Category: JOHN D. BARRY

  • AN IRRATIONAL LIFE

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 11:1-12:28; 2 Corinthians 3:9-18; Psalm 35:12-28 Love is irrational. It requires doing things that compromise every survival instinct.Moses tells God’s people to have a memory of what God has done among them and to love Him as a result: “And you shall love Yahweh your God, and you shall keep his obligations…

  • TREATING THE SYMPTOM

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 7:1-8:20; 2 Corinthians 2:12-17; Psalm 34:1-22 I regularly predict that something will only take me an hour when it actually ends up taking two. I’m beginning to think that this is a sign of a larger issue: the tendency to underestimate the severity of a problem. In medical offices, this is called…

  • YOUR INNER SELF

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 4:1-49; 2 Corinthians 1:17-24; Psalm 32:1-11 “Did I leave the burner on?” “Did I lock the door?” “I feel like I’m forgetting something.” Forgetfulness is a syndrome we all experience at one time or another. Many of our forgetful moments end up being minor inconveniences. But there is one thing we should never forget:…

  • MOVING ON

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 1:1-46; 2 Corinthians 1:1-11; Psalm 31:1-9 “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn now and move on” (Deut 1:6–7). We have a terrible tendency to stay in one place or keep doing one activity longer than we should. Our meetings run long, we constantly work overtime, or we overstay a…

  • GIFTS AND GRACE

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 35:1-36:13; 1 Corinthians 16:1-24; Psalm 30:1-12 Yahweh spoke to Moses on the desert plains of Moab beyond the Jordan across Jericho, saying, ‘Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their property cities to live in; and you will give to the Levites pastureland all…

  • RISK: OVERSOLD AND UNDERPLAYED

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 32:1-42; 1 Corinthians 14:26-15:11, Psalm 27:1-14 The fears of the psalmist are not our fears today, and the fact that they aren’t should bother us. The psalmist remarks, “Do not give me over to the desire of my enemies, because false witnesses have arisen against me, and each breathing out violence. Surely…

  • TONGUES, PROPHECY, AND THE THING WE CALL LOVE

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 31:1-54; 1 Corinthians 14:1-25; Pslam 26:1-12 Nearly anything good can become unproductive if it’s abused or misused. Paul is all about embracing the side of spirituality that can seem a bit wacky to us today—gifts of tongues and prophecy, to name a few. But he is fully aware of the problems that…

  • GREEN PASTURES: THEY REQUIRE ACTION

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 28:1-31; 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:16; Psalm 23 Love and complete reliance on God are interrelated concepts. When we discover what love really means, we want to praise God for it. When we learn to rely on God for all our needs, we see just how loving He is as He takes care of…

  • REASON: NOT THE ULTIMATE POWER

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 27:1-23; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Psalm 22:14-31 Reason is a gift from God, but that doesn’t make it a substitute for seeking God’s will through prayer. Moses appears to have been an intelligent man. He figured out how to flee Egypt after killing an Egyptian, how to survive in the wilderness, and how…

  • FORSAKEN TO DELIGHT

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 26:1-64; 1 Corinthians 8:1-9:27; Psalm 22:1-13 “My God, my God why have you forsaken me? Why are you far from helping me, far from the words of my groaning?” (Psa 22:1). These are some of the darkest words in Scripture. It’s almost painful to speak them, to imagine a feeling of complete…