The Perfect Life

March 3, 2026March 2, 2026Todd R Leave a comment

Are you living your best life? In American culture, people say they’re “living their best life” when they’re doing great, doing the things they enjoy, and there’s nothing else they’d rather do. Sometimes we may do what we’re supposed to do and enjoy it, but I doubt anyone is doing this constantly without exception. I also doubt it’s as completely fulfilling as we expect it to be or tell others it is. Also, the “best life” we see others living on social media isn’t a full reflection of how their lives are going.

On the other hand, consider the only person who ever lived a life fully acceptable to God: Jesus. His “best life” began in a dirty manger and ended on a dirty, bloody cross. In between, He lived a life fully devoted to doing the work of the Father. If Jesus’ life was perfect according to God, what does our “best life” really look like?

It doesn’t mean a life lived without happiness and joy, after all joy is a fruit of the Spirit, something that comes from following God. I don’t get the impression that Jesus was never having a good time. His first miracle was turning water into wine, and He was accused of being a “glutton and a drunkard.”[1] He certainly wasn’t a glutton or drunkard, but someone who always acts like a stick-in-the-mud would not have faced these accusations. Jesus enjoyed being among friends, even if they were “tax collectors and sinners,” and certainly lived a joyful life. He was often enjoying Himself, although without excess or sin.

The same as with Jesus, our “best life” means living as God intended us to live, and what He wants most from us is to love Him and to love our neighbor. We may want to live for ourselves and only care about what we can get out of this world. As the saying goes, “he who dies with the most toys wins,” right? But living this way has a negative impact on others and we can’t keep what we gain anyway. I’ve also heard that “you never see a U-Haul being pulled behind a hearse.” In contrast, living for others is what Christ commands, following the Spirit’s guidance can bring us joy, and the positive impact we have on others has an eternal value greater than we can measure.

However, we know that many in Jesus’ day did not approve of the way He lived (even though it was perfect), and many of those people were the religious and political leaders. The same will be true for His followers, as He said in Matthew 10:24, “a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” In other words, if He suffered for doing good, why would we be an exception? Truly living our “best life” according to God means that we will face resistance. Christian love isn’t always a virtue this world admires or wants to see.

As we know, this opposition led to Jesus being turned over to the authorities and sentenced to death upon a cross. Only His life didn’t end on the cross. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where He prepares a place for us. A place where we can live our “best life” perfectly and without opposition or persecution. A place where we can be who God really intended us to be. There should be nothing we’d rather do.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” – Romans 8:18

[1] Matthew 11:19

Jesus Overcomes Tribalism

February 21, 2026February 20, 2026Todd R 2 Comments

The Bible is a book for all people, in all times and places, and its lessons hold eternal value. Yet the Bible was also written in particular times and places and knowledge of those contexts is sometimes assumed rather than explained. For instance, in the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, we read the phrase, in parenthesis: “(For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)”. We also read that Jesus and His disciples “had to pass through Samaria.” Hate is a difficult thing to measure or quantify, but the story assumes we know something about how intense the Jews’ hate for Samaritans was.

According to Warren Wiersbe, “So intense was [the Jews’] dislike of the Samaritans that some of the Pharisees prayed that no Samaritan would be raised in the resurrection!”[1] This hate was so strong that many Orthodox Jews would travel much longer routes around Samaria to avoid setting foot in it. They thought the dirt itself would contaminate them. Why all this hate?

One reason for this hate was genetic. Anyone who reads the Old Testament knows there are many extensive genealogies. To the Jew, it was very important to know which of the original 12 tribes you descended from and that your ancestors had not intermarried with people of other religions. But Samaritans genealogies were not pure enough for them. Much of Samaria was populated with the descendants of poorer Jews left behind by the Assyrians, many of whom had intermarried with foreigners the Assyrians planted there. So, Jews in Judah looked down on Samaritans because of their mixed genealogy. The Samaritans were considered “half-breeds.”

Another reason was religious. When the Samaritan woman said “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” in John 4:20, she was referring to an alternative Judaism. Among other differences, the Samaritans had a center of worship on Mount Gerizim, with its own temple. They even re-wrote parts of the Pentateuch to justify this.[2] To Israel, Jerusalem was the only center of worship. Sacrifices to Yahweh were only to be offered there, and every male was supposed to make a pilgrimage there three times every year. There was to be no rival temple, and therefore the Samaritans (in the Jewish mind) had cut themselves off from the true worship of Yahweh and should be shunned.

John has to write that Jesus “had to pass through Samaria” because doing that was unusual, especially for a Jewish rabbi like Jesus. But then Jesus went there, simply being in Samaria was a strong statement that Jesus didn’t care for the hateful tribalism. But not only did He go there, He interacted with its people, at a time when “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” Jesus was and would continue to break down these barriers. In the four gospels, Jesus preached to the Jews first, then to the “half-breed” Samaritans, then to full Gentiles, and the apostles followed the same pattern in Acts. This sequence progressively illustrated that the gospel is for all tribes of people.

What does this mean for us today? Hate like what the Jews felt for Samaritans is rampant and if Jesus could overcome that hate, He can overcome any hate. Any reasons we have for hating, or even disliking people just because of what group or tribe they belong to aren’t good enough reasons.

But tribal rivalries are everywhere we look: national and regional, political and economic, cultural and ethnic, musical and athletic, and every other dimension we can imagine. But no tribal loyalty is more important than the obligation to love God and love our neighbor, no matter who they are.

The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:38-39 –

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Not only does this describe the love God has for us in Jesus, but it also describes the love we should have for others. Nothing should get in the way, including any religious, racial or other differences.

Jesus overcomes tribalism, and so should His people.

[1] Wiersbe, Warren. Be Alive (John 1-12) (1986). P.65.
[2] Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (1886). P. 274-5.

All Fall Short

February 14, 2026February 13, 2026Todd R Leave a comment

I’m writing a series about the verses I’ve quoted the most on this blog, and I see some of these verses as foundational to Christianity. For example, another post in the series was about John 3:16 (“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”) Today’s post (#5 of the series) covers Romans 3:23, another verse that states a basic truth central to Christianity:

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

This is so important because without knowing we are sinners, we have no reason to accept Jesus. It makes John 3:16 and other verses matter more to the hearer. This is why Romans 3:23 is the first verse in the “Romans Road.” For those not familiar, the Romans Road[1] is an easy to memorize summary of the Christian gospel using verses from the book of Romans. It gives a quick outline describing the need for salvation and the way to salvation using these verses:

Romans 3:23 – “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Romans 6:23(a) – “The wages of sin is death”
Romans 6:23(b) – “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
Romans 10:9 – “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”

In the times I’ve quoted Romans 3:23, it has often reinforced the logic of the Romans Road, particularly its first step. What does it mean that “all have sinned”?

Missing the Mark
In the New Testament, the word “sin” is often a translation of the Greek “hamartia,” which means “to miss the mark.”[2] I’ve written that Paul in Romans 3:23 “is not saying everybody failed to follow a list of dos and don’ts, but that we have not fully lived the life God intended us to live.” Sometimes we make a list of what we think are sins and think if we’ve followed the list, we haven’t sinned. However, a better definition of sin tells us that “all have sinned.” If the goal is for each person to attain “the glory of God,” none of us have achieved the goal. We all need Jesus.

“There is Only One Who is Good”[3]
When someone came to Jesus (Matthew 19:16) and said ““Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” part of Jesus’ response was “There is only one who is good.” He says this because “all have sinned,” except Jesus, who is sinless. Regardless, often people are obsessed with grouping people into “good” and “bad.” I’ve written about “religious categories like Catholic versus Protestant, political categories like Republican versus Democrat, or Marxist categories like “oppressed” versus “oppressor.”” We assign people to these groups, then we like our side and hate the other. Therefore, one of my favorite quotes is by Solzhenitsyn, who said:

“The line separating good and evil passes, not through states, not between political parties either, but right through all human hearts.”

In each person there is good and evil. There is no way to separate groups of people into a group of good people and a group of bad people, because every person in every group is both. If we only put more stock in Romans 3:23, which declares: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” we could avoid an awful lot of unnecessary hate and conflict.

God Loves Us Anyway
Now here comes the good news: “Most of the Bible is the story of the failures of people who can’t follow the will of God, but that God loves and accepts them anyway.” Studying the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, it becomes obvious that God’s people aren’t “good’ people, but it also becomes obvious that God loves them anyway. Therefore, Romans 3:23 cultivates in us a spirit of humility and gratefulness. We know because of Romans 3:23 that any blessing from God is an act of grace because only Jesus lived a life of full obedience. In Deuteronomy when Moses reviewed the blessings and curses that Israel would experience based on their ability to obey God, God knew that every single Israelite would fall short of deserving blessing. Every single Israelite would sin. However, because of God’s mercy and grace, we don’t get the judgement we deserve, but we do get the blessing we don’t deserve. Therefore, we must be thankful for God’s grace, but also we must be aware that it is not at all earned by what we’ve done.

So, while Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” is an important verse, Romans 3:24, right after it says, “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” and that’s just as important.

[1] This site has some more helpful detail on the Romans Road: https://www.christianity.com/wiki/salvation/what-is-the-romans-road-to-salvation.html
[2] Greek Strong’s Dictionary
[3] Matthew 19:17

Who Do We Serve?

February 5, 2026February 2, 2026Todd R 3 Comments

Some people think they aren’t serving anyone, but this is never true. We are all at least serving our own desires. We may also desire to serve our employers, our spouses, our friends, our country, our ambitions, and many other masters, in addition to ourselves. Someone or something is determining what we do. Nobody is without a master.

The apostle Paul was clear in the Bible who his master was. In the first verse of 3 of the epistles he wrote – Romans, Philippians, and Titus – Paul opens by calling himself a “servant” of God and of Jesus. Given his status as a Roman citizen and his heritage and accomplishments as a Jew[1], it may have been hard for Paul to see himself as a servant, but he knew there was no other kind of person, or Christian. We’re all servants.

We are not saved by being servants, we are saved by God’s grace and mercy, but when we are saved, we take on a new identity. In Paul’s case, he writes in Romans and Titus that he was “called to be an apostle”[2] and that he was “an apostle of Jesus Christ.”[3] Paul knew that he served only one Master, and that Master determined his priorities and required him to turn from other masters. Likewise, unless we first acknowledge that we are servants, we will not answer our call to be set apart for God’s purpose in us.

We are not called to be apostles, but as servants, we are called to be something, in service to Him. This does not mean we all need to go into full-time ministry, but it does mean that we need to bring God’s priorities to love Him and to love our neighbor into our daily lives and activities. Into our homes, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our churches, and anywhere else we go. It means we let Jesus decide our priorities and how we treat the people around us.

Paul wrote in Romans that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”[4] So, faith that leads to salvation includes the acknowledgement that Jesus is Lord and therefore that Christians are His servants.

Today, someone will be your master. Choose wisely and ask Jesus how you can serve Him today.

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa
“No one can do everything, but everyone can do something” – Max Lucado

[1] Philippians 3:4-6
[2] Romans 1:1
[3] Titus 1:1
[4] Romans 10:9

“The Way to Death”

January 31, 2026January 29, 2026Todd R Leave a comment

Is everything a matter of life and death? In Deuteronomy 30:19, Moses said to the people of Israel about God’s law: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live.” This idea of things being a choice between life and death also shows up in wisdom literature, like the Proverbs, and elsewhere. Paul wrote in Romans 5:12, “as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” These verses don’t mean that every time you sin lightning will come down from heaven and strike you dead. They also don’t mean that whether you choose to have corn or peas with dinner is a life-or-death decision. But they do mean that, absent God’s grace, the necessary, inevitable consequence of sin is death.

Paul also wrote, in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Because of this gift, our bad choices and bad intentions don’t have to lead to eternal death, but we still make bad choices, and the verse(s) I’m going to highlight today is(are) a good reminder that we get tricked into bad choices.

In response to a reader suggestion, I’m writing a series about the verses I’ve quoted the most on this blog. Today’s post is #4 of the series, covering the verse(s) quoted the 4th least out of the 10 most quoted:

“There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.” – Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25

Yes, Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 say exactly the same thing, as if the point being made was so important that it needed repeating. This Proverb tells us that we make bad choices because they seem right. Here I’ve used this verse a few times and in a few different ways, which I’m listing below:

Sometimes what “seems right” is physically bad for us
In one post, I explained the famous “Marlboro Man” advertising campaign begun in 1954, where a cigarette with a red filter designed for women was changed overnight into a cigarette for “manly” men, who usually had a cowboy hat and a horse. I wrote “To make Philip Morris money, the ads declared that smoking was not a “way to death,” but that it was “right to a man” to be like the Marlboro Man.” However, smoking can literally kill you. Not a very spiritual point, but still true!

What’s right is not always what we’ve always done
I’ve also written about the dual Proverb that what “seems right” might be keeping us stuck in a rut and not progressing in life or in holiness. Rather than do what’s actually right, “It’s easier to do what others have done before, or to continue what you’ve already done before, especially if repeated for a long period of time.” While what’s comfortable may be the easy thing to do, 1 Peter 1:14-16 says (quoting Leviticus 11:44), “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”” Since none of us are holy yet, getting there requires change, and therefore staying where we are can be “the way to death.”

What’s right is not always what’s popular
In most (maybe all) cultures there are popular assumptions and ideas that just go unchallenged. Anyone who speaks against them suffers some kind of consequence, from being shunned to even being killed in some places. I wrote a list of quotes called “Popular Orthodoxy” about this, which included today’s Proverbs. Popularity and peer pressure can be powerful things, giving us constant signals about what “seems right to a man”, but I’ve also written that “Sometimes wisdom flashes a red light while others are flashing green.”

What’s right is not always what we think is in our own best interest
For this one, I used an extreme example, where Herod ordered the killing of every child under 2 that lived where Jesus was born. He didn’t want any rivals to his rule, and he didn’t want a populist uprising, so as I wrote: “Herod saw [the killings] as in his own best interest, and in the interest of Rome, but this is one of many examples of “a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”” As I said this was an extreme example, but if you study economics, you usually learn that it assumes that people are “rational,” meaning they act in their best interest. So, the economic theory of what “seems right to a man” is self-interest.

However, the Bible teaches us that what’s best for us is to defer our judgement of what’s best to God. Too often we’re wrong, and Proverbs 1:7 declares:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

This “fear” doesn’t mean we are afraid of God, but that we feel a reverent awe toward Him. This fear leads to wisdom and leads us to choose the way that is right to God, not what “seems right” to us. Only the omniscient God has the perspective needed to know what’s right. Psalm 25:12 says:

“Who is the man who fears the LORD?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.”

As Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 tell us, we are easily misled to believe there is a better path than the one God chooses for us. It’s so important that Proverbs tells us this twice, and I agree, which is why it/they make my list of most-quoted verses.

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