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Adorn with Good Works

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I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.
(1 Timothy 2:8-10 ESV)

It is impossible for the grace of God to be planted on the inside of us and not produce fruit. Granted, it will not produce perfection… it will produce some form of good works. These good works do not manifest of themselves, but come from the goodness of God working in our life.

All too often, we try to be something we’re not. There is no reason for you to pretend! No, simply produce of the inner working of the Holy Spirit in your life.

You do not have to try to impress others… and through Jesus you’ve already impressed God. So just begin to let the natural flow of repentance  take place! The goodness of God is the best producer!

Campaign Season

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First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

(1 Timothy 2:1-6 ESV)

I love this season. Not Winter… this season comes around every four years. This is the time that campaigning gets hot-and-heavy here in America. This is the time that the church has a great opportunity to trust the Lord… but unfortunately this is the season we (the church) usually decide it’s time to plant our self-righteous flags.

There are tons of hot-topics that I agree we should unwaveringly oppose. However it would seem that we are tending to step over “oppose” and instead try to “oppress” others with the onslaught of our views. I’m not saying you should vote for the pro-abortion, pro-slavery, pro-gay-marriage, pro-everything-you’re-against president! But… God is still the one who holds the heart of the king, correct?

I am consistently reminding myself that the solution to sin is NOT opposition to sin. You can oppose sin all you won’t and never conquer it. Only the goodness of God will lead us to repentance. You want to see a change in America? Pray. Love. Be peaceful. Be compassionate. Do what you think the government ought to do…

We live in a nation that has many moral issues. We, as a nation, fall incredibly below the standards of God… but the only way to see any change is to be the love of God extended to our fellow citizens.

Also, I will remind you that the president is entitled to your respect. Not because you’re American… because you’re a Christian.

English Standard Version

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Usually on this site I spend time writing about the grace of God and who we are in Christ. Occasionally I write something on leadership, administration or technology. However, today I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about the English Standard Version of the Bible today. I don’t know how often this shines through on jasonmayfield.com, but if you’re physically around me very often you will find out that Bible versions are a never-ending thought for me. Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m not some bizarre King James Version Only wacko walking around talking about something I’m too short-sighted to understand. No, I just want to make sure I’m using a good reliable Bible.

I tend to lean towards Bibles with a Literal Translation (also called word-for-word). I don’t mind dynamic-equivilance (i.e. NIV) and paraphrased (i.e. Message), but I don’t want to be too influenced by a modern-translator’s interpretation. So, Literal Translation works best for me.

I have been using the NASB for a while… I love the NASB. It’s the most literal translation available. Not far behind, through, is the ESV.

I’ve been using the ESV for several months now and I have not completed a full pass through the ESV Bible, but I wanted to share some thoughts – both pros and cons – of this version.

Let’s start with the bad.

Italics.

Usually literal translations use a method to notify the reader when they needed to add a word to the original language. The words are added to try to make the passage more comprehensive. This method is simple… they put the word in italics. It’s a simple process, but the ESV doesn’t do this. Now, usually the words are simple like is, are, the, or, and, when… simple non-earth-shatering words. But, it’s nice to have them… and frankly it’s important to me.

Deity Pronouns.

Most modern translation capitalize pronouns that refer to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit. While it is modern in its practice and not found in the original language, it’s still helpful. I do like the capitalization of deity pronouns… (but I hate all capitalization of HIS pronouns… your Facebook and Twitter followers do not want to yell HIS NAME at them… but I digress)

Calvinist Agenda.

I can get down with gospel-centric theology… I am extremely gospel-central. However, some of the reformed community thinks that Calvinism is core to the gospel… John Calvin is not Paul.

Unfortunately, Crossway (maker of the ESV) pushes the Calvinist agenda more than I care for… but I haven’t seen that in the ESV itself. However, if I do… I will be posting it here promptly.

Also, Crossway is the biggest redeeming quality for the ESV, which I will explain now…

The redeeming qualities.

Tons of Bible options.

Crossway has made so many Bible options available. You can find Bible for $1 and for $200… every prince in-between too. Some of my favorite options are listed below. Not only do they have great price options, but different sizes and even a few unique options. Some of Crossway’s cheaper Bible are still nicer quality than some higher priced Bibles offered by Zondervan or Thomas Nelson.

You might wonder why all these options are important… I’m glad you asked…

Reason One – We live in a consumer society. People want cool stuff… even Bibles. Crossway, by far, makes the coolest Bibles out there. Everyone else is Wal-Mart, and Crossway is Nordstrom. If you can turn your people onto a nice Bible, they might want to read it more. I started trying the ESV due to the way it looks. Foundation Publications made my NASB… and it was ugly. (Sorry guys… get with the design stuff!)

Reason Two – If you want to have an Official Church Bible then Crossway having so many options (especially in price) can facilitate that quite nicely. Why would you want an official Bible? Obviously, God doesn’t approve one translation over the other (that we’re aware of)… but if you are primarily an expository teacher then having everyone using the same Bible so they can follow you is a great idea. Lots of the reformed guys do this, and I think some of the Word of Faith guys should try it.

So here are some top Bible picks:

Value Thinline / Thinline (this is the one I use) / Deluxe Thinline / Fabric Covered Thinline

Journaling Bible / Many Study Bibles / Single Column (larger margin)

Classic Reference / Personal Size Reference / Deluxe Classic Reference

(note: on this list I use deluxe to indicate high quality leather.)

Mobile Apps.

I have championed YouVersion in our church, but frankly… it can be a bit overwhelming. I love YouVersion and support and commend the folks at Life Church for their advance in freely available resources for Christ followers and churches. Never-the-less… it can be a bit too much. Crossway has provided some great ESV mobile apps that do one thing really well… the ESV Bible. Not to mention, it’s a beautiful app.

The app is available for iPhone, iPad… and if anyone cares… it’s available for Android and Windows 7.

OH! And these are free.

Free Bible Website… with great, inexpensive plugins.

I use this website all the time. I usually keep esvbible.org and blueletterbible.org open during my devotion times.

esvbible.org has some really cool plugins available.

GreekTools is a steal for $15. This plugin will give you a Greek-interliner New Testament. Yes, it includes Strong’s numbers.

Two Study Bibles (MacArthur and ESV Study) are available online for $20.

The Literary Study notes are available for $10.

Great WordPress Plugin.

Even though I don’t use it… the ESV has a really cool plugin for WordPress. I don’t know if it’s from Crossway, but it’s really cool.

The plugin essentially searches your site for Bible references and turns them into links, inline text or tooltip hover-overs. (much like this site does using BLB - which I use for multiple versions – i.e. John 3:16)

No short codes or buttons to press… it just recognizes Bible references.

Wrap Up.

I think the ESV is a great Bible. I’m adjusting to the “no-italics” and lowercase deity pronouns… but I like my ESV.

Ultimately, they have an obvious love for the scriptures that they are working to share with the world. They have made the ESV one of the nicest products in the Christian Bookstore.

Great job Crossway!

(you can grab yours today in the aStore on jasonmayfield.com)