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 reading today from 2 Corinthians 4:1 12 from the Message Trial and Torture says God has so generously let us in on what he is doing.

We're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job because we run into occasional hard times.

We refuse to wear masks and play games.

We don't maneuver or manipulate behind the scenes.

We don't twist God's word to suit ourselves.

Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.

If our message is obscure to anyone, it's not because we're holding back in any way.

No, it's because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and and refuse to give it serious attention.

All they have eyes for is the fashionable God of darkness.

They think he can give them what they want and that they won't have to bother believing a truth they can't see.

They're stone blind to the dayspring brightness of the message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we'll ever get repeated.

Remember, our message is not about ourselves.

We're proclaiming Jesus Christ the Master and we are its messengers.

Aaron Runners from Jesus for you.

It started when God said light up their darkness and our lives filled with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness.

We carry this precious message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.

That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us.

And it is.

And there's not much chance of that.

You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at.

We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized.

We're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do.

We've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side.

We've been thrown out and thrown down, but we haven't been broken.

What they did to Jesus, they did to us.

Trial and torture, mockery and murder.

What Jesus did among them, he did in us.

He lives.

Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus sake, which makes Jesus life all the more evident in us when we're going through the worst.

You're getting it on the best that ends the reading about this really incredible understanding of we are treasures and clay jars and what does that look like today?

So we're talking here about something.

We're honest and hurting, but we're still shining.

I just want to thank you friends for spending a few few moments with me as we go a little deeper into this scripture from 2nd Corinthians 4:1 12.

And it's really it's about Paul saying we're not just we're just not going to play religious games anymore, twist God's word.

We're going to keep it out in the open.

The light of Christ is the clearest picture of what God of God will get.

And we carry that in what he calls unadorned clay pots as the ordinary fragile lives we all have.

No one mistakes the treasure for the container.

Repressed but not crushed.

Confused but not abandoned.

Wow, great analogies or great metaphors here.

So let's get into three points to ponder about this scripture that's rooted in grace.

The first one is this.

It's a gospel that spin transparency as discipleship.

It says here, quote we refuse to wear a mask or play games.

Close quote.

A progressive reading takes this seriously.

No manipulation, no celebrity sheen, no hiding abuse or harm in the name of protecting the ministry.

Accountability, survival practices, financial transparency and plain speech are not PR their spiritual practices.

Honesty is how light gets in.

In my cancer related podcast with cancer people, people impacted by cancer people can smell false platitudes a mile away and they need the truth to help them to deal with their fear.

And church and the Christian life should at least be that honest.

If it can't be said in daylight, we shouldn't question saying it at all.

Point upon our number two resisting the fashionable God of darkness.

Interesting.

Paul names the pull towards dazzle, but emptiness today we can look at things like Christian nationalism, racism, misogyny, anti LGBT exclusion, or the consumerism in our world that turns faith into a brand.

The light of Christ reorients our gaze toward the vulnerable, the sick, the poor, the earth, the ones pushed to the edges.

Light isn't a spotlight on us, it's illumination for the common good.

Think of a good team, a shout out to the Indiana University Hoosier football team, where everyone's gift matters and the wind is shared.

That's what the gospel light does in community Point to ponder number three, Treasure in clay pots.

Power as solidarity, not spectacle.

Paul doesn't deny suffering, he just reframes it.

God's life shows through the cracks.

A left, a center understanding of this here's trauma honestly and stands with people in it.

Expanding access to care, practicing mental health, aware ministry, refusing triumphalism.

You know, like I got it and you don't.

The miracle isn't that we don't break.

It's that love keeps moving through our brokenness, through our fractures.

When my wife and I go on hikes in the woods sometimes we just see the light coming through the trees and what a wonderful sight that is.

Grace works in clay jars, cracks on all.

We carry tenderness into hard places and leave it and leave a little more light behind.

Here's your action step.

We might call this a transparency check.

Choose one area of your life, your family, your workplace, your church and practice.

Open table clarity, I.e.

name a hard truth kindly and invite feedback.

It might be about the church budget or the ministry or something at work or boundaries crossed regarding how we treat immigrants.

Or acknowledge a mistake and do something to repair it.

And your solidarity move then is do one concrete thing to deal with it, to fix it.

To do something for someone under pressure.

Deliver a meal to someone who's having some issues with their health.

Give time, energy, money to something to do with supporting people in need.

Offer a ride to somebody who needs a ride.

Another part of this is to attention an attention fast.

Remove yourself from something, unfollow one outrageous over the top personality.

It might be a celebrity, it might be some political influencer.

It might be someone who just rage baited you in some way or another.

Unfollow it and replace it with something good.

Replace it with a neighbor serving commitment of something that is doing something for the greater good.

Set a reminder, follow up.

We're going to pray here in just a minute, but I want to remind you that we have a great resource for you called the ABC 123 Bible Study Method.

Head over to our website, voiceofgoddaily.com pick it up.

Let's pray.

Light of the World, thank you for meeting us in ordinary clay.

Our tired bodies, our anxious minds, our unfiltered lives teach us honesty that heals, not performance that hides.

Turn our eyes from dazzling distractions to the people and places you love, especially those who are hurting.

Be close to folk, to folks walking through adversity, cancer and other things, and everyone who loves them.

Season their days with courage and small stubborn joys.

Bless long marriages, quiet trails, and laughter that comes from children.

When we're pressed, hold us and when we're confused, guide us.

When we're cracked, shine through, make our fragile eyes open windows to your generous light.

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.