A grand adventure awaits us but only if we are willing to leave what we have behind The first chapter of Mark talks about Jesus calling his disciples. As he walks along the shore, he comes across two brothers fishing. … Continue reading →
God will shine so brightly that we won’t need the sun to see As the epic battle in Revelation continues, just before Babylon—the symbol of all that’s evil—is about to receive her final punishment, an angel comes from heaven. John … Continue reading →
Good and evil are not equal and opposite forces In Revelation we read about the dragon and the beast, a great battle, and the tribulation the whole world faces. Embedded in the middle of this epic tale, we see a … Continue reading →
We need to learn to worship God in silence, doing nothing but standing in awe of him The Book of Revelation is an amazing book. However, I fear that many people miss the point of it. The intent of Revelation … Continue reading →
What we may perceive as a lack of love may actually be the embodiment of it In the book of Revelation, John shares a grand vision with an epic scope, far reaching and future focused. But before we get to … Continue reading →
Whoever has the Son has life In the first of John’s three letters, he writes to the early followers of Jesus, reminding them of God’s essential message about Jesus, light, and life. Jesus, by the way, is the light and … Continue reading →
When we focus on other people, we may lose sight of our own calling As Jesus wraps up his stint on earth, he spends some time with his disciples, the core group he trained for three years. They will need … Continue reading →
Too many people fail to see God at work and instead oppose those who follow him into his new ways Jesus warns his followers what awaits them. First, they’ll get kicked out of their church and then people will kill … Continue reading →
Too often we place our personal needs over what God is at work doing When Jesus’s friend Lazarus dies, Jesus goes to were the man is interred and, with a dramatic flair, raises him from the dead. When the people … Continue reading →
Though many people like an easy Jesus, not everyone accepts what he says Jesus normally teaches the masses in parables. Though most don’t really understand what he means, they like his stories because they’re so countercultural. Plus, he sometimes gives … Continue reading →
Considering Jesus as the Word of God shines new light on some verses in the Bible The book of John, which is a biography of Jesus, opens with a most poetic passage. It calls Jesus the Word. It confirms Jesus’s … Continue reading →
Examine our motives when we give Paul writes a succinct reminder to Jesus’s followers in Corinth. By extension it also applies to us. He says “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously,” … Continue reading →
Regardless of circumstances, God walks with us In Paul’s second letter to the believers in Corinth, he warns them not to deceive others or distort God’s word (2 Corinthians 4:2). That is, don’t misrepresent God’s character or intent to the … Continue reading →
When we do God’s work, our labor is not in vain As Paul winds down his first letter to the church in Corinth, he gives a simple command, followed by some encouragement. He says for them—and us, by extension—to remain … Continue reading →
Do not seek your own good, but what’s best for others We live in a narcissistic, self-centered world. We put ourselves first and care only about what’s in our best interest. Too many people live their life with the attitude … Continue reading →
Though the Bible tells us to judge, who we’re supposed to judge may shock you When Paul writes to his friends in Corinth, he has much to say because they struggle with many things. He spends a whole chapter in … Continue reading →
Some people don’t have biological offspring, but everyone can have spiritual descendants Paul wraps up his letter to the church in Rome with a long list of people Most of these names stream past our eyes as unfamiliar. We’re tempted … Continue reading →
God removes branches from his tree and adds others to it In Romans 11 Paul talks about graft. Not political graft but the biological kind. In this case, grafting takes a branch from one tree and attaches it to the … Continue reading →
We dishonor God by persisting in sin because we assume his grace will cover it A highschool friend heard about the doctrine of eternal security—which some people shorten to the more accessible mantra of “once saved, always saved”—and latched onto … Continue reading →
Jesus uses narrative to inform us about his father’s kingdom Jesus uses parables—“an earthly story with a heavenly meaning,” as I learned in Sunday school—to teach us about the kingdom of God. We are part of the kingdom of God, … Continue reading →