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Prophesying False Hope
Pick the hot social issue of the day. Pick the hot button issue of any type in our current time. Think of the rhetoric you hear on blogs and other forms of media. On any issue, no matter the “side,” more often than not you will hear opinion. Sometimes, as Christians, it may have some sense of “biblical” formation. Yet,…
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Eyes that fail to see
18 Don’t you have eyes? Why can’t you see? Don’t you have ears? Why can’t you hear? Don’t you remember? (Mark 8:18, CEB) A Prayer of Confession Lord, I am too often with the disciples on this one. You are trying to teach, and you generously give me lesson after lesson, yet when you quiz me on something you just said,…
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The Lesson of the Underwear
These are days when I am fascinated by English translations and wish I knew Hebrew. (And I know at least TWO comments I will get on that statement alone.) Jeremiah is part of our Lenten reading and the symbolic things Jeremiah had to do were… um… interesting. This one from Jeremiah 13 is really interesting. First, the “polite” version: This is what…
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The Place of Freedom
31 Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teaching. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32, CEB) “Truth” is not an acknowledgement of something. We will find freedom when we are faithful to follow Christ. Truth is found in following, not racking up…
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A Prayer for Revival and Reform
14 Please come back, God of heavenly forces! Look down from heaven and perceive it! Attend to this vine, 15 this root that you planted with your strong hand, this son whom you secured as your very own. 16 It is burned with fire. It is chopped down. They die at the rebuke coming from you. 17 Let your hand be with the one…
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The Need to be WITH God
3 Restore us, God! Make your face shine so that we can be saved! (Ps. 80:3, CEB) We need the face of God to shine on us once again. We need HIS will in our lives once again. Lent is a time for evaluation. It is a period of examination. We come up short so often. We find failure in our…
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The Warm Fuzzies and Fear
It’s probably best to avoid Jeremiah in your Lenten reading if you’re into the warm fuzzy God stuff. As a matter of fact, you will need to avoid the Romans 3 reading for today as well. In fact, close your eyes, connect your middle finger with your thumb, and just start singing “Kumbaya.” If your view of God is the…
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Please Try Another Religion
Following Christ is not the cream puff, cotton candy, all sugar stuff we’ve seen promoted in our current culture. It is not about just “hangin’” with the “crew” (or whatever slang is being used in this 24 hour period). Following Christ is not a hangout. He is LIFE. He does not lie to you about that. Maybe some other “Christian”…
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Sexual Sin
The particular reading guide I am using for Lent breaks down a reading of the early chapters of Romans. I really don’t like breaking down the first three chapters into “bite size” pieces because it really leads to bad small group discussions. If we stick with Romans 1, the inevitable discussion turns to sexual sin. And that chapter gets camped…
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Broken Cisterns
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jer. 2:13, NIV) We exchange the glory of God for our own glory. We insert our own efforts and abilities in where the grace of God and the power of the Spirit should…
Category: Lent
