Friends: Faith is more about what we think than what we do, and our hope aligns with our faith.  Here is a brief inventory. Happy New Year, and have a great week.

Blessings! Bob

Labels: 1 Peter 3:15, Matthew 11:30, my faith, testimony

Spirituality column #999

January 6, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Some of the Reasons

By Bob Walters

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” – 1 Peter 3:15

We are winding toward my one thousandth weekly Common Christianity column – perhaps you noticed this is #999 – and next week we’ll offer some background of how the column got started back in 2006 and what has kept it going for almost 20 years.

Today, although you didn’t ask, I’ll address some reasons for the hope I have and consider some abiding definitions and understanding of my faith in Christ.

Here goes. My testimony is not about my successes or failures, my virtues or sins, my discernment or foolishness, or my joys or sorrows. I’ve experienced all sides.

My testimony is about light, reality, truth, love, trust, and faith.

Light: The lights came on when I realized, at age 47, that Jesus was and is real.

Reality: God, Jesus, and the Spirit are not only real; the Holy Trinity issues forth a purpose of love, relationship, and glory in God’s mind and Creation. That’s reality.

Truth: I’ll never claim to know all truth, but the darkness of doubt left when I realized truth – objective, real, divine, unshakeable truth – exists in Christ. Truth isn’t limited by knowing facts or knowing true from false. It is knowing truth exists. I’m free to doubt myself, but always with the security that my doubt does not affect God’s truth.

Love: We think love is a feeling; love actually is the being and righteousness of God. It is the uncoerced relationship, community, and society of the Holy Trinity, shared with Creation generally and specifically with humanity through Jesus Christ. Love is a mystery and a willful commitment. God is love, and is included as His image in our lives.

Trust: Jesus isn’t lying to us. He’ll do what He promises and has done what He said He would do.  Trust in Jesus is not about me understanding my circumstances or Him affecting my outcomes. It is about His ultimate purpose; i.e., us in God’s Kingdom.

Faith: Superior to all the senses, faith is buoyed, proven, assured, grounded, anchored … and unprovable with words. It is the most private of our motivations, known only to us and truly to God. In fact, God likely knows our faith – or lack of it – better than we do. Faith is the foundation of human joy built with hope and love; faith is trust in things unseen. It is in our faith that we can truly see; faith opens the eyes of hearts.

We are thankful for forgiveness and salvation, but must always remember the ultimate goal is restored eternal relationship with God, resting in His heavenly Kingdom after toiling on this monstrously unpredictable yet magnificently beautiful Earth.

Our obedience is for our sake.  Nothing we do affects God’s glory, alters His truth, or dampens His righteousness. In Matthew 11:30 Jesus says His yoke is easy and his burden – what he demands – is light. The Ten Commandments tell us how to honor God, but really tell us how to live at peace and with love for each other. We benefit.

Christianity is unique because it is not a manmade religion; it is about the person of God – Jesus – living on earth as a human and telling us the greatest story, the most profound truth, and the best news we could ever imagine. Yet, we couldn’t believe it.

In fact, despite all the Old Testament prophesies of God’s plan, the Son’s arrival, and man’s salvation in Christ, the Gospels tell us nobody understood Jesus’s mission to restore God’s Creation back to God Himself. Jesus hung on the cross, died, and was resurrected with thousands of witnesses. Through scripture and time, we understand.

Those are some of the reasons for the hope I have.  What are yours?

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) never planned to write 1,000 columns, nor has plans to quit.

Friends: Forgiveness from God is a start, but not the finish. What’s the real point? God gives us the perfect answer.  Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #998

December 30, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

What’s the Point?

By Bob Walters

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 5:18

Each month for the past 16 years or so I’ve printed out my four or five weekly columns and shipped them to my wife Pam’s parents at Platte Lake, Michigan.

Their lake home 30 miles or so west of Traverse City has never housed a computer, smart phone, or internet connection.  But Pam’s dad Richard, who passed away four years ago, was a retired Nazarene pastor and very interested in my writings. He and Pam’s mom Etta were daily breakfast Bible studiers and to my mild surprise, Etta also read my weekly columns. Upon Richard’s passing, I kept sending the columns.

Along with the columns I have always sent a newsy one-page letter about our own home, school, and church activities, plus kids, grandkids, upcoming plans, etc. Richard used to tease me, asking if I just recycled the columns every so often (tacitly admitting he wasn’t above repeating the occasional sermon), so – as I always have – I begin every letter the same way, “Here are this month’s columns. Still no repeats.”

What’s the point? Well, for the price of postage, a #10 envelope, some paper and printer ink, I stay in touch with family, Etta knows the letters are an expression of love, and I hope she knows I enjoy sending them as much as she enjoys reading them. The point really isn’t what I write in the columns and letters; the point is the relationship.

And while I never “recycle” columns, there are some recurring themes I regularly point out, among which are why we do the “religious” things we do, and more importantly, why God does the things He does. We often stop short of the main point.

Ask 100 professing Christians why God sent Jesus into humanity, why Jesus came to earth, or what Jesus does for us, just about all of them are going to answer some version of either “to forgive our sins,” “to save / redeem us,” “so we can go to heaven,” or, for the pessimists, “so we don’t go to hell.”

All that is true enough.  But none answers the superseding, quietly obvious but critical question: “Why?” Forgiveness, salvation / redemption, and heaven-instead-of-hell are valuable, sure. But we need to climb a bit higher on the theological mountain to discover God’s purpose for these graces and to understand the lives we are truly living.

In other words, Why do we want these things? Why does God give them?

As noted above in 2 Corinthians 5:18, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ.” While Christians think in terms of our own lives, sins, mistakes, pride, good works, bad works, daily struggles, occasional successes, love and hate, joy and despair, God sent Jesus into the world “to reconcile us to himself through Christ.”

It’s not just for forgiveness, salvation, and heaven; it is our re-joining God’s life.

Jesus brings much to the party, like actual knowledge of God, objective truth, infinite reality, a gateway to God, and eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Forgiveness in Christ is a means to an end, not the end in itself; the end is reconciliation and restored relationship with our Creator. Our goal and end result is eternal participation in God’s love and glory with our inclusion in His Kingdom. In Christ, we become part of that life.

When we express our love for God, or for others – our in-laws, for example – who is the ultimate winner in the equation? Do we do things to please others? Or to please ourselves? Or to discover that whatever life throws at us, we know that the love, righteousness and relationship of Father, Son and Spirit, alive within us, are all true?

That’s the repeat. That’s the joy. That’s life with God. And that’s the point.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) and Pam, who were married in 2009, are visiting Mom up north after Christmas. BTW, Bob’s parents passed in 1991 (John) and 2003 (Ruth), and are buried in Mackinaw City, Michigan, a half mile from their beloved summer sanctuary on the Straits.

 

Friends: Christmas assures us of God’s eternal grace and goodness by delivering Jesus into humanity; our death is replaced by His life.  Prayers for you and yours to have a holy, happy, and merry Christmas. God bless! Bob

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Spirituality Column #997

December 23, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Unique Gifts, Part 4

By Bob Walters

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth …” – John 1:14

While the world sings “Deck the Halls,” “Jingle Bells,” “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,” and “All I Want for Christmas is You,” church history scholar and my Bible mentor George Bebawi summed up Christmas not only with Luke 2:1-20, but John 1:14.

For his 70^th birthday celebration in 2009, my wife Pam baked and then decorated George’s cake with "Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο," the Greek for John 1:14 - “And the Word became flesh.” George was not a “Christmas cheer” guy; he was a “Feast of the Incarnation” guy. God entered humanity through virgin birth by his mother Mary. Amen.

That’s what all the fuss should be about. Not trees, bells, Santa, or Mariah Carey.

Luke 2 certainly describes the arrival and purpose of Jesus, while piles of legends and Christmas cultural history misdirect the modern celebration of what one could call, worst case, the aberrant commercial bastardization of a history-altering holy moment. Or, best case, the finest broad-band Christian public relations operation ever conceived (so to speak). Everyone hears about Christmas. Hopefully, they meet Christ.

George saw the pure glory and salvation of eternal God joining time and space to reveal his love, purpose, and plan – his grace and truth – for humanity, and repair divine relationship with and among those He created in His own image – the human race.

In other words, Jesus is God’s revelation and repairer of our Godly communion.

In this series we’ve looked at George’s six points of God’s revelation, and we’re through the first three of six points of Christ’s communion. Here are the last three points.

4.  …  Death became part of our nature.  Our nature needed life; not just life, but life that could not become enslaved to death.  God did not just give us immunity from death but imparted to us the same quality of the divine life itself, which is not just eternal but is also communal and has its roots in love.

Human sin in the Garden of Eden resulted in God’s curse of death, but God’s love never ended. The birth of Jesus brought God into humanity to restore relationship.

5.  Jesus came into the flesh to reveal to us the Fatherhood of God and to declare to us the love of the Father (John 3:16).  The three things to make this relationship a communion of love are as follows:

·      Jesus received the Holy Spirit from the Father, dwelling in Him eternally.

·      Jesus was born without a father but from a virgin mother … This new or second birth removes us from physical birth to the birth from above.  We are born again.

·      We are so intertwined that Jesus is our new life. In Him we are liberated from the power of sin and death. By his death our death was destroyed; and by his resurrection our life became rooted in him. 

Our challenge as fallen humans is two-fold: believing God’s revelation, and accepting God’s gift.  We do this with repentance, faith, and love for God and others.

6.    Every time I see or touch a human being, I see the shape which God received from us (in the Risen Christ). I hug a human, the living Icon of Jesus.  Those who weep or are in pain bring the cross and Gethsemane very close.

Without the Cross and Resurrection, the birth and purpose of Jesus would be unknowable, unbelievable, and communion unattainable.  Our divinely instilled faith opens our true eyes to the reality of God, the truth of Jesus, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the authority of Scripture. Amen to that, glory to God, and Merry Christmas.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) reads Luke 2:1-20 at family Christmas Eve dinner.

Friends: Jesus came into the world not only to reveal God’s plan of salvation, but to bring humanity into divine, loving communion with Him and each other. Blessings!  Bob

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Spirituality Column #996

December 16, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Unique Gifts, Part 3

By Bob Walters

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth …” – John 1:14

Even AI – Artificial Intelligence – doesn’t get it.

I frequently rely on a Google or Bible app assist when searching for a specific Bible verse on a specific topic. It’s bad for business to screw up Bible citations.

In this Christmas series which rehearses George Bebawi’s “Uniqueness of Christ” teachings back in 2008, the first two installments recounted George’s six top reasons or features of the revealing – i.e., the revelation – of Christ. In other words, what God wanted humanity to know about His divine plan; that’s what Jesus revealed and delivered.

In these next two concluding installments, we’ll look at George’s top six reasons and features of our communion in Christ.  In other words, what God wants us to do about it.

To find verses to consider, this was my Google search prompt: “bible verse about God will send a savior to you.” Ironically, Google is in the process of putting itself out of business because of its new AI-assisted format.  Google made its billions throwing ads at people as they scrolled Google’s search results.  With AI, Google’s search results lead off with a short, AI-generated article that probably nine times out of ten – in my experience – eliminates need for further scrolling.  No scrolling, no ads, no revenue … no Google? We’ll see.

Anyway, here was Google’s AI response to my prompt:

“God promises and sends a Savior (Jesus) to deliver people from sin and oppression …” then helpfully cites Isaiah 9:6-7 (“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace,” etc.) and Luke 2:11 (“a savior who is Christ the Lord). Then AI again: “Key verses highlight God’s plan … confirming Jesus as the promised Redeemer to save all who believe.” OK not bad, but nothing about God’s love or restoring our relationship with God.

You see, deliverance from “sin and oppression” misses God’s overall purpose: to restore our communion with Him, express His divine love, and provide our communion with each other.

George was a stickler for finding God’s ultimate purpose, which is to restore our divine relationship which we lost in the Garden of Eden. We say “Jesus came to forgive our sin.” Yes, that is true, and is the mechanism by which God accomplishes what He truly wants, communion with his Creation. That cannot happen unless we are justified in Christ, which we receive by our faith in Christ. Our redemption is much larger than only shedding our sins.

Forgiveness is a tremendous gift, of course.  But relationship – communion – is the actual goal.  Here are George’s first three thoughts on our communion in Christ:

1.    “By his death on the cross, Jesus abolished any possibility of any form of neutrality between good and evil.”

There is no neutrality when it comes to Jesus Christ: you’re in or you’re out. 

2.    “[Jesus] recapitulated the past in dying on the cross; the present in being the head of the church and the true friend of sinners, and the future by being our resurrection. This is the meaning of being called the Alpha and the Omega.”

         Jesus is the first and last, but also is the redeeming totality of our relationship with God.

3.    “Let us remember that our Lord is called by his first name, Jesus, but when he was anointed by the Holy Spirit, he was called “Christ” the “Anointed One,” which is his office as the leader of the new creation. Jesus received this office from God the Father to bring to us humans – and with us the whole cosmos – into full communion with God the Father.  He took our humanity and made it the recipient of his union with God the Father, because he is one with God the Father (John 10:30), he brought us in his person into this union.”

That reality – “full communion with God the Father” – is what George saw as Jesus’s ultimate purpose, both for humanity and the entire cosmos. We are thankful to be forgiven, but Christ came with the unique gift of a communion we – all of humanity – didn’t know existed.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) suggests you read George’s notes a couple of times.

Friends: Here are three more notes from George Bebawi’s teaching, “The Uniqueness of Christ.” Jesus is unique, and revealed God’s unique plan of salvation. Blessings, Bob

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Labels: Christmas 2025, George Bebawi, John 1:14, relationship, revelation, uniqueness of Christ

Spirituality Column #995

December 9, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Unique Gifts, Part 2

By Bob Walters

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth …” – John 1:14

We are into our 20^th year of writing this weekly blog / column. Most years have included a Christmas series, and many entries in those series have discussed George Bebawi’s awesome Christian scholarship and general revulsion of modern Christmas practice.

George was a unique character, indeed. A globally recognized expert on patristics (the early Church fathers) and the Eastern church, a multi-lingual Bible translator, Coptic priest, and Cambridge divinity lecturer, George married May Rifka in Carmel, Indiana, in April 2004. He moved here and became a unique, local treasure of Bible study, church history, wit, and doctrinal challenge and brilliance.

Just as this church on this corner disagrees with that church on that corner about some aspect of salvation theology, communion practice, or which Bible translation is best, George was a cross between a lightning rod and a mega-power radio tower. He was steeped in a Christian life that began in Judaism, found faith in Jesus as a teen, went into Orthodox priesthood, nearly became a monk, earned a Cambridge PhD, and ultimately landed as an exceptionally grounded and Bible-savvy evangelical teacher.

Which is to say, George discerned uniqueness in the living, biblical, personal, relational Jesus with a depth few in the Christian West encounter or imagine.  That’s why this Christmas we’re looking at George’s teaching, “The Uniqueness of Christ.”

Here are three more of George’s points on the revelation of Jesus.

4.  Jesus represents God to humanity and humanity to God, setting the goal of this unique relationship as a fellowship and as a union of the Holy with broken sinners, the Almighty with the weak, the True lover of humanity with those who cannot love, the Reconciler with those who are slaves to hatred, and above all, Life with those who are captives of death.

Often lost in contemporary Christianity is the divine purity of God’s forgiveness, grace, and love restoring our relationship with our Creator. Instead, we impute our worldly, market-economy culture and dynamic into a purchase agreement in Jesus’s perfect sacrifice. George believed we are loved, not bought. Freed, not bound.

5.  Jesus Christ is the only founder of a religion who shares his life with those who follow Him.

In George’s “Uniqueness” notes, he lists 37 Greek words the Apostle Paul used / invented in the Bible to describe our life, death, work, suffering, growth, reign, etc., with Christ. All 37 words start with “syn” – the Greek prefix that means “with.” The human and the divine are interwoven, and Jesus remains alive with us and with the Father.

6.  By being the fulfillment of old prophesies, Jesus did not come to destroy the past but made the past essential to understanding the present.  This is not applied only to His incarnation but also to sharing His life with sinners.

George constantly made the point that the New Testament is the conclusion of the story that remains unfinished in the Old Testament. OT prophesies point to Jesus, relationship, and salvation, but only Jesus is both the means to, and the goal of, God’s redemptive plan for humanity: temporal understanding and eternal relationship.

God’s Word became human flesh. That’s a gift no one thought to ask for.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) will continue the next two weeks with George’s thoughts about our living communion with Christ. For my past writings about George, search George Bebawi at our blog, CommonChristianity.blogspot.com.

 

Friends: George Bebawi hated modern Christmas but thoroughly understood the uniqueness of Christ.  First of a Christmas series. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #994

December 2, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Unique Gifts, Part 1

By Bob Walters

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth …” – John 1:14

I am sure there is no better Christmas gift than God joining humanity; or a better Christmas wish than embracing, adopting, and internalizing God’s grace and truth.

This is what we have in Jesus Christ, and He is why we celebrate Christmas.

It is a unique thing, this Christianity. There is nothing else in the human or cosmic experience like Christ, and no other religion on earth replicates its saving relationship with God.  Jesus is unique, alone, different, the Son, the beloved, sender of the Holy Spirit, and our only way to the Father. He is the only peace that counts, our only gate to the eternal, our only escape from sin, and our one and true meaning of life.

Woe to the person who says, “All religions are the same.” That is a bare admission of poor, absent, or lazy scholarship. And while knowledge of Jesus is a fine thing, it is not a saving thing.  Faith in Jesus is a saving thing; it is the only saving thing.

In these weeks leading to Christmas, let’s examine the uniqueness of Christ. I’ve pulled off my shelf the first teaching series George Bebawi presented at East 91^st Street Christian Church back in the fall of 2004.  George – an Egyptian Bible translator and Cambridge PhD / Divinity lecturer who retired to Carmel, Indiana earlier that year – presented weekly Bible / theology / Christology / church history and doctrine lectures.

To George, ironically but seriously and with a droll sense of humor, modern western “Christmas” practice is a vile deformity of its true meaning, to wit: “And the Word became flesh.” The Word of God, the Logos – i.e., Jesus the Incarnation, fully God, fully man, fully worthy – entered humanity through the fleshly womb of Mary.

George provided deep, complex, historical citations of the great theologians, but thankfully, he also had simpler, accessible lists of nearly everything. Beginning with the uniqueness of the revelation of Jesus – His arrival on earth taking on human flesh – here we will stick with George’s simpler axioms and then I’ll throw in a thought.

1.    Christ united God and humanity with his person and thus abolished the importance of time, seasons, rituals, and shrines as a means of reaching God.

George frequently made the point that while the old covenant relied on the strict temporal and physical observations by Israel of God’s laws, Jesus in his new covenant of faith brought God’s heart – the Holy Spirit – to dwell in man’s heart perpetually.

2.  By making faith the first and the only requirement of being in fellowship with him, Christ abolished all possible mediators and established fellowship in the human heart; thus following Him means nothing other than believing.

George was keenly aware of fallen humanity’s mistaken attraction to works of obedience as a measure of “earning” one’s way into the Kingdom. If I learned anything from George, it is that God’s love is pure grace, not a transaction; love, not payment.

3.    Jesus revealed in Himself divine love as a personal relationship.  This love is not subjected to our imagination but is part of His divine revelation where His death on the cross is the seal for divine love and any authentic love.

God is transcendent – apart from us – but also with us personally in the Son and in the Holy Spirit. This relationship is not something man conceived, but is God’s eternal plan for those created in His own image: humanity. God did it purely, uniquely, for love.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) has all 14 years of George’s E91 lecture notes, and back in April presented this column: Person of Faith with George’s “Ten Reason’s to Believe the Incarnation.” It’s a good refresher for the reason for the season.

Friends: Thankfulness isn’t something we owe, it is a gift that buoys our soul. Happy Thanksgiving! - Bob

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Spirituality Column #993

November 25, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Spirit of Thanks

By Bob Walters

“I thank my God every time I remember you.” – Philippians 1:3

Twenty-four years ago last week, I, at age 47, was baptized into the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ in the water at East 91^st Street Christian Church in the Castleton area of northeast Indianapolis, Indiana.

My great mentor, minister Russ Blowers, who passed November 10, 2007, once told me in a random conversation, probably over lunch at the old King Chef restaurant near the church, about not saying, “I baptize you …” when performing baptisms. His view was that people don’t baptize people; the Holy Spirit baptizes people.

Very thoughtful, and I wonder how many hundreds or thousands of baptisms Russ either performed or inspired in his 56-year ministry. And while he performed the baptisms of both my sons, John in 2004 and then Eric in 2005, he didn’t perform my baptism. That was Dave Faust, then senior minister at E91, who on Sunday evening, November 18, 2001, after the last session of his four-week “Walking with Christ” class, put out the invitation.  I stood up with two others, and off to the baptistry we went.

I don’t remember anything Dave said in the baptism; I only remember him pulling me out of the water and my profound, smiling peace knowing something new was in my life.  I wrote Dave a thank-you email the next day, and have sent a thank you letter / faith inventory to him every November 18^th since: 24 years, 25 total letters, infinite thanks.  Here’s a lightly edited piece of the letter I sent to Dave last week:

“Dave … your spirit, ministry, and presence have been precious in so many lives.  My own gratitude for the direction you’ve guided in me I know is not merely a memory; it is and always will be at the core of my Christian being.

“If I need to explain that, I’m well aware you are not Jesus, but you reflect and inveigh the Spirit, and give a good name to the saints of this earth. I know my thoughts and appreciation for you are shared by many, many others. … I know a person can only be thanked so much before it gets embarrassing, but the true Kingdom gift isn’t for you to know you are appreciated; it is the appreciation we are privileged to bestow. Thankfulness is a great gift to pour onto others; it buoys our own souls.

“That leads me to a doctrinal comment about the value of gratefulness, obedience, loving others, loving our enemies, perseverance in trial, humility in abundance, courage amid dread, and confidence while overcoming doubts. These, and many other actions and thoughts, are too often seen primarily as that which pleases God.  Follow the Ten Commandments! Go to church! Help your neighbor! Read the Bible! Tithe!

“Yet as we imagine we do these or other things to please God, God is already as good as He can get. Exhibiting our Christian character indeed honors God, but these varied obediences are actually gifts that God bestows on us; the source of our joy.

“I am not bribing or impressing God with my good works; my works are the happy outpouring of purpose and of knowing the truth of a loving God.  We don’t impress God; we imitate Him.  We imitate Jesus. We imitate the Spirit. 

“I do not recall ending a day at Mission Christian Academy hoping I had somehow impressed God with my teaching.  I end every day grateful for God sharing these kids with me and praying that they learn something about truth and love and faithfulness.

There is joy in those efforts, and thankfulness for a God who provides the opportunity. I have no idea whether I am a good and faithful servant, but life is brightened by the opportunity to try.”

Walters (rlwcom@aol,com) violates no confidences; Dave has mentioned Bob’s letters in various open church settings over the years. ’Tis the season of thankfulness; remember the Spirit this week. Btw, I met my wife Pam at Russ’s funeral.