A time of reflection and repentance may lead to self-loathing and discouragement, but that is not God’s plan. Satan condemns; God forgives. There is a wonderful story in the Bible that reveals how Jesus can turn the negative of sin and failure into something positive. A woman, who was washing Jesus’ feet and weeping for love of Him, was singled out as a sinful woman by the host in whose house Jesus was visiting. Jesus turned to his host and asked

Yesterday we considered the sin of omission after reading James 4:17; however, Jesus speaks of this sin much more thoroughly and strongly in Matthew 25:31-46. Jesus says that when we do good for the “least” of our society, that we are doing good to Him. He also says that

At the end of a day, it is spiritually healthy to consider any sins or wrong we may have committed that day and ask God to forgive us. But the Bible throws something else at us: the sin of omission. Omission: a failure to do something. Synonyms: negligence; neglect. (dictionary.com). Now chew on that for a while. The wrongs we commit are sometimes easy to list, but imagine how

When an item breaks, we throw it away. A weak or broken item is no longer useful to us. Therefore, it is challenging for us to understand this biblical concept of brokenness. In the Bible, we learn about a woman who bought a costly perfume to show her love for Jesus. The perfume was contained in an alabaster box that she broke open to anoint Jesus. After the alabaster box was broken, a lovely fragrance must have  lled the room. What beautiful fragrance will  ll our lives and our world if we humbly go to Jesus, broken with sadness over our sin?

It is difficult to be honest - even with ourselves. Our pride justifies mistakes, minimizes them, or even denies their existence. When we take the same approach to sin, it is spiritually devastating. How can we imagine the beautiful truth God has for us when our lenses are smudged with lies about our spiritual condition? “Examine yourselves...“ Let’s do that today. Let’s honestly examine ourselves, honestly humble ourselves, and honestly ask for mercy.

Imagine! Over the next 21-days, we will be challenged to imagine! The dictionary says imagination is “forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.” The Bible uses another term for that definition: Faith.

What do you know about Crucifixion? Follow the link below to listen to a reading about the physical implications of crucifixion.

Do you want the wrongs of this world to be righted? In this text, we learn in v. 28 that the role of priests was 1) “to go up to my altar”— they should have been going before God on behalf of the people to intercede and plead for them, 2) “to burn incense”— which was a religious duty and ritual that honored God (Leviticus 16:13), and 3) “to wear the ephod”— which would mark the priests as those who counseled the people with wisdom from God. In v. 29, we see that Eli’s sons, who were the priests at the time — the very ones who should have been caring for the people — were in fact “fattening” themselves on the labor of others wrongfully. Not only was this injustice, but the very people who should have been caring for others were in fact harming them. How would God right these wrongs

There is perhaps no greater image of a broken world (particularly in ancient cultures) than that of the “barren” woman. The pressures to produce an heir and insure an inheritance in Israel were so tremendous that “barrenness” might describe not only the physical but also the spiritual and social condition of the afflicted. After years of this, Hannah recognized that her grief had become sin and her mourning had become an “affliction” (1 Samuel 1:11), so at Shiloh she sacrificed that which enslaved her to the Lord. Upon repenting, she vowed that if she were ever to have a child, she would dedicate him to the Lord — rather than using her child as proof of her worth to those who had been judging her. She soon conceived and later returned with her son, who she gave as an apprentice to Eli the priest. This boy was Samuel, the first of the great Old Testament prophets.

The account of the Passover with which Israel begins its exit out of Egypt and slavery is in many ways the central story of the Old Testament. It is meant to speak profoundly to God’s people. On the one hand, it is a reminder that unless God intervenes and covers us, we are in the same condition as everyone else: part of a rebel creation that stands under God’s judgment and condemnation. That is always part of our identity as human beings and without it we cannot walk in humility either before God or others.