Tag: sin

  • Confessing in Trust

    Daniel 9:3-10, Psalm 25:1-10, 1 John 1:5-10 The ashes that many had on their foreheads yesterday are gone, either rubbed or washed off. As we read yesterday, ashes are a sign of repentance. Daniel sought God through prayer, supplication, fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. Daniel uses these 5 things not to get a reward, nor in…

  • Chained

    Romans 5:12–21, Philippians 2:5–11, Hebrews 5:1–10 (read online ⧉) Obedience is hard. God knows that it is hard for us. That doesn’t excuse us from it, however. It seems perfectly reasonable to draw from the Scriptures that part of Jesus’ unspoken mission was to show obedience and that obedience is possible. There were points in…

  • Sinning Fear

    Hebrews 10:26–11:1, 1 Corinthians 10:1–14 (read online ⧉) When we read verse 26 many people will become consumed by fear. There are a lot of people who were taught (and are being taught) that if you confess your sins (usually at church) then commit one immediately after, and then die, it’s as if the confession…

  • How Desperate Are You?

    Genesis 38:1–26, Ruth 1:3–14, Mark 12:18–27 (read online ⧉) Whether it be the situation such as with Judah and Tamar or Ruth or the one proposed by the Sadduccees, most modern American Christians skip over the questions that come up with these passages, as they make them uncomfortable. They are indeed not the idealized “nuclear”…

  • The 3 Rs: Regret, Remorse, Repent

    Matthew 27:3–4, Luke 17:1–4, Acts 8:9–25, Acts 16:22–34 (read online ⧉) According to Merriam-Webster… regret means (1)(a) to mourn the loss or death of, (b) to miss very much; (2) to be very sorry for remorse means (1) a gnawing distress arising from a sense of guilt for past wrongs, self-reproach repent means (1) to…

  • Why of Baptism

    John 1:19–28, John 3:22–28, Acts 19:1–7 (read online ⧉) Baptism holds a central place in the Christian church from its very beginning. The only other act that is of equal or perhaps greater importance is the Eucharist (i.e., Communion). Today, it is the ceremony/event by which people are welcomed into the church universal. Over the…

  • 30 December 2019

    2 Samuel 12:5–14, John 7:53–8:11 (read online ⧉) David’s behavior was wrong. Sadly, in the wider (non-Israelite) culture, it wasn’t all that unexpected. In fact, many of the pieces within the story show a progression that would have not surprised anyone hearing it, that is until Uriah throws a minor monkey wrench into the narrative…

  • Unmade To Become Whole

    Deuteronomy 7:7–12, Deuteronomy 8:5–6, 2 Samuel 7:11–16, Hebrews 12:3–11 (read online ⧉) The way Deuteronomy 7:10 is often interpreted is as “…[God]…destroys those who hate him…” However, אָבַד (“awbad”) is also translated elsewhere in the Scriptures as broken or unmade. The concept of unmade or broken, so as to be re-made or “fixed”, is much…