Going Back on Your Upbringing
Lamentations 4:5, “… they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.” This describes the extremes one person can go to in life…from being clothed in scarlet to hugging a dunghill. This describes a blown life. It tells of a person who once loved the fragrance of holiness, but now is more comfortable filling his…
The Lord Sent the Word
Psalm 18:30, “… the word of the LORD is tried: …” The questions are: Who has tried the Word of the Lord? Under what circumstances? What were the results? In Creation We see God the Father trying His Word in creation. He tried it on the darkness and the darkness became light. He tried it on…
How Are We Doing?
2 Kings 7:9 “… We do not well: …” This Old Testament story in 2 Kings 7 could be duplicated, in part, in the New Testament story in Luke 10 where the priest and the Levite observed the condition of a wounded man in a ditch and passed by on the other side. They did…
A Little Can Make a Big Difference
Small things can make a big difference, this is true in the negative as well as the positive. Examples of the negative are the little foxes that spoil the vines (Song of Solomon 2:15) and the dead flies in the ointment (Ecclesiastes 10:1). However, I want to approach this from the positive. What is smaller…
Don’t Lose the Essentials
Judges 1:7, “…Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, ….” Understanding the Culture This is one of those Bible stories that is only understood if the culture of the day is factored into its interpretation. In Bible times, a king would cut off the thumbs and great toes of…
Why the Cup in Benjamin’s Sack?
“And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth. And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according to the word that…
Lessons Learned at the Bulletin Board
In my school days, the “social media” existed in two mediums; the water cooler for the faculty and the bulletin board for the student. From these two locations, we kept current with (our) world view. The grade schoolers gathered at the bulletin board to check on their Spelling Bee status. The high school girls gathered to see…
Something to Nibble on Later
Mark 6:43, “And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, …” There are so many avenues of application to travel down as we read this story of the feeding of the five thousand. I want to choose the topic of “nibbling on the leftovers” as the subject of this devotional. We all are…
Gideon: A Study in Contrasts
Gideon’s Credentials The Bible and Christian history is a recording of solutions from unlikely places. Gideon is one of such men. He was unlikely, but greatly used by God. “… Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor…and I am the least in my father’s house.” A paraphrase would be,” Lord, you…
Understanding Foot Washing
John 13:5, “… and began to wash the disciples’ feet, …” There is a good amount of confusion around this subject of foot washing. It is evident that Peter himself did not understand its true meaning because he went from one extreme to the other – from not wanting anything washed, to requesting a bath.…