A foster child comes to a foster family. As an infant, his ability to communicate is limited. His foster parents find much joy in him, but they wonder, will he remember us when he moves on? What will he become? They pray for God’s grace and peace to follow him. The child was brought to them to receive physical and emotional
Paul knew well the audiences of his letter-writing. So what was behind his exhortation to the Thessalonians to “…make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on
Have you noted the depth of the layers of meaning in Isaiah? Sometimes we get too reductionistic in looking for “the” meaning in a passage. This simplifying approach works better in the NT, but is still not satisfactory. When we approach the text this way, we assume that God only intended to communicate, and could only communicate,
The other day, my daughter and I were talking about something and she said “Well, I just want to go to heaven!” That really struck a chord with me. My 4-year-old knows pretty much nothing about heaven, except it will be even more awesome than the Disney castle; yet, she is so eager to go to this unknown place. Her eyes are on the prize.
Scripture has many characters. The author of 2 Chronicles tells us how to feel about some of these characters before telling us about their story: “He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord,” “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” We are able to discern trends among the progression of leaders of Israel: Uzziah did right,
“100 Ways to Change Your Life”. This is a chapter title of a book I am currently studying. The author makes this statement about the 100 ways: “It fills your heart and your home with the best thoughts ever recorded. It saturates the personality, satiates the soul, and stockpiles the mind. It changes the atmosphere of every family
Can you think of a time when you did something reluctantly because you didn’t feel you had what it takes to do it well? Mary, after being given the news by God that she would bear the Son of the Most High, rejoiced at this incredible task. Granted, at that point she may not have been thinking ahead to the details and the hardship that
For several weeks I’ve been studying what some have referred to as “The Canaanite Problem.” This “problem” comes from the incredibly violent stories of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land (for a glimpse you can look at Joshua chapters eight through eleven). In these passages the Israelites are commanded to destroy cities,
Have you noticed all the images of Jesus that people have created throughout the centuries? Growing up, my mother displayed funeral prayer cards from family who had passed away, and I would look at them in contemplation. The cards had images of Jesus on the front and prayers to Jesus on behalf of the deceased on the
As Election Day approaches, Americans are considering the direction of our government. But who, really, is our “ruler”? Timothy 6:14-16 speaks of, “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who
