Every year Hollywood, the US, and even many around the world turn to the Academy Awards ceremony to see credit being given to leading actors, actresses, directors, producers and a host of others who work behind the scenes. Not only are the awards intended to give credit, but those receiving them frequently take a great amount of time, while basking in the spotlight, to thank everyone who supported their work – and if you have ever watched them, you know that sometimes means everyone.
This giving of credit is all well and good to a point, though it can often seem artificial under the stage lights when we compare how infrequently we tend to give credit to others in real life situations. But there is plenty of biblical precedent for giving appreciative credit to others in our daily lives. A great example is found in 1 Samuel where David insisted that all who had helped him in a military campaign should receive credit and proper reward. Speaking to his followers who wanted to give credit only to those directly involved in the fighting, we find:
“David replied ‘No, my brothers … The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.’ David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this” (1 Samuel 30:23-25).
Not only did David credit all who had taken part in the campaign, but also, when he reached Ziklag, he sent some of the captured goods to the elders of Judah in recognition of their support, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies” (1 Samuel 30:26). Further, Samuel tells us, David sent some of the spoil to a great number of towns in the kingdom recognizing their help and support. The list is long (and almost Oscar like!) as David gives credit to:
“…those who were in Bethel, Ramoth Negev and Jattir; to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa and Rakal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites; to those in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athak and Hebron …” (1 Samuel 30:30).
Notice that even this long list is not complete as vs. 31 adds “and to those in all the other places where he and his men had roamed.”
So David used the opportunity to give credit not only to all who had helped him directly or indirectly in his campaign, but also to all of his friends and supporters who were not even involved – but who had supported him to that time.
It’s a point worth remembering. David gave credit widely and generously. It was clearly part of his character and something we can remember in our own relationships with the people with whom we live and work. There is also another side to this. If we conscientiously pay attention to giving credit to those who have helped us or worked alongside us in any of life’s endeavors, we will perhaps be more likely to be aware of, and to give credit to, the One who so often helps us behind the scenes and to whom credit is always due!
Many electronics and small home appliances that are returned to their manufacturers due to problems are worked with, tested, dusted off and sent back out for sale as “factory refurbished.”
Perhaps they are a reasonable deal, but I have always had a deep distrust of such “refurbished” items. Damaged or defective outer parts might be fixed, but what about the interior – the running of some of these items? It seems to me that a refurbished item just isn’t as trustworthy as one made new and made right.
Apparently, God follows that same line of reasoning with us. After all, I suppose it would be possible for a spiritually “malfunctioning” individual to be repaired, then sent back out into the world again, but God’s word seems to indicate that’s not a good idea. Jesus spoke a parable specifically relating to the wisdom of going with a new product:
“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:21-22).
God did not issue a refurbished or revised edition of His Covenant, but introduced a totally new one (Hebrews 8:13). In a similar manner, the One who originally formed the human mind prefers to renew our outlook completely rather than just to affect an attitude “adjustment” or “refurbishment” (Ephesians 4:23). He prefers totally remade characters, too: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). In fact, he calls us to “… put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).
Ultimately, we are told, God will establish new heavens and a new earth (Revelation 21:1-2), so it seems clear that He really prefers the new to the refurbished in every case. In fact, He says: “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5).
If the One who has called us will remake everything in His quest for the renewed and perfected, shouldn’t we look at our own lives that way? God clearly does not call us to be refurbished – with just the outer visible problems fixed – but with no real remaking of the inner person we are. So it’s a question we can ask ourselves as we go further into this new year: Are we content with just being refurbished each day, or are we striving to be truly made new?
The sixth chapter of the Gospel of John tells of the miraculous feeding of the great crowd of 5,000 people who were following Jesus in the area of Galilee. Within a day or so of this miraculous event, we find the same crowd (John mentions it was the same people) asking Jesus what seems like a very strange question. When Jesus said “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29), notice what the people answered:
“What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’ “ (John 6:30-31).
This response of the people is often said to be strange to the point of being unbelievable. Not only had these people just witnessed a great sign, but specifically one in which they were miraculously fed, so why would they ask for a sign – especially one involving being fed? Some Bible commentaries even suggest that perhaps John’s account reflects a patchwork of original sources not agreeing with each other.
A far simpler answer is found in the fact that the verbs used in the people’s reply to Jesus are actually in the present tense in the Greek of John’s account. The Greek word poieis literally means “are doing” and ergaze means “you are working.” In other words, the people’s reply was not “What sign will you give us” (emphasis added in this and the following instances), as we read in the NIV and KJV, but, more literally: “what sign are you doing … What work are you working” or “what sign do you do …What work do you perform?” (as they are translated in the ESV). This literal translation makes a great deal of difference, because the people were evidently not asking for another, future, sign, but for explanation of the sign Jesus had just given them – and which they realized was of the same nature and importance as the manna given from heaven to their ancestors in the wilderness.
We must look at the context of these verses. John tells us that after the feeding of the 5,000:
“After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself” (vss. 14-15).
The people were fully aware of the sign they had been given and were asking Jesus for confirmation of its meaning – they were saying in effect: “what is this sign” or “what does this sign mean” – and rightly guessing that it suggested this was the prophet like Moses (who had fed the people manna) who would come (Deuteronomy 18:15-19): the promised Messiah. This is why they wanted to make Jesus their king.
This week, on both our websites, we will begin a new series of interspersed blog postings, aimed at increasing Biblical understanding. On our sister site, LivingWithFaith.org, the new series will be called “Scripture in Question” and will look at what are sometimes claimed to be “contradictions” in the Bible.
The new series on this site will be “Scripture in Focus” and will examine scriptures that are puzzling in some way, or difficult to understand, perhaps because of historical, cultural or translation issues. Usually you can find clarification for such scriptures with extensive study in Bible commentaries and other resources, but that can be time intensive and sometimes confusing when different answers are found. We save you time and trouble with this new series – each explanation is carefully researched and if there are varying opinions on a topic, we will compare them for you.
We think you will find both the “Scripture in Focus” and “Scripture in Question” series of posts interesting and also helpful. Look for them here and on our other site starting in a day or two.
All societies have their hot-button issues. Here in the US it might be immigration, minimum wage, health care or a number of other things. Whatever the topic, however, these hot-button issues share the commonality that they are not usually topics brought up in casual conversation with people we do not know well. People learn that society functions more smoothly when we don’t discuss one of these issues in the process of going for a dental checkup or picking up our dry cleaning.
Nevertheless, because these issues are often not discussed openly and widely and do not affect everyone, they often fester under the surface – breeding resentment and frustration for many. Nationally, it often seems as though there is little we can do to change this situation. One encouraging fact, however, is that since the economy has worsened to the degree it has and affected so many people, we now find it a widespread enough problem that we can easily discuss this topic with relative strangers – with individuals voicing what they feel might help without offense or anger.
All marriages have their hot button issues. They might be finances, children, in-laws or several other topics, but married people all too often learn that things go more smoothly when we don’t discuss finances over the breakfast table or the in-laws as we drive off on vacation. But because these issues are so often argued about, then swept under the rug as acknowledged hot-button issues, they may linger at the back of our minds and bring resentment and frustration.
The answer, however, is always to talk these things through. The time and place need to be chosen carefully, and ground rules should always be agreed upon before the discussion begins. We especially need to be able to agree that mutual respect trumps any individual issue and we need to be able to agree to disagree, to find compromise, to work together as much as possible. Unlike national hot-button issues which may only affect certain groups or be championed by them, family hot-buttons affect everyone in the family and need bilateral, husband and wife cooperation.
The good news is that even though our national economic problems are far from solved, we have learned to talk about them and in many cases to focus on what can be done about those problems in areas where improvement might be possible. For marriages, this principle is even better news. By acknowledging the problems and talking about them, we have hope of improvement. The essential point is that we need to learn to talk about – and work to defuse our family hot-buttons rather than ignoring them or pressing them. That’s not only how bomb disposal works, but also how marriages grow.
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