Stopping to Think

God said what? "Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom." (Jeremiah 3:2) Here, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, God chastises his people. And he does so in a way that many church folk (or anyone) might find offensive. He calls them whores. Coming across this as I read in my devotions this morning did not exactly bring a case of the warm fuzzies to my heart. It called me out, forcing me to look at the sin in my life, and it furthermore reminded me that this is not an uncommon use of language for God. The use of marriage and sexual metaphor to explain the covenant relationship of God to his people, and the way in which his people violate that covenant, is found throughout the Scriptures. Ezekiel 16 being perhaps the most notable case. There God explains his calling of Israel unto himself, ad...

This is a reworking of a poem I wrote almost three years ago. I'm still not much of a poet, but I have improved. The emotion in this poem deserved better than my original words conveyed. -The Scourge- They had marched and fought for months with little food to eat And several weeks had passed since they last had tasted meat They marched ore fallen logs, and through the powd'ry fresh snow Praying the morn to see, along with sun and its warm glow The howling wolf and freezing fog, had beckoned in the night A time that ev'n hardened men must wrestle fits of fright That great and mighty men should fear, is unbelievable you say Yet through fear they pushed on through conflict night and day Courage, it is said, means not the lack, but rather, facing fears This these men had done, holding fast through blood and tears "War is a Scourge," we hear is what the wise men have all said They'll be shown right, when in the morn, our heroes are all dead

Prayer. Bible reading. Meditation. Fasting. These, along with a number of other things, are what we refer to collectively as "the spiritual disciplines." What an obtuse term. Who really wants to practice spiritual discipline? The idea of discipline seems so boring, restrictive, and terribly un-modern. Patience, discipline, toil- these things have become somewhat akin to curse words. Shouldn't religion or spirituality be more free flowing than this? More free flowing, perhaps, than any part of life? And more gratifying, too. Right? I don't have any data on this, but it is my assumption that most Christians would like to know God better. I have a simple question. Why do we think that it would be easy? Don't get me wrong, God isn't grading us on a "he tried harder than she did" scale. The only basis for a right relationship with and forgiveness by God is the finished work of Christ on the cross. Nor is a relationship with God difficult in the same way...

The day of death is better than the day of birth Death is someplace we all arrive - are you ready? The only way to find your life is to lose it I take that to mean serving others and abandoning my pursuit of fulfillment is the only way to be fulfilled. To live is Christ, to die is gain Jesus has a purpose for me here, a design that I may find life in. But it will never compare to eternity with Him. Love the brotherhood . Fear God. Honor the king. They will know we are disciples by our love. We are disciples by virtue of fearing and following God. One way we display that fear of God by honoring those authorities He has ordained. The Lord is my Shepherd Nothing can pluck me out of the hand, or the sheepfold, of my loving Shepherd. I can have rock solid trust in my God. What then shall we say to these things ? If God is for us, who can be against us? God is the transcendent Lord of all creation. He predestines, calls, justifies, and glorifies His children. He ordains not only...