Amon Did Evil in the Eyes of God and Did Not Humble Himself A reoccurring phrase in the books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles is about people who “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” In these four books it appears thirty-two times, including eight times in 2 Chronicles. […]
Though Many are Quick to Criticize the Social Gospel, We Would be Mistaken to Do So The primary way we learn words is through divining their meaning from context and everyday usage. That’s how children learn to talk and how most adults expand their vocabulary. We presume their meaning, deduce their function, and discern how […]
King Rehoboam Made the Costly Mistake of Listening to His Friend’s Advice Rehoboam succeeds his father, Solomon, as king. He inherits a sweet situation of a nation experiencing peace, enjoying power, and basking in wealth. It is his merely to maintain. His detractor, Jeroboam, goes before him and asks for a reprieve for the people […]
Take Time to Tell God What You’re Thankful For on Thanksgiving and Every Other Day Too The church I attended several years ago had a Thanksgiving practice of having members stand to share what they were thankful for. From my perspective this never went well, with too much silence or too much forced sharing and […]
Arguing Over What is True Has Divided Jesus’s Church for Centuries I’m a huge advocate of Christian unity, that as Jesus’s followers we should all get along and live in harmony. Denominations and theological perspectives don’t matter; Jesus does. In the book of John Jesus prays that his future followers will play nice with each […]
Pursue Christian Unity The last thing Jesus does before his arrest and execution is to pray. The last part of his prayer is for the unity of his future followers (John 17:20-26). Yet two thousand years later, we still wait for Papa to answer this imperative request from his Son. We are not one, far […]
Some Things are More Important Than Religious Practices: Focus on What Matters Most I plan to fast one day a week. While I’m not as consistent as I would like, I follow through more often than I miss. Fasting is a spiritual act of worship for me. It better connects me with God and sharpens […]
Most Christians Carry Unexamined Criteria that Others Must Agree with Before They’re Accepted I was once interviewed for a volunteer position at my church. The pair of interviewers cranked through a series of pre-assigned theological questions to determine my supposed worthiness to lead. For some queries the answers were straightforward; others, not so much. On […]
Is the Kingdom of God Our Future in Heaven or Our Present Reality on Earth? The Bible often talks about the Kingdom of God, sixty-eight times in all (in the NIV). Five biblical authors—Mark, Luke, John, and Paul—cover this topic in ten of the New Testament’s books. Luke writes the most about the kingdom of […]
Elisha Seems to Allow an Alternative to Taking a Life-Threatening Stand for God I love the story of Naaman in the Bible. He commands the enemy army, conducts raids into Israel, and even has a Hebrew girl as a slave. It’s this girl, full of faith and void of resentment, who suggests Naaman go to […]