Psalm 23:5, God’s Faithfulness
“You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.”
Good morning, brothers.
My cup overflows. Yesterday I was confirmed in the Catholic Church.
I believe God knits us in our mothers’ wombs and loves us deeply from conception. Baptized as a baby, thank God, and thank my parents. Over 25 years as a Southern Baptist. A brief year in conservative Anglicanism, and the last nine months of Monday nights in OCIA. Each of us has our own path. God gives us free will to decide, and His grace to walk it. I am thankful for that grace, and for Him guiding me on His right path.
Like the ancient armies marching under the banner of the Cross, we can have confidence that Jesus is on the move. Revival is alive and well, amazingly, here in the United States, and I am confident in every country on this earth. I am more than ever sure that there is no dark place God does not claim with Light. The gates of hell will not prevail. Jesus will return to reward each according to what he has done (Matthew 16:27; Revelation 22:12). The exciting thing is that we, the Church Militant, are part of this great push for God’s will to be done and for His Kingdom to come.
If you have walked with Christ for a long time, or a short time, and you are considering full communion with the Catholic Church, be patient. Do not rush. Do not hold back on hard questions. There are many. There are also good answers, surprisingly good. Read, study, and pray. I am convinced more than ever that we are in spiritual warfare, daily, and that the fight is for souls. God loves all of us. He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
Yes, evangelicals know a lot about the Bible and the church. But there is much to learn. Be open to the early Fathers, men devoted to the apostles’ teaching as the authority on doctrine. Find great teachers, ancient and even modern, who love the Scriptures and will not flinch from historical truth or twist it to fit a system.
I am shocked by how much I love the teaching of the ancient Church Fathers and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is surprisingly ecumenical. I wish I had been taught from it years ago.
Over the last few years I have also gotten to know G. K. Chesterton, who made orthodoxy feel smart and right and obvious. I have just finished a book by Hilaire Belloc, a historian with a sword in his pen. He is bellicose in a good way. And I have been introduced to a former Presbyterian minister, Dr. Scott Hahn, who came into the Catholic Church, loves evangelicals, and is not afraid to show Bible-soaked Protestants that the covenant we already love was Catholic from the first page. Lastly, a quick nod to a trusted guide, C. S. Lewis, the best covert Catholic theologian who ever pretended not to be one. As evangelical Christians, our background in Scripture is not wasted. God prepares us for what is ahead. He will use your strengths to do His will through you.
In theology and in my heart, I had long known what I only yesterday professed publicly: the Catholic Church is the original Church, one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. I believe the Nicene Creed without reservation.
The more I studied and wrote on the Bible, the more I read history, and the more I watched the fracture in evangelical circles and the sprawling disunity of Protestantism, the more I was convinced that God commands unity. We are to be devoted to the apostles’ teaching, preserved by the authority granted to Peter and handed on through the tradition and magisterium of the Church. One Church. God does not hide the ball. We have more than enough evidence of good doctrine and of what is true.
Now that I am in full communion, I hope to encourage others to lead courageously but with love first and foremost. We cannot preach the life-changing, mind-transforming love of God in Romans 5, “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us,” and then greet with legalist anger those who come in good will. They love God. God wants them. All of us who teach should welcome baptized Christians as family coming home, not as suspects at the door. That does not require sugarcoating, but it does need to lead with love.
The Catechism, confirming Scripture, is clear. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and has been validly baptized is already a member of Christ’s Body, not yet in full communion, but a brother or sister in the Lord. “All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church.” (CCC 818) “Those who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church.” (CCC 838) You do not stop being a brother on the way. You are already His, a brother in Christ.
God’s family is Catholic, across the globe, the People of God. I am thankful to be in full communion with His Church. I have now professed what I believe: there is only one Church.
My aim is to find my place in the battle line where God wants me to serve. When Chesterton was asked what was wrong with the world, he answered, “I am.” I am too. So are you. We are saved by the grace of God, an event and a lifelong process. My aim is to build on my strengths but to continue in the Sacraments, as I'm wary of the low that often follows the high.
We sail in the ship of Christ. He is the anchor, the sail, the rudder, the hull, and every timber and plank of the vessel. The Spirit of Christ is also the wind that drives us forward. Confirmation is not a graduation certificate. I know that. It is more like a fresh burst of wind, confirming, powerful, and sustaining. It is God strengthening that wind in our sails. I was up in the wee hours, still glad of the chrism, wishing the fragrance remained on my forehead - I know it remains spiritually. My cup truly overflows.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the outpouring of Your Holy Spirit. Send forth Your Spirit, Lord, and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth. Fill us with the fire of Your love.
I see God’s grace in the Catholic Church. I have seen men of integrity preach not for acclaim, but with authenticity about and for Jesus. I see how they love the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ in the Eucharist. And I see how they pastorally love others. More of that, please. Love as we have been loved. The Catholic Church is the largest charitable organization on earth. I am the biggest charity case of all. They are stuck with me, and I with them. I do not deserve what God has given Kari-Lynn and me. I am a sinner saved by grace. Christ crucified is more than enough for each of us.
It is God who restores our souls. I have seen real integrity in Father Salvador and the local deacons: kindness, sincerity, fidelity to Christ. There are many such men. I want to be one of them. The Royal Law of Christ is more desirable than gold, sweeter than honey. Learn it. Teach it. Preach it. Obey it. Through Christ, by the Spirit given in Confirmation, baptized men have the power to uproot the rule of sin in themselves and, by self-denial and holiness of life, to grow in Christ. May we do so with confidence. Thank You, Jesus, for Your Church. Please bless my family and friends. Help each of us to advance Your Kingdom today. Amen. David C. M. Bell September 7, 2026
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