to a different point of view than the others.

Part three: Each person would have an opportunity to suggest policy initiatives that could accommodate multiple points of view. Is there a way we could move forward and still keep most people happy?

Let me explain why I think this is important. There is an increasing tendency for those in power (not just political power) to try to silence dissenting points of view. This is dangerous. When people don’t feel heard, they go to more and more extreme measures to make themselves heard. It escalates to yelling and screaming. And when that doesn’t work, it escalates to violence. Pretty soon you have a civil war. Don’t think it can’t happen. It happens all over the world, and it can happen here.

People need to be heard.

You might say, “But, Dwight, I’m right. The other people are wrong. Why would you give someone who isn’t right a platform?”

I would give them a platform because people need to be heard. People won’t listen to us unless and until we listen to them.

We have no hope of convincing people of our point of view until we listen to them. None. Until we listen to them, they will close their ears and shout at us because they don’t feel heard.

We all need to take a breath, stop, and listen.

That doesn’t mean we need to agree, but there’s always the possibility that we might learn something new.

You never know.

James writes, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” James 1:19 NIV

As breakthrough leaders, I believe you and I need to lead by example and do our best to listen first, talk second.

By doing that, we can help build a better world.

Have a fantastic week!

Dwight

This post as a YouTube video here…

The other night I was awake in the middle of the night. I was distressed about some recent developments in our world, and I was talking with God about it.

Does that ever happen to you? Do things bother you? Do they keep you up at night?

Sometimes it happens to me.

Anyway, I was talking with God and He reminded me of a couple things.

#1 God is very much in charge. He knows what He’s doing. He’s going to make it right.

#2 There is a battle going on, God is winning, and we get to fight on God’s side.

But not the way some might imagine.

Paul writes, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 NIV

We don’t fight the way the world fights. If we did, we would get the same results the world gets. We don’t want those results. We want better results. So we fight a different way. We use different weapons.

What are those weapons?

Let me suggest there are four.

#1 Our faith. We believe. Some people doubt. But we believe. We believe our world is messed up, but God is fixing things, and we get to help.

John writes, “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4 NIV

Our faith tells us who we are. We are ambassadors of heaven. Every step we take brings the presence of Jesus into a broken world. Every word we speak is a word of healing, of help, of hope. We were sent here to earth to bring eternal good into many lives.

Our faith informs us, identifies us, empowers us.

#2 Our perspective. I should probably change that to “God’s perspective.” Do the people of heaven think the way the people of earth think?

In case there’s any doubt, the answer is no!

The people of heaven of broken free from the groupthink that leaves us mired in problems that don’t get better. The people of heaven have a new and better perspective—a perspective that comes straight from God.

And that’s who you are. That’s who I am. We are people of heaven. We are meant to step away from the way the people of this world think into God’s perspective. We don’t look to a political party or a news outlet for our perspective. We look to God.

The most valuable thing in the universe is God’s perspective. If we all had it—if we saw ourselves and one another through God’s eyes, nearly every problem that plagues humanity would evaporate, almost overnight.

James writes, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” James 3:17-18 NIV

#3 Our love. Some people hate. We love. Some people are indifferent. We care. Some people play politics. We are above that. We have empathy, respect, compassion for other people. People matter, and the things that affect people matter to us.

Paul writes, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 NIV

Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” Matthew 5:44

#4 Our actions. Some people blame. Some people complain. Some people find fault. We choose a different route. We find opportunities. Instead of being problem focused, we’re solution focused. While others are yelling and screaming, we figure out how to help and we help.

In John 9 we see the disciples encountering a man born blind. They wanted to know why. They wanted to know who to blame. But Jesus put the whole tragedy into perspective. “This isn’t about blame,” He said. “This is about opportunity. This is an opportunity for God to do good.”

That’s what we do. We look for opportunities to do good.

Those are our four weapons:

1. Our faith
2. Our perspective
3. Our love
4. Our actions

This, by the way, is what defines a breakthrough leader. A breakthrough leader solves problems by inspiring people to think and behave differently. That’s what we do.

If this interests you, I think you might enjoy my book, Strap In* *This could be a bumpy ride: The inner journey of breakthrough leaders.

Have a super weekend!

Dwight

Some of the major rock stars in the Bible did some very bad things. Moses murdered a man (Exodus 2:12). David raped, murdered, and committed adultery (2 Samuel 11). Saul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul) threw people in jail for believing in Jesus (Acts 9:1-2). I don’t think there’s any doubt that Moses, David, and Paul are in heaven. Jesus said that nearly every sin (including murder) can be forgiven (Matthew 12:31). And yet we are told that no murderer has eternal life (1 John 3:15). On top of that, Jesus tells us that if we call someone an idiot, we’re in danger of eternal fire (Matthew 5:22).

What gives?

How is God able to give these leaders a pass, and then hold us to such a high standard?

I think the key is found in the last half of 2 Peter 3:9: “[God] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (NIV)

Repentance.

That’s the key word, and its a much misunderstood concept.

So let me try to break it down.

1. Repentance is a gift we get from God if we want it (2 Timothy 2:24-26).

2. Repentance is a changed mindset. The changed behavior that most people point to is actually the fruit of repentance or the result of repentance.

For example, a husband could say: “Yesterday, I yelled at my wife. Today I did not. See, I repented.” Not necessarily. The only way he could call that repentance is if he allows God to get at the reason he yelled his wife. If he allows God to change his perspective so that reason no longer makes sense, then, yes, he repented. If he still wants to yell at his wife, but manages to temporarily restrain himself, then, no, he hasn’t repented. You can tell he has repented if yelling at his wife no longer makes any sense to him.

3. When we truly repent, the person who committed the crime (murder or any other sin) no longer exists. Someone who commits murder but does not repent is a murderer. Someone who commits murder but does repent is not a murderer.

The Bible talks about this in several places (Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:1-14, for example). We die to sin. In other words, God grants us repentance—a changed mindset—so that the sin we once wanted to commit (or did commit) no longer makes any sense to us.

John Doe commits murder. John Doe receives repentance (a changed mindset) from God. John Doe ceases to exist. John Redeemed takes his place. We become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

If David, for example, had not repented, he would not be in heaven today. The David who committed adultery and murder no longer exists. That David is dead.

God is offering all of us repentance, and all of us need it. We all need a changed mindset.

Put another way: There’s a big, big difference between what God forgives and what God condones. God is not giving us a pass. He’s not saying, “Oh, you did all those bad things, but it doesn’t really matter.”

It does matter.

A lot.

Yet God forgives. And part of that process is granting us repentance—if we’re willing to receive it.

And, yes, I understand. We’re all a work in progress. Some of us struggle with addictions and stubborn sins. I get that.

That’s why we open the door and invite Jesus in (Revelation 3:20). When Jesus is here with us, He can help us find the way to repentance. We need that, so that by the time we reach heaven’s gates, our desire to sin will be gone forever.

Dwight

Image: Jr Korpa/Unsplash

This post (in a little different form) as a video here

I want to tell you a story of something that happened to me in Mexico. When my daughter was 8 or 9 years old, she and I went with a church group to Mexico on a missions trip. One day, my daughter and I were helping at a daycare center in a Mexican village while the rest of the team was two miles away, helping to paint a house.

I spoke almost no Spanish and nobody at the daycare spoke English. That wasn’t a problem for my daughter—she spoke the universal language of play. So I hung around wanting to help, but generally being useless.

Then the director of the day care came to me. She beckoned for me to follow her and her face told me the need was urgent. When I entered the other room, there was a little boy, on the floor, writhing in pain.

As I say, I didn’t speak Spanish, but I could see he had an ear infection, and it was up to me as the missionary to pray and get God to heal him.

I wasn’t sure why they called on me. Every day they fed the kids a noon meal—probably their only meal of the day. It was some kind of gruel that most American kids wouldn’t touch, and every noon every child in the day care lifted up their voices in fervent prayer thanking God for this provision of food. This wasn’t a little recitation of grace, this was several minutes of earnest, fervent, sincere prayer.

When it came to prayer, I felt like everyone there was varsity; I was JV.

Nevertheless, I prayed. I wanted God to heal this little boy. But, the longer I prayed, the worse he got. It was discouraging, and a little embarrassing.

Then I remembered that one member of our team was a nurse. I somehow managed to convey that we had a medical person on our team, and the next step was clear.

It was up to me to go get her. We didn’t have a phone, so we couldn’t call her. We didn’t have a car, so we couldn’t drive to her. I needed to walk the two miles through the village to retrieve the nurse.

Here we come to a problem. The village was crawling with dogs, and I’m afraid of dogs. At least I was at that time in my life. (I’m a little better now.)

How was I going to do this? If I got into trouble with a dog, I didn’t speak Spanish. I couldn’t call for help. I couldn’t explain. I was trapped.

But I didn’t have a choice. Here was a little boy who was suffering, and it was up to me to get him help.

So I set out. I walked the two miles through the village, and guess what?

I didn’t see a single dog.

On the way back, walking with the team, we probably saw dozens of dogs. But then I was okay. I was with other people. Then I felt safe.

The nurse figured out what kind of medicine and what kind of dosages the little boy needed. By the time we left, he was doing okay, and, as far as I know, he was completely healed.

I share this story with you because in life you and I are looking for breakthroughs. We may be praying for a miracle.

But sometimes the miracle we ask for and the miracle we get are two different things.

And that’s okay.

We have an idea of how things should work. Sometimes God has a better idea. And someday, we’ll look back and smile.

Be blessed!

Dwight

My Amazon page

Two things first:

1. I know this is two days in a row after a 4 month hiatus. Sorry. Maybe someday I’ll be consistent. Meanwhile, this is me.

2. This isn’t original with me. I learned it years ago from my friend Steve Freitag. So, thanks, Steve!

Also available as a short video here…

Imagine a door with many locks.

You can’t open that door until ALL of the locks are unlocked, right?

Sometimes in life, we get stuck. It seems like we’re making no progress at all. We’re trying our best, but nothing is happening.

It’s easy to get frustrated, discouraged, or impatient with ourselves or with others when this happens.

But, let me suggest that you may have come to a door with many locks. You’ve found the key to unlock one of those locks or two of those locks or many of those locks. But you need to find the remaining keys.

So let me encourage you not to give up. It may be that you only need to find one more key, and then the door will swing open, and you will advance to the next level.

Be encouraged!

Dwight

Our world is messed up
God is fixing things
We get to help

When I talk about fixing our world, what goes through your mind?

I would honestly like to know.

I believe that fixing our world is part of the Great Commission. Jesus said, “Go, make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you.” To me that’s bigger than getting people saved, packaging them up, and getting ready to ship them off to heaven.

It says to me: Wait a second! The gospel (which means good message) has the power to fix any human problem. It says to me: We are ambassadors of heaven; we bring heaven to earth. We carry the presence of God with us, and wherever we go, the presence of God has a transforming effect on human experience.

It says to me: We were sent here to set things right.

I’m crazy. I fully admit that. But I somehow never got too old to think that God can do amazing things through ordinary people like you and me. If He wants to.

So I posted this 20-minute video on 4 Amazing ways you and I can fix our world. It’s all about stuff that swims around in my head all the time and finds its way into my books.

I don’t know if you want to watch it, but if you do, you can find it here.

Dwight

Next time: The door with many locks. (At least, that’s the plan.)