Category: Genesis to Revelation

  • DYSFUNCTIONAL PROBLEM SOLVING

    Connect The Testaments1 Chronicles 3:1-4:23; 1 Timothy 3:8-16; Psalm 77:1-20 When I locate a problem, I often fixate on it. I think that if I analyze it enough, I can solve it. This is a problem when I come to difficult issues that require someone else’s expertise. Stubbornly, I want to figure out the problem…

  • SUPERNATURAL JOY

    Reflections on Micah Micah prophesied a message of judgment and hope to a struggling people. Micah 7:18 expresses joy for a Lord who “delight[s] to show mercy.” But how do we find hope or joy in all situations? During college, I spent a summer working in a large city in India with Christian believers from…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    Our Lord Jesus is ever giving, and does not for a solitary instant withdraw his hand. As long as there is a vessel of grace not yet full to the brim, the oil shall not be stayed. He is a sun ever-shining; he is manna always falling round the camp; he is a rock in…

  • INTO THE MESS

    Reflections on Jonah “Cookies are not treasure!” Max’s shrill voice rose over the din of the cafeteria, causing every head to turn. “Treasure is permanent!” he wailed. I had to summon all my strength to keep a straight face in front of the infuriated 8-year-old. Max was one of 96 kids attending a summer day…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    The believer in Christ receives a present justification. Faith does not produce this fruit by-and-by, but now. So far as justification is the result of faith, it is given to the soul in the moment when it closes with Christ, and accepts him as its all in all. Are they who stand before the throne…

  • A SENSE OF HISTORY

    Connect The Testaments1 Chronicles 1:1-54; 1 Timothy 2:1-15; Psalm 74:1-23 When I was in sixth grade, my teacher assigned our class a family genealogy and history project. At first it was frustrating. It seemed like unnecessary work. But eventually I became obsessive over it as I discovered our family stories. Many of us share this…

  • THE HIGH COST OF SIBLING RIVALRY

    Reflections on Obadiah During my years in pastoral ministry, I have discovered a strange reality: It seems more conflicts occur within the church than without. This dysfunctional church-family dynamic is a far cry from the Apostle Paul’s admonishments to “Love one another with brotherly affection” (Rom 12:10). Shouldn’t people who have the Holy Spirit living…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    The boundless realms of his Father’s universe are Christ’s by prescriptive right. As “heir of all things,” he is the sole proprietor of the vast creation of God, and he has admitted us to claim the whole as ours, by virtue of that deed of joint-heir-ship which the Lord hath ratified with his chosen people.…

  • SHIPWRECKED

    Connect The TestamentRuth 3:1-4:22; 1 Timothy 1:12-20; Psalm 73:1-28 “I am setting before you this instruction, Timothy my child, in accordance with the prophecies spoken long ago about you, in order that by them you may fight the good fight, having faith and a good conscience, which some, because they have rejected these, have suffered…

  • AS WE FORGIVE OTHERS

    Reflections on Amos I lay awake, staring into darkness, mentally replaying a conversation from earlier that day. My friend had misunderstood me and then condemned me for it. I felt deeply wronged. I also felt a toxic mixture of anger, self-pity and self-righteousness creeping through my veins. It is often much easier to pray, “Forgive…