Welcome to Cam’s Reflective Bible Study Journal

Cam’s Reflective Bible Study Journal is a blog/podcast where Cam, one of Reflective Bible Study's founders, shares things he has discovered from his time studying the Bible (usually from one or more of the four gospels).

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Salt, Light, and Our Mission: Matthew 5:13-16

Published January 15, 2026 in Audio Journal Entries

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As we continue into the gospels looking at the parables and illustrations Jesus shared, we come to a pair of illustrations Jesus uses during His famous Sermon on the Mount. While these illustrations aren’t classified as parables in one sense, these are illustrations that teach us something about God and about His plan for us.

Let’s read these two illustrations and discover what Jesus teaches us about God’s plan and ideal for us as His people. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 5, and we will read it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 13, Matthew quotes Jesus teaching the crowd, saying:

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

In these four short verses, Jesus challenges all of us with the truth that we affect others. While those in the crowd composed of Jesus’ disciples, Jesus’ followers, and those curious about Jesus, the truth Jesus shares, specifically that we have an effect on others, is true whether we are followers of God or not. Jesus challenges everyone present, and us as well, that we are to live in a way that benefits others.

The first illustration, which focuses on salt, illustrates this idea in a significant way. In that culture, salt was used to preserve food, and to a lesser extent, it was used for flavoring. Nowadays, we use salt more as a seasoning. Regardless of how salt is used, it’s only as good as it’s characteristics. If salt loses the properties that make it useful for preservation or for enhancing flavor, then it is ultimately worthless.

However, while it might look this way on the surface, even if salt loses its saltiness, it still has a use. Salt has a deadening effect on the ground, and because of this, it is useful for roads and other surfaces where one doesn’t want plants to grow. Even though we have pavement and more modern methods of composing roads to travel on, many northern climates have used salt for years as a way of melting ice and keeping roads safe for travel. Salt has many uses, but when it ceases to be salty, then its usefulness becomes limited. In a similar way, we are to be intentional about how we affect others, and we should intentionally affect others in a positive way.

Jesus’ second illustration illustrates how God chooses to use us when we let Him. Jesus tells the crowd in verses 14 through 16, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

When we let God lead us and when we let Him transform our lives into the people He created us to be, with Jesus’ character and love shining through us, we become the “light of the world”. Jesus doesn’t say that He is the light of the world, even if He was the brightest light the world has ever known spiritually; Jesus says that we are the light of the world. When we let God use us and transform us, Jesus lets us know that we shouldn’t be surprised when God lifts us up for others to see, and we become lights in the world.

If we are interested in hiding God’s blessings, and keeping what He does in our lives secret, then we shouldn’t be surprised if we aren’t blessed in a significant way. If God gives us an amazing gift, or if God transforms us in an amazing way, when we hide what He has done for us, we are placing the light He has given to us under a bowl. We are hiding Jesus when God desires us to glorify Him.

In contrast, when we celebrate what God has done for us, we should give God the glory and credit for everything that has happened. The only credit we should take is for messing up and giving God an opportunity to bless us when we don’t deserve His blessing.

The last verse gives us the practical application of this truth, even if many people living today might try to dismiss it. In verse 16, Jesus tells us to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

In this challenge, Jesus calls us to show God’s light in us through our good deeds. We may be accused of doing works, or trying to work our way towards salvation, but this is simply an unconverted lie Satan tries to use to derail us. We obey God because we love Him and because we are thankful for what He has done for us. Thanks is best lived through a life of obedience and gratitude.

When people thank us for our good works, this is an opportunity to continually give God the credit, the glory, and the praise for what He has done for us! We can never come close to out-blessing others when compared with how much God has blessed us. While it sounds like a cliché, we should live our lives filled with an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness! Let’s simply remember that the best way we can thank God is by being a blessing to others.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always begin every set of challenges by saying, continue intentionally seeking God first in your life. If you haven’t thanked Him lately for all He has done for you, do so today. If you are facing a huge challenge or struggle, or if you feel God hasn’t been kind to you, then know that while I don’t understand your situation, God is more than willing to walk with you through the pain and challenges in your life. God may be blessing you with a testimony you can use to help others facing a similar situation. Too often, we believe that struggles and pain are God’s punishments, when God may simply be giving us a gift we can use to help others in a more meaningful way.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. A personal relationship with God is essential for knowing God’s will for your life, and we should grow our relationship with God on the foundation of prayer and Bible study. Never let someone else’s ideas or opinions get between you and your relationship with God.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Year of Parables – Episode 3: Part way through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shares two short illustrations about being salt and light that challenges us as His followers about how we should live our lives, and how we are to be God’s representatives to the world.

Join the discussion. Share your thoughts on this passage.

The Only Thing that Matters: John 6:60-71

Published January 14, 2026 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: John 6:60-71 (NIV)

60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

Read John 6:60-71 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

In what may have been one of the most heartbreaking events during Jesus’ ministry, after being challenged by Jesus, we read that many of His followers left Him. It seemed that while Jesus drew a crowd, if that crowd became too large, He would challenge them with something very difficult, and many would give up and walk away.

However, in this passage, while the crowd of followers are gathering their things to leave, Jesus says a very profound statement: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” (v. 63)

Whether the crowd of followers didn’t grasp this, or they were too offended by Jesus’ metaphor-challenge about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, we read that “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” (v. 66)

But not all of Jesus followers left.

Perhaps seeing confusion in the eyes of the twelve disciples, Jesus turns and asks them, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” (v. 67)

In one of his few moments of inspiration, Peter breaks the silence hanging in the air following Jesus’ question by answering, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (v. 68-69)

Whether Peter fully grasped the words he was saying, or whether Peter was simply echoing Jesus’ statement about His words being full of Spirit and life, it seemed that these closest disciples saw something in Jesus worth following.

In a way they might not understand until later, they believed Jesus’ statement in verse 63 that “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.” It is the intangible aspects of life, like our focus and our character that matter the most. Focusing on the tangible parts of life, such as on our clothes, our bodies, our hairstyle, and what we eat each day will only leave us chasing after things that don’t really matter in the long term. What does it matter what we wore two or three years ago on this day, or what we made for supper? These topics consume too much thought in our present lives when Jesus wants us instead to focus on more important matters, like our focus on God, our relationship with Him, and on the character we are developing through our habits.

Peter gets this key idea: Peter knows that the more time he spends with Jesus, the more like Jesus he will become and the stronger their relationship will be. The more time we spend with Jesus, the more like Jesus we can be as well – and the more life we will be given through the Holy Spirit and the truth Jesus spoke.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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God the Redeemer: Matthew 1:1-17

Published January 13, 2026 in Written Journal Entries
Focus Passage: Matthew 1:1-17 (NASB)

Of all the portions of the gospels that we might call boring, topping the list for most people would be the two genealogies of Jesus. Both Matthew and Luke include a record of Jesus’ ancestry, and while many of us might gloss over Jesus’ family tree, if we push ourselves to look for interesting details, we are able to find them – even in these boring lists of names.

For instance, if we push ourselves while reading Matthew’s version of Jesus’ genealogy, we might be surprised when we see a number of Old Testament women show up. Matthew includes Tamar, who was Judah’s wife (v. 3); Rahab, who was the wife of Salmon and who may have possibly even been the same Rahab who helped the spies in Jericho (v. 5a); Ruth was the wife of Boaz (v. 5b); Bathsheba was originally Uriah’s wife but then became David’s wife after Uriah’s death (v. 6); and last but far from least, Mary was Joseph’s wife and the mother of Jesus.

The interesting thing about these women comes when we ask ourselves the question: Why did Matthew include these women in a type of list that was usually limited to males?

Some of these women were born Jewish, while others left their own people and joined the nation of Israel. Each of these women lived in different time periods, and each woman came from a different background and a different social class. But with all this uniqueness, is there something that unifies all these women’s stories?

When I stop and think about it, one big unifying factor is that each of these women (except for Mary) was not in their first relationship:

  • Judah and Tamar’s story is far from ideal – or even within the realm of God’s original plan (Genesis 38).

  • If the Rahab that is included in this list is the same Rahab that helped the spies, then she becomes the only person (plus some members of her family) who was spared from Jericho when the Israelites entered the Promised Land. She was a prostitute, and also would have had a less than ideal past. (Joshua 6:22-25)

  • Ruth, who was Boaz’s wife, did not start with that as her first marriage. She was first married to one of Naomi’s sons while Naomi was living outside of Israel, and she was the only daughter-in-law who returned with Naomi when she came back. Her marriage to Boaz was a second marriage, and her story is one that emphasizes the woman pursuing the man. (The short book of Ruth includes her story.)

  • Bathsheba started out as Uriah’s wife, that is, until David took a liking to her. This was one of the biggest failures in David’s entire life, and one that God called him out on. (2 Samuel 11)

  • Mary, Jesus’ mother, had the opposite issue. Everything appeared as though she became pregnant because she was unfaithful to Joseph, and while Joseph understood after the visit from an angel, the situation still didn’t look good to those who were close to this young couple.

All these women, and the men they are connected with, had less than ideal circumstances. They all had had relationships with men prior to their relationships with the men that they were connected with (except Mary), and for some reason, Matthew chose to include them in his genealogy for Jesus.

However, even more amazing is this: God took these four women with non-ideal pasts, and He draws them into His story, and into key places within Jesus’ family tree. This tells us that God redeems sinners, and that even with our failures, He still has a place for us in His story!

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Flashback Episode — Focusing on Mission: John 1:19-34

Published January 12, 2026 in Audio Journal Entries

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As we continue our journey into John’s gospel, John the author of this gospel turns his attention onto John the Baptist, who was Jesus’ forerunner in ministry. While the other gospel writers include details about John the Baptist, John the author includes some unique details we don’t see in the other gospels.

In my mind’s eye, the passage we will look at happens after Jesus was baptized, tempted in the wilderness, and as He is returning to society. However, I suspect that this passage begins during the time when Jesus was at the end of fasting in the wilderness and actively being tempted by Satan.

Let’s read about what happened. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 1, and we will read from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 19, John the author tells us about John the Baptist, saying:

19 This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. 27 It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Pausing our reading briefly, I want to draw our attention onto a couple of details before continuing.

While in other gospels, we read about Jesus saying that John the Baptist fulfilled the role of Elijah who was to come before Him, John the Baptist himself denies that title or role. Only a misquoted, out-of-context verse could make people believe John the Baptist was literally Elijah back from heaven. I have seen people claim that Jesus supported reincarnation because of one misquoted, out-of-context verse, but ironically, the claim is about someone returning who never actually died. Second Kings, chapter 2 tells us the story of Elijah being taken to heaven in a chariot of fire and a whirlwind.

But regardless of all of this, John the Baptist makes no claim about being Elijah, even if others make that claim for him. Instead, John the Baptist focuses on a mission that was foreshadowed by Isaiah. John the Baptist didn’t focus on who he was; he focused on the mission he was sent to accomplish.

John the Baptist’s mission was pointing people to Jesus, and he does so very clearly in this passage.

Let’s continue reading and discover what John the author tells us next. Picking back up in verse 29:

29 The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 31 I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” 32 John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

In my mind, I suspect that this was when Jesus was coming back from being tempted. It is also possible that after Jesus returned from the wilderness, that he spent a few days listening to John the Baptist’s teaching before John openly declares the truth about Him.

John the Baptist doesn’t proclaim who Jesus is with any unclear language. He declares that Jesus is the Son of God in verse 34 by saying, “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

John the Baptist focused on what happened during Jesus’ baptism for the evidence to firmly proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. It was at Jesus’ baptism when Heaven opened and the Spirit descended onto Jesus. I suspect this was more a sign for John the Baptist’s benefit than for Jesus. I am confident that Jesus had the Holy Spirit before this point, but that Jesus and the Spirit knew that the time wasn’t right before that point.

We can learn a lot from John the Baptist in this event. Not only can we learn that John did not see himself as Elijah or as a prophet, we see through how John described himself that he was focused on mission rather than on role. It’s possible John the Baptist could have known or claimed the roles of Elijah or the Prophet, since other people were likely speculating this. John the Baptist might have known he was fulfilling the role of Elijah, but he also knew that it is better to focus on mission than on roles. If John the Baptist focused on the role of Elijah, the focus would have been placed on himself. By placing the focus on the mission, John the Baptist is clearly directing the attention onto Jesus who would come after him.

Not only that, but we also discover that John the Baptist clearly tells those present who Jesus was in no uncertain terms. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and the only One who is able to redeem us from sin.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue seeking God first in your life and choose to focus on the mission God has called you to instead of any role or position He may have placed you in. If you are uncertain of what God’s mission for your life is, the best mission to fall back on is simply telling people about Jesus. Choose to proclaim Jesus to those God brings into your life and tell others what Jesus has done for you personally.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and discover more about Jesus and God in your own life. While pastors, speakers, authors, or even podcasters can give you ideas to think about, filter everything you read, hear, or see through the pages and truth of the Bible to discover how the world’s ideas fit within God’s plan. You may be surprised to discover how much of the worlds ideas are simply not compatible with God’s ideal. When faced with the choice, always lean on God, because His way leads into eternity.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or avoid where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Flashback Episode: Year in John – Episode 2: When John’s gospel turns the focus onto the ministry of John the Baptist, discover several big things we can learn from Jesus’ forerunner in ministry, and the focus of John the Baptist had for his life.