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I’m pleased to announce that on November 10,2022 I published Next Step Devotions, a collection of 366 discipleship lessons based on passages from every New Testament chapter. This project was more than two years in the making, and it feels great to finally have it available for purchase on Amazon. As I write this, it continues to be ranked #1 among Amazon’s new releases in the category of New Testament Meditations.
Here are the key features of Next Step Devotions:
366 devotions based on Bible passages from all 260 New Testament chapters;
“Next Step” prompts at the end of each devotion to encourage growth through personal reflection, further study, and practical application;
Space after each devotion for notes;
Suggestions for using the book individually and with groups;
Endnotes with citations of helpful additional resources;
Scripture Index to easily find devotions that reference specific Bible passages;
Subject Summary that captures in a phrase or sentence the main point of each devotion, helping the reader quickly find topics of interest;
Read the entire New Testament in a year by reading the related passages;
Timeless truths communicated in a fresh, understandable way.
My prayer is that God will use this book to grow individuals in their Christian faith, and that he will lead groups and even entire churches to use it to spur one another in the direction of being more faithful followers of Jesus.
Along with the new book, I have also launched a new website that will replace this one – www.authorjeffross.com. I will post regularly to the blog on that site. I also moderate a Member Forum there where all site members can post and comment and live chat with one another and with me. Membership is free, of course. You can also subscribe to the site for news and updates related to website additions, new publications, events, and special offers.
Many thanks to those who have followed this blog for years. It was my pleasure to provide nearly 650 blog posts here and to enjoy the comments and support of many for more than a decade. I invite all of you to join the new adventure at www.authorjeffross.com. And if you want a guided, helpful way to grow as a disciple of Jesus, I hope you’ll read Next Step Devotions. May God bless you on your journey.
THIS IS THE FINAL POST FOR THIS SITE.PLEASE JOIN US ON THE NEW SITE.
On May 26, 1979, Linda Sue Kiger and I said “I do” to each other at her home church – Third Baptist Church – in St. Louis, Missouri. It’s been quite a ride and continues to be. I am thankful for her for so many reasons, but below is one for each of our 40 years together. Except for the first two, they are in no particular order:
She is a faithful follower of Christ.
She is a faithful wife who I can count on ‘til death do us part.
She is the hardest working person I know.
She is happiest when serving and giving to others.
She is Mom to our two wonderful sons.
She is Nana to our two awesome grandchildren.
She is cook, caterer, and kitchen hostess to hundreds every year who get the benefit of eating her delicious food.
She never pretends to be something she isn’t.
She speaks her mind.
She can read a person’s character like an open book.
She seeks no glory for herself.
She hates evil and hypocrisy.
She’s smarter than me.
She loves me in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse, in good times and in bad.
Our Wonderful Wedding Party
She has managed our finances for the past 25 years after I got tired of doing it the first 15 years of marriage.
She loves doing yard work and says it’s therapeutic for her.
She loves our church and can’t imagine being a member who doesn’t serve it in many ways.
She supports me in major decisions that impact us both.
She has no desire to impress others with material things.
She’s frugal in whatever she buys.
She quickly became a fan of UK basketball and Ale-8 when we were dating in college.
She does my laundry without complaining.
She’s handier around the house than I will ever be.
She puts up with my obsession with my dog, Callie.
She has the common sense that I lost somewhere along the way.
She can remember names of people and their stories far better than me.
She loves, respects, and lives in awe of God’s creation.
She loves and honors her Mom.
She considers dinner at Qdoba and a walk around the mall as a big night out.
Our getaway car – the Big Green Machine thanks to Best Man Wayne Grooms
She has many strengths that complement my weaknesses.
She appreciates my humor (most of the time).
She always has pure motives.
She doesn’t cut corners to make things easy on herself.
She knows American history and the Constitution and has little tolerance for those who respect neither.
She loves MeTV more than any other TV channel.
She takes extra food from her cooking jobs to homeless shelters to feed the hungry.
She has no fear.
She loves students and would happily mother them anytime, anywhere.
She loves opening our home to friends, family and guests from around the globe.
She has put up with my shenanigans all these years.
Anyone who knows both of us knows that we are very different in some obvious ways, but those are mostly external differences and are superseded by these more important things that unite us:
Nothing is more important to us than our Christian faith.
That faith and the truths contained in the Word of God form the lens through which we view, understand, and respond to the world around us.
It is the basis of our shared fundamental values that determine what we think, say and do, and how we interact with others.
It is how we can live in a changing and sometimes uncertain world with complete confidence in our future – not because we are in control, but because Someone Greater is and we belong to Him.
Happy 40th anniversary, Linda! Thank you for being my partner forever. I love you. Here’s to the adventure yet to come…
As we celebrate another Christmas this week, I want to take a few moments to share some thoughts with all who will take the time to read this, especially to my non-Christian friends…
Those of us who profess to be Christians don’t always act like the Christ we claim to adore. We are sometimes impatient, angry, hurtful, and even downright mean to others. We do stupid things that we ought not do. We fail to do some things we should. We disobey the commands of the Lord we claim to follow. We have days where things seem to be on the right track and where our thoughts, words and deeds faithfully represent Christ, and then there are other days when we stumble and fall far, far short. Unbelievers looking for such inconsistencies to discredit the faith and reject Christianity don’t have to look too far at times to see so-called believers acting in very unchristian ways.
To my non-Christian friends, please accept my apologies for such inconsistencies. Know that I along with another billion+ Christians around the globe deal with the same struggles you do, the same temptations, the same desires to do what is expedient or easy or pleasurable or selfish or acceptable to those around us, even when such desires are at odds with what our Lord Jesus Christ commanded and modeled in his time on earth. We are human like you.
We are imperfect.
We won’t be perfect this side of heaven, either. Since we aren’t perfect, our churches aren’t perfect. But we know that if we abide in Christ and his Word, surrendering daily to his lordship and leadership, then our lives today ought to look more like Christ than they did a year or two ago. Our lives a year or two from now ought to look more like Christ than they do now. So please try not to judge us (or at least our Lord) by the momentary ups and downs of our day-to-day lives. Look at the pattern of our lives over the long haul and see if we are becoming more like our Lord. If we are – good. If we aren’t – tell us. We need to know. Please understand that we are a work in progress and God isn’t through with us yet. Also know that not all who attend a church or have some Christian background in their family or history have had a life-changing, living experience with Christ. Without that, there is no chance such a person will grow in Christ-likeness over time because they aren’t through relationship with Christ the new creation he promises to make of all who are truly his. In the midst of our imperfection, remember this…
Jesus is perfect.
He is perfect even if we are not. Don’t reject him because of our poor imitation of him. He is worthy of all of our lives, all of our focus and attention, worship and service. If his followers don’t represent him well and you are therefore tempted to reject him, please first go to the only faithful and true written source that reveals him perfectly – the Bible – and seek him. If you seek him, you will find him. Read the Gospel of John if you haven’t done so. You’ll find that his time on earth 2000 years ago was also surrounded by imperfect followers who messed up like his current followers do. But that makes him all the more different and holy and glorious and worthy. He is the focus of our faith – not us. He is the perfect one – not us. He is the object of our worship – not us. He is the one we are all called to yield our lives to that we may gain the eternal life only available through him.
I wish we Christians weren’t known so much for what we’re against as for what we are for. Our passions on social and political issues can be unhelpful distractions that shift the focus away from Christ and to other topics subject to extreme, divisive emotions. I’m as guilty as anyone in this. There are times when I know better, but I sound off anyway about some issue when I ought to just keep my mouth (and my keyboard) quiet. But I beg of you not to reject the perfect Jesus revealed in the Bible because of imperfect followers like me.
At Christmas we celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world – God himself in the flesh. He came to live a perfect, sinless life, to die a horrible, cruel death on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and to rise again to provide a way for imperfect, sinful people like you and me to be made right again with the God from whom we were/are estranged. He offers forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who turn from their sin and place their trust solely in him – in what he did for us that we could not do for ourselves. All who come to him in repentance and faith then embark on that unending journey in this life to grow in holiness and become more like him. All of his followers are at various points on that journey.
It’s nice to hear the Christmas story and to imagine a sweet little baby in a manger. Who doesn’t like babies? But Jesus didn’t come to stay a baby. He came to be the Savior of all who will surrender their lives to him. He is the only way to real life. He is the only path to true peace. He is the only one perfect and worthy of all we have and all we are. He is the only one who can forgive sin and grant eternal life. He is the only one all of us will face on a coming day of judgment.
My plea this Christmas for my non-Christian friends is this: look past us imperfect Christians and look to our perfect Savior, Jesus Christ. He is worthy – not only at Christmas, but every day – now and for eternity.
My pastor, Mark Williams, and I are team teaching over several months a class based on Wayne Grudem’s book “Christian Beliefs.” (See my earlier book review here.) We haven’t been recording the sessions throughout, but since I had an acquaintance on Twitter ask for a transcript or summary, I thought I would record this one and post the audio and study handout I prepared. The full audio is 53 minutes long, so grab your favorite beverage and get cozy as you listen to it. The audio follows the study notes posted below the recording, so it should be easy to follow along. There may be a few moments where comments from others in the room are difficult to hear since I was recording from my cell phone, but you should be able to hear nearly everything.
The subject of the session is “What Is Man?” In it we explore a number of Bible passages related to the creation of man, our purpose in life, and what it means to be made in the image of God. I invite your comments here or on YouTube or Twitter.
For the record, our church is Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, USA – a 200-year-old Southern Baptist church in downtown Louisville. You are invited to check us out on Facebookor Twitter.
Here is the audio. The 2-page study handout is below and is available here as a PDF if you like.
What Is Man?
Based on Chapter 7 of Christian Beliefs by Wayne Grudem
Psalm 8:4 – “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
Psalm 8:1-9 – How Majestic Is Your name
Genesis 1:26-31; 5:1-2; 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9 – God created man in his image
Why do we exist?
When a creator/inventor creates something, it is made to fulfill a purpose.
Genesis 1 speaks not just to our description of being in God’s image and likeness, but to our purpose of reflecting and representing God, filling the earth with his likeness.
Westminster Larger Catechism (prepared for the Church of England & Church of Scotland in 1647), has as its first question: “What is the chief and highest end of man?” The answer: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.”
Isaiah 43:7 – “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made”
1 Corinthians 10:31 – “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
John 15:8-11 – How we glorify the Father and experience full joy
To give God glory is to give him honor and praise. All creation exists for God’s glory (“The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands” – Psalm 19:1), but only humans made in his image can do so consciously and by choice. We fulfill our purpose as humans only when we reflect God as his image bearers and bring glory to him.
What does it mean to be made in the image of God?
“The fact that man is in the image of God means that man is like God and represents God.” – Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 442
An image or likeness of something can never be that which it reflects, but it can point to it. It can remind us of that which it reflects and stir emotions, thoughts and actions appropriate to what/who it reflects. This is our opportunity as God’s likeness and image in a sinful world – to represent and point to God.
Partial list of aspects of our likeness to God:
God is personal, rational, spiritual, intelligent, creative, ruling, moral, relational, communicative, emotional and immortal. One made in his image will reflect these characteristics (and more).
Humans as the image of God:
Adam and Eve were created perfect (Genesis 1:26-31). Sin diminished God’s image in them and all humanity thereafter, but it did not remove it. We are still His creatures and the highest of His creation, but we are unable to mirror His holiness on our own. Through regeneration He enables us to begin the process of reclaiming His fuller image in our lives, “to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). This image won’t be fully realized until we are made new in the new heaven and new earth yet to come.
Jesus as the image of God:
“He is the image of the invisible God” – Colossians 1:15
John 14:5-11 – the relationship of Jesus and the Father
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” – John 14:9. To know what God is like, look at Jesus.
Hebrews 2:5-9 – Jesus the perfect Son of Man
Mankind’s possible states as it relates to the image of God:
Perfectly reflecting the image of God from the moment of existence. Only Adam and Eve experienced this (and then only temporarily). This is not an option for anyone since the Fall.
Fallen, lost in sin, still God’s highest creation, but woefully lacking as a reflection of God’s image because of sin. This is everyone’s initial condition since the Fall.
Regenerate, saved by grace through repentance and faith, becoming more like God’s image through sanctification (growing in holiness). See 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 5:19-24. This is possible for all.
Fully sanctified and glorified, perfectly reflecting God’s image. This is the ultimate destiny of all who are saved by God. “When he appears, we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2). This is assured for all God saves.
Our responsibilities as humans created in God’s image:
Be like God. Reflect him. Represent him. Fulfill our purpose as shown in Genesis 1.
Glorify God and enjoy him forever.
Help restore his people and his earth to the way they were meant to be.
“If we ever deny our unique status in creation as God’s only image-bearers, we will soon begin to depreciate the value of human life, will tend to see humans as merely a higher form of animal, and will begin to treat others as such. We will also lose much of our sense of meaning in life.” – Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 450
Hymn: “Thou Art Worthy” by Pauline Michael Mills, 1963
Thou art worthy, thou art worthy,
Thou art worthy, O Lord.
To receive glory, glory and honor,
Glory and honor and power.
For thou hast created, hast all things created,
Thou hast created all things;
And for thy pleasure, they are created,
Thou art worthy, O Lord.
[Note: Of course, when you listen to a recording of yourself speaking, you inevitably discover things you said unintentionally or poorly. For example, in listing the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23, I said “selfishness” when I meant to say “self-control.” Oops.]
If any of you want to give up something for Lent, by all means go ahead and do so. I won’t think less or more of you for observing the practice. And I highly suspect few if any of you reading this really care whether I give up anything for Lent or not. That’s fine, too. Still, I’m going to explain why I won’t be doing anything different for the 40-day period know as Lent.
First, for those unfamiliar with the tradition, Lent is the period in the Christian liturgical calendar which commemorates Jesus’ 40-day period in the wilderness when he fasted and was tempted by Satan. Some church traditions (although not all and usually not churches in my Southern Baptist tradition) celebrate Lent by having individuals give up something or spend more time in prayer and fasting or performing good works for others in ways not normally a part of the person’s daily life. What is sacrificed for Lent runs the gamut if my Facebook news feed is any indication – caffeine, meat, chocolate, coffee, soft drinks, even Facebook or the Internet. Some churches have Ash Wednesday services to begin the observance, and participants in those services may leave with a cross of ashes on their foreheads.
I have nothing against liturgical calendars or centuries-old traditions. I value fasting (but rarely do it) and prayer (which I do throughout every day) and doing good works for the benefit of others (which I hope I do often, though probably not often enough). I don’t care, however, for the thought of walking around with a cross of ashes on my forehead because it seems like a giant “look at me” sign that would make me too self-conscious, but if others choose to do so and their motives are pure, then more power to them.
I haven’t felt the need to sacrifice anything for this 40-day Lenten period. Why? A few thoughts come to mind:
First, if giving up “X” brings you closer to God for 40 days, then you probably ought to give it up permanently. If caffeine or chocolate or Facebook or anything else seems to come between you and God the other 325 days of the year, then why would you not give it up permanently instead of just for 40 days? The Christian life of sanctification – growing in holiness – is one of perpetual growth this side of heaven, and doing something for such a short term that presumably helps your walk with God seems antithetical to a desire for continuous growth. “Well, God, I’m going to draw close to you for these 40 days, but after that you’ll just have to wait until Ash Wednesday next year to get my serious attention.” Doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it? And if you believe as I do that we don’t impress or earn favor with God by mere acts of temporary sacrifice, then a change in behavior for only 40 days doesn’t have much lasting effect personally or eternally.
Second, I don’t need to re-live an annual liturgical calendar to experience my faith. Christianity at its heart is a personal relationship with and commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is a relationship that defines who one is every moment of his/her life. It is the basis for how I see and interpret and respond to the world around me. It is who I am at the core of my very being even though I fail to live up to the example of my Lord (see previous point on sanctification). If my faith was about religion – external things I do related to what I believe – then observing Lent would make more sense (maybe), but if my faith is about a relationship with the living Lord, then it’s primarily about the heart and an ongoing surrender to the lordship of Christ which plays out in a changed life. That is of far greater significance than can ever be expressed by doing without something I enjoy for 40 days, and it is something that needs to happen every day of the year.
Lastly, I know how the story ends. I know that Jesus overcame Satan’s temptations in the wilderness. I know He was crucified, dead and buried. I know He was raised from the dead and reigns forever and will come again one day to bring judgment to all the earth and to usher in His eternal kingdom. And I know I’m one of His children who will be with Him in that kingdom. I don’t need to mourn because He has saved me. I don’t need to temporarily sacrifice because the ultimate sacrifice has already been made by Him on my behalf. I choose not to re-live the part of history or church calendars pretending the end is unknown because His word declares His victory as accomplished and available to be shared by all who repent of their sins and surrender their lives to Him. I can rejoice and enjoy all that He provides in this life because, as one song says, “We win, we win, hallelujah we win; I’ve looked at the back of The Book and we win!”
Yes, there are times when I hide away for a few days in a quiet place for extended times of prayer, study and reflection. Yes, I am all for living life simply as evidenced by one of my goals for 2015 to end the year with less than I started it with in terms of material possessions. Yes, I support the practice of fasting if one chooses to do so to spend more time in prayer and communing with God. But this Lenten season I’ll just continue the path that is for me an unending one of daily spending time in His word, in praying throughout the day as a way of life talking with the One who is closer than a brother to me, and in pursuit of a life of obedience and growth that won’t end this side of heaven – certainly not in 40 days.
The point of this post is not to criticize those who treat Lent differently than I do. You have my respect and support if it draws you closer to God. My point is to promote the idea of celebrating life in Christ and continually growing in relationship and obedience to Him regardless of the season. I choose to focus on the victory already won and the grace given through that victory.
May this be a meaningful Lenten season for you – not because you give up something, but because whether you give up something or not you draw closer to the Lord Jesus Christ who gave up everything on the cross so that you might experience eternal life in Him.
As we celebrate another Christmas this week, I want to take a few moments to share some thoughts with all who will take the time to read this, especially to my non-Christian friends…
If any of you want to give up something for Lent, by all means go ahead and do so. I won’t think less or more of you for observing the practice. And I highly suspect few if any of you reading this really care whether I give up anything for Lent or not. That’s fine, too. Still, I’m going to explain why I won’t be doing anything different for the 40-day period know as Lent.
Next Practices 