Bible Reading

Sometimes the words don’t come. Sometimes I bow my head and confusion clutters, sorrows shadow, and problems persist. Burdens press down on my heart. I try to pray, but there.are.no.words. No words to convey my heart or my loved one’s need. No words to express the hurt, the fears, the uncertainty that fills me. No […]

I love the David of the Bible. I think this is because I identify so fully with his words. He was not a perfect man, but he was an honest man in his relationship to God. As I thumb through the Book of Psalms, I read about his questions and fears and confusions (Psalms 2, […]

I just finished a journey through the book of Joshua in the Old Testament, and it was a journey. Sometimes, people avoid the Old Testament because of the unfamiliar names and long genealogies, and it is easy to bog down in those. The specificity found in the Old Testament books speaks to God’s attention to […]

If the last two years have emphasized nothing else, they have reminded us that life is fragile and fleeting. We have watched as disease and death have taken those we love, and we have sorrowed and, at times, despaired. This truth is not a new truth, however. Life on this Earth has always been temporary. […]

Names of conquerors fill history books, and their monuments populate the world’s cities. We remember Cyrus and Genghis Kahn, Alexander and Napoleon, Washington and Patton, and their exploits are the stuff of legends. I see these names and I think of their deeds, and then I read Romans 8:37 – “In all these things we […]

David sets up a contrast in Psalm 12. In verses two through four, he gives a description of the words of the wicked: “2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. 3 The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things: […]

When you read the Psalms, you can not help but notice the difficulties of David’s life, his sorrow, his fear, his despair. You also can not help but notice how time and again he cries out to God for help. So many times, a psalm begins with sorrow and ends with praise as David remembers […]

How do I know about the cross? The Bible tells me so. How do I know about Jesus? The Bible tells me so. How do I know about His love and His willingness to forgive? The Bible tells me so. There is a theme here, repeated through the ages. The Bible is God’s message to […]

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Nothing is lost or without purpose in the life of the believer. God, the Master Redeemer, claims each broken piece – each pain, each sorrow, each success, each failure, […]

“Never, in peace or war, commit your virtue or your happiness to the future. Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment “as to the Lord.” It is only our daily bread that we are encouraged to ask for. The present is […]

Walking in continual sin (death) after salvation is unnatural. “Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4 In chapters six and seven of Romans Paul […]

Stuck smack in the middle of the fourth chapter of Philippians is a powerful two-letter command: DO. It is preceded by a comma and followed by a colon, and it packs a mighty wallop of responsibility for me. Paul is writing from prison to the church at Philippi. He has reminded them of the Lordship […]

I have felt forgotten. I have felt unheard by God. I have questioned God about sorrow. I have felt like the other side was winning, and I am not alone. I find David’s expression of these feelings in the Psalms, particularly Psalms 12 and 13. These feelings are a part of our human condition , […]

I have read stories of priceless antiques being used as doorstops and expensive treasures lying dormant while the owners lived in poverty. Impoverished owners of riches who did not realize the worth of their belongings. Treasure, unrecognized, unclaimed, and unused. Sad. I think about those stories as I read through the book of Ephesians. In […]

The word “therefore” signals a change, often a consequence or outcome of what has gone before. In Paul’s letters to the churches, the word “therefore” often precedes instruction on how to live out the truth he has just shared. This is true in Philippians, chapter four, which he begins with the word “therefore”. Chapter three […]

Psalm 9:1 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvelous works. God is all about wholeness. When Jesus walked on Earth, He made people whole. Think about the woman with an issue of blood (Matthew 9:22) or the man with the withered hand (Matthew 12:13). In Mark […]

When I think of Kingdom living, I think of the Beatitudes. Found in their entirety in the fifth chapter of Matthew, they describe a way of life that goes far beyond the self-righteousness of man’s religion. There are entire books written on the Beatitudes, and there is much to study in Jesus’ Sermon on the […]

When I was a teenager, my mom always had last minute instructions for me when she was leaving the house or when I was going out. She would remind me of tasks to complete, behaviors to maintain, and she would tell me she loved me. Standard operating procedure. Leaving the ones we love can be […]

What if we went to church on Sunday and the preacher did not preach? What if he stood and said, “I have no need to speak anything, because the word of the Lord has sounded throughout our community and world in the words and lives of believers? (I Thessalonians 1:8) What if we lived our […]

Two weeks out from Resurrection Sunday, and life goes on. We celebrated Hope. We celebrated Life. We celebrated Forgiveness and Victory and Grace! Then we walked away from the tomb and into the darkness of this world. Is Hope still alive? Is the Light of Grace still shining? Or has Joy fizzled in the face […]