Jesus is Patient and Kind Even When I am Not

July 1, 2026Todd R 1 Comment

Jesus is patient and kind; Jesus does not envy or boast; Jesus is not arrogant or rude. Jesus does not insist on His own way; He is not irritable or resentful; He does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Knowing the love Jesus has for us is an encouraging thought. This paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 was suggested in a devotional I read in 2021 [1] for John 13:34 – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” James Boice said that we are not to “love” in any way we see fit, but as Jesus loved, which the above describes.

Based on John 13:34, Boice says we should also be able to substitute “I” in place of “Jesus” in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and see what He commands us to be. When I re-read the first paragraph with myself in mind, I see how much I fall short, but His love for me remains an encouragement. He will be patient and kind with me.

Pray that we may get ever closer to living the love of Jesus.

[1] From “August 30.” James Montgomery Boice and Marion Clark. Come to the Waters: Daily Bible Devotions for Spiritual Refreshment. (2017).

Verses to Live and Blog By

June 29, 2026June 28, 2026Todd R 3 Comments

Today’s post is a response to a writing prompt: “What gives you direction in life?” The short answer to the question is a who, not a what: God. Without a meaningful origin and destiny that comes from having a loving Creator and Lord, I’m not sure where I would find direction.

The longer answer is that God’s communication to us through the Bible provides direction for both life and for this blog. Here, I write what I need to hear. I write about things I learn about the direction my life should go, and I share it with my readers. So, my longer answer to this writing prompt are some key verses and themes that guide both my life and my writing. Although I routinely fail to live up to them, they provide a good and meaningful direction.

The first verse is Hebrews 10:24, which says: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works”. Christianity should be lived, not just known or believed. So, how do I stir up myself and others to loving action? We can’t do it without knowing that’s the goal and by consistent meditation on it. We should ask ourselves what tools, gifts and resources we have to help others grow in “love and good works.” For me, this blog is one of those tools. For others, they could approach this very differently. We all have our own directions, but similar goals.

The second verse is Ephesians 2:10. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” We are not created and saved just to do whatever we want, but God has plans for each of us. He puts work to do in front of us, for the good of us and those around us, and for His glory. Nothing is an accident. He made us each for a reason.

Next comes Philippians 1:6. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” We all fail so often; therefore, we need reminders that God isn’t done with us, and will never give up on us. He didn’t die for us just to leave us hanging and alone. His purpose is to make us perfectly loving people, like Jesus was, and His work will certainly be completed in eternity. Thank Him for this!

Jeremiah 29:7 is another important guiding verse. “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Which world was Jesus referring to in John 3:16 when He said, “God so loved the world”? There’s only one world, the one we all live in, and He wants us to work for the good of that world. Imagine if Jesus had taken the attitude that this world is hopelessly lost in its sin. He would have never came to die for it, and we would all be lost forever. Likewise, we can’t give up on the world around us, especially our nearest neighbors.

And finally, Matthew 22:37-40. “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’” In my opinion, Christians don’t talk enough about love, and we don’t put enough thought and effort into how to do it. Many Christians even have trouble defining what love is. For more on that, read this article I wrote a while back. Without Christ, we are all God’s enemies, so if He didn’t love His enemies we could never be His neighbors. Only by living a life entirely guided by love for God and our neighbor, even if they are our enemy, can we live the life God intended us to live.

So, what gives me direction in life? Trying to understand and live by what God wants of me. These verses are only the beginning, but they’re verses that mean a lot to me.

What gives you direction in life?

Doctrine in Action

June 22, 2026June 19, 2026Todd R 3 Comments

In C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters, senior demon Screwtape writes fictional letters to Wormwood, a junior demon, on how to defeat his “patient.” In one of these letters, Screwtape advises: “As long as [man] does not convert it into action, it does not matter how much he thinks about this new repentance… Wallow in it… Write a book about it; that is often an excellent way of sterilising the seeds which [Heavenly Father] plants in a human soul… Do anything but act. No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm [the cause of evil] if [it is kept] out of his will… The more often he feels without acting, the less he will ever be able to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.”

Christianity is not a soul-less doctrine, but a restoration of the right relationships between souls and their Creator, which should lead to action. Teaching should lead to love. In 1 Timothy 1:3-4 Paul writes to Timothy: “As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.” In his commentary on the verse, John Calvin says that Paul “judges of doctrine by the fruit; for every tiling that does not edify ought to be rejected, although it has no other fault; and everything that is of no avail but for raising contentions, ought to be doubly condemned.”

Calvin’s note and Screwtape’s fictional letter remind me of the linked Monty Python video of philosophers philosophizing about soccer while simultaneously “playing” soccer.

Every doctrine and institution of the church should empower His people to live for Him. Are we playing the right game, and are we playing to win?

Steve’s Instruction Book for Dads?

June 20, 2026June 19, 2026Todd R 2 Comments

Some years ago, I was a new dad. I also had a full-time job with a 1 ½ hour each way commute and was getting an MBA. As you may guess, time was at a premium for me.

My conscience, which I call my “Moral GPS,” was getting inputs from a couple of places. First was a coworker I’ll call “Steve”. He was a senior person at the non-profit where I was working at the time, had a book at his desk called “God’s Instruction Book for Dads”, and liked to speak his mind. He once told me his teenage daughter refused to ever talk to him, which he brushed off as “typical teenager”. What made that comment more interesting was that I later mentioned making sure to leave work in time to see my daughter before she went to sleep. She was only a few months old at the time. “Steve” asked me “what do you want to waste your time with that for? She won’t remember any of it!”

The other voice, and the one I listened to, was my wife. Any opportunity where I was home, and our daughter needed a bath or a book read to her, or anything, my wife often suggested I do it. “You’ll regret it if you don’t”. Of course, her voice aligned with “the right thing to do” and so I did my school or work at other times. I didn’t get fired, and I graduated in time. But, most importantly, I told this story about Steve and mom to my daughter when she was almost an adult, as we were talking and having pancakes together for dinner[1]. Relationships take time, and they also take a commitment to sorting out the numerous influences in your conscience and choosing what glorifies God.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a perfect dad, but actions have consequences, and we shouldn’t take anything for granted. Fathers and mothers matter, and they sometimes need encouragement and reminders to be good parents. I once had a conversation with someone right before Father’s Day who said he wasn’t needed anymore because his kid was now a teenager. This was a lie. I told him that he mattered to his son and always will.

This Father’s Day, show someone specific that they are a priority, no matter what others might say or think!

[1] Breakfast for dinner is an amazing thing.

Minding Our Own Business

June 19, 2026June 19, 2026Todd R 5 Comments

Have you heard the term “virtue signaling”? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “the act or practice of conspicuously displaying one’s awareness of and attentiveness to political issues, matters of social and racial justice, etc., especially instead of taking effective action.” The phrase seems like it’s been around a long time, but the first use of it may have been as recent as 2013.[1]

Maybe the words “virtue signaling” are new, but the idea is at least as old as the Bible. In chapter 26, verses 6-13 of Matthew’s gospel, he tells the story of a woman who came to Jesus with “an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment” which she poured on Jesus’ head in front of the disciples. In Jesus’ view “she has done a beautiful thing to me…to prepare me for burial.” But the disciples didn’t see it the same way Jesus did. They indignantly said “Why this waste? For this [ointment] could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”

Jesus responded how it was “a beautiful thing”, but also made another comment that made it clear the disciples were virtue signaling. He told them not to “trouble the woman.” “For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.” I think Jesus had at least 3 points in this phrase, related to virtue signaling.

The first is that knowing what to do isn’t enough. In fact, it just increases our responsibility. James 4:17 says: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” Although the disciples knew that giving to the poor was good, in this case were more concerned about sharing that knowledge than about using it. Today, we might call such people virtue signalers, but the Bible calls them “busybodies” and “meddlers”[2] People who go from person to person evaluating and criticizing their work instead of minding their own responsibilities. These people are common on social media.

Second, that there is always an opportunity to help the poor – they always will exist and aren’t hard to find – and each disciple surely missed opportunities every day. On what basis could they pick on someone else’s failure to help the poor? By criticizing the woman, they revealed that virtue signaling was more important to them than actually being virtuous.

^{Photo by Guillaume de Germain on Unsplash}

The last point is that service flows from worship, not the other way around. When we worship Jesus, the ultimate servant, our own ability to sincerely serve others increases as a result. The woman with the ointment knew this may be the only opportunity to anoint Jesus for burial, and knew she shouldn’t miss it. On the other hand, the disciples wanted Jesus to punish the woman when they should have been minding their own business. An internal posture of worship may be the best antidote to hypocrisy and the temptation to merely signal virtue.

The phrase “mind your own business” usually is said to someone we want to leave us alone, but the words actually mean that we should consider our own activities and motives more important than the policing of other people’s activities and motives. We “always have the poor” with us and fall far short of the standard we need to meet to judge other people’s use of resources.

When we all stand before God in judgment, Jesus will tell the blessed: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’” In other words, the blessed minded their own business instead of just criticizing others (virtue signaling). Jesus notices when we take effective action and doesn’t care much about our opinions of others’ effectiveness.

Therefore, pray that we can all mind our own business, in worshipful service, “for you always have the poor with you,” and thank God for His forgiveness, because I know I don’t mind my own business nearly as often as I should. Sometimes I just blog about it.

“Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love,
but a faithful man who can find?” – Proverbs 20:6

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtue signaling
[2] 1 Timothy 5:13; 1 Peter 4:15