Praying Before Eating?

What The Bible Says About Your Tough Questions: Should Christians Pray Before They Eat?

The Bible doesn’t implicitly say Christians should pray before they eat. However, you will find many examples of Jesus giving thanks for food before it was eaten. (Matthew 14:19; John 6:11; Luke 22:17-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-24) You will also find in Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray, he instructs them to ask God to,

“give us this day our daily bread”. (Matthew 6:11)

So what does this all mean?

Well, it is not a sin for one not to pray before a meal. You will not reap eternal damnation for forgetting to pray before you dive into your pizza or sub sandwich. What praying before your meal reveals is how you view God.

In Jesus’ day, meals were literally earned on a daily basis. In other words, most people didn’t always know where the next meal was going to come from. Many cultures around the world today, are experiencing the same situation. So how we pray to God about food, and how they pray to God about food is totally different.

For you and I, the rich Americans who have many meals stored away in our freezers, our prayer before a meal acknowledges that we didn’t earn this meal with our own strength and work. Instead it is God who gave us the ability and the opportunity to even have a job as well as have an abundance of food to choose from. Our prayer before a meal moves us (people) from the center of life and puts the focus back on God—the true giver of all good things. So while it is not a "sin" to not pray before a meal, it is a good discipline in helping remind all of us that God is the center of everything in our lives.

Divorce & Remarriage?

What The Bible Says About My Tough Questions: Divorce and Remarriage?

God’s feelings on the subject of divorce are rather clear: God hates divorce. (Malachi 2:16) The truth that always must be remembered is that though God hates divorce, he always loves people and nothing can change that. As God’s people, we need to take the same approach in dealing with divorce. Do whatever it takes to keep divorce from happening, and if it does happen extend grace and love to those who have experienced it.

As complicated and confusing as divorce is for us today, it was even more so in the first century Jewish culture. John the Baptizer had lost his head over the subject, and Jesus was constantly being harassed with questions concerning what was right or wrong when it came to divorce.

There were basically two schools of thought in the Jewish community regarding divorce—both stemming from Deuteronomy 24:1-4. One set of Jewish scholars said that a man could divorce his wife is she committed adultery. The second set of scholars interpreted what Moses wrote and said that a man could divorce his wife for any reason at all…even burning his meal. So when Jesus is asked his take on divorce (Matthew 19:1-12) his is walking into a trap laid by those who oppose him. They know how divided the Jewish populace is regarding divorce and they understand that no matter what Jesus says he is going to make some happy and anger others. Of course when has that ever stopped Jesus?

Jesus’ response takes us back to Genesis and the original design of marriage (Genesis 1:27; 2:24). First off, Jesus points out that God designed a man and woman to be married to each other. They belong together physically, emotionally and spiritually. Second, marriage marks the transition from parent to spouse. In other words, one’s primary loyalty is no longer to Mom and Dad it lies with a husband or wife. This is where we get the picture of marriage being a covenant: a commitment to each other and a sense of oneness. The word Jesus uses for “joined together” means “yoked together” or “co-laborers”. This description makes it pretty clear that God’s design is one man with one woman for life.

The Pharisees response to Jesus reveals the cause and problem of most divorces. (Matthew 19:7-8) Divorce is not a “right” but instead a result of “hard hearts”. The reality of life in this world is the constant battle with sin and sinful people. Marriage is the joining together of two sinful people living in a sinful world. It is not an easy venture and most certainly not accomplished successfully without God’s assistance.

Jesus concludes his teaching on divorce by taking it up a notch and making everyone uncomfortable (Matthew 19:9-12). Jesus says that in cases of “unfaithfulness” divorce may be an option. “Unfaithfulness” is anything that breaks the covenant of marriage, the oneness and commitment. So situations like sexual affairs, physical abuse, or abandonment all fall into those categories.

Jesus’ response is really pointed at those who divorce for convenience. When he says, “And the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery” what he is saying is that by marrying again, all hope of the original marriage being restored is gone. When we think of “adultery” we always think of sex. However, “adultery” is the breaking of a covenant whether through sexual unfaithfulness or physical abuse. The prophets of the OT often described Israel’s actions against God as adulterous. Not because they were necessarily sexual in nature (all though sometimes that was the case), but because they were breaking their covenant with God. So if a divorced person remarries, is that person committing "adultery" every time he or she has sex with their new spouse? The answer is "no". The adultery that Jesus is speaking about is not sexual in nature, he is referring to the previous marriage covenant that cannot be restored because a new covenant has begun.

Jesus is emphasizing that the marriage covenant is to be taken seriously, much like how God keeps his covenant with people. Flippant or convenient divorces is not how God operates nor is it how he wants people to operate. Both the entering into marriage and exiting of a marriage covenant need to be carefully considered before any action is taken.

What can we take away from Jesus’ teaching?

• Do whatever it takes to not divorce.

• If divorce happens reconciliation is always an option.

• If divorce happens, remaining single is probably the best option unless sexually speaking it would be too difficult. (1 Corinthians 7:10-11)

• Divorce is not the unforgivable sin. (It could be argued whether or not divorce itself is a sin.)

• Temporary separation is a good option to take time and repair the covenant.

Must Watch Video!

What's In A Name?

The reason why understanding culture is important in ministry is because people will respond to you based on their past personal history and their culture’s history. For instance, the color yellow is sacred to China’s culture but signifies “sadness” in Greece’s culture and “jealousy” in France’s culture.

To further reinforce this concept of interpreting the present based on the past, Science Daily reports that Miami University researchers discovered that people will even go as far as associating specific physical attributes with names.

From the two photos below, which do you perceive to be Bob and which is Tim?

An entire lecture hall of students chose the bearded man as Tim and the rounded-faced man as Bob. I did the same. I must admit that I was surprised because I always thought that one’s perceptions of who looks like a “Bob” were shaped by that individual’s own history of personal encounters. But this research would suggest that instead of someone looking like a “Bob” because they look like your Uncle Bob (your personal history), that there is something present in your cultural DNA causing you and many others in your cultural community to make the association (cultural history).

Just how deep does culture’s influence run? And how strong is it?

[Photo Credit: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review]

A Few Thoughts On Revelation

I recently preached a sermon on the Bible book of Revelation and have received a few questions regarding my thoughts. My view on the letter of Revelation is rarely talked about and quite frankly is not very popular, however I feel that it is the most accurate--simply because it fits the same formula used to interpret the rest of the New Testament letters. It's a matter of context.

Revelation was a letter written by the apostle John in the late first century. It was written to a specific group of churches in Asia Minor who were facing specific struggles and persecution. For 21st century Americans to take the writings of this letter and directly apply them to our time and culture is not fair and is in fact, intellectual dishonesty because we don't do that with the rest of the Bible. (It also shows how self absorbed we can be as Americans.)

When we, as 21st century dwellers, read the Revelation letter we are reading someone else's mail. So what lies within the letter, though it is truth, does not always apply directly to our time and place. For example, when we read Revelation why do we think Russian tanks, Iranian nuclear bombs and George W. Bush? Is that what the Christians in Ephesus were thinking when they read the letter? No! Yet they found the letter to be extremely helpful and encouraging.

Why do so many Christians today skip over Revelation or disregard it all together? I mean, it's the only book in the Bible that guarantees that the reader will be blessed if they read it. Most Christians I know steer way clear of Revelation...it just freaks them out. The closest they may ever get to Revelation (at least in their mind) is to read a "Left Behind" book. So let me make a suggestion: What if most of the letter of Revelation has already taken place or is taking place right now? What if only a small chunk of the letter is yet to unfold? What if we have been living in "the last days" for two thousand plus years? What if right now we are in the midst of "the Great Tribulation"? It is not so impossible to believe.

I want to you try out the following exercise. Read the following excerpt of Scripture...I'm not even going to tell you where it's from, at least not yet.

"Then the earth quaked and trembled. The foundations of the mountains shook; they quaked because of his anger. Smoke poured from his nostrils; fierce flames leaped from his mouth. Glowing coals blazed forth from him. He opened the heavens and came down; dark storm clouds were beneath his feet. Mounted on a mighty angelic being, he flew, soaring on the wings of the wind. He shrouded himself in darkness, veiling his approach with dark rain clouds. Thick clouds shielded the brightness around him and rained down hail and burning coals. The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded amid the hail and burning coals. He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies; his lightning flashed, and they were greatly confused. Then at your command, O Lord at the blast of your breath, the bottom of the sea could be seen, and the foundations of the earth were laid bare."


Now, does the writing in this section of Scripture sound similar to the letter of Revelation? You could easily drop these verses right into Revelation and not miss a beat. So where is this section of Scripture from and what is going on?

This text is taken from Psalm 18:7-15. It was written by David describing how God rescued him from Saul, when Saul was trying to hunt him down and kill him. Now, when you read the actual account as recorded in 1 Samuel, it doesn't sound like that at all--at least from our vantage point. Yet this is how David chooses to describe it.

So what is the point? In Revelation, when we read of the moon turning to blood, and the stars falling from the sky, the water turning bitter, and crazy demon scorpions coming out of the ground, we need to understand that it is very probable that these events already happened and some may in fact still be happening today. Revelation was written with apocalyptic wordage and though it may not be common place to us, it was for the Christians living in Asia Minor in the first century.

So what should you do? Well, to get the most out of Revelation put aside the notion of trying to figure out who the Beast is and what micro chip may in fact be the number 666. Look to the over arching theme that runs throughout the letter: No matter what circumstances, struggles or persecutions you may be facing Jesus is still the King of kings and the Lord of lords and in the end he makes everything right!