Month: April 2021
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Be Sent
Psalm 150; Proverbs 9:1–6; Mark 16:9–18 One of the great truisms of the Christian faith is, “Jesus loves me, this I know; for the bible tells me so.” It is that simple. It is, however, much more than that. It would be nice were it only that, and it was that simple. As most of…
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Live in Love
Psalm 150; Hosea 5:15–6:6; 2 John 1–6 The passage in 2 John ends with, “live in love.” Even without the political insanity, COVID, a struggling economy, elevated racial tensions, and many other issues, we do not “live in love” very well. Bluntly, we’re awful at it. All too often we get in our own way…
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Take the Message Forward
Psalm 150; Jeremiah 30:1–11a; 1 John 3:10–16 We have a lot in front of us. The end of the COVID-era seems to be approaching. Although there seems to be a step back for every step forward, at least we are moving forward. This doesn’t mean we’ll be going back to normal. In fact, the normal…
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Go and (p)Reach
Psalm 4; Luke 24:36b-48; Acts 3:12-19; 1 John 3:1-7 The disciples are still struggling with the Resurrection. You’d think they’d have accustomed themselves to Jesus being alive, but they were obviously still struggling. As part of this last appearance, Jesus explained the Scriptures and His place in them. This is not the first time he…
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We Ought To Love
Psalm 4; Luke 22:24–30; Acts 3:1–10 The argument that occurred between the disciples is a warning to us all. This is the worldly and fallen condition of man. The worldly/fallen person thinks of self (and even family can be self) above others. There is often a belief that life, money, success, are all part of…
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Unlimited
Psalm 4; Daniel 10:2–19; 1 John 2:26–28 Relationships are very important to us. Sometimes relationships can seem to be invisible or even not related to us. The invisible and “unrelated” ones will often have impacts beyond our imaginings or expectations. Daniel had a relationship with God. It was very solid and sound. Daniel trusted God…
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End of Ends
Psalm 4; Daniel 9:1–19; 1 John 2:18–25 Eschatology. It is a fabulous theological word. It means the study of the End Times. You can watch plenty of End Times theology on TV. It usually involves zombies, nuclear weapons, or (my personal favorite) large reptilian creatures that like to stomp cities. Less the actual Eschatological part,…
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Roads of Dust
Psalm 135; Isaiah 26:1–15; Mark 12:18–27 As one of the wealthy nations in the world, passages like this in Isaiah should cause us to reflect. Will all our stuff be crushed to dust and be walked upon by the poor? If you’re reading this, you may well say, “I am poor.” Truly a lot of…