Friends: American Christians caught a break last week with the correction of various Federal discriminations against Christian faith.  It is a welcome step in the right direction. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1016

May 5, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

'… But Not of the World'

By Bob Walters

“I have given them your word and the world has hated them…” – Jesus, praying to God for the disciples shortly before his arrest. John 17:14

We are all familiar with the phrase that Christians are “in the world but not of the world.” While not precisely scriptural, it is sound doctrine and a worthy posture.

But it is “in the world” that we currently are, and with which we must contend.

American Christians caught a break this past week when the United States Department of Justice issued a 535-page report cataloguing and in many cases reversing or easing purported systematic discriminations against Christian faith.

On the one hand I hesitate to bring this up because two lines will immediately form, neither having to do with religious freedom, philosophy, or practice. The lines will have everything to do, pro or con, with one’s opinion of the current U.S. president.

On the other hand, Christians who recognize various and ongoing governmental inconsistencies and outright invasions of our faith can breathe a short sigh of relief. While the overall American political landscape remains a conflicted cesspool, traditional Christian belief is, for now, only at the mercy of the culture, not the U.S. government.

I say “short” breath because these freedoms – supposedly our divine rights – are sadly, today, a fleeting function of partisan politics at the mercy of who gets elected.

On that subject, elections, Paul in Romans 13:1-7, says – and I’m paraphrasing – we get the government we deserve, we should obey the government, civil government exists outside the church, and that government rightly provides order for society.

Islam is a theocracy, Judaism is too, though Israel is not. Christianity is not. God ordains government to serve the people’s interests, not to dictate a person’s faith.

The Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution further establish the divine existence and supremacy of individual rights. James Madison presciently noted long ago that those rights will work only for a “moral and religious people.”

He meant it, and was absolutely not talking about “my truth” and “your truth.” Our founding documents were authored on the understanding of Christian ethic, human sin, and eternal judgment, and on the divine truth of God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible.

Freedom of religion? Sure. But not freedom from truth, which is our current and abiding political problem. God is more merciful than man, yet His truth and judgment are eternal; they are the same for everyone all the time whether one believes in God or not.

That, by the way, is how one can identify “real” truth: It is true all the time.

I’ve corralled a couple of – trigger warning – conservative resources (Here and Here) that flesh out what the Department of Justice came up with in its investigation over the past 14 months.  Yes, the report cites criticism (wokeness, DEI, abortion, etc.) of the last administration and does a predictable bit of cheerleading for the current one.

The Democrats say it is the end of democracy; the Republicans say it is about time. I’m on the side thankful for the disparities to be aired and, hopefully, cleaned up.

The Pharisees hated Jesus because He replaced their power, prestige, and, really, obviated their existence.  Unlike Jesus, Christians are merely sinners whose faith, properly lived and applied in the Word, point us to a world of love, not hate.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) qualifies for God’s grace only because he is a sinner.

Friends: Try this personal prayer routine that covers several bases helping to get us home to the Lord. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1015

April 28, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Ten Petitions

By Bob Walters

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” – Philippians 4:6

Every Christian has, or should be encouraged to have, a personal prayer ministry intent upon consistent and growing relationship with God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We are mistaken if we think ministry is always outward, helping others find, build, and maintain their faith and understanding of God’s plan of forgiveness, salvation, eternal life, and – not to be ignored – divine relationship in the here and now. Remember that Jesus, in his prayer in John 17 on his way to Gethsemane, prays for himself first before praying for his disciples and the faithful who would come later.

It isn’t selfish. It’s like when they tell you on airplanes that in an emergency, put your own oxygen mask on first, then help your kids and others. If you’re incapacitated, you can’t help others.  A prayed-up Christian is like that: able. It’s a skip-the-line pass.

Praying with (1) praise and (2) thanks are general rules one and two.  And while we might pray for rest or favor, Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and our rest resides in constant loving relationship with Him. Favor is being in the Father’s will; that is enough.

A live, Godly, Christ-like, Spirit-filled prayer can take many shapes but is activated by what’s happening in one’s heart as well as one’s mind. Formula, rote, or creedal prayer is frowned on in Bible church circles, but not everything that is frowned upon is wrong in God’s eyes or man’s faithful heart. Sincerity is the ultimate catalyst.

That said, I have ten general petitions I pray God to fill me with. I don’t always know what they look like, but they help direct my conversation and focus on what to listen for in God’s reply. I remember them in related pairs, saying, “Fill me with …”

- Truth and Love: Jesus is truth (John 14:6), and God is love (1 John 4:8). These are the first two checks on our spiritual fluid levels. God exists; that is the truth. Jesus’s appearance and sacrifice prove God loves us. His resurrection proves it is all real. Fill me with that trust, Lord, and with the Spirit’s help let me never forget it. 

- Grace and Peace: Appearing in all of Paul’s letters, Jesus is our peace and Jesus’s person is God’s grace. It’s not just an idle or routine greeting in a letter; this is the apostle describing Jesus and citing characteristics that govern Christlikeness.

- Strength and Courage: Rather than just “heal my sickness” or “defeat my enemies,” give me strength to persevere in pain and courage in the face of fear.

- Discernment and Mercy: Help me identify God’s truth and, in a prophetic sense, recognize God’s word, will, and judgment: to not be tricked into sin by man or Satan. This isn’t begging for mercy, but for the discernment to know when God’s judgment requires mercy … or not. Mercy is a component of judgment, not its opposite.

- Wisdom and Compassion: The word “wisdom” appears 219 times in my NIV, 169 times in the Old Testament and 50 times in the New. James says God gives wisdom generously (1:5), and that God’s wisdom is “pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” (3:17). That’s what I want. God sending Jesus is a function of God’s glory, and Christ on the cross is God’s compassion for our cursed predicament of sin. We can live this life in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says He will be with us always (Matthew 28:20), and Paul tells us to “Pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Here’s how: Live life as a prayer in every situation.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) grew up a liturgical Episcopalian and upon arriving in a Bible-based church was initially shocked at spontaneous prayer. He’s over it now.

Friends: I was paying attention to global events even when I wasn’t a Bible-abiding Christian. Let’s maximize this chance to build the world.  - Bob

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Spirituality Column #1014

April 21, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Religious Studies

By Bob Walters

“Hate what is evil, cling to what is good.” – Romans 12:9

I wandered away from church in my mid-teens, but wandered back at age 47.

As cited here just last week, I mention this life-shift often. I suppose the frequent retelling is because I’m as surprised to be a believing, functioning, Bible-literate, church-living Christian as I’ve been surprised by any turn in my life.

My Episcopal youth in Kokomo as an altar boy (acolyte) was fine. But I aged out of that (14-ish), couldn’t sing (so I just sat there), the service changed (the New Liturgy of the late 1960s), and I had a busy high school career of sports, friends, and extra-curricular activities.  Nothing among my interests or formal education soon pointed me back to church.

But I did pay attention to world events including the too-frequent Middle East skyjackings, the attack on the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 games in in Munich, the 1979 kidnapping of U.S. diplomats and military in Tehran (i.e., The Hostage Crisis}, Lockerbie Square, the Libyan encounters of the 1980s, the Gulf War in the 1990s, and of course, 9/11.

I mention these specifically because they all involved Muslims as the perpetrators, and until 9/11, I really had no curiosity, animosity, or knowledge of Islam. “Jihad” entered the American lexicon in the 1970s, but all I knew was that Islam seemed to be very, very mad at the West but I had no idea why.

“Death to America.” “The Great Satan.”  Well, what did I/we ever do to you?

In an ironic but perfect twist of timing, my first return to pretty much any Sunday church service was September 2, 2001 (search that date in my blog for details). There I met retired pastor Russ Blowers who suggested we do lunch. Nine days later was 9/11.

We kept that lunch date later in September when as a new believer – though at that point I wasn’t sure what it was I believed – I was embarrassed as Russ said grace right there in a public restaurant, the original Sahm’s on Allisonville in Fishers.

As we discussed 9/11, Russ noted that despite 50 years of ministry he knew little about Islam, while I knew nothing.  I had seen a then-recent Wall Street Journal editorial about a new book on Islam, What Went Wrong, by Princeton professor and Islamic expert Bernard Lewis. We agreed to read it together, and it was eye-opening.

In May of 2002 I met George Bebawi, a guest at a small gathering here in Indianapolis of old high school friends from Kokomo. He was a divinity lecturer at Cambridge University who was born Jewish, grew up in Cairo in a Muslim neighborhood, and in his late teens became a Christian and then a Coptic Orthodox priest with a Cambridge PhD. He knew – sorry for the all-caps – a LOT about Islam that both fueled and quenched my curiosity.

Russ also introduced me to the magazine First Things, a scholarly Catholic journal of religion, philosophy and culture that leans heavily conservative but carries all sides of many issues. I’ve been a monthly reader since 2007.

So, I look back at Russ and George showing up in my faith life and intellectual life when they did, as intensely as they did, and the lasting impact they’ve had with my own continuing studies. I’m thankful for, and trusting of, the perspective I’ve gained. 

There is an awful lot of chaff flying in the current swirling winds of commentary about Iran, Trump, the Pope, Just War Theory, Democrat hostility, media subterfuge, MAGA desertions, international politics, energy, economics, globalism, and much else.

We must discern wisely. All this to say I’m glad Iran’s Shi’ite theocracy won’t have a nuclear weapon soon, or hopefully ever. Let’s build the world, not destroy it.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) this week chose his words very carefully.

Friends: The world may think God fills in reality’s gaps, but there are no gaps, only Jesus. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1013

April 14, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Reality of the Sabbath

By Bob Walters

“… the reality, however, is found in Christ” – Colossians 2:17

For nearly 20 years I’ve been reading Ray Stedman’s daily online devotional, “The Power of His Presence.”

Ray lived from 1917 to1992. He was born in Montana, served as longtime pastor of Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California, authored several books, and achieved national prominence. I’ve never studied Stedman himself, nor know a lot about his ministry that has extended well past his earthly life. I’ve just been a daily online reader.

His blog / devotional seems to run in seven-year cycles, typically an Old Testament book one month, then a New Testament book the next. It is basic, smart, protestant, evangelical Bible verse-by-verse exposition.  His work is nicely arranged and available free at RayStedman.org. For the blog, they’ve never sent a bill.

We all have our favorite, preferred, trusted devotionals and I’m not here to compare, contrast, or elevate Stedman.  I’ve just always included him in my daily reading, meditation, and prayer time. Most of you – i.e., regular Common Christianity readers – likely know I became a baptized Christian in 2001 because I mention it all the time. It goes without saying that I never met Ray, and he likely never met “the Internet.”

More than once Stedman’s devotionals have triggered ideas for this weekly column, especially when it syncs up with something I’ve been thinking about apart from his blog. This is one of those times, about reality and Jesus, Genesis and the Sabbath.

Why do we become Christians? 1 Peter 3:15 says we should “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” My answer for that never seems to line up with most preaching I hear.  That’s not a complaint, it’s just that most pulpits and altar calls revolve around coming to Jesus to solve one’s problems, to be forgiven of our sins, relieve our grief, atone for our transgressions, rest from our labors, or some other general application of turning the negatives of our lives into positives. A good outcome is divine joy, peace, and purpose.

I have seen all of that personally, for me, in my own faith walk and have seen it in many others.  Truth is, when I first walked into church expectation-less in 2001 at age 47, it wasn’t my problems or my sins or any perceived need for joy or direction that the Holy Spirit grabbed onto.  It was my curiosity, and, looking back, a sense that reality dwelled – really dwelled – in Jesus Christ.  It was long before I read Colossians 2:17.

But I see it now. Reality, I mean. In Christ. That’s where reality is: not in science, philosophy, politics, or culture, nor in my worldly appetites, experiences, or psyche. The assurance and comfort knowing that reality exists, truth exists, God exists, and that this life matters and has purpose is the reason for the hope and faith that I have. That’s my intellectual “jam.”

This month – April 2026 – Stedman’s blog presents early Genesis. April 10 was Genesis 2:2, where God rests and admires his work; what He later commanded and called the Sabbath (Link: God Rests). It was an early shadow that ended at the Cross

Stedman talks about the Old Testament Sabbath being a shadow, and Christ being the true Sabbath. This is what my Bible mentor George Bebawi emphasized, the “shadows” of the old covenant of the Law vs. the reality of the new covenant in Christ. The shadows of the Law become the reality of salvation in Christ.

Jesus never calls for feasts or festivals or even a day of worship because He, the real Sabbath – the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8) – is with us always.

The world endeavors to define reality on its own terms. Reality, really, is defined in Jesus.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) reminds all that science was created by God.

Friends: It wasn’t until Jesus’s end that the disciples knew their ministry was just beginning, or that their lives – all our lives – were renewed.  Blessings, Bob

(P.S. – Indy friend Steve Bickel passed away quietly last Wednesday 20 years after a bicycle accident in September 2006 broke his neck, fractured his skull, and left him conversantly alert but bedridden. A former preacher and real estate executive with Marsh grocery stores, Steve even in his situation was a cheerful rock of faith, was a delight to visit, and became a good friend. Prayers go out to Jean and the family who will celebrate his life Wednesday, April 8, at Flanner and Buchanan on Carmel Drive, Carmel, Indiana. Visitation is 10-noon, the service is at noon.)

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Spirituality Column #1012

April 7, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Life on the Beach

By Bob Walters

“…those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” – Isaiah 40:31.

On the cross Jesus says, “It is finished.” That is our signal to get started.

These first few days after Easter annually put my mind on that beach with Peter and the disciples, who recognized the risen Lord but were afraid to say anything of His identity.

All the disciples but Peter and John – “the disciple Jesus loved” – had bailed on Jesus after his arrest. Peter, shortly thereafter and egregiously, denied knowing Jesus three times.

Only John witnessed their Lord on the cross.

As Jesus finished His earthly ministry at Calvary in obedience, love, glory, and death, the new ministry of the disciples – of the new covenant of life in Christ – began. Jesus truly died a human death, and in His blood and resurrection was our eternal life.

At the cross, the faith of everyone was strained. Imagine: a Roman executioner was the only human to recognize Jesus – in His death – as the Son of God. It would take His resurrection to convince those who previously believed all Jesus had told them.

Even John and the few women at the cross, knowing Jesus was dead, did not track what Jesus had said hours earlier: that He was going away for a little while but would return. All were stunned to discover an empty tomb, then later see the resurrected Lord in a locked room, encounter Him in a public meeting, and now, here on a beach.

On this beach, a stunning scene in John 21, Jesus was cooking a breakfast of fish for the disciples, fish He had instructed them how to catch. It is the third time the disciples saw the resurrected Jesus, and apparently the only time they were alone with Him. As a note of symmetry, Jesus at the beginning of His ministry three years earlier also instructed a bountiful catch, telling them they would be fishers of men.

Now at the end with another bountiful catch, Jesus begins their new day of service by symbolically providing breakfast. In His resurrected presence, their doubts will end and their new mission begin. It was a new beginning to their new life with Christ.

What was not understood at the foot of the cross could now begin to take shape.

Jesus pulled Peter aside and addressing him as Simon – which Jesus always did when Peter had a new beginning – thrice queried if Peter loved Him, each time instructing him to “feed my sheep.” Instead of a harsh rebuke for denying Him three times, Jesus forgave Peter three times. Love was the key and Peter’s work was laid out.

In time the world would realize that Jesus was more than what the disciples had understood Him to be on earth: their Lord, Son of God.  In His resurrection, they would soon learn he was God the Savior, restoring mankind’s eternal relationship with God.

Try to imagine the relief, confusion, awe, and likely fear that settled over not just that beach breakfast but over all who witnessed the newly risen King. It was already a heavenly story to be told, and now became a heavenly mission for humanity. This was a renewal for all the world, and with faith in Christ something entirely new under the sun.

God was now personal. His love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness by the Spirit was visited upon the human heart through the door Jesus unlocked. Jesus elevated our hope not only from momentary to permanent, but from permanent to eternal.

Jesus would be – and is – with us always in realms we can’t define but that deliver the exciting promise that death is overturned and life is renewed forever.

I doubt the disciples grasped this Godly purpose on the beach, or understood what lay ahead. But they would have known their work was far from finished.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is on spring break and likes the beach analogy.

Friends: Christian faith is about relationship with God the Father Almighty through faith in His Son Jesus. That wasn’t immediately evident to the disciples. Have a prayerful Holy Week; Easter is next Sunday. Blessings ...

(PS: From our auto racing days, Janine Vogrin Doyle (The Bean on our IMS pit note crew; her dad Jim ran the STP Indy Car program) has survived cancer and needs help. Her GoFundMe page is https://gofund.me/e7ca07427.)

Spirituality Column #1011

March 31, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Friends, Partners, and Heirs

By Bob Walters

“Ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.” – Jesus, John 15:7

“The Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” – Jesus, John 15:16

“This is my command: Love each other.” – Jesus, John 15:17

These familiar verses from “The Vine” passage in the Gospel of John track the final teachings of Jesus to the Disciples after the Last Supper and before His crucifixion.

On what we now traditionally call “Maundy Thursday,” Jesus and the 11 remaining disciples – traitorous Judas has already left to inform the Pharisees of Jesus’s whereabouts – depart their Passover meal out a back door and walk through dark Jerusalem toward the Garden of Gethsemane.

John chapters 15, 16, and 17, a story recorded only in the fourth Gospel, chronicle Jesus’s encouragement, warnings, and instructions to the confused and soon to be bewildered disciples who believe Jesus to be the Son of God, but have yet to comprehend the meaning of His impending departure / death / return.

Jesus doesn’t tell them to behave better; he emphasizes his and their identity. Jesus locks in on the generosity and goodness of God: “He will give you whatever you ask” (v7,16). But they don’t understand what they will be asking for.  Jesus tells them they are no longer slaves, but his friends (v14), because He has “made the Father known to them” (v15). Jesus insists going forward they must work together because they will need each other and be partners to complete the task assigned to them.

The task? Preach Jesus’s message of grace and salvation to the world. Be His partners – and each other’s – in telling the greatest story ever told of how the Son of God came into humanity to heal our sins and restore our loving, eternal relationship with the Father of all things; to tell how Jesus died in loving obedience to His Father but rose in loving glory to seal the truth of His mission and heal the mortal wound of our sin.

Jesus is preaching a New Covenant of faith for all mankind, not of Law for the Jews. Repentance means not just physical obedience, but learning a new way of thinking about life and God; it is a new way of love and redemption.  It is a gift the world will not immediately understand; a gift from a God/man it hates. It is a gift that shows humanity the reality of God, and that gift that says our own lives have purpose as we glorify and are glorified with God. That is what Jesus did; that is the gift God sent.

We are not detached bystanders in our Christian lives today. “If you obey my commands you will remain in my love … as I have obeyed and remain in the Father’s love” (vv9-10). I believe that we, like the disciples, are chosen participants, though I have no idea why this one is chosen and “gets it,” and this one isn’t, and doesn’t. 

All we can do is preach truth, share love, obey in faith, and trust God’s plan. I often think how opaque were Jesus’s claims and instructions as he spoke to Jews, Pharisees, and gentiles. It seems the only beings who understood exactly who Jesus was and the power He had were the demons who feared Him, not the humans whom He loved and came to save. Many humans still do not understand our part in the story.

We want God and Jesus to do stuff for us; doesn’t Jesus say, twice in this passage, “Ask and it will be given to you”? What we are to ask, as friends, partners, and heirs of the magnificent ministry of Christ, is how to best preach, share, and witness this precious word of life. It is for God’s eternal glory, and for joy in our worldly life.

On Easter we celebrate our own salvation, sure. But our joy is being on the team.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes, “Gethsemane” means “a place that crushes olives.” Jesus, the Messiah anointed one, with olive oil, was crushed for our sins.

Friends: Where in the Gospels does Jesus say, “I am God”? If you know how to read scripture, Jesus says it all over the place. Blessings! Bob

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Spirituality Column #1010

March 24, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

When the Light Shines

By Bob Walters

“I did tell you, but you do not believe.” – Jesus,

People who want to argue with the Bible but know very little about the Bible love to point out that, with approximate and dismissive faux-authoritative commitment, that, “Jesus never says he is God.”

I guess that is a way, or at least an attempt, to de-tune a Christian’s faith and buttress one’s own rejection of the Bible’s authority, but it is a silly point. Jesus clearly identifies himself, in various ways, as God’s son throughout the Gospels in both word and deed. But, it is true, Jesus was not wearing an “I Am God the Messiah Christ” nametag.

My longtime Bible mentor George Bebawi often made the good yet simple point that Jesus didn’t come to broadcast his own glory, but God’s. And that Jesus didn’t come to display his power, but “being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death” (Philippians 2:8). The initiating economy of our salvation is faith in the identity of Christ, not billboards and sales pitches.

In our own hearts, with the collaboration of the Holy Spirit, we must arrive at the personal decision that the New Testament’s evidence provides the truth we need to accept God’s offer, through Jesus, of restored and eternal relationship with God.

Jesus wasn’t expected, his mission was hidden, his offer fantastical, and his identity was key to all who might believe in him.  Old Testament prophesies predicted his arrival and mission, but they were veiled from the hearts and minds of most Jewish leaders. They saw God through the lens of obedience to the Law, not obedience to the faithful presence of Christ. They were entirely in the dark as to the proposition of Jesus.

The Pharisees in Jerusalem ask Jesus, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly” (John 10:24, the verse prior to the one cited above).

Obligingly but cryptically, Jesus talks of his voice and his sheep and his promise of imperishable eternal life, and says, “I and the father are one” (v30). And then, “the father is in me, and I am in the father” v38).

That seems pretty plain, but the lights do not come on.  They will only “get it” when they believe, and they don’t believe. They picked up stones to stone him.

This story is the precursor to The Death of Lazarus in John 11, where Jesus tarries four days then dangerously plans to return to Judea to “awaken” the dead Lazarus despite threats to his own life. Jesus rebuts the warnings of his disciples by noting, in John 11:9-10, “a man who walks by day will not stumble … when he walks by night he stumbles, for he has no light.”

On the one hand, this verse is Jesus saying man has twelve hours of daylight to accomplish his tasks. He has time to fulfill God’s work, but no time to waste. It also harkens to the “I Am” statement of Jesus – one of seven in the Gospel – in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world.  Anyone who follows me will not walk in darkness.”  

A Jew hearing the words “I Am,” should know it references the name God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14-15, “I Am Who I Am.” There were those who believed, but even their faith was tested when Jesus was soon arrested and crucified.

Jesus knew his identity would have to be shown, not debated. The Pharisees were enraged when word of the very dead Lazarus, at Jesus’s beckoning, departed the tomb very much alive. It set in motion the Pharisees’ plot to have Jesus killed, which led to the cross, which led to the empty tomb, which led to light available to all mankind.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) figures Lazarus was revived two weeks before Easter.