Church Blog
Those Who Know Your Name
Names have always been special to God. In Scripture we often find God using names to convey ideas. For example, the prophet Hosea assigned names to his children that stood as indictments of Israel’s sins (Hosea 1:3-9). The Almighty would even change a person’s name to teach a lesson. Abram became Abraham. Sarai became Sarah. Jacob became Israel. Cephas became Peter. Saul became Paul. Sometimes fathers would call their children by names that were calculated to reveal something about the…
Sleep
There are clear warnings in Scripture not to love sleep too much, for such inordinate desire can lead to laziness and poverty (Prov. 20:13). On the other hand, our wise God created us as creatures that need sleep to survive. So we must balance our need for sleep with our need for productivity. David wrote in Psalm 3:5, “I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustained me.” In Psalm 4:8 we find these words, “I will both…
A Key to Happiness
Following their banishment from Eden’s paradise, God blessed Adam and Eve with two sons, Cain and Abel. Moses records that both offered sacrifices to God, but only Abel’s offering was accepted (Gen. 4:3-4). Cain’s was not (Gen. 4:5). Cain allowed his anger and resentment toward his brother to grow so much that seized an opportunity and murdered Abel in cold blood (Gen. 4:8). Sometimes lost in the circumstances surrounding this first murder is a statement by God that reveals one…
Abraham’s Early Mornings
I am not really a morning person. I loathe early alarms. Most days, it takes me a while to really get going. If, however, the day promises something out of the ordinary and pleasant, like the beginning of a vacation, I’ve been known to wake up before the alarm clock goes off. But the prospect of an unpleasant day makes getting up that much more challenging, and pulling the covers over my head that much more alluring. That’s one thing,…