A Living Hope

Today's Reading: I Peter 1:3-5

What did you hope for when you were a child? A particular toy, a visit to a favorite place, or time to participate in a favorite activity probably tops the list of most people.

What do you hope for now? Good health, safety for family members, someone to love, or a meaningful life might top your list now.

The funny thing about hopes is that they may or may not actually come true. We can dream of something and wish for it with all of our being, and it still might not happen.

Peter tells us in today's reading that we have a living hope that comes through the resurrection of Christ. A living hope. Some of us might wonder how that is any different from any other hope that we've ever had. Especially if we've been disappointed by hope in the past.

What occurs to me is that other hopes we have in life are static hopes. They either happen or they don't...and often times we have no control over which way it goes. A living hope is something that seems active to me. It feels like something that is moving and breathing and is...well, alive.

That's Christ. He is our living hope. A hope that is built on the knowledge that He is alive, preparing a place for us in heaven, and He will return to take us there one day. No wondering if it will happen. No disappointments. No jumping through hoops to try to work it out on our own. Just a saving faith in Jesus, our living hope.

Now that's the best kind of hope there is!

- Holly Barrett

He'll Be Back

Today's Reading: John 14:1-3

You know, there are lots of debates in the Christian world about just what will happen at the end times. Lots of us have our opinions, traditions, and beliefs. Lots of us disagree on all the details of how it will play out.

I do think it is important for us to study what scripture teaches on the end times and to ask God to illuminate as much of that for us as He is ready to do at this time. There is one thing though that can be easily overlooked in all our discussions and debates about how we particularly think it will play out...and that is Jesus' promise in John 14. He says,

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

When my children were small and I left them with a sitter, they often asked me if I was coming back to get them. My daughter especially wanted that reassurance. It was only after I had assured her several times that I would be back for her that she was content to let me go. Upon returning to collect my kids, I often found my daughter watching and waiting at the door as the time for my arrival came near. And when she saw my face, she lit up with a smile and would run to tackle me!

I imagine the apostles felt the same way. Jesus was trying to prepare them for what was going to happen in the coming days and weeks by encouraging them to not be troubled and to continue to trust God and trust Him.  Yes, He had to go away for a little while. But He's coming back! 


Unlike my assurances for my daughter, Jesus isn't able to give us a timetable for when He will return. But since He is far more reliable than we are as humans, we can know beyond any doubt that He is in fact coming to take us home. The question is will He find us watching for His return? Or will He find us debating over how it will happen?


I don't know when He will come again or how it will all unfold. But I do plan to be eagerly watching for His appearance, ready to run to Him at the first glimpse of His face.

- Holly Barrett

A Chosen People

Today's Reading: 1 Peter 2:9-10

As I read today's scripture, I thought about the church being God's chosen people and how much I enjoy our time spent together as a family in worship. It reminded me of my mother's newest video in her Gray Hair Talking series. Today, enjoy these words of wisdom from Rachel Solomon:

- Holly Barrett

Will the circle be unbroken?

Today's Reading: Ephesians 4:7-16

You know those moments in life when everything just seems to come full circle? You are going along, living your life, and one day God just brings all things into perfect alignment and for one bright, shiny moment, it doesn't seem that life could get any better!

Today's reading is like that for me. Paul tells us that it was Christ "who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up..." He goes on to say that through the individual callings on God's people, we will mature, no longer be like infants, and "we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ."

Did you see that? Full circle. Christ calls us to work in the church, using our individual gifts and callings to build up the body. At which point, the body will grow up into Christ, who is the head of the body. 

You can take a step further and say that a mature body will love enough to attract non-believers, who will become believers, use their gifts and callings to help further build up the body as it grows up into Christ, the head of the body. Full circle again. 

He finishes this thought in verse 16, "From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." It's not a full circle without all of us doing our part. So we can all ask ourselves where we are on the circle, what we are doing to help the circle grow, and what we are doing to help the circle remain unbroken.

- Holly Barrett

The Supremacy of Christ

Today's Reading: Colossians 1:15-20

Here's what today's reading tells us about Jesus, the head of the church:

• He's the image of the invisible God
• Firstborn over all creation
• By Him all things were created
• All things were created for Him
• He is before all things
• In Him all things hold together
• He is the head of the body, the church
• He is the beginning and firstborn
• In everything He has supremacy
• God's fullness dwells in Him
• Through Him God reconciles all things
• Peace came through His blood shed on the cross

Outside of scripture no one says it better than this:

- Holly Barrett

The Final Solution for Sin

Today's Reading: Hebrews 9:16-28

This past semester the Tuesday morning women's Bible study class studied the book of Hebrews. When we got to chapter 9, we looked at three appearances of Christ in this chapter.

In verse 11, He appears as our High Priest. In verse 24, He appears in heaven for us.

And in verse 28, He will appear a second time to bring salvation. "...so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."

I'm not a big fan of repetition. I get bored at having to do the same thing over and over again. That's probably my issue with most housework! And don't even get me started on repetitive noises. Just ask my children about their days of bouncing balls in the house or drumming their fingers on the dinner table. Nearly drove me crazy.

So what I love about this passage is that while Jesus did make several appearances, He only has to come one more time. He came to die for our sins...and now we are waiting for Him to come again to take us home. Unlike the Old Testament sacrifices, He doesn't have to keep dying for our sins. He did it once and for all. No repetition needed. 

The Message says it like this, "...instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin." No more sacrifices. No more guilt. No more appearances on earth.

He is the final solution for sin. No repetition needed.

Glory to God!

- Holly Barrett

Are you sitting on the good news?

Today's Reading: Acts 4:5-12

Are you familiar with the song, Salvation Belongs to Our God? I actually sang this song on a CD once. Well, me and a couple hundred other people! We were at summer Bible camp and recorded our Friday night singing, which was then put onto a CD and sold as a fundraiser for the camp. It's a great song and one of my fondest memories.In fact, I remember that they wanted us to sing the song sitting down so that the microphones wouldn't pick up any movement or shuffling of feet if we stood while singing. But we just couldn't do it. This isn't a song that you sing sitting down.

I imagine Peter felt a little like that in Acts 4. As this chapter opens, the Sanhedrin has arrested Peter and John and demanded that they answer by what power or what name they were teaching and healing. Verse 8 says, "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them..." Somehow I just don't see Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, sitting down to deliver this speech. He goes on to tell them that it is "by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead..." that these miracles have happened. And ends by saying, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." 

Again, probably not sitting down.

How could he? He was delivering the gospel, the good news, the answer to everyone's troubles. Sometimes I think we take the gospel for granted. It has become a mundane part of our lives. But it wasn't ever mundane to the apostles. They couldn't wait to tell people about Jesus, often regardless of the consequences.

It'd be nice if we could bottle feelings like the one I had at camp the year we recorded this song. But then again, we do have the Holy Spirit living in us. If that's not enough to make us stand up and tell others about Jesus, I guess nothing will do it! So who do you know that needs to know the salvation offered through Jesus?

And will you stand up to tell them about it today?

The Gift of God is Eternal Life

Today's Reading: Romans 6:19-23

There was a time in my life when I was enslaved to a habitual sin. I knew what was right and what was wrong. I tried hard to make it go away. But try as I might, slavery had become a way of life.

Finally one day I was studying Romans and read chapter 6 again. Now I grew up in church and had been a Christian for a while at that point...but it was like I just read this chapter for the first time! The light bulb went on and my life was changed forever.

The difference this time was understanding that I was in fact enslaved. I thought I had everything under control. But the truth is that sin was ruling my life and gaining more ground every day. And I had to ask myself the question found in verse 21, "What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? These things result in death!"

Make no mistake about it...there was no benefit! And death...at least spiritual death...was just around the corner.

How grateful I am that the chapter doesn't end there. For Paul goes on to say, "...now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."

Eternal life. Freedom from captivity forever. The chains of sin are broken and the downward spiral has ended.

There are no words to express my gratitude.

- Holly Barrett

The Fruit of the Spirit is not a Kumquat

Today's Reading: Galatians 5:22-26

"the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires."

This year at our women's retreat, we sang an old VBS song to remind ourselves that the Fruit of the Spirit is not a kumquat...or a strawberry...or any other fruit that you might name. I frankly don't even know what a kumquat is but was relieved to find out that others didn't know either!

It's a silly song and a fun way to segue into a more serious discussion in our small groups, where we discussed the specific fruit that we felt the Spirit was working on in our lives right now. I was in the gentleness, goodness and self-control group.You might be thinking that is just the group I needed to be in...and you are probably right!

We had another small group activity where we were given some specific items: toilet paper, paper clips, foil, pipe cleaners, and marshmallows and had to craft a depiction of our particular fruit(s)...here are some pictures of the finished products:

We shed a few tears in our small groups and we had a lot of laughs as our "projects" were presented. It may seem silly as you read about it...but it was really a great way to get out of the box to think about the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in us. And to think about how He is going about that in my life on a daily basis. I came away asking myself questions like these:

Am I aware of how the Spirit is working these things out in me?

Am I working against Him?

Do others see this fruit growing in me?

Am I being intentional about allowing the Spirit to work in me so that this fruit takes root and grows?

That may be the take-home, right there. Being intentional about looking for how and where and why the Spirit is bringing forth fruit in my life and purposefully working with Him, rather than against Him. The result will then be, not a garden full of fruits, but a life filled with The Fruit that comes from the work of the Spirit.

- Holly Barrett

A Ring of Promise

Today's Reading: Ephesians 1:13-14

A couple of summers ago, I was teaching a class at Bible camp on the Holy Spirit. Now there are some folks who are much more spiritual than me and much more theologically educated than me who don't want to teach on the Holy Spirit. So you can imagine my trepidation at trying to teach this to a bunch of teenage girls...at summer camp...when the weather is really hot...and knowing that what my audience might really be thinking about is the cute guy they just met at breakfast.

But it was the topic we were given, so my co-teacher and I just decided to see what God would do with it and jumped in with both feet. Well, with all four feet, really.

On the second day, we were discussing this passage and talking about what it means to be "marked in him with a seal...who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance..." And up piped a small voice near the back of the teaching shelter that said, "It's like an engagement ring."

"Uh...what's like an engagement ring?", I asked, wondering how my lesson had gone so far afield.

"The seal or deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. It's like the engagement ring that you get as a 'deposit' (she did the air quotes) towards the wedding day."

And there you have it. My co-teacher and I just looked at each other. I think we were trying to decide if we should go ahead with our lesson plan or just let this young woman with the sudden burst of inspiration teach our class for the rest of the week! Her analogy made so much sense especially to a group of teenage girls who all want to get one of those engagement rings one day.

But I think it rings true to the rest of us as well (pun intended). Just like we would make a promise to show up at the wedding by giving or accepting an engagement ring, one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to guarantee (or promise) our inheritance by sealing believers in Christ until the day He returns to take us home to heaven. And isn't it interesting that Scripture describes that day as a wedding feast? Maybe there is more to this analogy than we first thought.

Or maybe it's just a simple illustration to help us understand a complex subject. Out of the mouths of babes, you know.

Either way, I just hope my Holy Spirit ring is really sparkly!

- Holly Barrett

It is For Your Good

Today's Reading: John 16:5-15

Today's reading is some of Jesus' last words to His apostles. He is telling them that He is going away and that they should not be grieved because when He goes He will send the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and will guide us into all truth.

But what intrigues me about this passage is Jesus' words, "It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you" (verse 7, NIV). Remember when you were a little kid, and your parents said that they were doing something for your good. It was usually something unpleasant and you couldn't really see how it was going to do you any good. That's where I am with this passage. How could it be that Jesus leaving was going to be good? And how could this Counselor be better for us than Jesus' presence?

I don't have the answers to those questions. It appears that Jesus had to go back to the Father, so I am appreciative that He didn't leave us here on our own. God's Spirit came to dwell in believers to guide them to truth and to reveal the things of the Father to us. But Jesus leaving seems like one of those things that is supposed to be good for us and we don't understand how.

So if that is the case, then I want to know all I can about the Holy Spirit - how He works, what it means to be full of the Spirit, how not to quench the Spirit. And I don't have all that knowledge either. But I've determined not to be scared of it. Whatever the Spirit looks like, however He wants to work in my life, whatever equipping or empowering He wants to do so that I am useful in the kingdom, Jesus told me that it was for my good.

So I say bring it on! Don't you want more of the Spirit too?

- Holly Barrett

To Whom Shall We Go?

Today's Reading: John 6:60-69

This is one of my favorite passages in the book of John. It is a kind of a turning point for the Twelve, as Jesus' teaching has turned hard and many disciples have turned back. They have had an idea of what this whole Messiah-thing should look like and now that it looks different, they are ready to give up.

Even the Twelve are confused. They don't understand...it doesn't meet their expectations...it has stretched their belief system. But at this moment, they make a huge confession of faith. They have come this far with Jesus and are now committing to keep on going.

The NIV Application Commentary says,

"Each of us...produce our own set of religious assumptions and defend them in the name of God. We become inquisitors and crusaders, pursuing what we think is a divine work. But Jesus and his mission are more complex and profound than any other Christian tradition. With Peter we must always be willing to relinquish our position, to hold our assumptions loosely, and to say in faith, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life' (6:68)."

Where are you looking for direction? What assumptions or traditions are you holding onto tighter than you are holding onto Jesus? Whatever it is, it is not the answer. Jesus is the only answer and the only place we can go!

- Holly Barrett

Giver of Life

Today's Reading: John 5:19-23

Do you remember the old Cosby show and the scene with Theo where Cliff Huxtable threatens to take Theo out? Here it is if you haven't seen it or don't remember it!



I'm not sure I'd recommend that as a good disciplinary tactic but it is pretty funny!

In today's scripture reading, John quotes Jesus saying, "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it." The Son gives life. And later in John's book, Jesus says that he came so that we can have life and have it to the full (John 10:10).

Life to the full - what an awesome promise that is! We don't have to settle for trudging through life as if there is no hope and nothing to look forward to. We have hope for a full life...here and hereafter!

Now I'm not naive enough to think that every day is going to feel full of all the warm and fuzzy stuff we'd like to have. Some days are just hard and they seem full of everything that is not good in this life. But if we turn our attitude toward gratitude, I believe we will begin to see the fullness of life. And when we are grateful, I believe we will see more and more of this same fullness.

God did make us...but I sure am glad that he doesn't threaten to take us out! Instead he promises a full life and I say bring it on!

- Holly Barrett