Beebe

Kauffman

When Beebe Kauffman taught a fourth-grade VBS, a young man announced his opinion that “God is boring.” Beebe and the class spent the next four days brainstorming God’s roles as Father, Savior, Lord, and Friend. At the end of the week, the young man’s opinion had changed. That formed the basis of her writing. Bible studies and all Scripture-based writing should never be boring. They should show the personal relevance of God’s word to life today, and the warmth, love, and personal involvement in our lives of its Author.

Beebe is the chief editor of Refresh Bible Study Magazine, a co-founder of Lighthouse Bible Studies, and a co-director with her daughter Katy Kauffman, of the annual Enrich Conference for Bible Study Writers, Speakers, and Teachers that is held in northern Georgia.

She has written two award-winning Bible studies, Isaiah: Setting Things Right—Chapters 1-6 How can we cooperate with God to set things right in our hearts, minds, and daily lives? and A Whole Lot of Wonderful—Application of the New Testament for Today. Beebe enjoys spending time with family and friends, making homemade greeting cards, and encouraging writers to add to the Christian voice in the world.

More from Beebe Kauffman

What Are You Called?

Do you like the name your parents gave you? “Beebe” was my aunt’s name before it was mine, but Grandmother Barbara was always evasive about its origin. Maybe it was her childhood nickname, or maybe it was her way of naming her daughter for both parents—Barbara and Bryan. The name is difficult to spell and most people are reluctant to pronounce it, but the name is still a good one.

In Isaiah 4, God was dealing with His proud and unfaithful children. He told them that He would judge them, but afterwards, those who remained would be called by a special name—a good one.

And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. (
Isaiah 4:3 All who remain in Zion will be a holy people—those who survive the destruction of Jerusalem and are recorded among the living. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt)
NKJV)

Why would they be called “holy”? I did some investigating. I listed 18 Bible verses that use “holy” or “holiness,” and read what my commentaries said about each verse. I peeked into others’ understanding. It was a rich experience.

My basic understanding of holiness was right—set apart from sin and set apart to God, or dedicated to Him.¹ My favorite definition was clean.² True holiness has roots that reach down deeper than what we say and do. It reaches into our hearts—the treasure house of who we are, how we’re wired, and what we value. Holiness warms, enriches, and enlivens the heart with Godliness. It prompts us to think differently, to see more clearly, and to be stirred to greater measures of concern, helpfulness, and lovingkindness. Legalism brings our actions in line with a standard of conduct, but holiness is a transformation of the heart.

What causes that transformation? Taking in the word of God, adjusting ourselves to what it says, and cooperating with God as He uses it to weed and cultivate our minds and hearts.

God wants us to grow in holiness. He said,

“Be holy, for I am holy” (
1 Peter 1:16 For the Scriptures say, "You must be holy because I am holy."* OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt)
NKJV).

God’s holiness is comprised of His infinite perfections³ and moral excellence.⁴ For instance, He is perfect in love, perfect in faithfulness, and perfect in righteousness. He is morally excellent in His character and ways. God is holy and He commands us to be holy—separated from all moral uncleanness and conformed to all moral excellence—“clean.”

The Holy Spirit helps with that process. He is a master Craftsman whose business, ministry, and delight is crafting, fashioning, and sustaining (when we cooperate with Him) holiness within God’s children. He envisions the end product well because it’s His own nature. Holiness is the fruit of the Spirit’s cultivation of our souls—our inner reality. It has distinct “faces” or attributes that are named in

(NKJV): love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. But these faces of holiness, these inner qualities, are also facets of an integrated whole, a likeness to the One who cultivates our souls with truth and love. As we grow in holiness, we are being conformed to the likeness of our God.

How can we make a welcome difference in the world around us? By being holy, clean, which has two parts. The negative—separated from sin—and the positive—conformed to all moral excellence or goodness. Freedom from sin is not a vacuum. A life free from the rule of sin must also be filled with goodness. Holiness lives in a heart, will, and character that are morally excellent in God’s likeness. So as we stay within His embrace and under His tutelage, holiness will grow.

___________________

Adapted from Beebe Kauffman, Isaiah: Setting Things Right (Buford, Georgia: Lighthouse Bible Studies, LLC, 2013), 112-113.

1. Robert Jamieson, Andrew Robert Fausset, and David Brown, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary, quoted in Phil Lindner, Power Bible CD, CD-ROM (Bronson, Mich.: Online Publishing, Inc., 2007),

2. Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary, quoted in Phil Lindner, Power Bible CD, CD-ROM (Bronson, Mich.: Online Publishing, Inc., 2007),

3. British Family Bible, quoted in Phil Lindner, Power Bible CD, CD-ROM (Bronson, Mich.: Online Publishing, Inc., 2007),

4. Ibid.,

Walk in the Light of the Lord

Do schedules, deadlines, urgencies, and emergencies crowd out your determination to refresh your heart and mind with Scripture? Do you ever need a little more motivation to be in God’s word on a daily basis and live it out?

Two symbols come together in

OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt)

(NKJV) to form a beautiful instruction for our lives today:

“Walk in the light of the LORD.”

To walk means to make something your habit of life, your lifestyle, and the light of the LORD is a symbol of God’s word. God wants us to make walking in His light, our lifestyle.

Why is light used as a symbol of God’s word? What do we know about light in the physical world that can inspire us to walk in spiritual light?

Light in the physical world shimmers, sparkles, twinkles, and glows. The moon radiates brightness over the earth. The night sky sparkles with jewels of greater and lesser brilliance. The streaming colors of the Aurora Borealis sway back and forth in a brooding dance. Summer fireworks burst and flash to the rhythms of John Philip Sousa and Francis Scott Key. The Eiffel Tower in her glittering evening wear meditates by the Seine River. Light is beautiful and fascinating.
Light also comforts, cheers, and warms us. When the electricity goes out at night, we’re grateful for a flashlight or candle. A campfire’s glow cheers those gathered around it. On a snowy evening, sitting on the hearth near the fire warms our hands, feet, and souls.
Light saves lives. A piercing searchlight is cast across frantic waves. It doesn’t rest until it discovers the exhausted survivors of a capsized boat. A lighthouse sends out steady pulses of hope, no matter how violent the storm.

God wants us to take in the light of His word and live it out. But in order to do it, we have to choose it. What motivates us to choose it? Understanding and appreciating the spiritual light of God’s word. Seeing its beauty, and being fascinated by it. Experiencing its comforts, and feeling its warmth. Knowing firsthand the relief of its rescue, and the grace and peace of its hope. Walking in the light of the LORD becomes a way of life that we long for.

Spiritual light is beautiful.
Jeremiah 31:3 Long ago the LORD said to Israel:"I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt)
(NKJV) reassures us,
“I have loved you with an everlasting love.”
Spiritual light is fascinating. Joshua Chapter 10 tells us that God gave Israel more time to defeat its enemies by making the sun stand still.
The light of the LORD comforts, cheers, and warms our hearts.
Deuteronomy 31:8 Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you." OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt)
(NKJV) says,
“The LORD, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
The light of God’s word saves lives when we respond to it with faith, according to
John 3:16 "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt)
.

To walk in the light of truth means to put it to practical use. We don’t just know the truth—we use it. We filter our thinking with it. We steer our choices and decisions by it. We consider the patterns of life in the Bible that are pleasing to God and adopt them as our own. Those patterns of life are reinforced when we experience their benefits—strength, grace, comfort, help, relief, and spiritual refreshment.

Let’s be inspired by the beauty of spiritual light, and by its comfort, cheer, and warmth, to make God’s word our daily lifestyle. Let’s aspire to the quality of life that comes from practicing this habit of life: Walk in the light of the LORD.

Adapted from: Beebe Kauffman, Isaiah: Setting Things Right (Buford, Georgia: Lighthouse Bible Studies, LLC, 2013), 59-60. Used with permission.