Episode 771
Navigating Good and Evil: Biblical Wisdom | 771
In today's enriching episode of the "Daily Bible Refresh," Dr Brad Miller is providing listeners with a fresh perspective on a daily scripture reading. This episode is brought to you by Voice of God Daily. Rev. Dr. Brad Miller aims to make the scriptures understandable, relatable, and applicable, ensuring that listeners can derive meaningful insights in under ten minutes.
Beginning with a reading from the epistle, 1 John 5:13-21, Rev. Dr. Miller reads from "The Message" translation to enhance clarity and comprehension. The passage focuses on the reality of eternal life for believers, the nature of sin, and the assurance that God listens to our prayers. It's an encouragement to live authentically in the truth of Jesus Christ, steering clear of sinful practices.
Rev. Dr. Miller interprets the passage with depth, offering several profound points to ponder:
- Beyond Binary Morality: Dr. Miller discusses the importance of moving past a simplistic good/bad dichotomy in morality. He elaborates on the concept of fatal and nonfatal sins, advocating for a nuanced understanding of human behavior and moral choices. In progressive Christianity, moral decisions are seen on a spectrum where context, systems, and circumstances play significant roles. This approach urges an objective judgment with humility and understanding.
- Collective Liberation: The scripture's depiction of being held firm by God versus being in the grip of the evil one serves as an invitation to evaluate what truly binds us. Rev. Dr. Miller emphasizes collective liberation, questioning whether we are bound by love, justice, and community care, or by systems of oppression, materialism, and individualism. Liberation is not just a personal journey but a collective endeavor.
- Truth as Relationship: Truth is not just factual accuracy but a living relationship. “Living in the truth” suggests authentic connections with divine love, each other, and creation. Dr. Miller challenges listeners to move beyond literal interpretations towards a deeper lived wisdom.
Additionally, Rev. Dr. Miller provides an actionable step for the listeners: to practice truth-seeking in community. He encourages gathering with others, either virtually or in person, to re-examine long-held truths. This exercise is especially insightful when involving perspectives from marginalized individuals. Such engagement can offer new dimensions of understanding and foster collective wisdom.
The episode concludes with a heartfelt prayer, calling upon the source of truth to help release the need for absolute certainty and embrace the evolving journey of understanding, grace, and collective liberation.
For those seeking further resources, Rev. Dr. Miller recommends the "ABC 123 Bible Study," a straightforward and easy approach to Bible study, available in the show notes at voiceofgoddaily.com.
Join Rev. Dr. Brad Miller tomorrow and make sure to invite a friend as you explore the unwavering love and fresh mercies of God – anew every morning.
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The "Daily Bible Refresh" is presented each day by Rev. Dr. Brad Miller who has a goal of speaking a bit of the bible into two million ears (one million people) in three years (2025-2028).
He is the author of "The A, B, C-1,2,3 Bible Study Guide" Free to you by clicking HERE.
Brad served as a local church pastor for forty years and has a background in radio and podcasting. Moreover, he is a life-long student of The Bible.
He believes in the words of Jesus that “scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21)
The "Daily Bible Refresh" is available seven days a week by 6:00 am ET. The episodes are no longer than ten minutes long and are...
- Understandable: A reading from the New Testament (usually the Gospel) selected from the Revised Common Lectionary using "The Message" translation.
- Relatable: You will have a couple of "points to ponder" from the text which will relate to your life
- Applicable: Every episode includes a way you can take action based on the reading
- A recommended resource to help you go deeper in biblical study and spiritual direction.
- A prayer for your day.
A companion resource to the Voice of God Daily Podcast is the “ABC Bible Study Guide” available by clicking HERE.
The "Daily Bible Refresh" is available every day at VoiceofGodDaily.com on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all major podcast directories.
You can help Dr. Brad attain his goal of getting a bit of the bible into two million ears by subscribing to "Daily Bible Refresh" on Apple Podcasts, leaving a five-star rating, and writing a review. More importantly please share with your network of family and friends about the "Daily Bible Refresh".
Please make listening to the "Daily Bible Refresh" a part of your daily life.
Remember… “All scripture is God-breathed and useful”(2 Timothy 3:16)
Transcript
Hello, good people. Welcome to daily
Speaker:Trimble refresh, which is brought
Speaker:to you by voice of God daily. My name is doctor Brad
Speaker:Miller here to offer you a fresh perspective on a
Speaker:daily reading of the scriptures. We do so by making it
Speaker:understandable, relatable, and applicable. We
Speaker:do so by reading from the revised common
Speaker:lectionary, that is the selected verse of scripture for this very
Speaker:day. We're in year c. It goes in a 3 year cycle, and we're
Speaker:in year c, and it's the epiphany season. We make
Speaker:it understandable by reading from the new testament, reading for this
Speaker:day only. We also read it from the message
Speaker:translation of the Bible, which is very understandable. We make it
Speaker:relatable by offering you a couple of points to ponder to think about
Speaker:regarding the scripture, and we make it applicable by offering you an
Speaker:action step which you can apply to your life. We have a prayer, and we
Speaker:do it all in under 10 minutes. The reading for
Speaker:today, for this very day, is from the epistle first
Speaker:John 5 13 through 21. Just
Speaker:a a note that first John is different than the
Speaker:gospel of John. This is one of Paul's letters. It's called an
Speaker:epistle or a letter. So it's 1st John 5
Speaker:13 through 21 reading from the message. The
Speaker:reality, not the illusion. My
Speaker:purpose in writing is simply this, that you who believe in God's son
Speaker:will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal
Speaker:life, the reality and not the illusion, and
Speaker:how bold and free we then become in His presence, freely
Speaker:asking according to His will. Surely that he's listening.
Speaker:And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that we've we
Speaker:know that what we've asked for is as good as ours.
Speaker:For instance, if we see a Christian believer sinning, clearly,
Speaker:I'm not talking about those who make a practice of sin in a way that
Speaker:is fatal, leading to eternal death. We ask for God's help
Speaker:and He gladly gives it, gives life to the sinner whose sin is
Speaker:not fatal. There is such a thing as fatal sin, and I'm
Speaker:not urging you to pray about that. Everything we do wrong is
Speaker:sin, but not all sin is fatal. We know that none
Speaker:of the god born makes a practice of sin,
Speaker:fatal sin. The god born are also the god protected.
Speaker:The evil one can't lay a hand on them. We know that we
Speaker:are held firm by God. It's only the people of the world
Speaker:who continue in the grip of the evil one, and we know that the
Speaker:Son of God came so we could recognize and
Speaker:understand the truth of God. What a gift, And we
Speaker:are living in the truth itself in God's son, Jesus
Speaker:Christ. This Jesus is both true God and real
Speaker:life. Dear dear children, be on guard against
Speaker:all clever facsimiles.
Speaker:Wow. What is what a what a profound passage of scripture about
Speaker:really about living in truth, living beyond kind of a binary duality of
Speaker:thinking. It helps us to go deeper
Speaker:on matters of truth and sin and authentic living. So let's talk
Speaker:about a couple of points to ponder. Talks about really, I believe,
Speaker:going beyond a binary morality. That is, we're talking here
Speaker:the the author here talks has a discussion of a fatal
Speaker:and nonfatal sin. The the challenge is to move
Speaker:past simplistic good bad dichotomy. It's
Speaker:in progressive Christianity, we understand that human behavior and moral
Speaker:choices exist basically on a spectrum,
Speaker:and context matters, systems matter, circumstances
Speaker:matter, and there's a nuanced view that calls us to
Speaker:approach judgment with humility and understanding.
Speaker:A second point is collective liberation.
Speaker:The text here speaks of being held firm by God versus
Speaker:being in the grip of the evil one, and I believe we can
Speaker:understand this as an invitation to examine what truly
Speaker:binds us. Are we bound by love, justice and community
Speaker:care, or by systems of oppression, materialism
Speaker:and individualism? Liberation isn't just personal
Speaker:but collective. One more point. It's
Speaker:about truth as relationship. This
Speaker:passage presents truth not only as mere factual accuracy,
Speaker:but as a living relationship, living in the truth it says,
Speaker:living in the truth itself. And this really suggests that
Speaker:truth seeking is about authentic connection with divine
Speaker:love, with each other, and with creation, and it challenges
Speaker:us to move beyond literal interpretations to a
Speaker:deeper lived wisdom. Here's your
Speaker:action step. I want to invite you to practice
Speaker:truth seeking in community. That is when you gather with other
Speaker:people virtually or in person, examine
Speaker:one truth maybe that you've always taken for granted that maybe needs
Speaker:to be looked at again. It might be regarding economic systems
Speaker:or religious doctrine or gender roles, things like this.
Speaker:Maybe you get some different perspectives on things, especially
Speaker:from people who may be marginalized.
Speaker:I invite you to think about that, maybe even journal about it or record some
Speaker:thoughts about it. We're gonna pray in just a minute,
Speaker:but I want to share with you that there we have a resource for you
Speaker:that maybe help you in your Trimble study. It's called the ABC
Speaker:123 Bible study, and just really makes
Speaker:Bible study as straightforward and easy as C
Speaker:123. And you can find it at our show notes along with the transcription
Speaker:of this episode at voiceofgoddaily.com.
Speaker:Let's pray. Source of truth, help
Speaker:us help us release our need for absolute certainty and
Speaker:embrace the mystery of growing understanding.
Speaker:When we're tempted to judge others harshly, remind us of our own complexity
Speaker:and need for grace. Guide us in dismantling
Speaker:false certainties that have caused harm to ourselves and
Speaker:others. Help us find freedom in questioning, strengthen community,
Speaker:and hope in collective liberation. Give us courage to live
Speaker:authentically even when it challenges conventional wisdom.
Speaker:Ground us in your love that transcends all binary
Speaker:things and embraces all of humanity.
Speaker:Amen. Well, it's been great to be with you.
Speaker:My name is doctor Brad Miller, and I come to you every day here on
Speaker:the daily bible refresh. I invite you to join me
Speaker:tomorrow and invite a friend to connect with us
Speaker:here on the podcast.
Speaker:Daily biblerefresh@voiceofgoddaily.com.
Speaker:Until tomorrow, my friend, remember that God's loyal love doesn't run
Speaker:out. His merciful love hasn't dried up. It's
Speaker:created new every morning.
