Renew Your Mind: A Fifty-Two-Week Journey Applying the Bible to Everyday Life

By Randy Flickinger

Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.

—Romans 12:2

What does this verse mean to born-again Christians? What should it mean in the actions of our daily lives? Renew Your Mind; A Fifty-Two-Week Journey Applying the Bible to Everyday Life looks at biblical answers in the five most challenging areas of an individual’s life: finances, friends/relationships, time allotment, priorities/denying self, and knowing God. Each week, the author relates a thought-provoking, memorable story or example invoking biblical principles and verses, giving an assignment for the reader to apply the weekly lesson to the applicable categories to begin the transformation of how we think and act toward others. Renew Your Mind is a thoroughly entertaining must-read year-long devotional that will change the way you look at Christianity and our responsibility to others in our faith, our actions, and our belief systems.

Add couple of testimonials from readers here.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781636308463

Book preview

Mike Logback’s Dresser

I have a good friend who is highly talented and creative. His name is Mike Logback. He and his wonderful wife, Michelle, have been friends of Sandi and mine for many years. Mike would describe themselves as just good Christian people who love to serve the Lord. Frankly, they are the kind of folks we all need to spend more time with.

To tell you a little more about Mike, he built his own house by hand! As if that wasn’t a big enough project, he then proceeded to build his own airplane in his shop! I know for a fact he won an award for the quality of the plane he built at the yearly Oshkosh air show in Wisconsin! That is amazing and quite an honor for anyone. Seriously, anyone who can build something themselves that they can trust to fly in the air thousands of feet up, has some serious talent, not to mention faith!

My story about Mike, however, has nothing to do with his airplanes or construction skills. No, the story about Mike has to do with an example he shared with me at a Bible study we attended together many years ago. It was so brilliant with its simplicity; I have used it numerous times since. In fact, it is the premise I am using in this year-long journey of growth in God and our daily lives. Mike’s creativity is not limited to building houses and airplanes, he also is creative when he explains aspects of God’s work in our lives. Let me explain further.

When we are first saved, we are usually so excited about the power of God’s grace and forgiveness, we want to share with anyone and everyone. But as time passes on, we discover that now that we are born-again Christians, we have some responsibilities that we are asked to work toward in our ongoing lifetime effort to become more Christ-like. In fact, Paul exhorts the church in Ephesus that:

(22)you were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful (23) desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, (24) and to put on the new self, created to be like God (Eph. 4:22–24).

Many of these changes can be hard. Some of them, we resist. Remember though, our brother Paul was ahead of us there as well. In the very popular passage located in Philippians 4:13, we are reminded that:­

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

But let’s leave our concerns for a minute to look at how we are going to apply these scriptures to our lives. Back to my good friend Mike who will help me to put this into perspective.

I imagine most of you have a chest drawer in your bedroom somewhere that holds items of clothing or importance to you. Mine, personally, has (from top to bottom) socks and underwear, pants and jeans, shorts for summer, and important papers that I really should put in a safety deposit box at the bank. Regardless those are the contents of the four drawers in my chest. Sorry for the TMI (too much information) but that is the way it is.

Periodically I go through those drawers to see if everything in them is still needed and relevant. Do the socks and underwear need replacing? Are there single socks left that the dryer has not eaten? Do the pants and jeans still fit, or have I been eating too much? Where is that life insurance policy that I put in here with my passport? You get the idea. The drawer sections need to be cleaned out of the things that no longer fit or need to be replaced with something else, so I have room for them. I try to do this at least once a year. After this process, I always feel like I have accomplished something good.

As we live life, the things we hang onto change as well. Our priorities change, our needs change, relationships evolve or can end, and many things we once valued may no longer be relevant in our lives. In addition, we learn more about ourselves, God, our faith, and the ever-changing world around us. It’s a healthy, sometimes painful, process to go through, but the benefits can be tremendous!

This cleaning-out process becomes really important when we accept Christ, as Paul so eloquently mentioned in the verses above. Jesus starts to open up the drawers of our lives and helps us go through them to determine if the things that our life is filled with need to stay, or maybe we have outgrown them. Possibly they even need to be replaced. Those drawers can include finances, friends/relationships, time allocation, priorities, God/Bible/etc. For this study, these will be the five drawers of your life we go through. Just as throwing out your favorite pair of jeans that no longer fit or cannot be stitched together anymore, many parts of this study will be tough, challenging, and yes, maybe even painful. They will require brutal honesty with oneself, a trait that is rapidly disappearing in a world that, most times, no longer values the truth. But I promise you, it will be worth it! Are you ready?

Let’s take a look at the five drawers we will be going through. First off, finances. Money is mentioned numerous times in the Bible yet the biggest struggle for most individuals in this country is finances. Money, or the lack thereof, can cause a myriad of relationship issues. Is our attitude and spending habits with money healthy and in line with what God’s Word says, or is it a drawer we need to open up and look at a little closer? Are we making the right choices with our finances, because remember, they are from the Lord. Are we giving to the church like He asks? My daughter is in a young church with mainly young people who recently voted to break away from the denomination they are tied to. They are leaving for the right reason, yet are finding out that the central church that spawned them has been carrying the financial load. If you look at your church, I bet you find the same thing. Far too often, it is the old who are doing the majority of the giving. What happens when they die and are no longer giving? We will go through the finance drawer and apply God’s words and precepts to our everyday lives. Don’t be afraid, God’s blessings are coming to those who seek His ways.

How about your friends and relationships? I know, but I like my friends. Or the comment even more common is, what friends? The biggest adjustment for my wife when we got serious about our Christianity and "being transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:2) were her choices of friends. She felt led to walk away from so many friendships that were not healthy, friendships that would not deepen her walk with Christ. Sadly, some of those friendships were even within our church! Many really didn’t value her for who she was or had become. It was a dark time in her life, a very difficult and trying period.

To begin this cleaning, she started to pray, asking God to bring the friends into her life that He wanted her to have! Now anytime you pray that kind of prayer to God, you better strap yourself in and get prepared for an amazing yet, in the end, satisfying and healthy ride. Eventually He brought her to a whole new set of healthy friends who didn’t put her down or talk behind her back. We both have discovered that the vast majority of our friends are at our church. Take an honest look at your friends and ask God to bring you relationships He wants you to have and take away those He doesn’t. Then get ready for what He shows you about yourself and your relationships.

Time allocation is another area that God will open up and start to thin out and clean up. How many times have you heard people say, I just don’t have enough time to read my Bible every day, or "I would come to church but Sunday is my day to relax and do what I want to." Au contraire, my friend, it’s not. It’s your day, but preferably, after we give Him a couple of hours from our week to learn, grow, and thank Him for all He has done during the rest of that week! I know a gal that is always five to fifteen minutes late to work, her appointments, etc. Every day! Why? Because she wants to sleep every second that she can. If she just matured (notice my choice of words) and realized that those extra fifteen minutes of sleep will really not make any difference in her feeling rested, she would be on time. If you and I decided that same thing, we could read our Bible each morning or spend Sunday morning for one hour at church. Much more coming on this topic as well, as you can see it can be life-changing. The dreaded time allocation which leads us into…

Priorities and self. That is what we are really talking about here, isn’t it? What are my priorities? Do I want to serve myself or someone other than me? This is true with our relationships, our marriage, our kids, our parents, and yes, our God. Ask yourself this question: what would God eliminate in my life to allow me more free time to serve Him? In fact, I will do you one bigger. Pray that. You heard me, pray that. "Lord, what would you have me give up to free time up to serve you and your purposes better?" Then hang onto your hats because He will answer that prayer in ways you cannot imagine. But for everything He takes out of your chest drawers, He will replace with something that will reward you and further the kingdom of Christ. Don’t believe me? Try it!

Finally, all these prior drawers are designed to free us to seek God through applying the Bible and what it says to our daily lives. Basically, we are getting to know God. How can we live a Christ-like life if we spend no time really understanding who Christ was/is and the reasons for His life and lifestyle? In this day and age where truth is not valued as it once was, and humans have put aside much of what He asks instead of opting to pursue own our sinful paths, we have little hope of rectifying our lives without seeking Him! This study will allow you that opportunity if you can be sincere and honest enough with yourself to spend the next year applying His ways to your life. By opening up these five drawers of your life and asking God what He wants to replace/remove from these areas of our lives, we can become more Christ-like. And we can change our lives through Him!

Each week, there will be an overguiding theme about God that will set up the weekly tasks you will be asked to complete. Obviously, some topics (such as faith) will be covered over several separate weeks in a wide variety of ways. Regardless, each week the tasks will be tied to at least one of the five drawers talked about above. Many weeks, the lesson for the week will apply to several of the drawers, while other weeks we may take the lesson and only focus on one drawer in a week-long challenge. Regardless, the end result will be applying fifty-two weeks’ worth of lessons concerning the goodness, mercy, wisdom, and love of Christ into 365 days of life-changing actions in the five main areas we need to work on. Spending the next year putting them into daily action will enable them to become life-altering habits and hopefully, as a result, a newfound Christ-like way of life as encouraged in Matthew 5:16,

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Assignment

This week, your assignment for the five categories we have just introduced you to is to begin earnest prayer for God to open your mind and spirit to His guiding and His ways. As always is the case, by submitting to His will in our prayers, we honor Him and open our hearts and minds up to the power of His life-changing Spirit. My prayer would be something along these lines: I am beginning a year-long study to renew my mind, Father, as I truly am wanting to become more like the example Jesus modeled for us while He walked the earth. Use Your Spirit and any methods You have at Your access to show me the changes I need to make in my life. Soften my heart, help me to be obedient to Your guidance, and bless my efforts to make the needed changes in my thoughts, actions, and relationships. In Your precious name, I pray, Amen. Pray this prayer each day for a week, paying close attention to the thoughts and actions in your life that He starts to nudge your heart and spirit about.

Authors Note

Thank you for taking the time to read this book! This 52-week bible study is designed to be just that, a 52-week bible study. I know many who read are voracious readers, oftentimes reading a whole book in a single sitting or two, but that is not the design or intent of this bible study. Each chapter will give you a weekly topic to challenge and evaluate yourself, with an intentional assignment in most or all of the categories highlighted to help you focus on what God is trying to teach/add/subtract from your life. Blowing through several chapters at a time will not reap the full benefits to our lives and mindset that I believe God wants us to hear, change and learn about. I highly encourage all readers to take the time to allow each week’s topic to soak in a little bit, and to make the suggested assignments part of your weekly mission to seek and know God. The process (and benefits) of change in our Christian walk can sometimes take time and serious effort on our part. Again, thank you for making this bible study a part of your life.

Crucified with Christ

I was driving home late last night, and part of my journey was one of many construction zones along the highway. Now the normal speed limit on this interstate is seventy-five miles per hour. I am getting old enough, I am not usually in an all-fired hurry to be driving above the speed limits set because I get better gas mileage as I drive more reasonably. But even at seventy to seventy-five miles per hour, a forty-five-mile-per-hour construction zone makes you feel like you are crawling along the highway. I must not be the only driver feeling that way because I had several cars blow by me in the no-passing zone of this construction area while I was trying to slow down to any speed close to the forty-five-mile-per-hour limit! I was doing fifty-five to sixty and was the slowest car on the road. The impending one-lane bottleneck was coming shortly, and law enforcement seems to love these double-the-fine construction zones, oftentimes lying in wait just around a bend in the highway. I followed the crowd through the zone, trying my best to keep remotely close to the speed limit imposed.

As I drove through the construction zone, it made me think for a minute. Do you know how hard it is to try and keep the law? Just watch people driving like I did last night. Speeding is rampant, lane changes with no turn signals (what? Is that what that lever is for?), texting while driving, e-mailing, putting makeup on, etc., we don’t do a great job of upholding the law. And law enforcement can easily verify that because on my journeys, I see several of the state’s finest with flashing alternate red and blue lights behind other vehicles. No, we are not good about obeying laws. We can see that, and looking back, God knew that as well.

It is not that He didn’t try, however. He basically told Adam and Eve, You have one rule, the rest is paradise. He gave Moses the Ten Commandments to share with the Israelite people and to guide us through the minefields of sinful behavior. But an all-knowing sovereign God also knew our human nature would doom us to separation from Him. He had already made plans on how to bridge that separation in the upcoming sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, on the cross. None of our unlawfulness was any more a surprise to Him than our speeding on the highways of America is an unexpected surprise to our highway patrol. Our sin against God, however, was going to be much more costly to take care of.

Paul speaks to this in his brilliant letter to the church in Galatia. Paul, once a hard-core law enforcer against Christians prior to his conversion, tells us:

(19) For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. (20) I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (21) I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (Gal. 2:19–21)

Let’s take a look at what Paul is explaining to the Galatians in this famous passage.

As rigid and self-disciplined as Paul was, he could not live a perfect life. Part of his conversion showed him that despite his best efforts, he could not keep the law! He failed, just as we all do on a daily basis. In verse 19, he is telling us that he realized to serve God, he had to accept that he could not perfectly keep the law. More importantly, the same God who had provided the law also knew no one could keep it, and therefore, had provided a way for all of us to be reunited with Him in His Son, Jesus! Now before you think Paul (nor this author) would advocate that we go out and sin without the fear of repercussions, know that is absolutely not what he is saying at all. In fact, in Paul’s letter to the Romans, he says,

(1) What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? (2) By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Rom. 6:1–2).

What Paul is saying, however, is that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we no longer are bound and punished eternally by God for our sins! We are crucified with Christ! Our old lives are dead, at least in God’s viewpoint. Let me explain a little more.

First, God looks at us as if we died with Christ on that very same cross. In his letter to the Colossians, speaking about this phenomenon, Paul tells them:

(13) When you were dead in your sins, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, (14) having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. (15) And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Col. 2:13–15)

Our slates have been wiped clean on the heavenly wipe board of transgressions and the subsequent punishment for them. Jesus alone died to remove our sin, but God allowed our sins to die with Him as well. Praise Jesus for His supreme sacrifice, so undeserved by sinful man, and God for the plan to cleanse us in addition!

Next, since the crucifixion tied us as one to Jesus Christ, His experiences are now ours. Just as Jesus’s death on the cross ended His human life, His victory over death allows us to proclaim, He is alive, at Easter because He rose again from His death as a human. He conquered death, just as our new lives began as Christians after we allowed our old selfish ways to die when we accepted Christ’s gift. Paul’s message to the Romans best describes this transformation.

(4) We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (5) For if we have been united with Him in death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His. (6) For we know that our old self was crucified with Him, so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—(7)because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.(Rom. 6:4–7)

Basically, our sinful past has died, and we are set free from the pain and consequences of that dividing past. Paul continues on by saying:

(8) Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. (10) The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. (11) In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (12) Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. (13) Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness. (14) For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Rom. 6:8–14)

This passage makes it easy for me to understand why the book of Romans was my mom’s favorite book of the Bible. It gives you hope and instructions to enjoy being set free. Thank you, Jesus!

Finally, as a part of that shared and newfound relationship with Christ, we must incorporate our desire to become more Christ-like by allowing our sinful desires to die daily because following those sinful earthly desires is what separates us from God. Even being saved, we put barriers into our relationship growth with God when we continue to follow our selfish desires to sin on this earth. Jesus best describes this in Luke 9:23–25 when He says,

(23) Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (24) For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. (25) What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?"

Verse 24 of the above passage makes me smile, knowing Jesus and His use of parables, and sometimes riddles, to convey His message to those He wanted to understand. To save your life (soul) forever, you had to allow your sinful selfish life on this earth to die, thus securing your spot in eternity with Him. It wasn’t your human actions that saved you, but your acceptance of what He had done to save our relationship with Him and His Father that He spoke about here. What a wonderful verse and message it is!

But Jesus would tell us that He wants us to focus on living, not dying. As I mentioned earlier, Romans 6:5 tells us,

For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

We have been reconciled with God; our sins and the barrier they formed between God and ourselves has been removed, so we are free to live our lives working toward becoming more like Him. On a daily basis, we now have the power that Christ used to defeat death to help us fight and defeat sin in our daily lives. We don’t have to (and should not) return to our old sinful ways. We have defeated them through Christ, knowing that He is with us daily, living within us to give us strength and hope. When you look at all we have gained by allowing ourselves to die, we do have a lot to live for!

Assignment

This lesson is to be a reminder of the new life we have gained in Christ and an encouragement to let go of the past. We have the strength, hope, freedom, and power to become better people in Christ. We will never be perfect, but we can become more like the example set by Jesus in the life He modeled while on earth. It will not always be easy, but what did your folks always say? Nothing worth having comes easy. It definitely will be worth the effort, especially when you think of the effort Jesus and God made to grant us this freedom.

Finances

So much I have learned in this arena, so many mistakes I wish I could undo or change. As I have aged, I recognize more and more that the mistakes and bad decisions we make in any category not only affect us, they affect those around us. Finances are a huge area of our lives, and we must submit this area to Him. After doing so, we must allow our selfish desires for our money to die as well, seeking first the kingdom of God with them. Name one area of your finances that you recognize you are holding onto selfish motives in your participation and not submitting it to God. Will you be willing to allow that part of your financial life to be crucified and die?

Friends/Relationships

As I will expound on in much greater detail later in this book, our desire for control is always behind any relational problems we have. Think of a relationship right now in your life that you recognize is not running as smoothly as it should be. It might be your spouse, a coworker, a child of yours, or a friend. Can you dedicate this week to improving that relationship in the context of your acknowledgement of that fact? It might be the other person who is being controlling, etc. but can you, now armed with that knowledge, help work through the trickiness of improving things here? Using God as your guide, can you make a conscious decision to allow your desire for control to take a back seat for a little bit and possibly help someone else understand what God is teaching you in this area? You can do it; and who knows what relationships you may help out and improve.

Time Allocation

I will do lots of harping in this section about allowing our self to die so that we can grow with others around us instead of pursuing what we want. This week, we will give you a break of sorts however. Pursue something you would enjoy doing, but include your spouse, child, friend, coworker as well. If that makes you uncomfortable, you might have to ask yourself why that is. I would never say you should completely end all hobbies, etc., but it is imperative that your pursuit of them does not damage those around you. That has to be your bottom line.

Priorities/Self

I will be short and sweet here. This whole lesson is about letting our self-side die away and becoming a new creature through our rebirth with Jesus Christ. Jesus was completely selfless in dying on the cross, the ultimate sacrifice. Yet we as humans tend to feel sorry for ourselves anytime we have to make any sort of sacrifice, none of which end our lives or save anyone for eternity. Your goal for this week is to stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop looking to be upset at someone, at something, at somebody. Instead look around you for opportunities to show others kindness, consideration, and the love and care you have been shown by Jesus. I read a great saying on Facebook the other day. It said, If you’re not hungry for God, you’re probably full of yourself. This week let’s be hungry to show the love of Christ to those around us and shove ourselves back from the table of self-pity!

Knowing God

Above all, know that God loved you enough to send His Son to die for you and me. All He asks is that we accept that wonderful gift, then reflect it in our new lives we now live with Him. By being crucified with Christ, we now can truly live!

Finances:

Friends/Relationships:

Time Allocation:

Priorities/Self:

Knowing God:

There’s an Empty Seat

One of the biggest blockbusters on the silver screen in recent years was the huge hit Titanic. While Leonardo and Kate captured our hearts with their superbly acted fictional love story, the actual demise of the unsinkable luxury cruise ship literally went down in history as one of the largest single-event loss of lives prior to the Twin Towers of September 11, 2001. Records show that over 1,500 individuals drowned in that single tragic event. It was a tragedy of epic proportions.

But possibly even more disturbing than the tremendous loss of life that evening, was the fact that literally a third of those who drowned could have been saved if the seats in the lifeboats that were launched were actually filled. Yes, there were almost five hundred empty seats in the lifeboats floating on the thirty-one-degree Atlantic Ocean that night. In fact, one lifeboat incredibly was only a third full! Imagine the human suffering and needless loss of life that potentially could have been avoided that terrible night with extra effort being put forth.

In subsequent interviews, many of the survivors who did end up in the lifeboats shared how difficult it was to hear the cries for help, the pleas from those in need around them. Some noted that in the darkness, it was next to impossible to find potential survivors floating in the North Atlantic. Others pointed to the confusion and chaos surrounding the sinking of the ship with the deathly mixture of nature, man, and failed technology all thrown together in a fateful pot. Still others shared the dark secret that there was fear among those safely in the lifeboats that, in an attempt to rescue those floating on the surface, could ultimately put their own safety at risk. An attempt to reach out to others and to pull them into the lifeboats could possibly capsize the lifeboat, putting those already safe back into jeopardy. Although that sounds selfish, our fears sometime lead us into decisions that we may ultimately regret.

So what does this have to do with Christianity and our daily walk? It’s a very graphic reminder of our human condition and the opportunity that this fallen world affords each of us through the love of Jesus Christ. We all live in a fallen world. Man’s sin saw to that. So, for arguments sake, let’s make the fallen world the Titanic. It has so much to offer. It is a reflection of who we are and, in many cases, who we want to be. It’s successful. It’s respected. It’s admired. Heck, it’s cool to use a ’70s reference. God gave us unlimited opportunity in the world He created for us. His creation, to a large part, is self-sustaining, serving our self-centered purposes and survival well since its creation. Yet the Bible tells us the world’s ultimate fate—just like the Titanic—it is doomed.

It is easy to feel like the world is spinning out of control; that the events we hear, see, and read about daily are proof of our impending fates. At the time of this writing, the global pandemic of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has the world panicked, bringing out the worst of human nature in many cases as our selfish, self-preservation fears have even led to irrational toilet-paper stockpiling! The Middle East, always a ticking time bomb, has precipitated a global oil price war that has further destabilized the markets and the world politics, much as the field of icebergs did in the cold North Atlantic that fateful night for the Titanic. The global economy, while countries lockdown their borders trying to avoid the effects of this crazy, yet untreatable epidemic, is collapsing as another floating ship sinker. Political discord, the devaluing of human life through mass shootings, abortion, and senseless police brutality killings are more examples of the potential hazards we are surrounded by on our world Titanic. Greed and deception, rampant unrepented sin in so many areas of society are just more landmines for our ship to avoid. It becomes overwhelming if we allow it to be. And brothers and sisters in Christ, I will tell you that many within the world are becoming overwhelmed, discouraged, and disillusioned with what they see and live daily. Their hope, and sometimes faith, is fading. The Titanic is going down fast. But as the bumper sticker on my neighbor’s ’97 Toyota Camry says, Listen, man, there’s hope.

Now you may be thinking, "but I am in the lifeboat! What does it matter to me about all those poor souls? Just because they are too stubborn, too self-centered, too unwilling to take the steps to save themselves is not my problem." Sounds a little bit like the folks in the lifeboats watching the Titanic sink as they listened to the screams, pleas, and cries of the lost, doesn’t it? Do we have any responsibility to help them? I think we do.

Psalms 96:2–3 is one of many verses that speak to our responsibility.

(2) Sing to the Lord; praise His name. Each day proclaim the good news that He saves. (3) Publish His glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things He does. (emphasis added)

Do you notice anything in that passage? He wants us, you and I, to share what He does and is about. Each day—to everyone! Sounds to me like He wants us to reach outside of our comfort zone, our lifeboat as such, and to share the Gospel with those around us. Brothers and sisters, they will notice our efforts, much as the floating passengers outside of the Titanic lifeboats.

(15) But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, (16) keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 3:15–16)

Over two thousand years ago, our heavenly Father sent a lifeboat to our sinking world to save us. An Omnipotent God, He is not surprised by the world’s condition. Not shocked by behavior once called wrong but now considered right. Not overwhelmed by the frailty and weakness of humans. No, He prepared for it all. That lifeboat was Jesus, the Son of God. He suffered the pain and judgment that all of us deserve. He loves us enough to save us. His sacrifice plucked us right out of the engulfing waters of sin. We didn’t deserve to be saved and forgiven, but that is what God’s grace is all about. We can’t earn that grace; we can only accept it.

So now that you and I are in the lifeboat of Jesus,