Transgression speaks

While there is a new brand of atheism that seems to be gaining a measure of cultural acceptance, there is another kind of atheism that has always existed — a practical atheism that affirms the existence of God with words and denies His existence with actions. Thomas Watson noted the existence of these unbelievers this […]

What does it mean when the Bible repeats itself?

Frequently the Biblical writers will use repetition of words and phrases as a means of emphasis. For instance, the word “believe” appears in John’s gospel 100 times — an obvious means of reinforcing not only the importance of belief in Christ, but also of the key verse in the book — “but these have been […]

Unclean! Unclean!

A whole generation (or more) of people has grown up hearing the adage, “cleanliness is next to godliness.” And I — like many others — heard many encouragements in my early years to make things “spic and span.” Importing those notions into the text of Leviticus is not helpful to understanding what God is saying […]

Determined to give

In 1874 Francis Ridley Havergal wrote the hymn “Take My Life and Let It Be” and sent it to a friend and essentially forgot about — until she saw it in a magazine four years later. She read it again for the first time in four years and was caught by the stanza, “take my […]

What the Ethiopian Eunuch Means for You

Part of our Scripture reading this morning is Acts 7-9. And this morning when I checked my email, I found this meditation on Acts 8 from Desiring God — “What the Ethiopian Eunuch Means for You.” What this story from Acts 8 means, the author concludes, is that Luke wants the story of this emasculated […]

Uneducated and untrained men – changed

I have been challenged by something I read recently — “I worry that our lives are like soap operas. We can go for months and not tune into them, then six months later we look in and the same stuff is still going on.” The urgency of the immediate prevents us from seeing the impact […]

A discerning mind exemplified

Last night while reading Memoirs & Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, I came across his response when a friend of the family had said “That she was determined to keep by the world.” What do you say about one who, like Demas, loves the world and with intention and volition walks away from Christ? M’Cheyne […]

A discerning mind

If I go to the grocery store, I can usually distinguish between the ripe, ready-to-eat fruit from the overripe and time-to-throw-it-in-the-garbage-can fruit. Take me to a used car lot, and I have a harder time determining what’s a good ride and what’s a worn-out set of wheels. Set two people in front of me who […]

Can you hear God? A meditation on Exodus 6:9

Sometimes, in the midst of discouragement, it’s hard to see the blessings of God. As an example, consider this morning’s Scripture reading. For all the blessings God had given Abraham (an eternal covenant), Isaac (spared from death on a sacrificial altar!), and Jacob (sons who would be the patriarchs of Israel), there was something He […]

Why are you afraid?

The list of things that stimulate fear is long. Do a google search of phobias and you will find lists of dozens and even into the hundreds of fears (I found one list with 536 phobias) — including such things as aulophobia (fear of flutes), linonophobia (fear of strings), sinistrophobia (fear of things on the […]

Meanwhile…

Sometimes, the smallest and seemingly most insignificant words in a verse carry the biggest implication. So it is in a verse of Scripture that we read this morning. The word “meanwhile” in Genesis 37:36 in Hebrew is actually the word “and.” It is generally translated as a simple connective or as a contrastive (like “but”) […]

Alone – with God

Jacob was where you and I may have been on occasion — alone (not only from friends, but from any form of hospitality), running from trouble, and the recipient of bad counsel (twice, and from his mother both times!). When he put down his head on a rock to sleep (a fitting demonstration not only […]

A little help with Revelation

This week we finish our annual reading through Scripture. We finish in Isaiah and Revelation — perhaps two of the more difficult books to interpret. As someone told me about Revelation yesterday, “I’m having a little trouble understanding what I’m reading.” This is a difficult book, but it is not unintelligible. And several accessible resources […]

The New Covenant, Pt. 2

Part 1 is here. How do these covenants (and particularly the New Covenant) relate to the church? The language of the covenants is clear: it is repeatedly stated by God and the writers of the OT that He is establishing a covenant with the nation of Israel that they will literally inherit. For example: “Therefore […]

The New Covenant, Pt. 1

This morning we read Jeremiah 31, which contains the promise of God to the nation of Israel that is commonly known as the New Covenant. Because of the words of Jesus, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Lk. 21:20), the question has arisen: “to what extent […]