In Jesus’ rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees as recorded by Matthew, it reads not all aspects of service to the Lord are equal. “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. …
A few months ago I noticed a well-placed billboard on a well-travelled highway leading into Kansas City. The sign was simple. It said, “God’s Word Romans 1:24-28: Homosexuality is Sinful Behavior Not an Identity.” While I heartily concur with the veracity of the message I believe the setting was misplaced. We have been called to…
I grew up on the fuzzy, flapping fringe of the color line in the United States. My paternal grandmother had five generations of Cherokees behind her, and before that it was several of the “First nations people” of Canada who got together with my Scottish and French ancestors on my grandmother’s side, which makes me,…
God is not bound by time. Moses said in Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” God has no beginning and no end. Moses at the burning bush, anticipating a question from the children of Israel, asked…
The story of King David’s adultery with Bathsheba, his attempts to cover it up, and the murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite, is told in 2 Samuel 11. The last statement in the chapter is “But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.” Afterward, the prophet Nathan, who had always been a staunch…
“Above all keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8) Godly love and sin are incompatible. Christians are to be patient when personally wronged and righteous when God is wronged! While men may feign that their love, “just loves no matter what, and that is all there is…
Do you ever feel unfulfilled or, incomplete? “…but I still haven’t found what I’m looking for,” sang Bono in the 1980’s. “As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you O God. My soul thirsts for you, O God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”…
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17). Meditating on what…
“Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool” (Proverbs 17:10). Older siblings know better than their younger siblings, so more is expected of them. Parents know better than their children, so more is expected of them. Elders know better than the flock entrusted to them, so more is…