Moving Toward Good Friday and Easter This week, many in the Christian community will observe Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season known as Lent, a solemn journey towards Easter. For some followers of Jesus, Ash Wednesday is little more than a notation on their calendar, whereas, for others, it is a meaningful spiritual […]
Not Taking Responsibility for Our Actions Goes Way Back We often shake our heads in dismay over people who refuse to admit when they have done something wrong. Instead they want to blame others. They refuse to take responsibility for their mistakes. This is not a new development. Even Moses, who spoke to God face-to-face, […]
A Thief in the Night Today’s passage: Revelation 16:1–16 Focus verse: “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.” (Revelation 16:15) A voice bellows out from the temple, commanding the seven angels to go forth and unleash their […]
Seek Someone to Inform Your Life and Actions One time when meeting with a young man, he admitted to me his struggle to know what it was to be masculine in a God-honoring way. “I just want a good male role model,” he lamented. I immediately knew two things from his complaint. First, he didn’t […]
A Speculative Fiction Novella Tension between 15-year-old Emma Barlow and her much older nemesis, Pompous Jack, continues to rise. Escalating conflict ensues. Trying to embrace a job she didn’t want, Emma must fight against Jack. He seeks to control her. She seeks to break free. He strives to dominate her. She strives to regain her […]
The Example of two Hebrew Midwives Shiphrah and Puah are two Hebrew midwives. They live toward the end of the Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt. The Pharaoh of Egypt, fearing their slaves’ mounting numbers, tells Shiphrah and Puah to kill all the baby Israelite boys as they are being born. This is worse than, in effect, […]
Today’s passage: John 12:37–50 Focus verse: Because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue. (John 12:42) At about this time in the book of John, we read of the Jews’ response to Jesus and the miracles he performed before them. We could […]
We Must Respect God’s Chosen Leaders In my post on Korah’s rebellion, I noted that Korah had some progressive ideas about God and the people’s relationship to him. While these views are widely accepted today (thanks to Jesus), they were quite radical in Korah’s day. However, I don’t think that Korah’s rebellion was theological in […]
Seven Plagues to Complete God’s Wrath Today’s passage: Revelation 15 Focus verse: I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. (Revelation 15:1) Revelation 15 seems out of order. In it seven plagues of God’s wrath are unleashed even though his harvest already […]
We Honor God When We Take Care of His Temple In the post “Take Care of God’s Temple,” we talked about honoring God with our bodies because the Holy Spirit lives in us. But there is more to this idea of our bodies being God’s temple. Collectively the church is God’s temple too. That is, […]