A Trio of Blessings Reflects God’s Nature and Character Paul wraps up his second letter to the Corinthians with a blessing: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14, NIV). This trio of blessings proclaims grace, love, and fellowship. […]
Amos was a shepherd, called by God to be a prophet. His story is found in the book of Amos in the Bible. Amos says what God tells him, but after a while, the people of Israel—the primary target of his God-given proclamations—get tired of Amos and what he says, telling him to be quiet […]
It is popular in today’s society for people to form their own religious beliefs and define their own personal spirituality. On the surface this seems right, fair, and appropriately open-minded. It is the epitome of tolerance and acceptance. It is also dangerous. If I decide that there is no hell, does that mean it doesn’t […]
Jesus Boils It Down to Two Commands The Ten Commandments are listed in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 (and Exodus 20:3-23. Interestingly, neither of these passages calls this list the “Ten Commandments” (although the phrase is used elsewhere). The Ten Commandments 1. Do not have any other gods.2. Do not worship idols (“other gods”)3. Do not use God’s […]
My high school drafting teacher was a patient man—and my classmates sorely tested him in this. They had a perverse enjoyment in pushing him to his breaking point, because when he had enough, he exploded with a tirade of invective. The word patient occurs 27 times in the Bible, often referring to God’s patience with […]
Job Professes His Spiritual Practices The words of Job’s friend Eliphaz fail to comfort him. Instead they stir up anger. With a friend who speaks like Eliphaz I’d be angry too. In Job’s reply to his so-called friend, he professes what he has done to align himself with God. He claims his practices prove his […]
Each Day We Must Seek God for the Provisions We Need Asking God to supply us with our daily bread at one time mystified me. It seemed like a vain repetition (Matthew 6:7) for something that didn’t matter to me. Yet when I learned the context of this request, it made sense. Two thousand years […]
Mankind and the Animal Kingdom God created people and animals, the Animal Kingdom (Genesis 1:26). At first, everything was great. Then Adan and Eve did what God told them not to do. They sinned. He kicked them out of the Garden of Eden. Things went downhill from there. More people and more sin. A lot […]
In Ezekiel’s Day the People Did What God Detested In the eighth chapter of Ezekiel, God takes the prophet to Jerusalem to see the area around the temple. Each place God takes him, Ezekiel looks and sees the people doing things God abhors. God says he’ll drive them from his sanctuary. After several recurrences, the […]
We Must Remove Anything That Threatens to Push God Aside Asaph writes that God’s ways are holy, and that no other god is as great as he. Great is our God. In the context of that day, other gods refers to idols or made-up deities aside from the God revealed in Scripture. Today bowing down […]