Today’s passage: 3 John 1:5–8 Focus verse: Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters. (3 John 1:5) John opens his letter to Gaius by affirming his faithfulness to the truth and his continuing to walk in it (3 John 1:3). Now John likewise affirms Gaius’s faithfulness in his service to […]
God Perspective Matters More As readers of the book of Job, we are privy to the whole story: Satan torments Job in an effort to prove that Job’s Godly devotion is conditional, that it is dependent on circumstances. Job, however, does not have the luxury of this grand view. All he knows is that his […]
Jeremiah Compares the People’s Relationship with God to a Cheating Spouse The prophet Jeremiah, along with many other writers in the Bible, accuse God’s people of spiritual adultery. They are unfaithful to their Lord. They cheat on him. They run around with other, lesser gods. Marital Adultery Cheating on a spouse is a situation most […]
The Bible Is Chocked Full of Perplexing Stories That Are Hard to Understand One puzzling story in the Bible is when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. What loving father would kill his son? It might be asking someone to make the ultimate sacrifice. However, Abraham is intent on obeying God regardless […]
Discover Who God Is from Scripture We can learn a lot about God from the Bible. After all, we do sometimes call it the Word of God. Every book in the Bible, even every chapter reveals truth about God. This includes Psalm 33. It’s a psalm of praise. It reveals five biblical truths about God. […]
God Calls Us to a Faith That Produces Fruit Two reoccurring themes in the Bible are the ideas of being faithful and being fruitful. We are to be faithful and fruitful. The word faithful occurs over two hundred times in the Bible and shows up in most of its books (41). The word fruitful occurs […]
Three Outcomes to Consider When people ask for prayer, I’m eager to do so. Prayer is important; prayer makes a difference. God wants us to pray, and it’s part of our spiritual formation. So when someone asks, “Will you pray for me?” I pray. Often I pray right away, either silently or out loud, depending […]
In my prior post, “Listen to Understand,” I noted that listening to Jesus results in more understanding; not listening produces confusion. This parallels Jesus’ teaching about the “talents” and the “minas” (both words refer to denominations of money). These parables, though differing in details (likely because they were given to different audiences at different times) […]
You may know about Daniel, the guy noted for spending the night with a bunch of hungry lions and emerging the next morning unscathed. The bigger story is that as a youth he was captured by an invading army, forcibly relocated to Babylon, stripped of his culture, indoctrinated with new philosophies, and forced to work […]
Here is another thought building on the prior post about one of Jesus’ parables. To review, the parable is about a nobleman who, before going on a journey, entrusts three servants with varying amounts of money to invest for him. The first two invest their amounts and earn a good return, apparently doubling their stakes. […]