Do You Want to Really Live?

May 9, 2025

Everyone wants to live “the good life,” but what does that mean?  Many think the good life is being wealthy, living in comfort, or retiring early.  Some think the good life is one of partying and fun.  Some may think it is found in a very successful career.  How would you define the good life?  And how can you obtain it? 

Listen to these inspired words of David:

“Do you want to really live? Would you love to live a long, happy life?

 Then make sure you don’t speak evil words or use deceptive speech.

 Turn away from evil and do what is right. Strive for peace and promote it.” (Psalm 34:12-14 NET)

So, how can we really live?  First, we must control our speech.  We need to choose to not speak evil.  Evil words include things like gossip and slander.  It would include words that are spoken in a fit of anger that wound another person.  Things like these can make our lives miserable (by our own doing) and rob us of the good life.  We must also choose to not speak words that are deceitful.  Lying or misleading people with our words brings much trouble and sorrow.  On the other hand, using words that are filled with love, with truth, and encouragement will not only bless those around us, but will bring God’s blessings into our lives.

Second, to really live, we must turn away from evil.  We live in a world that is full of evil.  You and I must choose not to participate in deeds of darkness, and we must strive to not let it influence us or our families.  But it is not enough to turn away from evil.  We need to also do what is right.  We face the choice to do right or wrong on a daily basis.  If you want to really live, choose what is right!  Then the rich blessings of God will flow into your life.

Finally, to really live, we need to strive for peace and promote it.  How does one promote peace?  By being humble toward others, by speaking with gentleness and grace, by being patient with others, and by forgiving those who have wronged us—just as the Lord forgave us.  We promote peace by refusing to keep a record of wrongs and by choosing to not harbor resentment and bitterness toward others.  When we fail to pursue peace, we will bring a lot of sorrow into our own lives.  But if we will follow the way of peace, we will be richly blessed.  Those who sow peace will reap its beautiful fruit. 

How might we summarize these instructions?  Live like Christ.  Reflect His love.  Those who do will find true life!

—Scott Colvin

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Posted by Scott Colvin

The Last Word

November 17, 2021

I prayed with her in the hospital. She donated a kidney to the father of one of her students, a man from our church. She was a cheerful, kind person. I was glad that I had the chance to meet her. A day or two after going home from the hospital, she was murdered. The news was shocking. Such a selfless and sacrificial act followed by someone’s act of cruelty and injustice.*

Emotionally, I understand the atheist’s rage against the problem of evil and pain. The atheist argues that if God is all good, loving, and powerful, then evil and pain should not exist. Since we are surrounded by evil and pain, the argument continues, God must not exist. Yet the atheist’s argument has an unstated premise. It assumes that an all good, loving, and powerful God would always immediately and preventatively deal with the problem of evil and pain. But what if there is a reason for delay? What if the last words stamped across human history are justice and mercy?

That after all is the Christian message. There is a reason for delay. If God had dealt immediately with the problem of evil, the Bible would end at Genesis chapter 3 and humanity would be lost. God has been at work in history to save, redeem, and reconcile. The world had to continue with the consequences of sin and death. The march of history had to include human free will, even the will to do great evil. God ultimately entered into human history in the person of His Son to die on the cross to provide the solution.

The cruelty of the cross demonstrated how malevolent sin is, and Christ’s substitutionary death proved God to be both just and merciful. The demands of justice were fulfilled so that mercy could be abundant. Our sin problem is cured by God’s forgiveness. Our sin problem is treated by sanctification, the transformation of character that comes from living close to God. And we await Christ’s return. As Peter stated: “…[W]e are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13, ESV).

Yet, we live in between the times of Jesus’ first and second comings. I must admit that there are times when pain and evil strike that we may feel like we’ve been sucker punched in the stomach. We reel with the problems that evil and pain create in the world around us. We wrestle with our faith that points us beyond to the ultimate solution even though we are left to tread through the valley of the shadow of death.

Intellectual arguments are not the salve for broken hearts. We must weep with those who weep. Love, patience, kindness, and service are a balm to the hurting. Yet, service is prompted by faith. The anguished cry of the atheist is not the last word. God has the last word, and because He does, we live and serve in hope.

– Russ Holden

*The murder of Renee Pagel was brutal. I met her days before due to her donating a kidney to man who was member of our church. His daughter was Renee’s student. I went to her funeral because of this family’s closeness to the situation. And it happened, one of the detectives on this case was also a member of our church. I remember the day he texted me to say that Renee’s estranged husband had been arrested. It took fourteen years. We are confronted by evil in this life, and I believe Christianity has the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual answers. But there is still pain. We must weep with those who weep.

https://www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/14-years-later-husband-sentenced-for-renee-pagels-murder/

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Posted by Russell Holden

A Cautionary Tale

March 2, 2018

The Book of Judges is a cautionary tale. It recounts a dark period in Israel’s history. It begins with Israel’s failure to conquer the Promised Land completely. Because of this failure, the idolatry of the original inhabitants becomes a snare for Israel. The cycle in Judges is Israel commits idolatry, they become oppressed by their enemies and cry out to God, God raises a judge to deliver them, and eventually the cycle begins again.

The judges were military leaders who brought deliverance to Israel. That is probably not our first definition of a judge, although Deborah did in fact hear cases and dispense justice (Judges 4:4-5). Yet, the judges often demonstrate deep flaws which show them to be men of their times. Gideon makes an ephod that becomes a snare to the people and a temptation to idolatry. Jephthah makes a rash vow, but he also slaughters some in Israel who refused to help him. Sampson seems to make military victories only because of bad choices with Philistine women.

But the book ends with even darker stories. Jonathan, the grandson of Moses, helps steal an idol with the help of armed men and sets up an idolatrous worship site in Dan, which lasts “until the day of the captivity of the land” (Judges 18:30). This is followed by an account of the rape and murder of a priest’s concubine. (Should a priest have a concubine in the first place?) This incident nearly leads to the wholesale slaughter of the tribe of Benjamin.

But these dark stories are not without a point. A refrain that occurs within the books states: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25, ESV). The Book of Judges answers the question of what happens when a people wander away from God. The moral decline illustrated in Judges is a cautionary tale.

It is a lesson that it difficult for modern society to hear. Society doesn’t always want God in the public square. Society often likes its morality to be relative. “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” could be our own nation’s slogan.

But then we wring our hands when violence and crime occur. Evil, violence, and crime will always be with us as long as this age lasts. But when a society goes through a moral decline such evil will increase. This is a morality problem that statutes won’t cure. It is not that statutes are unimportant. They represent a social contract which should be based on shared values and common morality. When values and morality differ, statutes become difficult to enforce. Witness the drug problem in our country. In other words, morality and values are the deeper issue.

The safety of my person and property are dependent on the morality of the people in my community. When the moral decline becomes so great, even the authorities cannot stop what happens next. Societies can descend into anarchy. And periods of anarchy are what we see in the Book of Judges. For those willing to hear, Judges provides a cautionary tale.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Overcoming Evil

January 4, 2013

Evil abounds. The modern world’s 24 hour news cycle covers it live by satellite. We see the victims of evil and violence, and we often hear the sordid tales that perpetrators were once themselves victims. Clearly evil does not overcome evil. It only brings ever widening ripples like a stone dropped in a lake. Evil after evil only keeps the painful cycle unbroken.

How do we overcome evil? We must first accept the cure for our own lives provided by the death of Christ. He died to set us free from sin and death. Having died to sin we must live for God – we must live a transformed life. Paul provides some specifics.

  • Bless instead of curse. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 12:14, ESV). We do not pay back hurtful words, with hurtful words. Don’t let evil grow.
  • Don’t repay evil for evil. “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all” (Romans 12:17, ESV). Someone’s sin against us does not give us permission to sin against them.
  • Seek peace. “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18, ESV). Jesus calls peacemakers blessed (Matthew 5:9). Not everyone wants peace, but we should have the attitude that seeks peace.
  • Leave vengeance to God. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19, ESV). God is better qualified for vengeance. God is without sin. God is completely just, yet merciful.
  • Do good to all people. “To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head’” (Romans 12:20, ESV). Paul is quoting Proverbs 25:21-22. “Heap burning coals” should be seen as good deeds pricking the conscience of the enemy and bringing them to repentance.
  • Overcome evil with good. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21, ESV). How does Satan do battle? His lies and deception lead to evil. How will Satan win battles (for he cannot win the war)? By getting us to stoop to his level, to play his game by his rules, by tricking us to do evil.

Overcoming evil with good is not always easy. The inclinations of the flesh must be put to death with the Spirit’s help. But in Christ there is healing for the brokenness inside. In Christ the cycle of evil can be broken. Only goodness overcomes, for Christ has won the victory.

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Posted by Russell Holden