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I’ve been trying to do God’s work for 70 years and I did not enter the ministry until 50 years ago! How can that be?

I was reading Psalm 19 in the Message this morning. God directed me to the Psalm. He brought it to mind in answer to the question I raised to Him in prayer.

For all these years, Psalm 19 is where I went to read about how God displays his communication in the rising of the sun each day (and other such examples — see verses 1-6). I guess I always read the last half of the Psalm as if it were a repetition of what I already knew (vv7-14); but I read it fresh this morning and Peterson’s paraphrase helped me do it.

The prayer that caught my attention is rendered “Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work.” (Verse 13a). As soon I read it, I said out loud to myself and to God, “I’ve been trying to do God’s work for 70 years!” I’ve been trying to have dominion over Him! In other words, I’ve been trying to run things. I’ve been trying to run my life. I’ve been trying to figure things out well enough to keep things under control. And it’s a stupid sin! It’s stupid because I can never know enough about what is happening and what is about to happen to run my life in such a way that everything is under control! And if I knew these things I could not do anything about most of it! I cannot pull it off! But these verses (7-14) make it crystal clear that God does know that much! It makes it crystal clear that God can do something about all of it! These verses make it clear that God is also as dependable as the sun coming up this morning. These verses make it clear that God has a communication that is even more dependable than that! (Revelation 22:5). And God communicates with me! So, there you are. Instead of the stupid sin of trying to run my life, all that is needed is for me to communicate with Him and depend on what He says.

The question I raised in prayer has been answered. Even though I did not word it this way, the question I asked meant this, “How can I find out what it means to be 70 years old so I can control my life better?” How silly! I encourage you to apply these thoughts to your age, whatever it is, because they apply to you, too (according to Psalm 19).

W. Stephen Williams © copyright 8/15/2024

Which is greater the tree or the fruit? Some might say the tree because it produces year after year.  But without the fruit, the tree cannot be greater. So the greater is the fruit.

Jesus said we would do greater works. Of course, these greater works are done by the Father and Son in the Holy Spirit. The Father is seen in the Son through words and works. The Father and Son are seen in us through words and works empowered by the Spirit.

Which is the greater feat, to see God acting like God successfully acts on his own in his body (the body of Jesus) or to see God successfully act through human beings? God acting like God acts through human beings is the greater work because He must win our cooperation and work through our weaknesses.

(C) All Rights Reserved By Stephen Williams 8/2/24

Life flows within a channel that God cuts ahead of us. The channel is the sum total of the changing circumstances of our life. The stream finds the channel through which it will flow. We yield in the same way that water transforms itself within the shape of the channel. Regardless of the circumstances through which it flows, the water retains a constant internal identity — H20). Disciples yield to their surroundings as the circumstances change from day one and continue to change around them to the end of life.

Yet the water also cuts against the circumstances. God is the power source in the force of the persistent stream. He uses us to shape our surroundings. The water influences the channel so that the shape is impacted by the steam’s force against it and hidden sub-terrarium solid rock see the light of day. The rock glitters in the sun like the Grand Canyon.

The circumstances are inconsequential to our identity in Christ. We are citizens of his kingdom and circumstances are putty in the palms of his hands. You can glory in circumstances when they are humble; and you can can glory in circumstances when they are flourishing around you like wildflowers in a field. Circumstances have no bearing at all on the definition of discipleship.

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (See Romans 12:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; Philippians 1:12; 3:20-21; 4:11-12; Jeremiah 18; James 1:9-12)

W. Stephen Williams © all rights reserved July 27, 2024

I enjoy a thin slice of cheesecake two or three times a year. I am diabetic and am controlling it by diet. I wonder if I should eat cheesecake every day. The Bible says, “Do we not have the right to eat and drink?” (1 Corinthians 9:4).

The Bible is not a book of spells and incantations where coincidental wording in phrases or single words in it can be attached as proof that we can eat anything we want. We can conclude important biblical truths without resorting to this and then find the wisdom we need to address all other important issues: yea or nay. As a lifelong student of the Bible in both formal environments and in my daily practice, I am careful to use biblical texts in a way that provides an example to others on how to understand it and meditate on what it intentionally says because a responsible use of the Bible is so important for living wisely and an irresponsible use of the Bible so undermining of that wisdom (Psalm 1, James 1, Psalm 119). I follow the first two rules of interpretation.

Rule number one is to read humbly with the kind of prayer that yearns to hear from God — which means we are not going to the Bible initially in order to prove a point — any point. (We can go to the Bible to prove our points using sound practices following the rules of interpretation; but we start with humility because we want to filter out our own biases in order to hear what God has to say about those biases — whether God will speak in favor of them or not).

Rule number two is to read biblical texts in context. If the context is about something other than what you want to curiously apply it to, don’t force it! In doing so we relegate the Bible to anyone’s fancy. There is too much danger in giving the kind of example that says “I can take the Bible to say whatever I fancy it says.” We undermine what the Bible actually says when we distort how God communicates through it.

God communicates with authority and that is why we must come first with humility. He communicates logically and that is why we must read it in context. When we read the Bible in context we enter a series of contexts — as with any coherent writing. There is an immediate context in the sentence itself, and then outwardly there is consistency between that sentence and the paragraph it is in. Then that paragraph is thematically or logically consistent with the larger context of what is called a pericope. And then the essay-sized pericope makes sense in its context in the chapter where it is found and then the book that contains it. (The Bible is divided into books). And then there is an Old Testament or New Testament context (depending on which testament you are reading from). There is consistency across this large section. And finally, there is the context of the whole.

We can conclude that the Bible does not contradict itself because it does not contain statements that are contradictory to any other statement in its entire context (Genesis through Revelation). But of course, if the Bible is treated according to anyone’s fancy it would turn out to be full of contradictions because people have many contradictory fancies going on in their own individual brains. For example, some evenings I fancy that sweets would be good for me. Fortunately, on most days I understand that the sugar intake is not good for a diabetic. But on those odd and infrequent evenings I can convince myself that it is the truth that my body will not be adversely damaged in the least by partaking of cheesecake. I might even entertain the thought that I might as well eat it everyday. But I refuse to go to a phrase in the Bible (such a phrase as “Do we not have the right to eat and drink?”) and pull the words out of their context and assume it is trumping what my medical doctors have been telling me. Some might say that it is unfortunate; but the phrase in question is absolutely and in no way giving evidence that this is actually the truth and that it will result in wise living for me to eat cheesecake everyday!  

W. Stephen Williams © All Rights Reserved July 20, 2024

When the Israelites entered the wilderness. “…the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not” (Exodus 16:4). The Lord poured down a blessing and it was a test. The test was on the seventh day when no bread rained down from heaven because it was the sabbath and they were to keep the sabbath by not doing the work of gathering bread (Exodus 16:25-26). The Lord’s blessing on our life brings a test with it. The manna from the sky was an additional gift in a long line of gifts to Israel in those days. The biggie gift that got them started was the freedom from slavery to Egypt! God opened the door of the sea by blowing back the waters and making a path through the chaos to the land He promised Abraham in Genesis 12. For Israel, the test began right after the gift of this freedom from slavery — right after the gift of this deliverance, right after the gift of this salvation.

Later, it continues. “Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.’ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20). This was later when they were standing before the mountain of the Lord where God gave his covenant containing the ten commandments. If after the deliverance, the commandments were obeyed, an abundance of life-blessings would continue to bear fruit in the experience of the Israelites (Deuteronomy 28:9-14). If they failed the test by ignoring the commandments they would lose the abundant living promised in verses 9-14 and undergo a devastating suffrage of a different kind — the kind that falls on a person’s life when they surrender to sinful choices (Deuteronomy 28:16-68).

I’ve been thinking about the binding of Isaac told in Genesis 22. In the first verse of the story recorded there we are told that God is about to test Abraham; but when did the testing of Abraham’s begin? Abraham was tested when he was invited to go to a new land (Genesis 12). He was tested when he was promised a child even though he and Sarah could not have children. It seemed this promise would never come to be and so Abraham and Sarah chose a surrogate mother to conceive a substitute child. Then later, when the promised child finally did supernaturally arrive, Abraham was tested with a command to offer this promised son as a sacrifice on a fiery altar (Genesis 22).

God blesses us with salvation and then comes the test. We are expected to bear fruit by living our lives under his direction. Romans 12:1-2 tells us to “offer ourselves as a living sacrifice… which is our worship” and to do this by “not conforming to the shape that our culture wants us to fit into” but to “be transformed by making up our minds” to follow Jesus in the way we live our lives. Therefore, our life is a test (1 Corinthians 3:9-20). We are tested. Our life tests God’s wisdom as a testimony to it. Our life tests God’s provision as a testimony to it. Our life puts to the test God’s plan for living as a living testimony to its superiority as the way to live life. It is superior to living life the way the world of this age does it. If a Christian were to live life conformed to the way of this age, then it would not look so much like a blessing. It would look nearly the same as the way worldly people live life (Ephesian 4:17-24; 1 Peter 2:12). If a Christian were to live life transformed or changed or converted, then it would look very different than the way people of this age live because people of this age are focused on feeling good, having their own way all the time, and gathering the treasures of this world as evidence of what they value (Matthew 6:19-24). For their sakes, we must pass the test! And when we fall short, we need to get back up, repent of our sin, and go about passing the test. For Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly — more abundantly than you will ever see by looking at the way the people of this age live their lives (John 10:10).

W. Stephen Williams © July 19, 2024

In science fiction the present has been portrayed as a still moment stretched out over minutes, hours, and even years. Picture a man living in that kind of moment while everyone around him is frozen in space and time. That person then moves and walks among those people as if they were statues with mouths open in mid speech, stationary arms in mid swing of a walking stance, someone frozen in mid air as he avoids tripping by skipping over a running cat stretched out in full flight across his path — except everyone is caught in that moment without any movement at all. This is fiction because in reality we are captured by time. For us, our history-in-the-making cannot stand still.

In Romans 12:1-2 (see my paraphrase below), the renewal of the mind takes place in a moment between the old present, less than perfect, sinful world — and the transformed, resurrected, grace-recreated, new world.  These two verses picture a person trusting God with dedicated thought and action in the moment captured there. The thought and action caught in the scriptural photo that is portrayed in the still-frame of the motion is acted out according to what Paul is describing as the transformed future. How do we live in this grace-governed eternal moment?

In his exposition, Karl Barth uses the word “repentance” for this moment. “Repentance is — the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the will of God, even what is good and acceptable and perfect” (The Epistle to the Romans, pg436). Repentance is a stretched moment between the world identified with Adam in the Garden of Eden and the world identified with Christ resurrected so that we are new creatures, citizens of Heaven, made perfect by grace.

I’ve lived through some of these extended and timeless moments of perpetual repentance. One such moment was in 1973 when I was called out to serve Jesus with my every moment and every thought. It was a six-month moment that has had ongoing implications since then. That is what Romans 12:1-2 is describing. Present your bodies — that is your every action. Present your taking a spoon to eat your breakfast cereal, your walking in the yard, and your watching entertainment. Present them as worship! Present your breathing in and out, your watching out windows at others, and the words you speak in a conversation. Present them as worship! Present your traveling to the next location, your involvement in the next action, and your next endeavor to complete the coming activity. Present them as worship!  Then stretch this out to all your thoughts and activities. Present them as worship! Make up your mind and present them as worship!

The Apostle Paul is right in his explanation of how we cannot excel to accomplish this in any other way than by way of a timeless living and acted out, thought out repentance. Repentance here has to mean our urgent grasping ahold of the full meaning of what Jesus has done for us by lifting us above our imperfect nature by saving grace — and then our putting our weight down in the step we are taking or the thought we are making by way of the vision of a transformed future completing who we already are by faith in what we think and what we do with our bodies. I’ve had many of these special moments in my life and my goal is to have the time and distance between these kinds of moments diminish into nothing so that the moment takes over my entire life from here on out. At that time, time will be no more and the lasting moment will be called eternity.

“I strongly urge you, therefore, brothers and sisters — through all these mercies God has given you, to make up your minds to give all you do with your bodies as a living sacrifice (your sleeping, eating, going-to-work or school, recreation, entertainment, and walking-around), make what you do a daily offering that is devoted and well pleasing to God. All the things you do will be your reasoned response of worship. Do not be squeezed into the shape dictated by the customs of this age (conforming to them), but continue to be changed by renewed thinking (transformation) that molds your minds in such a way as to pass the test of finding and following God‘s will; that is, what is good (valuable to God), well-pleasing to him, and complete (all that is required).” (My paraphrase — See Romans 2:1-2 in “The New Testament in the Language of the People, ESV, NASB, Phillips, NT for Everyone, NIV, The Message, NLT, and other translations and commentaries such as “The New International Greek Testament Commentary, The Epistle to the Romans,” by Richard N. Longenecker)

W. Stephen Williams © 7/13/2024

Suffering gets a bad rap. People refuse to trust in God because there is suffering, and this leaves them without any hope of a life lived outside the confining walls that suffering erects around them. They react to the view that suffering is unjust and unfair and in doing so they confine themselves to no other alternative. Whereas the person who understands that suffering is simply a reality of being human — a condition like that of the lungs requiring it to breath, a condition of the heart that requires it to beat, or a condition of the body that requires it to age — this person simply accepts the reality of suffering and looks for its redemption. 

Another condition of life is the one that requires — even demands — that we associate with other humans in community. We are a species that runs in packs. It is natural for us to gather our friends around us and move through life in association in family groups. We are drawn to others. It is inherent in our sexuality. It is a dominate need. Emotionally we want connections. We are compelled to parent. We are created for love.  

Have you ever thought about the connection between the condition of suffering and the capability to love? The Bible makes this connection but often it communicates this truth by means of a theme. A theme tells its story over pages and chapters and larger divisions. With themes we link what we read in the brief episodes back to the huge reams of the context of the grand narrative. These episodes put the flesh on the mega-narrative. This grand story puts suffering in its context. Suffering must be located in the human story the same way breathing is — the same way love is.

One of these episodes in Scripture is in 2 Corinthians. The early chapters of this brief letter flow together and the language that keep its context connected is the language of comfort and suffering. It begins with a message about comfort. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  Comfort is essential to the context of suffering — how Christ fits into this context and how we fit into this context. Comfort comes in the form of a symptom — a symptom of love.

One reality inherent in this context is that the capacity to receive comfort is contingent on the suffering in our circumstances. If you think about it, without suffering we would not be receptive to love. We would not think we need it! Our self-sufficiency would rely on ambition — survival of the fittest — rather than the social instinct. We would give ourselves to trampling over the bodies on the way to being king of the hill and we would hoard love-counterfeits to bring us pleasure and replace the love instinct. But the lessons of vulnerability, frailty, and need taught by the stern teacher whose name is “Suffering” conditions us to receive comfort and comfort is the sister of love. The curriculum of suffering accumulates into the competency of love.

This is true on the local level — the level of the human condition — and it is true on the heavenly level which is why Jesus came suffering. He could not come and be human without it. And he could not come and be the Savior for humans without it.

W. Stephen Williams © July 9, 2024

I’ve been on sabbatical since retiring the first Sunday of May. I am not experienced at retirement. I am apparently not experienced at sabbath. My plan is in process to have begun this retirement with a long long needed sabbatical. I don’t know how long of a sabbatical I’ll have. The greatest threat to it is that I keep asking myself, “Am I really not supposed to be doing what I am not doing?” Why am I not busy? I know that it’s silly, if sabbatical means anything — if sabbath means anything — to be asking myself this question at this early stage. But I am used to doing and doing and more doing.

I am wondering if maybe one of the sacrifices of my ministry has been the keeping of sabbath. I’ve tried to set aside time for sabbaths with retreats, vacations, and a day in the week I called my sabbath rest. But somehow I sense that the rhythm of turning aside on the same day of the week and surrendering myself to listening — to giving my time to a cessation of planning and a cessation of ruminating and a cessation of running and doing and strategizing and presenting — Sunday after Sunday — may have been the most significant of my ministerial sacrifices (Matthew 19:27-29). Sundays have been busy — not so much a time for rest and receiving! I have no regrets about any of my ministerial sacrifices; but it occurs to me that by contrast it highlights what a great privilege is readily available to Christians who can come to church to keep sabbath — to have it ministered to them by pastors — and that is priceless. It is the opportunity of receiving Sabbath.

Now I know I did not sacrifice all the sabbath keeping I am wondering about missing. Most Sundays over the last several years were blessed through the ministry of the Holy Spirit who would gently moisten my eyes while preaching sermons as he touched my heart with the words that exited my mouth. Only God can take your own words and sweeten them with His loving kindness and mercy. Only God can simultaneously divvy out sabbath to those who are administering sabbath to others. But during my new circumstance, I am now taken aback during this new experience of keeping sabbaths of what a great gift they are to those who are on the receiving end! It seems that the gift of being ministered to by pastors offering sabbath is highly underrated these days.

It has been a privilege to be a minister of sabbath for others. Now I will try and learn how to have sabbath ministered back to me. It’s not that I will stop using my gifts. I’ll preach as I have opportunity. I may even do interims. Who knows God may call me out of retirement. But until then I want to learn to keep sabbath well.

I need not ask, “Am I really not supposed to be doing what I am not doing?” Not only is there nothing wrong with turning aside for an extended time given to reflection, contemplation, and listening to the Spirit, but it seems to be that it is the kind of joy promoted across the pages of the Bible. Jesus prayed all night (Luke 6:12). Elijah sat by the river Cherith (1 Kings 17:2-6). Paul went to Sinai for an extended time after his conversion (Galatians 1:17; see Paul: A Biography by NT Wright and Ben Witherington III’s Paul of Arabia for how Paul might have spent his time there). These select references to sabbath time in the Bible are just the tip of the iceberg. So let me encourage you to follow the invitation to keep sabbath because “He who meditates day and night is like a tree planted by streams of water” (Psalm 1). You will flourish with abundant days of living! So say with the sons of Korah, “My soul pants for God like the deer pant for the water brooks” (Psalm 42). Go and find the love and encouragement that God puts into people when they are keeping sabbath (Hebrews 10:24-25).

W. Stephen Williams © 7/5/2024

I’ve decided to take on new employment. I’m responsible for coming up with my new title. I am responsible for creating the job description. I am also responsible for identifying the tasks I will be responsible for. I am working on the job title now. “Philosopher in Residence”, “Mentor in Residence”, “Lead Contemplator and Strategist”, “Personal Spiritual Director”, “Scholar in Residence”, “Disciple of Spiritual Life and All Other Things Lived or Imagined” are titles that have come to mind. I’ve not satisfied with any of them. Any suggestions?

I was walking in the yard yesterday and felt something familiar. I sensed something I have felt several times before — a kind of optimism — the kind attached to starting a new position. I felt it when taking on new positions in the past. Then it occurred to me that I am in that same situation — that ideal position one dreams of where they can create their own title, write their own job description, and identify their own tasks — and in so doing define what their mission is going to be.

Of course, I have all this liberty and freedom because I will continue to be self-supporting. I’m not retired in the sense that I have become one who wanders from one aimless thing to the next. What I am is an explorer free to open new doors and be selective about which ones I go through. I hereby employ myself to this exciting enterprise.

Written by W. Stephen Williams © All Rights Reserved 7/2/2024

I glanced out the window. I was sitting in my recliner in the den and looking through the kitchen blinds and could only see the top half of the trees. When I looked up, I either saw the top of a piece of farm equipment pass by the fence line on my property or I saw the wind blow across the tree limbs turning the soft colored undersides of the leaves over into floating shadows. I did’t know which thing I saw until I thought about it. There was no reason for a harvesting combine to be on my property in the fall, much less in early summer, and wind was indeed blowing the limbs.

What caught my attention causing me to look out the window in the first place was what I thought was a miss-located piece of farm equipment headed my way. But what was actually there on my property were trees being blown by the wind. What often seems obvious is not obvious at all. What makes it seem obvious are the assumptions we bring to our interpretations. Assumptions are beliefs. Assumptions are like the wind blowing limbs in a certain way as to look like the top of a machine moving by. The assumptions do not have a basis in fact substantial enough to conclude every matter; but we are not able to process all the information, circumstances, and stimuli that we encounter so we must make assumptions that we feel we can trust in order to narrow down the number of things we have to give our attention to in a given day.

Many of the assumptions we make will be faulty. Sometimes we will draw conclusions we later regret. Sometimes we will believe we saw things that were not actually true. Therefore, on occasion, we must question those assumptions — or else we find ourselves chasing after illusionary phenomenon, or worse yet, fail to get out of the way of something that could run us over.

Time usually will tell but we do not always have the time before we step into a trap. When we do find ourselves in that trap, the wonderful thing to default to in out thinking when it comes to drawing conclusions, is that if we are striving to follow Jesus and fall into a trap, then the promise made by the capable Savior, is that there will be a way out of the way of lasting danger.

Trusting the Savior in my experience is the main thing that time has testified to me to be trustworthy indeed.

Stephen Williams 6/22/24