I hope IT calls your name. no. 52, Acts.
- Christine DiGiacomo
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
What calls your name or beckons you?
'Caramel chocolate chip ice cream in your freezer? Yes! Great waves to surf? The Sunday crossword puzzle, your garden, TikTok, that pile of laundry that needs to be folded, the Netflix show you have been binge watching or the gym? I submit to you that if you truly understood its value to your heart and mind, it would be your beautiful Bible.
People have told me they feel funny taking their Bible out in public--worried what someone might think. I say ‘bring it on’. If nothing else, having your Bible with you in public places draws attention, invites questions and connections, even good conversation--like the one I wrote about the other day when I was at the gym and met Big Dave and Caleb reading their Bibles on the stationery bikes next to me. (smile)
Double down on this - https://conta.cc/4alO4C0, in case you did not read/listen.
Then there was that early morning in Israel. [It was my first trip to the land of Jesus and I had flown from California which made jet lag dreadful.] By 6 am in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, clad in my pink tie-dye dress, I was walking to find a local coffee shop. I found one, clearly frequented by the same cast of characters each morning as the coffee maker knew just how each took his coffee. I sat down at a table, opened my laptop and my Bible and set to work.
Now not only was I the only female on the street that morning, but the only one in the coffee shop. All around me, the men were chatting amicably in Hebrew and though I drew many a sideways glance, no one said a word for some time. And then one guy took a risk and approached the shiksa1 in their midst. He walked up to my table, cocked his head, leaned in a little and said, “Trump… you like Trump?” It was the morning after the November 2016 election and well, these men loved Trump because President Trump stood with Israel and even promised to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, (a little over a hundred miles from the lakeside town). Here’s the point--I was an anomaly in their day - and well, a Bible in their coffee shop…what in the world?
I love my Bibles. Yes, plural. I have several in different translations, colors and sizes. I write in the margins, noting dates, sometimes places and points made about a verse or passage…I underline verses that are meaningful and pertinent. [By the way, one of my most treasured possessions is my mother's Bible that has her handwriting in it.] The Bible breathes life to me--sometimes I write out a particular verse on a post it note and carry it with me to reread or memorize. Truth transforms our thinking. For instance, to the one who is worried right now, this instruction from Psalm 37: Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.2
In the last couple months, in addition to studying the book of Acts, I have also read and prayed a psalm each morning. The psalms are quite beautiful: very real--with every human emotion expressed--joy, guilt, sorrow, fear, anger, gratefulness, injustice! I am grateful to have some of the words of David to pray to God--for instance “O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens.”3
So as we walk the dusty roads with Paul, (we are in Acts 19), we get a glimpse of all things Ephesus--people coming to know Jesus, miracles, gods and goddesses, demons, riots and more. We learn about the goodness of God, the tenacity of Paul . . . and that there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to human behavior.
The link for the Acts 19: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts 19.8-41&version=ESV
(We will look more closely next Morning Briefing.)
Reading Acts, we get a look at history which anchors the pages of the Bible in actual physical places with real people. See below the library in Ephesus--what a beautiful indicator of the sophisticated architecture of the ancient city, as well as a purview into the value the Ephesians placed on knowledge!
In Ephesus, we see the move of God in a people who are passionate about him - your attention please! and then we see it all go away as those same people get distracted by life. The town of Ephesus - with its ‘Sedona like’ spirituality stands as a model and a warning too, I believe.
Think of it - Paul the apostle spends more than two years in the town - teaching passionately and persuasively, explaining the power of the life-changing gospel, doing the miraculous among the people, convincing many that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. They recognize their sins and shortcomings, seek the forgiveness of God and grow in knowledge of him so they can honor him each day.
A few years later Paul wrote a letter to the church there in Ephesus, (we call it Ephesians) commending them for their faith. BUT, by the time John wrote the book of Revelation, the church in Ephesus had grown cold. (about 35 years later)
What happened?
Many people were distracted and pulled away by half truths,
fell pray to the influence of the culture,
let other things take priority in their minds and hearts,
stopped loving and living the words of God . . .
ultimately, their love and pursuit of Christ slipped away. hmmm...
[read that again]
The only way the words of God do not grow cold, the only way they do not grow old... is if we stay close and attuned to God, talking with him daily and applying what we read in the Word.
So, while many things vie for your attention from the moment you awaken, I pray that it is the Bible that calls your name and wins your attention. Let it get in your mind and transform your thinking and affections.
May your beautiful Bible call your name today!
Christine
1 - shiksa is a Hebrew/Yiddish term for a Gentile woman
2 - Psalm 37.5
3 - Psalm 8.1
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