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Guarding Hearts
June 7, 2013

For years I taught adult Bible-study classes in a local church and took great pains to consider Scripture carefully before answering questions during the lessons. Later, during a lecture in my first semester of seminary at age 40, I learned that I’d given a woman who had attended one of my classes a terrible answer to her heartfelt question. I was certain my response had been causing her distress over the 2 years since I had seen her, and I was eager to correct myself for her sake.

Racing home, I called her and instantly burst into an apology. A long pause was followed by her saying in a puzzled tone: “I’m sorry, but I’m having trouble placing you right now.” I was neither as memorable nor as damaging as I had believed! It was then I realized God is at work guarding His truth even as we grow in our understanding of His Word. I’m thankful He protected this woman’s heart.

We are human and will make mistakes sometimes as we share God’s Word with others. But we have an obligation to diligently seek His truth and exercise care when we talk about it (2 Tim. 2:15). Then we may boldly proclaim Him, praying that His Spirit will guard not only our hearts but also the hearts of those we seek to serve. God and His Word are deserving of the greatest care.

The words I spoke but yesterday
Are changed as I read Your Word;
I see more clearly Your perfect way,
And my heart is deeply stirred. —Kilgore

Let God’s Word fill your memory, rule your heart, and guide your words.

Read: 2 Timothy 2:10-18

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. —2 Timothy 2:15

Bible in a Year:
2 Chronicles 28-29; John 17

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Where Did I Come From?
June 8, 2013

My 7-year-old African-American friend Tobias asked me a thought-provoking question the other day: “Since Adam and Eve were white, where did black people come from?” When I told him we don’t know what “color” they were and asked him why he thought they were white, he said that’s what he always saw in Bible-story books at church and in the library. My heart sank. I wondered if that might make him think he was inferior or possibly not even created by the Lord.

All people have their roots in the Creator God, and therefore all are equal. That’s what the apostle Paul told the Athenians: “[God] has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). We are all “from one blood.” Darrell Bock, in his commentary on the book of Acts, says, “This affirmation would be hard for the Athenians, who prided themselves in being a superior people, calling others barbarians.” However, because we all descended from our first parents, Adam and Eve, no race nor ethnicity is superior or inferior to another.

We stand in awe of our Creator, who made us and gives to all “life, breath, and all things” (v.25). Equal in God’s sight, we together praise and honor Him.

Every life has been created—
God’s handiwork displayed;
When we cherish His creation,
We value what He’s made. —Sper

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.

Read: Acts 17:22-31

[God] has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth. —Acts 17:26

Bible in a Year:
2 Chronicles 30-31; John 18:1-18