Jesus, our Brother

by David Sellnow

While Jesus was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him.  One said to him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you.”

But he answered him who spoke to him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” He stretched out his hand toward his disciples, and said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:46-50).

Jesus made it clear that having a relationship with him is a matter of faith. Doing the will of the Father--which means believing in Jesus as the source of life (cf. John 6:29,40)--is what makes us Jesus’ brothers. Even Jesus’ own blood relatives on earth had no more special relationship with him or with God than is accessible to us through faith in Jesus.

On the night before his sacrificial death, Jesus spoke to his disciples as brothers, bracing them for what lay ahead (John 16:17-33). He emphasized that their relationship with God would not become diminished by his absence, when he returned to the Father. Rather, their relationship would be just as direct--they could go straight to the Father with any request.  He assured them, “The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God” (John 16:27).  The same is true for us today. We may have trouble in this world, but we cling to God with confidence, knowing Jesus has overcome all things in this world on our behalf.

It is significant that in his first appearance after rising from death (John 20:10-18), Jesus emphasized to Mary Magdalene his relationship with all the believers.  He said to her, “Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17).   Believers are Jesus’ sisters and brothers, and his Father is our Father. Through our living Lord Jesus, God listens to us and loves us just as he listens to and loves his One and Only Son.

The writer to the Hebrews (2:10-18) summed up what Jesus has done for us as our brother. He became like us, one of us, in order to overcome sin and death for us and bring us into eternal life with him and the Father.  He is not ashamed to call us his brothers, saying, “I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the congregation I will sing your praise” (Hebrews 2:12).  Especially significant for our prayer life is the last verse of Hebrews chapter 2: "For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted" (Hebrews 2:18).  Jesus, our Brother, understands every temptation and struggle that we face. When we go to him in prayer, he is not far-removed or detached or unsympathetic. He walked a harder path on this earth than any of us will ever walk. He knows just how we hurt. We are able to confront and endure life’s trials with him at our side.

All Bible quotations from World English Bible (WEB), public domain.

Books available on Amazon.com -

The Lord Cares for Me: Stories and Thoughts on Psalm 23

Faith Lives in our Actions: God's Message in James chapter 2

Loving others

In a sermon delivered at New Covenant Baptist Church in Chicago (April 9, 1967), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke of being committed to loving our neighbors – all neighbors.  In that sermon, he said:

• There will be a day, the question won’t be, "How many awards did you get in life?" … It won’t be, "How popular were you?" … It will not ask how many degrees you’ve been able to get … or “What kind of automobile did you have?" On that day the question will be, "What did you do for others?"
  Now I can hear somebody saying, "Lord, I did a lot of things in life. I did my job well … I went to school and studied hard. I accumulated a lot of money, Lord; that’s what I did."  It seems as if I can hear the Lord of Life saying, "But I was hungry, and ye fed me not.  I was sick, and ye visited me not. I was naked, and ye clothed me not. I was in prison, and you weren’t concerned about me.” …
  What did you do for others? This is the breadth of life.  Somewhere along the way, we must learn that there is nothing greater than to do something for others.

- from “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life," by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 

via The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and EducationInstitute, Stanford University.)

For Martin Luther King Day, I’d like to share some thoughts of my own about showing love – and God’s grace – to all our neighbors.  The following is excerpted from my brief book, Faith Lives in Our Actions (available at Amazon).  Bible quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB).

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Loving all people

James, the brother of Jesus, pinpointed lack of love as a pivotal problem in our lives as Christians.  James wrote:  “If you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors ” (James 2:8-9).

If we could love with all our hearts, we would do well.  Love “is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).  Jesus had said that the first and greatest commandment is to love God fully, and its corollary is to love your neighbor as yourself  (Matthew 22:36-39). James called this the royal law of Scripture.  It is the heart of the law, and it is where we fall most miserably short of what God expects of us.

James pointed at favoritism as the centerpiece of our lawbreaking.  Even after we have been converted to Christ, our old sinful tendencies diminish the extent of our love.  We may, for instance, spend much to send our own children to Christian schools, but give far less to extend Christ’s love to souls around the world.  Or we are pleased to be part of God’s kingdom ourselves, but often feel no great urgency to include others in his grace.  Once, when my congregation was planning an open house, I asked one of our members if he had invited his farmhands and their families.  He looked at me as though I had proposed something preposterous.  The thought had never crossed his mind. When I brought it up, it made him uncomfortable.  Mexican weed-pullers weren’t really the sort of folks he wanted in his church.  To him they were only hired hands, a lesser breed of people.

We try to convince ourselves we are law-abiding.  We set up church policies and programs.  We want everything to honor God, according to proper guidelines.  But we forget what the real line is:  love.  We callously, oafishly and repeatedly step over that line.  We strain out gnats while swallowing camels (cf. Matthew 23:24).  We make sure we have glorious choirs singing in our balconies, but fail to notice neighbors in need across the street.  When James described the sort of religion that God accepts, he mentioned nothing of formal church activities.  James had said, “Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27).  Those are the kinds of aims we are to seek.

Prayers in place of resolutions

'Old Man Praying," by Vincent van Gogh, Wikimedia Commons

I’ve never been a big believer in New Year’s resolutions.  Maybe it means I just don’t have enough resolve, that I’m weak on willpower.  But such is a symptom of the human condition in general, not just me.  Researchers consistently find most people fail at keeping New Year’s resolutions.  One frequently cited statistic says 80% of people’s resolutions fail within six weeks.  The most generous estimate I've seen says more than half of resolutions don’t last six months.

Rather than making promises to myself that I likely can’t keep, this year I want to focus on things outside of me that are more enduring -- things that remain constant and true whether I have stamina or not.  They are, in fact, the things that will give spiritual stamina -- the  strength to keep going, one day at a time, in the new year.  “Faith, hope, and love remain -- these three. The greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

So these are the things for my focus in the new year -- and invite you to share that focus with me. I offer these three prayers:

For faith:

Lord, help me trust in you and what you have promised. As a man like me once said, “I believe. Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).  Believing is hard when we’re faced with demons in our lives (as that man was).  Believing seems insane when we can’t see you, God, and haven’t a clue what you’re doing. But I pray for confidence, for contentment, for the ability to be thankful for what I do have ... and to be assured that when my heart is seeking God, I “shall not lack any good thing” (Psalm 34:10).

For hope:

“The days of our years are … but labor and sorrow” (Psalm 90:10).  Your word warned me of that, Lord.  Jesus said so, too: “In this world you have trouble” (John 16:33).  The daily grind and obstacles in my path make hanging onto hope exhausting. God, I need reminders that hope in your goodness can’t demand that you prove your goodness in ways obvious to me.  “Hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?” (Romans 8:24).  Help me, Lord, to hope for that which I don’t see, and to wait for blessings with patience. 

For love:

Forgive me, Spirit of Christ, for valuing things that are of little value when the greatest of all things is love.  On this earth, institutions and corporations seem to matter so much.  Careers and accomplishments are seen to define who we are.  But that’s not true.  A wise old man called all such things meaningless -- “a chasing after wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).  What really matters is being “rooted and grounded in love,” and comprehending “the width and length and height and depth” of that love (Ephesians 3:17,18).  Lord, enable me to “know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19), and to extend that love to people around me, knowing love matters most of all.

All Bible quotes from World English Bible (WEB).

A thought for Christmas

A few years ago, I served as editor for a booklet of Advent devotions.   A number of those devotions were featured here on this blog also, in December 2015.  As a thought on Christmas for this year, here's a message from that booklet as a reminder of why Christ came into this world.  My thanks to Emily Seeber for providing this holiday blog installment.  Christmas blessings to all Electric Gospel readers.

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A Savior for All the Worst Sinners

by Emily Seeber

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst.  

- 1 Timothy 1:15

 

“At church would you rather sit next to a visitor who had received a speeding ticket or a recently released felon?”  That’s a rather awakening question for many of us as we evaluate ourselves. Society gives levels to crimes, such as warning, misdemeanor, and felony.  Unfortunately, our sinful natures like to do the same. We try to build ourselves up and convince ourselves that we are pretty good (or at least better than most). 

            However, sometimes we need to remind ourselves, “Does God assign levels to sins?” Even to think of it that way misses the point of God’s law. A single sin damns a person to hell; we are all equal. God’s law reminds us that our comparison isn’t between us and others but rather between us and God.  We will never measure up.  All must say with Paul, “I am the worst.” 

            But all of us “worst” sinners” have a trustworthy assurance from God, “Christ came into the world to save sinners.” God looked at this sin-ridden world and said, “Yes, you are the worst, but I love you. Here is my Son.” Through Christ’s sacrifice, we are a new creation. No longer slaves to sin but children of God: forgiven and blameless in God’s sight. Together let us share this message throughout all creation, “We are all the worst of sinners, but God didn’t leave us. In fact, he saved us.” 

Questions to ponder:

• When are times that you feel most tempted to compare yourself to others?
• What would be ways to show love rather than judgment in such situations? 

Prayer:

Dear Lord, I thank you and praise you for the gift of your Son, Jesus. Please forgive me for those times when I act in judgment rather than love. Please help me to remember that I am equal to everyone around me when I am tempted to consider myself better.   In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Can you be thankful if your turkey is skinny?

On this Thanksgiving Day, I dug out a message I had written for church use some years ago.  I needed to remind myself to be thankful even when material circumstances aren't ideal.  As the Word of God urges, "Always rejoice. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

May you find blessing this Thanksgiving.

- David Sellnow

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Can you be thankful if your turkey is skinny?

At your house on Thanksgiving Day, when it’s time to have a prayer before the meal, is there somebody who blurts out, “Praise the Lord and pass the butter”?  It’s just a silly comment made in fun, but it points to an attitude we all fall into quite often:  Praise the Lord (a little) and pass the butter (a lot).  We’re in a hurry to get done with spiritual things so we can get on to other things that we think of as more enjoyable.  Praise the Lord a little, then let’s get on with lunch, or football, or shopping, or movies, or whatever.  At our Thanksgiving meals, what gets more attention and conversation—the spiritual blessings of the past year, or just how good all the foods taste?

We are people who easily focus on our bellies.  We hunger for extra helpings.  We have an appetite for pleasures and possessions.   Our Thanksgiving celebrations tend to flow in that direction too.  We notice material goods that God bestows—sufficient income, paid-up bills, bodily health, absence of pain, etc.  We’re glad and thankful when there is a big fat turkey on our table.

But what if there isn’t?  Can you be thankful if your turkey is skinny?   Can you be grateful if good things seem few and far between?  Can you still have Thanksgiving if your income is dwindling and bills are increasing, if your health is poor and pain level high?  Can you be thankful even where there’s not much in the freezer and the cupboards are almost bare?  

To consider such questions, let’s give our attention to Hebrews chapter 12.  We’ll pay particular attention to the key verse at the end of the chapter (verse 28).  But let’s walk through the beginning of the chapter first, to see the overall inspired train of thought. 

Hebrews 12:1-3 (World English Bible) …

Let’s lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.

• The first answer to the question, “Can you be thankful if your turkey is skinny?” is: Yes, if you’re looking at what’s truly important.  What’s important in life is not how much comfort or luxury we have in our present life.  Eyes of faith are fixed on Jesus and on heaven.  If we keep looking ahead, in Christ, to our ultimate goal, we can find reason to be thankful even during times when we suffer miserably.  Look at the great number of prophets and apostles who lived their lives that way.  Look at Jesus himself!  He suffered horrors beyond our imagination, but was willing to endure all because he knew the outcome was eternal life—not just for himself, but for all of us with him.  We are his pride and joy, the reason he endured such suffering.  Surely we can endure pain and hardship for the sake of Jesus, who is our pride and joy.

Hebrews 12:4-13 …

You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin. You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children: “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord,

nor faint when you are reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children. Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?  For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.  All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

• Can you be thankful if your turkey is skinny?  Yes, if you value healthy discipline. Facing hardship and enduring pain is not a bad thing.  We may feel bad in our bodies, but suffering is enormously good for our souls.  In good times we are too apt to forget about God, our Maker and Preserver who gives us all good things.  In tough times especially, we realize that we are dependent on God and call out to him for our needs.  God often uses physical losses to do us spiritual good.  We give thanks when we suffer, knowing God is using the suffering to train our spirits, disciplining us as his children so that we don’t get so caught up in the wants of this world, but rather see the greater value of spiritual things.

Now let’s jump ahead to the powerful concluding verses of the chapter –

Hebrews 12:28-29 …

Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let’s have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

• Whether your turkey is fat or skinny, it doesn’t matter. Simply “say grace” and give thanks in every moment, just as we do as we sit down to a meal.  Offer prayers and continue to serve the Lord.  Worship the God who made you, who saved you, who gives you a place in his eternal kingdom.  Worship him with your whole life.  Appreciate and praise what he's doing each day.  Don’t ever become complacent about your spiritual life or your thanks to the Lord.  Remember, God is a consuming fire whose glory we will be glad to see, but who can also burn us in a moment if we push him out of our hearts and lives.  Hold onto the grace that God has given you in Jesus.  Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.  Follow the pattern of the great cloud of witnesses of the faith, the heroes of the Bible who lived by faith (who were described in Hebrews chapter 11).  As it was for them, so it is for us:  The righteous live by faith, and we give thanks to the God who has given us that faith. 

So praise the Lord and pass the butter as you celebrate Thanksgiving.   Even if you don’t have much beyond bread and butter to pass, even if your turkey is skinny, God be praised.  He is our eternal Redeemer.  

Answering questions

Once, in a religion class I was teaching, a student started the day by asking a question.  He said no one had ever been able to give him a good answer before, and he really was hoping I could.  He asked:  “In heaven, if everyone is perfect, how does that work?  If you’re playing basketball in heaven, and the offense is perfect at scoring and the defense is perfect at shutting down offenses, what happens?"   

I rolled my eyes. I didn’t take the young man seriously. I thought he was joking. I later realized he was serious.  He was struggling with a concept.  He honestly wanted an answer.  I owed him an apology for the way I had laughed off his question initially.

When people have religious questions, no matter how odd the questions might seem to us, we do well to listen carefully and answer thoughtfully.  Their questions and curiosity -- even their objections and counterarguments --- provide us with opportunities to speak gospel words that bring attention to Christ.

There is a Christian author named Alicia Britt Chole, who was not always a Christian.  Her book Finding an Unseen God tells her story, of how she did not believe in God as a child and was very much an atheist during her high school years.  She didn’t fit in at all in her Texas high school where most folks were pretty religious.  But two girls whom she refers to as the “Bowheads” (because they always wore bows in their hair) decided to be her friends even if she didn’t share their beliefs. Their patience and genuine friendship made an impact on her.  In college, she began pursuing religious questions with more seriousness.  And she writes this about her questioning:

What a relief it was for me to discover that [my] continual questioning did not make God nervous.  Interrogatives do not irritate God.  Emotionally charged query does not shut God down.  … God is, after all, rather secure. 

The problem is not that we have questions. …  Personally, I have found that God takes pleasure in an inquiring mind.  God delights in sincere questions. 

-          Finding an Unseen God (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2009), 142

During Jesus’ ministry, a group known as the Sadducees had a question for Jesus. It was an insincere, eye-roller sort of question.  Still, Jesus took up the question seriously and answered in a meaningful, educative fashion. 

Here’s the account of that event (Luke 20:27-38 WEB):

Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection. They asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife and raise up children for his brother.  There were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless.  The second took her as wife, and he died childless.  The third took her, and likewise the seven all left no children, and died.  Afterward the woman also died.  Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”

Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry, and are given in marriage.  But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. For they can’t die any more, for they are like the angels, and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.  But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’  Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”

Notice the manner in which Jesus responded to the Sadducees’ question, even though the Sadducees were opponents of Jesus and were attempting to refute the idea of a life after death.  They had decided there is no resurrection, no afterlife -- that the meaning of religion is to give morality to this life.  So their question was just a doozy dreamed up to test Rabbi Jesus and see if they could stump him.  But even with their not-so-sincere question, Jesus answered as a true teacher.  He looked his questioners squarely in the eye and taught them something of what heaven really is like.  He pointed to the Scriptures, showing how Moses expressed faith in the God who is “not the God of the dead, but of the living.”   The Scriptures point us to God, to our salvation in God, to a resurrection to life with God.   This was the message of good news that Jesus consistently proclaimed -- good news that he was fulfilling in his own person.

How do we answer the questions that come to us?  Let me tell you a story of another woman whose perspective on religion changed when she was a teenager.   This woman, Elaine, was raised in the church and took the pastor’s class for the teens at her church.  She had lots of questions, such as how on earth did Noah manage to get dinosaurs on the ark, and other curious wonderings like that.  The pastor was always irritated by her questions, pushed aside her questions, didn’t want to answer her questions. He had his agenda that he wanted to get through in class, and she was interrupting.  After a while, he wouldn’t let her ask any more questions.  And after a while further, Elaine decided the church wasn’t for her.  She stayed away from the church throughout her adult life.   She only came back into a church class years later (that’s when I met her) -- when she was working as a caregiver for a disabled woman who wanted to attend the classes.  Elaine came along with Nadine as caregiver … and thank goodness I didn’t roll my eyes at questions Elaine started asking again, decades after she had previously given up on the church and its ministers.

The Lord Jesus wasn’t afraid of questions.   When given the chance to speak to a question, Jesus answered in an evangelical, gospel-centered fashion.  God grant us the attitude of Jesus as we deal with others, that we don’t dodge questions or reject their questions, but point every struggling or wondering soul to Jesus and his Word for the answer.  And even when the questioners are Sadducee types who may think they already know more than we do, let’s still be serious and solid in our answers, saying what the Word of God says, calling attention to the Lord our God.  “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”  And our testimony in Jesus’ name is to point others to the life that is in him.  

Book discounts

This blog has featured excerpts from two books, Faith Lives in our Actions and The Lord Cares for Me.  Discounts on the e-book editions are happening during the next several days, at Amazon.com.

The Lord Cares for Me: Stories and Thoughts about Psalm 23  (e-book edition) will be available at the discounted price of $1.99 beginning 8:00am Pacific Time (10:00am Central) on Thursday, September 27.  The discounted pricing remains in effect till October 4.  The book looks at the assurances given in Psalm 23 and puts them into the context of stories that illustrate God's shepherding of our lives.  It is written in easily-accessible style for readers of all ages and reading ability.

Faith Lives in Our Actions: God's Message in James chapter 2  will be available as a free e-book for three days, October 2-4.  The book looks at James' instruction to first-century Christians and applies those principles to our lives of faith in today's church and community.


The e-books are formatted for Kindle.  If you don't have a Kindle, you can download the free Kindle app to read on any device. 

The Lord provides for us

by David Sellnow

The following blog post is an excerpt from the book, The Lord Cares for Me, recently released through Amazon publishing.  The book features stories that illustrate the truths of Psalm 23, and is written in easy-to-read vocabulary and style for readers of all ages and abilities.  This excerpt follows "The story of Jake and Sally," featured in chapter 1.  All Bible quotations are from the New International Reader's Version (NiRV).

If you do get a copy of the book, reviews posted on the Amazon website will be appreciated. 

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The LORD provides for us

The LORD is my shepherd. He gives me everything I need (Psalm 23:1).

When we are not connected to God, we are lost.  When we are lost, what we need the most is for God to find us, to bring us back to him, the way a shepherd would look for a lost sheep.

Jesus is the one who connects us to God.  He forgives us for what we’ve done wrong, because he gave up his life to pay for all the wrong things we did.  He was given a death sentence like a criminal, but Jesus was not a criminal.  And he was more than an ordinary man.  He is God’s own Son.  He had come down from heaven to live in our place on earth.  And so after he was killed, he came back to life.  And because of what he did, he promises us a whole new life.  "Jesus was handed over to die for our sins. He was raised to life in order to make us right with God" (Romans 4:25).  Being right with God is always what we need the most. 

God does take care of our other needs too. Jesus told us not to worry, that our Father in heaven does care for us and will provide for us.  Here's what Jesus said:

“Don’t worry about your life and what you will eat or drink. And don’t worry about your body and what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than eating? Aren’t there more important things for the body than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air. They don’t plant or gather crops. … But your Father who is in heaven feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are? … So don’t worry. Don’t say, ‘What will we eat?’ Or, ‘What will we drink?’ Or, ‘What will we wear?’  People who are ungodly run after all of those things. Your Father who is in heaven knows that you need them.  But put God’s kingdom first. Do what he wants you to do. Then all of those things will also be given to you” (Matthew 6:25-33).

So God does promise to provide for his people. That doesn’t mean we will always have lots of money or things.  Sometimes we may barely have enough.  But God says he won’t abandon us.  And he wants us to think about spiritual needs too, not just physical needs.  He does not want us love money and things or to set our hearts on such things.  He tells us, “Think about things that are in heaven. Don’t think about things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).

If we think too much about money, we can cause ourselves trouble.  The Bible says that people who want to get rich often wander away from faith in God (1 Timothy 6:10).  Instead, we are urged to think this way:  “You gain a lot when you live a godly life. But you must be happy with what you have.  We didn’t bring anything into the world. We can’t take anything out of it.  If we have food and clothing, we will be happy with that” (1 Timothy 6:6-8).

One of the ways God provides for us is through the help of others.  When we are facing struggles in our lives, we may need to look to others for help.  God calls on his people to help each other, to show love to each other.   “So when we can do good to everyone, let us do it. Let us make a special point of doing good to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10).

What Psalm 23 says is true.  The Lord is our shepherd. He gives us everything we need.  He gives us a relationship with him, which is what our spirits need.  And he makes sure the basics of daily bread and clothing are met, which is what our bodies need.  And in the end, when the time comes that our bodies die, God promises to provide for us even then.  “I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus said.  “Anyone who believes in me will live, even if he dies” (John 11:25).  Jesus faced death and came back to life.  He promises to give us the same ending to our life story.  He really is the Lord who provides everything we need.