Posts from 2021

The Christmas season is upon us once again. Houses glow with decorative lights. Gifts are being bought, wrapped, and placed under twinkling trees. Stockings hang expectantly from fireplace mantles. Cards are arriving in mailboxes. Cookies and other treats are being baked and consumed. Families finalize plans to get together. This isn’t called “the most wonderful time of the year” for nothing. But the month of December also brings with it an inner conflict for many. In over thirty years of…

We have been devoting time recently to the subject of daily Bible reading. We have considered both the benefits and the goals of spending time each day in the word of God. With this final treatise, let us consider the mechanics of daily Bible reading. What are some practical tips that can help us to read God’s word each day. Select a good location. We often pride ourselves on being able to multi-task. But when it comes to ingesting the…

In the last two editions of the bulletin, we highlighted several benefits of reading the Bible each day. Let us build on those thoughts by considering some objectives of daily Bible reading. What are some motivations that we ought to avoid? What are some motivations we ought to cultivate? Inferior Goals The goal of daily Bible reading should be more than merely checking something off a to-do list. In the interest of full disclosure, I am pro-list. I like to…

One of the most important spiritual exercises for the Christian is daily Bible reading. However, it is not hard to fill our days with so many other pursuits that we are left with little time and energy to meet God in his word. With the hope of motivating us to re-engage in this spiritual discipline, let us consider some additional benefits of being a daily reader of God’s word. Daily Bible reading reveals weaknesses and challenges us to work on…

There are two things necessary for a person to engage in an exercise program: being convinced of the benefits of the program, and a desire for those benefits. If either is missing, there will be no change in behavior. One may want to lose weight and increase heart health, but if he doesn’t believe the program will produce that benefit, he won’t do it. Likewise, one may believe that a program will work, but if he doesn’t really want the…

It’s one of the most confusing challenges of life. It prompts the question, “Why?” At a minimum it’s frustrating; at maximum, angering. It can shake the foundations of our faith. However, it can also be one of the most faith-building experiences of our existence. It can draw us closer to God and deepen our relationship with him like no other experience can. It’s when God says, “No.” God has opened the door of heaven to us and invited us to…

I once heard a comedian confess that in his childhood, he and a friend would wrap double-stick tape around their fingers before the collection plate was passed on Sundays. They would make it look like they were placing something in the plate, when they were actually taking coins out. Any right-thinking person can see how deplorable such thievery is. We would never be guilty of such a terrible deed. Or, would we? When the prophet Malachi delivered his scathing rebuke…

A concerned preacher in another town contacted me recently regarding an article posted on our website in which I listed the following lesson from Galatians with accompanying scripture references from that book, “Justification is by faith, not law in general or the Law of Moses in particular (2:16-21; 3:1-14, 21-23; 4:1-5; 4:22-31).” The brother asked me to clarify that statement, especially in light of passages that speak of the New Testament being a law, such as Galatians 6:2, “the law…

I know of no congregation of the Lord’s church that can claim perfection. If churches are composed of people, they will have their problems. It is true that we are saved people (Acts 2:47), holy people (1 Pet. 2:9), and sanctified people (1 Cor. 6:11). But we are also weak people (Matt. 26:41) who are not above sin (1 John 1:8). But these weaknesses and sins do not necessarily mean that God has cast off the congregation wherein these weaknesses…

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…

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…

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…