Christmas is over. Homes and businesses previously decorated with bright and cheery holiday lighting are all taking those lights down again.
What about you and me? Jesus was speaking to people just like us when he said to them, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14-16). He defined their “light” as good works that they could do that would bring glory to God. What sort of good works do... read all »
God did not design us for violence. Sin, however, changed everything and it became the responsibility of righteous people to take violent situations in hand.
As soon as Noah stepped off of the ark God instructed him that any man or beast who took the life of another man was to be put to death, Genesis 9:5-6. God had noted for us in Genesis 6:5 & 11 & 13 that mankind had become steeped in violence. God’s plan was that the crim... read all »
'Church' these days has been turned into a show by many in the religious world. Worship is for them a big production that is performance oriented and entertainment driven. Such assemblies beg for applause and they get plenty of it. It seems to me that it is a lot of hype with very little of God in any of this.
But getting back to the question about applauding at a baptism, or some good news announced among God's people, I think it a completely d... read all »
God said it. He said it to Joshua. He said it three times (Joshua 1:6, 7, 9 & 18).
The third time God told Joshua to be strong and courageous, He also asked him, “Have I not commanded you?” Doesn’t that sound to you like God wanted Joshua to understand that since He had commanded him to act, that there was no reason to be timid or afraid? God’s authority is all we need to plow through our fears.
This w... read all »
God teaches us that it is right to punish those who do wrong. When He or those authorized by Him (see Romans 13:1-5) punish evil as He designed, it is justice. When individuals take things into their own hands, however, it is usually for revenge.
Justice is a matter of comparing one’s behavior with a recognized code of behavior or law. When the law is broken, justice demands a fitting punishment.
Vengeance is not about justice, but personal ego. The apostle ... read all »
Jesus said the above in John 7:24. We usually hear people claiming that the Bible says not to judge and they are usually making this claim having judged someone for having supposedly judged someone else. They seldom catch themselves, however.
Actually, the title quote above is incomplete. Jesus’ full statement was, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment”. The only way to make a righteous judgment is to have suffic... read all »
“For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” Romans 7:19
What evil do you want to do? I have mine. You have yours. Even the apostle who wrote the above had his.
Need a list? Just off the top of my head I can think of gluttony, envy, arrogance, drunkenness, promiscuity, vulgarity, adultery, physical and/or mental abuse, theft, dishonesty, bullying, gossiping, carousing, filthy talk, substance abuse, deceptio... read all »
I cannot recall what it was like to be in my mother’s womb. Of course at that point I was incapable of understanding any of the wonders of the created universe into which I would eventually be born. But having been born, I would never go back.
As children, we always looked to the next “phase” of our lives. We wanted to play with the big kids, to go to school, to go to the next grade up, the next school up and so on. We had in mind that there was a... read all »
You see it often in the gospels; Jesus reaching out with his hand to touch people. He touched Peter’s wife’s mother on the hand and took away her fever (Matthew 8:14-15). He touched the eyes of two blind men and gave them sight (Matthew 9:27-31). He touched the ears and the tongue of a deaf mute and gave him hear-ing and speech (Mark 7:31-35). He even touched a leper to make him clean (Mark 1:40-42).
What is it about touch? There is no substitute for it... read all »
I find it interesting that there are no specified instructions for how to hold a funeral service in scripture. There isn’t anything teaching us that we must have one, nor even any direct instructions as to what to do with the body. Yet God teaches us that there is something very special about death, especially the deaths of those who die having been faithful to Him:
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.
Psalm 116:15
And I h... read all »
God challenged Jeremiah about 2,600 years ago:
“Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and look now and take note. And seek in her open squares, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her”
Jeremiah 5:1
Jerusalem was doomed because her people had abandoned God. His justice, having been building ever since Israel’s demise about 120 years earlier, was now looming just over the h... read all »
If you look around when you are outdoors, with the exception of a few rare places on the planet, what you’ll see is an amazing array of plant life. Trees of every description decorate the landscape from the umbrella shaped Parana pine to the fern-like cypress and the cartoonish baobab.
There are also grasses, carpeting the ground with color, texture and beauty. Shrubs and bushes abound that add character, definition and splashes of color as the seasons change... read all »
God created both Adam and Eve in His image. Each of them had a divine purpose. Adam was created first according to Genesis 2:1-18 noting for us that it was not good for the man to be alone. God then made woman from the man to be his wife, but more specifically, to be his helper according to 2:19- 24.
Because of the weakness of our fleshly minds, we humans tend to make this relationship competitive, but competition has never been any part of God’s plan. Equali... read all »
Time and again I’ve heard the expression, “You can’t legislate morality” and wondered whether those touting this line have thought through what they were saying.
We do not “legislate” morality, but we must legislate behavior. Anyone in authority over others not only has the right, but the obligation to do so.
From national governments all the way down to our own personal groups of friends, we have codes, written and unwritten, b... read all »
There is a fifth reason I want to identify in this continuation of last week’s article. That reason is that the rest of Jesus’ New Testament after the gospels shows us that His apostles carefully and specifically followed the pattern of work He laid out for them.
In Acts chapter two we see Peter preaching Jesus to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. He tells them how Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected and that upon His ... read all »