âAs I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always…
My heart meditated and my spirit asked: âWill the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?â Then I thought, âTo this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all…
Each year I write a short post highlighting the top ten books I read that year, plus a few honorable mentions. (I read more books than ever this yearâmany quite excellentâso I’ve had to bump it up to a top 12.) I do this because I want to honor those worthy of honor, and also in the hopes that some of you might see a title or two that interests you. (Those who know me…
As the new year rolls in, we would be wise to plan for the coming year. We accomplish few things of lasting value without having planned for them in advance. This is true for our spiritual journey. Now, at the start of the year, is the time to plan for how we will encounter God in his Word for the next twelve months. Ordinarily, I write about the value of reading through the Bible in…
To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: âWe played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.â For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, âHe has a demon.â The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, âHere is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of…
“Which is easier: to say, âYour sins are forgiven,â or to say, âGet up and walkâ? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.â So he said to the paralyzed man, âGet up, take your mat and go home.â Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority…
Each year I write a short post highlighting the top ten books I read that year, plus a few honorable mentions. I do this because I want to honor those worthy of honor, and also in the hopes that some of you might see a title or two that interests you. (Those who know me well know I love to get others reading excellent books!) So without further ado, here are the ten best books…
So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. âQuick,â he said, âget three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread. Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a…
Silence has been an important spiritual discipline since the birth of the church. It may be more important now than ever before, for two reasonsâboth related (unsurprisingly) to the challenges of living in a digital age. First, the discipline of silence is so important because a digital age is also a distracted age. We carry little devices around with us that quite literally clamor for our attention. Needless to say, this will drastically inhibit our ability to…
For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Matthew 13:17) Jesus has just shared the parable of the four soils, and his disciples are confused (as they often are). As he explains why he teaches in parables, he alerts the disciples to the tremendous privilege they have. In the past, God’s prophetsâholy…