Month: May 2020
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Oath Busting
Genesis 13:1–18; Numbers 13:30–14:4; Numbers 14:36–45 (read online ⧉) God had made a promise to Abraham. As God is the make of the promise, following yesterday’s devotion, it was an oath. Abraham’s descendants would flourish in the land that Abraham would walk. At the time of Lot’s and Abraham’s separation, the land that Lot had…
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Is Swearing Bad?
Leviticus 5:4–6; Numbers 30:10–16; Deuteronomy 12:29–32; Judges 11:29–40; Matthew 5:37 (read online ⧉) No, we’re not talking about bad language. We are talking about making and “taking” oaths. All elected politicians take oaths regarding following the law and upholding the respective (state or US) constitution. Peace Officers, Military service people, doctors all swear oaths when…
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A Different Kind of Backsliding
Acts 10:30–47; Acts 15:5–12; Galatians 2:11–16 (read online ⧉) Peter was called/sent to the first “real” Gentile converts, post-Resurrection. There is some fuzziness in this as we cannot assume that there were no other Gentile converts. The likelihood was that they, prior to Cornelius, were converts to Judaism first. This is an important distinction, as…
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Unbridled Prayer
Psalm 102; Matthew 6:7–15; 1 John 5:12–15 (read online ⧉) Prayer is mysterious. Prayer is powerful. Prayer is…confusing. The psalmist’s opening is the simplest and purest, hear and listen to me (yes, they are different). The psalmist is miserable. The psalmist wants things to stop being bad. People, food, places, health, well-being are all part…
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Living Out Love
1 Thessalonians 4:13–14; 1 Corinthians 13:4–13; James 1:22–25 (read online ⧉) The well-known atheist, Christopher Hitchens, had many debates (philosophical, scientific) with Christians. During at least one (and probably many) of the debates, he was asked what his hope was or what hope his view delivered, and he answered honestly…none. The world always needs hope.…
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Serving Service
Acts 6:1–7; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; 2 Corinthians 9:1–15 (read online ⧉) One of the struggles that the church as in this day (without COVID-19) is people to serve. The seven that were chosen by the people and deputized by the Apostles had a particular service to the widows of the community. The Apostles set out…
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Easy Listening
Jeremiah 26:20–24; Matthew 23:29–24:2 (read online ⧉) The most famous Uriah in the Bible is not the one we read about in Jeremiah. The famous Uriah died because the king slept with his wife. He was…inconvenient for the king. Perhaps being named Uriah isn’t a blessing? Uriah, son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim, was also inconvenient.…
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Throne of Hearts
Psalm 47; Job 23:3–12; Job 26:2–14; John 1:43–51 (read online ⧉) The Stone of Scone is a stone that supposedly all the “legitimate” rulers of Scotland were/are crowned on. After one of the many wars between England and Scotland, the English King Edward I took the stone to England, where it generally remained until 1996…