Who is Jesus?
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”” (Matthew 16:13) Who is Jesus? This is a question that has been asked for two centuries. Who is he? He’s the most controversial person in history. And everyone seems to have an opinion […]
Watching and Waiting
“When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”” (John 5:6) Of all the “Questions God Asks,” this one is the most shocking. John tells us this invalid was brought daily, for 38 years, to the […]
Robbing God?
“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings.” (Malachi 3:8) Last week I got a chuckle out of the idea of Job telling God how to run the universe. Imagine a frail and fallible human lecturing the omniscient, all-knowing God. No less […]
Miscalculating God
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.” (Job 38:4) Business blogger Anton Roundy asks his readers to consider miscalculations. If you’re going somewhere and you’re off course by just one degree, after one foot, you’ll miss your target by 0.2 inches. No big deal, right? After 100 yards, […]
Spiritual Snowflakes
“The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4) Ever get mad at God? There are several issues going on in Jonah’s life at this moment (we’ll discuss them Sunday), but one of the issues is entitlement: the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment. Jonah had […]
Where Are You?
“Can you fathom the depths of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 11:7, HCSB) If you had ten minutes in heaven with God, what would you ask him? About his nature? About his creation? About history? I’m sure you’d ask him something, because it is our nature to be curious. We get […]
Fire from Heaven?
“When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” (Luke 9:54) I’ve got to be honest with you: This is sometimes my default response when things don’t go my way. In this passage, a village refused Jesus entrance. They rejected […]
Streams of Living Water
“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:38) I believe it was Shakespeare who made famous the phrase “too much of a good thing.” In ancient history, Greek explorers discovered a great lake in the Arabah wilderness. They named it Thalassa Thanatos, or […]
Pages of Presence
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) The other day a self-declared humanist/atheist friend tagged me in a Facebook post about the “errors” in the Bible. Rather than battle him with memes and GIFs, I offered to buy him coffee and discuss the […]
Family of Light
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” (Ephesians 5:8) We live in a dark, dark world…and it is getting darker. What does it mean, then, to live as children of light? Does it mean we use our social media pulpits to condemn sin and […]
Missing the Forest for the Trees
“Everyone who saw it said, “Such a horrible crime has not been committed in all the time since Israel left Egypt. Think about it! What are we going to do? Who’s going to speak up?”” (Judges 19:30, NLT) Last week we saw that political anarchy doesn’t begin in a vacuum. When a people reject God, […]
DIY Religion
“Then Micah said to him, “Live with me and be my father and priest, and I’ll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes and your food.”” (Judges 17:10) This week in our nice little stroll through the book of Judges, we’ll meet Micah. He’s like a lot of American Christians. He loves […]
