Hello my friend Dr. Brad Miller here with the Daily Bible Refresh.

This is your daily reading of the Bible from a progressive point of view.

In a bit I will read the New Testament lessons selected from the Revised Common Lectionary for this very day.

The reading is understandable.

I use the Message version relatable.

Please listen to the points to ponder and applicable with action steps you can take.

We pray and are done in less than 10 minutes.

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Here's today's reading and we're reading today from second Timothy 1, 3:7 from the message to be bold with God's gifts.

Every time I say your name in prayer, which is practically all the time, I thank God for you, the God I worship with my whole life in the tradition of my ancestors.

I miss you a lot, especially when I remember that last tearful goodbye and I look forward to a joy packed reunion.

That precious memory triggers another your honest faith.

And what a rich faith it is handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you and the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed.

Keep that ablaze.

God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving he and sensible.

All right, let's unpack this scripture and a few things.

Let's look at some points to ponder.

Point one is that faith is relational before it's doctrinal.

Look at what Paul celebrates here.

He doesn't say, timothy, I'm so glad you've got your theology nailed down.

He doesn't quiz him on doctrine or ask if he's memorized the right creeds.

What Paul celebrates is a chain of Grandmother Lois, Mother Eunice, and now Timothy.

Faith was handed down not through a curriculum, but through a relationship, through presence, through living it out in front of each other.

From a progressive perspective, this matters enormously.

So many of us were taught that faith is primarily about believing the right things, getting your intellectual checklist in order.

But Paul paints a completely different picture.

Faith here is something you catch more than something you're taught.

It's transmitted by the way your grandmother prayed at dinner, the way your mother handed down lessons even through hard Seasons, the way someone loved you before you could articulate a single thing you believed.

And that that means faith doesn't have to be perfect or systematic to be real.

It just has to be honest.

Paul literally calls it Timothy's honest faith, not correct faith, not complete faith.

Honest faith.

That's the thing worth handing down.

Point upon our number two.

Tears and tenderness are part of the spiritual life, not interruptions to it.

I love it that Paul doesn't edit out the emotion.

Here he says, I miss you a lot, especially when I remember our last tearful goodbye.

I look forward to a Joy Pack reunion.

This is a mentor writing to someone he loves and he's not pretending to be stoic or cool about it.

He names the tears, he names the longing, he names the joy he's anticipating.

My wife and I have been married over 34 years and we've raised three great kids.

They're out now living their own lives.

And I could tell you nobody prepares you for tearful goodbyes, but they do happen.

So when you're, when your child moves across the country as one of ours did, or starts a family on their own, as one of ours did, and or starts a new career as one of ours did, you're thrilled for them and you're gutted at the same time.

All these things are true.

But for and for years I thought being a person of faith meant kind of managing emotions, keeping it together, being strong.

But Paul, the same Paul who planted churches, survived shipwrecks, writes, I remember that tearful goodbye.

He doesn't apologize for it, he lets it be a part of the story.

Progressive faith makes room for the full range of human emotion in our spiritual lives.

Tears aren't weakness.

The myth that fact of missing someone isn't a lack to trust.

It's proof that love is real and that a connection matters to God as much as it matters to us.

Point to ponder number three.

God's gifts are meant to be used boldly, not hoarded.

Cautiously.

Here's where Paul brings the fire.

Keep that ablaze.

He says.

God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.

I love that way he puts it.

Bold, loving and sensible.

That's a great combination.

I want you to notice that combination because it's really brilliant.

Bold, not timid.

Not hiding in the corner.

Loving, not aggressive, not self righteous.

Sensible.

Use your mind.

Not reckless, not performative.

That's a remarkable, balanced vision of what it like looks like to live out your gifts.

On my cancer podcast, I see this On a regular basis.

People been through some really bad suffering and come on the other side with this fierce but tender, grounded sense of purpose.

They're not shy about their story anymore.

They're not cautious with their compassion.

They've been through the fire and now they're using it to help somebody else.

That's what the keep it ablaze part is all about here.

That's what it looks like in real life.

From a progressive standpoint.

I think this verse of Scripture pushes back hard, gets the idea that faith should make us quiet and compliant.

Paul doesn't say, be careful with your gifts.

He says, be bold.

And if you're given a voice, use it.

If you've been given compassion, deploy it.

You've been given the ability to challenge unjust systems or comfort broken people or ask hard questions.

Don't you dare be shy about it.

The world needs you and what you're carrying out.

Be bold.

Here's your action step, your invitation for the day.

I want you to think of one person who handed faith down to you.

Maybe it is your parent or grandparents, as the scripture indicates here.

A parent or a teacher, friend, a mentor, somebody.

Someone who's had an impact on your faith in your life.

That person is still living.

Reach out to them and tell them thank you for what they gave you.

A call, a card, a Facebook post, a text, whatever works.

Let them know that the flame they lit in you is still burning.

If that person is no longer with you, take a moment to simply thank you.

To thank them, do it out loud.

Name them.

Honor the chain of faith they have brought into your life.

Then ask yourself, am I?

Who am I passing this same faith onto?

Because somewhere somebody is watching how you live and your honest faith is becoming that inheritance.

All right, we're going to come back and pray here in just a minute.

Then once you know that, we've got a great resource for you to help with your own daily Bible study.

It's called the ABC 123 Bible Study Method.

Invite you to go over to our website, voiceofgoddaily.com pick it up.

Let's pray.

God, we're grateful today for the people who handed us something real.

For the mothers and the grandmothers and the fathers and the grandfathers and the mentors and the friends who didn't have perfect theology but who had honest faith and loved us enough to share it.

Thank you for tears that prove connection is real.

Thank you for goodbyes that make reunion sweet.

And thank you that you don't ask us to have it all figured out.

Just be honest and to be about where.

Just to be honest about where we are and God.

We ask today for boldness.

Not the loud kind that draws attention to ourselves, but the loving, sensible kind that draws attention to you.

Wherever you've been, playing it safe with the gifts you've given us, light that fire again.

And where we've been shy about your story, our compassion, our voice remind us that you didn't give us those things to hide them.

We think today of anyone listening who feels like the chain is broken, who didn't get faith handed down and we had to find it on their own.

And we praise that too.

Would you remind him that you were there all along, passing it through unexpected people and unlikely moments?

No one is outside the chain of your love.

We trust that with you today.

Amen.

My friend, I am delighted you chose to join me for today's reading.

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Thanks much.

My name is Dr. Brad Miller and I'll be right here tomorrow with your Daily Bible Refresh.

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Remember, God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up, it's created new every morning.