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Church Love
1 Thessalonians 4:9–11 Imagine being told that we don’t need encouragement or training or discipling to show brotherly love. That would be wonderful. Paul tells the Thessalonians that their love is displayed far outside of their home church(es) to the greater region. In other words, their fellow believers in the region know that these Thessalonians
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Blaming God
2 Chronicles 12:1–8, James 1:12–15 When we read the Old Testament, the phrasing is often such that we could say God caused most suffering. In fact, there are many who truly believe that despite the balance of scriptures. Let’s take the story of Rehoboam and Shishak. Rehoboam was the son of Solomon, son of David.
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Faithfully Blind Together
Leviticus 21:16–24, Matthew 20:29–34, 1 Corinthians 1:26–29 Even today people struggle with blindness. Granted, today those who are blind have legal protections, braille, technology, and acceptance that wasn’t part of other cultures. In the New Testament era, the only “job” the blind could get was begging. Doesn’t sound very fulfilling or enjoyable. Our story in
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Very Much Active
Numbers 11:16–17+Numbers 11:24–30, 1 Samuel 10:1–13, Mark 9:35–41 The Holy Spirit—the third person of the Trinity—often does not act in a way we understand or can predict. That makes us frustrated. For example, there are Christians who believe the Holy Spirit has ceased miraculous activity. For some, that means no miraculous healings. For others that
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Repentant Worship
Jeremiah 44:15–23, Hosea 14:1–7 The “tale” told in Jeremiah is a sad one. The people of Israel knowingly and willing worshiped gods that were not theirs. As we read their tale, they saw wealth, prosperity, and security as the gift of their gods, when it was God who protected them. Now that God is calling
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Questions, Questions
1 Kings 3:3–12, Daniel 3:8–28, Luke 20:27–40 We have all heard an instructor, teacher, professor, or lecturer say, “there is no such thing as a dumb question.” The intent is to make the students or hearers more comfortable to ask questions. While that statement is often made, on the other hand, when students are graded on
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Burden Bearing / Burden Sharing
Psalm 119:169–176, Psalm 121, 1 Peter 5:1–11 No matter how strong your faith, there has been (or will be) a time when you desire nothing more than to be relieved from your burdens. It may be a job, finances, family, health, death. Often we just want to escape. Psalm 119 is full of many emotions
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Enemies and Adversaries
Rom 2:25–29, Revelation 3:7–13 The struggle between Jew and Christian has long been the case. Initially, there was a mix of those with good motives (e.g., preserving the “true” faith, protection from apostasy) and bad motives (e.g., pride, influence). Then there were those who regularly challenged the theology for various reasons. Paul regularly had to
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Evaluating Value
John 8:2–12, 2 Corinthians 5:10–15 Before we go any further, this story in John is an odd one. It does not show up in the earliest manuscripts that we currently have, however, the story does show up soon (time-wise) after the earliest manuscript. What is also unusual (in comparison to others stories) is that it
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Rest and Recharge
Exodus 35:2–3, Leviticus 25:2–5, Matthew 12:1–9 What recharges you? An extrovert will be charged up by being with people. An introvert charges by being alone. Both, in many respects, are forms of rest. Part of the problem with Sabbath, as it is practiced, and as the rules seem to state, there can be no work