The “IF” Mentality

The “IF” Mentality

by | May 31, 2015 | The Life of Jesus, Updates

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Have you  ever tried to make a deal with God?  I don’t mean in a blatant way, such as “If you give me what I want, I will obey you,” as most of us understand this would  be wrong. But there are more subtle ways in which we can sometimes unknowingly stumble because of what might be called the “If” mentality. 

“If” is a small word with a great potential for misuse.  In fact, according to the four Gospels, many of the spiritual attacks against Jesus were based on this diminutive word.  Satan’s temptations of Jesus at the beginning of His ministry show us one of the ways in which we can be lured by an “If” mentality. Notice the wording: “If you are the Son of God command that these stones be made bread … if you are the son of God throw yourself down … if you will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:3-8). 

When we study these temptations in detail we see Satan repeatedly used the word “if” with the implication that if some action would be for a good purpose, then it is justified.  This is the underlying attitude that we too may have in suggesting that God do something for what we feel is a good and necessary goal.  We should always remember  that even if it is for a good purpose, the ends do not justify the means unless they conform  to God’s will.

Later in the ministry of  Jesus we see the word  “if” used in response to him in numerous other settings. We see it, for example, in the demands of the Jewish leaders: “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly” (John 10: 24), and we should be careful not to fall into this particular “If” trap, also.  Jesus had performed many miracles and signs throughout Judea, yet the Jewish leaders wanted him to confirm the signs for them – to see them with their own eyes. We need to be careful to be attuned to what God is doing in our lives and the things he is wanting us to be aware of. We should not tell God how to get a point across to us any more than we should suggest that we will only hear if the message is conveyed in a manner we think is “proof” to us.

The Gospels record the “If”mentality manifesting itself all the way down to the end of Jesus’s life.  Some of those present at his crucifixion, including some of the rulers and chief priests, said:  “If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him” (Matthew 27:42 NKJV). Here, we see the attitude of “if” in its most raw and rebellious form – “If God does what I think is necessary, I’ll respond as I should.”  This is not far from the attempts to make a deal with God that we mentioned as we began this discussion. There may seem to be “nothing in it for us” in some of these circumstances – but we still try to make God conform to our will, our conditions for obedience.

In every one of these cases and many more in the ministry of Jesus, the word “if” was used in a manner which sought to impose another will, another viewpoint, on that of God.  We see it in the attitude of the self-righteous Pharisee  who  said “if he were a prophet, he would know who and what manner of woman … touched him” (Luke 7:39) and in dozens of other places.  We must always remember that God’s way is not one of a number of options for which we can negotiate. There is truly only one kind of “If” mentality that is right and proper in our relationship with God:  the attitude that Jesus himself exhibited throughout his earthly life – the attitude of “If it is your will…”  (Matthew 26:42).

The Growth We Don’t See

The Growth We Don’t See

by | May 25, 2015 | Growth, Updates

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An excerpt from our free eBook on Christian encouragement: Some Days We Soar. You can download the book without cost here.



Have you ever had a friend thank you for something that you perhaps were not even aware you did?  Sometimes I think spiritual life can be like that, too. It’s easy to be aware of our failures and the many areas in which we want to grow and to miss the fact that growth is taking place. God does work changes in those who desire and ask for transformation (Psalms 51:10, Ephesians 4:22-24), and perhaps if we walked with Him much more closely, growth would be more obvious, but that doesn’t mean growth is not taking place because we do not always see it.

Think about the disciples for a minute.  By the time of the last evening of Christ’s life, probably every one of the disciples had exhibited enough human faults, failures, fumbles and foibles to indicate to them all that perhaps they hadn’t learned that much from their teacher. We might think of Peter’s many mistakes, but others even wanted to bring down fire from heaven (Luke 9:54), and it looks like they were all arguing about who was the “greatest” among them on that last evening (Luke 22:24). Additionally, Jesus probably knew that they would soon sleep as he agonized in Gethsemane, that they would all soon desert him, and that even the most dedicated among them would deny knowing him.

Yet despite their track record of failures and little apparent growth, Luke records Jesus as making an amazing statement regarding the disciples at that last Passover meal: “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials” (Luke 22:28).  It seems that Christ did not judge the disciples on their failures to date – or even those he knew were coming up soon – but on the right things they had done, on the areas where growth had taken place. He saw it in them even if they perhaps did not see it themselves.

It’s like the Parable of the Growing Seed that Jesus had given earlier in his ministry:

“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4: 26-29).

 This is a time-lapse parable like the time-lapse videos that speed up time to show plants growing and other slow-changing things happening before our eyes.  But the good news is that just as the farmer in the parable does not see or comprehend it, the slow-growing plant is growing nonetheless; and that, Jesus said, is how the kingdom of God grows.

Once we come to understand this we can be encouraged that growth is growth no matter how small it may seem right now. And that helps us to focus on the value of every small – even seemingly insignificant – advance we make. Each right decision, each right choice, adds up, no matter how small it may be.  As C.S. Lewis wisely wrote years ago in Mere Christianity:  

“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.”

Five Bible Study Sites Compared

Five Bible Study Sites Compared

by | May 20, 2015 | Bible Study, Strategic Articles

By R. Herbert

There are now a good many websites competing for your online Bible study time.  Most publishers of individual translations have a dedicated site for their own Bible version, and there are numerous sites which compare multiple translations and offer other study helps. Which site is best? To some extent, the answer depends on your needs and study preferences, and each site has its own strong points – so comparing the options makes sense. In making our own comparison we found that most of the sites we looked at can be helpful and are providing a valuable service, but we did find that some sites are more useful than others. This article compares five sites (all of them free to use) that we consider to be among the best.  There are certainly other good sites – such as the fine Blue Letter Bible – which may be perfect for your needs, but the ones we list have the most translations and features. We look at them in reverse order – saving what we consider the best for last …

#5:  Bible Study Tools  has a limited number of  other-than-English language translations available – but it includes most major English versions and allows side by side comparison of verses or chapters in different versions, which not all sites do. It has a type of “interlinear” Hebrew and Greek text with individual words linked to Strong’s concordance entries, but although the English linkage is word by word, those with no knowledge of the biblical languages may find this feature difficult to use.  The site has a selection of devotionals, basic commentaries, Bible dictionaries and other resources, and also has a “My Bible” feature which allows users to add and save notes to scriptures and to highlight, bookmark, and categorize verses with tags. Overall, this is a fine, simple to use site. 

#4: StudyLight.org has an excellent selection of translations (though not always listed in alphabetical order), including many in foreign languages and with Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin texts of the Old and New Testaments.  StudyLight claims to have more Bible commentaries, encyclopedias, dictionaries, lexicons and original language tools than any other site on the internet, and the selection is extensive. It also includes the complete text of many important background works such as those of Josephus and the writings of the Early Church Fathers.  The site’s “interlinear” version is like that of the Bible Study Tools site with word-by-word translations, but is a little clearer.  The site is often excellent for deeper study, but is limited by the inability to compare different translations side by side. 

#3:  Bible.com  (the You Version site) claims over a thousand total versions in some 780 languages. We didn’t count to check, but the list has every translation we have ever seen and many more. Even seldom heard of translations such as Cook Islands Maori (in addition to New Zealand Maori!) are included, and some versions are available in audio format. You can save highlighted verses, tabs and notes.  The site also offers a good number of  reading plans and devotionals ranging from 7 days to a year.  A mobile app is offered as well as a way to be involved in live discussions of sermons, Bible studies and questions (you can schedule your own discussion event). These are all good features, though the core aspect of the site – the translation interface – is limited in terms of search and commentary features and only allows side-by-side view for comparison of two versions at one time. The “Recently Used” tab is helpful, however, in allowing the user to go back and forth between versions.  We did not find any way to work with the Hebrew or Greek texts on this site.

#2: Bible Hub  has a quick link bar at the top of the screen for selecting major translations, which some may find more convenient than repeatedly scrolling through drop down menus. The range of translations is relatively limited (a couple of dozen), but a  major plus of this site is its fine parallel Bible feature which compares any verse in about twenty major translations, but only one verse at a time can be seen in this manner.   Another very useful feature is that a selection of entries from major commentaries is given along with each verse, and further commentaries can also be quickly accessed by clicking a link. This means that checking any single verse shows most major translations and several commentaries on it all on the same page.  Like StudyLight.org, Bible Hub has true word-for word interlinear versions of the Hebrew and Greek texts as well as a number of other features, but we think its best characteristic is the time-saving ability to see multiple translations of the same verse – and commentaries on it – together on the same page.  Overall, Bible Hub came in a close second in our rankings and may be best for some uses.

#1: BibleGateway is our top pick. Those who follow our sites will probably find this no surprise.  It is not only the most visited Bible site in the world (with astronomical usage statistics), but it also comes closest of all the sites we know to providing the requisites for one-stop online Bible study.  BibleGateway has hundreds of available translations and while it may not have quite as many as Bible.com, it has more than most of us would ever need in all major languages (for example, seventeen Spanish translations alone).  You can read our other articles, linked below, to see the many excellent aspects of BibleGateway, and here we will just say that it combines most of the features found on other translation sites, except that it does not have Hebrew or Greek interlinears or study tools in the biblical languages.  It also takes a little extra clicking and scrolling to get to commentaries and some other features compared to some other sites, but these are relatively minor points and despite them, BibleGateway is our go-to site for 90% of our online Bible study needs. It has audio capability and is available for desktop use and as a smartphone app. Registered users (free) can insert and save highlights, notes, tabs, etc., as they study.  BibleGateway’s search capabilities are unparalleled, and its ability to pull up instances of a given word or phrase from any or all parts of the Bible – in as many translations as one wishes – is also tremendous for deeper comparative study.  Overall, we feel BibleGateway provides the most features of any online Bible study site and we are pleased to give it our top ranking. 

A New – Free – e-Book: Lessons from the Early Church

A New – Free – e-Book: Lessons from the Early Church

by | May 15, 2015 | Bible Study, Discipleship, Updates

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Our new FREE eBOOK  Lessons in Christian Living from the Early Church is now available for download.

This book looks at lessons we can learn and apply in our own lives from the history of the early Church as recorded in the Book of Acts.  Although not a commentary in the usual sense, The Early Church explains the background to many of the personalities, events, and  situations described in Acts, while drawing practical lessons from the story that you can use today.

As with all our eBooks, The Early Church is free and free from advertising or the need to register to download – simply choose the format you would like and start reading!

You can download the book directly  here.

New eBook Coming Soon!

by | May 13, 2015 | Updates

It’s almost here!   Our new Christian eBook is almost ready for publication and we hope to release it in the next few days.   As with all our eBooks, it will be completely free, and you will be able to download it without registration or other complications.  What is it about? Check our Downloads page for a sneak preview!