Hannah longs to have children but is childless. Adding to her misery, she’s harassed by everyone around her. Though, she is her husband’s (Elkanah) favorite wife he dismisses her infertility and fails to protect her from verbal assaults from his other wife, Peninnah, who endlessly torments her. Then, when she prays in earnest, Eli, the […]
Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and Leah, is the central character of Genesis 34. Though we know what happened to her and because of her, we know nothing about what she said, did, or thought. Her story begins tragically. She is raped by Shechem. Yet after his act of lust, he falls in love with […]
Don’t Be Bound by What Was and Embrace a Better Way Forward We need to stop using the phrase “dysfunctional family.” Every family is dysfunctional. Only the degree of dysfunction varies. Dysfunction exists on a continuum, from highly dysfunctional to marginally dysfunctional, but all families—as with all relationships—have some dysfunction. Not an Excuse When people […]
We Must Stand Firm Against Society’s Attacks on Marriage and Children As followers of Jesus, we need to reclaim what the Bible teaches about family. This is because the biblical ideal of family has taken a hit in today’s culture. Therefore, we must counter this and celebrate the family. Today’s secular society views marriage as […]
Respond with Moderation In one of the Bible’s more horrific stories, Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, is taken by force and raped by the outsider, Shechem. When Jacob hears of this he does nothing. Perhaps he fears for his life should he complain or maybe it’s because all his boys are in the fields tending their livestock […]
Make God Your Number One Priority When asked which commandment was the greatest, Jesus said we’re to love God with all our heart, our soul, and our strength (Mark 12:29-31, quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5). We’re to love him more than anything else, to make him our number one priority. And when we understand God as referring […]
For 52 Churches, we took a year off and visited a different Christian church every Sunday. When the year wrapped up, we returned to our home church. This time it’s different. Throughout More Than 52 Churches, we interspersed our church visits with regular attendance at our home church. This provided a balance, a stability to […]
Strive to Build Meaningful Connections with Those Around You We know many more people on a casual level then we do in a deeper, more meaningful way. We can distinguish between them as acquaintances versus friends. Think of concentric circles, with yourself in the center. The innermost circle contains your friends, and the next circle […]
Learn about Rahab Rahab is a prostitute who two spies stay with when they scope out Jericho. We don’t know if they seek her for her services, or if they merely want to get out of public view. When the king of Jericho commands Rahab to turn the men over to him, she commits treason. […]
Pray for Family and Friends Ever since our daughter was born, I knew I should pray for her, as well as for her brother, when he came along. I did pray for them—when I thought of it—which wasn’t very often. I felt guilty for not doing what I knew I should do. And when I […]