Tag Christianity

Time for a Change 2026 (5 of 9)

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Fellow travelers,

Are there small changes you can make to improve your life? Are there small things you are doing that are harmful to you?  Can each of us build a better “liturgy” for our lives over time, step by step? Can we accumulate victories in small battles that help us fight bigger ones?  Over time can we better love God, ourselves, and others?

Instead of making New Year’s resolutions or celebrating Lent, every 40 days I try to make a small, but permanent change in my life habits.  I keep a list of the changes I’ve made or want to make.  This is all voluntary, so I don’t criticize myself for missing a deadline or going back on something.  If I fail at some of the changes, the successful ones still add up to a massive shift over time.  I don’t always do “spiritual” changes, just something small I think will make my life better, permanently.  For example, one of my goals from 2021 was to drink at least 32 oz of water a day, and I still do it (with an occasional miss).

Technically yesterday (June 10th) was the 40th day since the last one, but that’s ok.  I’ll still be making a small change (actually revisiting an old change that didn’t stick), and I invite you to participate.  If you do, keep a record of what you’re changing.  As the months and years pass, hopefully the cumulative change becomes enormous. The next date on the schedule (39 days later) is 7/20/26, and I have a couple of things under consideration for then.  I’ll be posting a reminder at about that time; if you want to participate, start making a list of things you might want to do more or less of, and let’s see what we can accomplish!  This habit of changing habits has been helpful to me and might be to you, even if you have your own way of doing it.

Faithful Affliction

Todd R 2 Comments

Sometimes the Bible surprises us by explaining things differently than how our natural instincts would like.  In the case of Psalm 119:75, there are two words that we might not think of together:

“I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
            and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”

How often do we associate God’s faithfulness with affliction?  Don’t we usually associate it with our blessings?  Yet there it is: “in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”

Earlier, in verse 71, David wrote:

“It is good for me that I was afflicted,
                        that I might learn your statutes.”

Then he says the benefit he gets from learning this is more than “thousands of gold and silver pieces”. Since we benefit from discipline, would God be unfaithful if He did not discipline us?  Or do we only consider Him faithful when things seem to go well?

“My son, do not despise the LORD’S discipline
            or be weary of his reproof,
for the LORD reproves him whom he loves,
            as a father the son in whom he delights.” – Proverbs 3:11-12

He is faithful, always.  Even in affliction.  Perhaps especially.

From the Ruins of Rome

Todd R 2 Comments

I really enjoy travelling when I can and one of my favorite places is Bath, England, which I’ve visited twice.  Bath is almost a 3-hour drive west of London and a great place to spend a weekend.  The relatively consistent Georgian architecture in the city is amazing, there are lots of interesting shops to visit, including along the Pulteney Bridge, and certainly a lot of history.  What the city is really known for, and what it is named for, are the Roman Baths that have been there for about 2,000 years.

A photo of the Roman Baths I took in 2022.

Built by the Romans around AD 60 and in use until about the 5th century, the Roman Baths are a symbol of the geographical breadth and technological achievement of the Roman Empire, the greatest civilization the world had ever seen.  Britain was about as far away from Rome one could go and still be in the Empire, and the city was almost like a resort for Roman soldiers to help them deal with being stationed so far from home.  The Romans believed the hot waters of the baths contained magical blessings from the goddess Sulis, and much later in the Victorian Era, the British would drink the hot spring water believing it had healing properties.

The baths themselves were an impressive engineering accomplishment for the time.  In addition to a complex series of baths and springs, a temple was built alongside to facilitate the worship of Sulis and other gods.  One of the most amazing things you learn when visiting the baths is that many of the pools were lined by the Romans with interlocking copper tiles, and that many of these are still waterproof today!

But, as great as Rome was, and the baths were, it is now just ruins.  The gods worshiped at the baths are mostly forgotten by the modern world.  Over time, the Roman Baths were completely abandoned and buried, only rediscovered centuries later.  The springs were used in the early 1700s, but much of what we can now see of the Roman Baths was not excavated until the late 1800s and early 1900s, but they remain in ruins.

The view of the Abbey from the Baths in 2022.

What I like better about visiting Bath is what you see when you look up from the Roman Baths: Bath Abbey, one of my favorite buildings.  Like the stone from Daniel’s vision that destroyed the image of this world’s kingdoms and “became a mountain that filled the while earth”[1], the Abbey to me symbolizes the expansion of God’s eternal church, and when you look up at the Abbey from within the baths, it almost seems to have risen right out of the ruins.

Mankind likes to celebrate our achievements, our breadth of knowledge and technological achievement, but the view of the Abbey from the ruins of the Roman Baths reminds us that all human civilization will one day be less than ruins.  Even Bath Abbey won’t last forever, but the church it represents will, in a new earth.  God will discard this world, which will “wear out like a garment” and He will “change them like a robe.”[2]  Starting over, God will create a new, perfect world where all of our accomplishments will seem as nothing in comparison, and where we will be able to create even more amazing things as reborn children of God, giving God all the glory.

Until then, thinking of Bath, England reminds me that everything we see here is temporary, no matter how impressive it seems.  That all of our work here should be done for the glory of God, as it will be in heaven.  That everything man accomplishes here won’t last, but that God’s church is eternal.

Amen.

[1] Daniel 2:35
[2] Psalm 102:26

Daily Readings for June 7 – 13

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Fellow travelers:

For those looking for a Bible reading plan, each week I post 2 chapters to read per day as a main reading plan, and for anyone who wants to read the whole Bible in 2026, I’ll post the extra chapters to read that week.  The main readings will include nearly all of the New Testament, plus Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Prophets, and a few other Old Testament books.

Reading 3 chapters a day on weekdays and 4 on weekends almost exactly covers the 1,189 chapters of the Bible, so the “extra” readings will be about 9 chapters per week.  These readings will cover the Pentateuch, the OT histories, a few other OT books, plus Jude and Revelation from the NT.

Regardless, I hope this schedule encourages others to read and study their Bible more, whatever parts they decide to read.  Follow along (or not) any way you choose!

2 chapter a day plan:

Monday, June 8: Proverbs 9, Acts 4
Tuesday, June 9: Proverbs 10, Acts 5
Wednesday, June 10: Proverbs 11, Acts 6
Thursday, June 11: Proverbs 12, Acts 7
Friday, June 12: Proverbs 13, Acts 8
Saturday, June 13: Proverbs 14, Acts 9
Sunday, June 14: Proverbs 15, Acts 10

Extra chapters for those reading the whole Bible in 2026:
Joshua 18 – 24; Judges 1 – 2

What is Our Conscience?

Todd R 1 Comment

What do you think of when you think of a conscience?  For some it’s the image from old cartoons of a person with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, each giving competing moral advice.  That image is funny partly because it might not be far from the truth.

For some, a conscience is a “moral compass” – that internal voice that helps us distinguish right from wrong.  While this is another good image for a conscience, we have new technology now.  We use GPS now, and when I think of a conscience, the voice of my GPS comes to mind.  Let me explain.

A compass is too simple a metaphor.  The voice of our conscience is not usually like a clear sign or bright, flashing lights pointing the way (although God can use whatever means He chooses).  In my experience, a conscience is more like a broken GPS system, that has many voices, not just one, like a real GPS.  Not that we’re all “hearing voices,” but since our conscience is giving us directions, a voice seems a good metaphor.  You could call it an influence or something else.  Anyway, some of the voices tell us to go places we shouldn’t and not to go places we should, and some of them lead us the right way.  We find ourselves weighing the pros and cons of these multiple voices.  For every decision we make, there’s a reason we make it, and often we don’t explicitly think about why.  It could be something we learned from our culture, our family, our education, or from anything we’ve experienced.  It might come from something we saw or listened to recently, or many years ago.  It could also be something we just invented ourselves.  But it’s there, trying to influence us.

Now not everyone has the same voices in their conscience.  For someone who isn’t a Christian, their GPS considers all the factors it has, and they make decisions as they see fit by prioritizing among the influences.  But for a Christian, salvation requires realizing our GPS is fundamentally broken, trusting someone who knows how to fix it, and then striving to follow the new instructions.  When this happens, a Christian gets an added feature in their internal GPS – a new voice.  This voice is the Holy Spirit, but it doesn’t become the only voice, it just adds one more competing voice to the cacophony. However, the Spirit is the only voice that can be trusted to guide us to the right destination 100% of the time.

As we make decisions in the world, each of us try to follow the advice of our conscience, but we must remember that our consciences are broken until we reach heaven.  Many voices work hard to influence us, and any voice that we follow into disobedience from God can be considered an idol for us.  Only the Holy Spirit speaks with the wisdom needed for us to fulfill our purpose as individuals made in God’s image.

However you think of what a conscience is, let Him rule it, and “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy” – 1 Peter 3:15a

Then you can have a clean conscience, whatever you do.