Monthly Archives: July 2014

Thursday, July 31 Today is my 86th birthday. I suspect there will be a few people who take note of this. I’m OK with that except that it was through no effort of my own. I was the result, not … Continue reading →

Wednesday, July 30 Here’s another paradox. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn’t change. Yet there is a significant difference in His working with Israel in the Old Testament and His work to establish the church in … Continue reading →

Tuesday, July 29 There are quite a lot of paradoxes in the Bible. One of them is that when we are redeemed we are free. But at the same time Paul says that we are slaves of Christ. Paul says … Continue reading →

Monday, July 28 “There are times when if you are not feeling like yourself, it is quite an improvement.”—Unknown. I’m tempted to just let this one go; see where it goes. But no, it’s too challenging, so I’m going to … Continue reading →

Sunday, July 27 “Past experience should be a guide post, not a hitching post.”—Anonymous. Too many people live in the past. I have noticed that when I refer to something that happened in Bolivia in my missionary career, people’s eyes … Continue reading →

Saturday, July 26 My sister Carolyn’s granddaughter is getting married today. That can be good or bad. Maybe we won’t know for a few years whether it’s good or bad. Young people have a tendency to see things through rose … Continue reading →

Friday, July 25 I guess my title today should not be a surprise to you. I’m guilty. I know I’m guilty. You know I’m guilty. I know you’re guilty. You know you’re guilty. We’re all guilty. We all know we’re … Continue reading →

Thursday, July 24 “The value of persistent prayer is not that he will hear us . . . but that we will finally hear him.”—William McGill. I’ve always been puzzled as to why God expects us to pray. He knows … Continue reading →

Wednesday, July 23 “When you pray, rather let your heart be without words than your words be without heart.”—John Bunyan. You probably remember that John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress. He also wrote The Holy War, The Holy City and … Continue reading →

Tuesday, July 22 Ignoring Ignorance “We don’t know what water is. We don’t know what electricity is. We don’t know what heat is. We have a lot of hypotheses about these things, but that is all. But we do not … Continue reading →

Monday, July 21 “If you are not closer to the Lord than you were yesterday, guess who moved.” I’ve heard this idea in connection with a man and woman before, but not in our relationship with God. It is just … Continue reading →

Sunday, July 20 “It is not enough to be industrious—so are the ants. What are you industrious about?”—Henry Thoreau. I don’t think Thoreau was a Christian, but he touched a chord with me on this one. He certainly knew nature, … Continue reading →

Saturday, July 19 Shaking hands is a fairly common way of expressing friendship. If true friendship is established, it results in mutual trust, so the handshake can also be enough to seal a deal, to represent a binding commitment. Indiri … Continue reading →

Friday, July 18 We’ve all heard the expression “Go look in the mirror.” The idea is that when we start pointing fingers at someone else, it might be well to take a look at ourselves. How much easier it would … Continue reading →

Thursday, July 17 “Only your friends will tell you when your face is dirty.”–Sicilian proverb. Obviously, this has more to do with faults and failures than having egg on your face. And when it comes to touchy things most of … Continue reading →

Wednesday, July 16 “If we don’t change direction, we will arrive where we are going.”—Richard L. Evans. This is probably not a new thought for you, but Ipm reminded of another maxim. “Everything has been said that needs to be … Continue reading →

Tuesday, July 15 There’s one more question that deserves attention. Jesus prayed that if possible this cup should pass from him. Why? God had worked out the plan of salvation before creation. Was Jesus wanting to back out of it … Continue reading →

Monday, July 14 When Jesus led His disciples into the Garden just before the crucifixion, he told them to watch. What were they to watch or watch for? The Greek word may throw some light on this. The word is … Continue reading →

Sunday, July 13 I’ll say right up front that I don’t have answers for all the questions I raised yesterday. I have no insight on some of them, possibilities on a few, and some I think I can answer. Here … Continue reading →

Saturday, July 12 I have a reputation for raising questions. It might be better if I had a reputation for answering questions. But I might as well stick with my pattern. I have a slew of questions for you today. … Continue reading →

Friday, July 11 I want to clarify something in the Gal. 6:1 passage I quoted yesterday. The word “spiritual” is often not understood. I wrestled with this for a long time before I came to understand it. It does not … Continue reading →

Thursday, July 10 Charity should begin at home, but it should not stay there.”—Phillips Brooks. This is probably in reference to benevolent giving. The idea is probably that we should not restrict our giving to our home church or community, … Continue reading →

Wednesday, July 9 “Failure is an event, never a person.”—William D. Brown. I’m always amazed at the media having to blame someone when something goes wrong. Whether in the criminal, political, business world, or even the sports world, someone has … Continue reading →

Tuesday, July 8 “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”—Theodore Roosevelt. I tend to compare myself with others, generally people with a lot of talent and charisma. I know I’m no Billy Graham when it comes … Continue reading →

Monday, July 7 Peter adds three motivations for taking the “patient” route. One. The first one is that God will commend us (v. 20). Can you think of anything more satisfying than pleasing God? When you endure with patience, you … Continue reading →

Sunday, July 6 Back to 1 Peter 2. The second relationship that Peter addresses here is slaves and their masters. Most of us think of slavery as unjust and cruel. Interestingly enough, God does not seem to oppose slavery but … Continue reading →

Saturday, July 5 Another thing about Independence Day. In terms of relationships, we are not to be independent. The Bible teaches us that we are totally dependent on God, and the chief sin from Adam on was to be independent. … Continue reading →

Friday, July 4 Independence Day. This conjures up some conflicting thoughts. Part of it is the conflict between the colonies and England. We generally think of the rebellion against England as fighting for freedom and against tyranny, and rightfully so. … Continue reading →

Thursday, July 3 As we saw yesterday, Christians are to live holy lives as a testimony of God’s grace. Holy lives stand out in a non-holy world. Peter gives instructions as to how one is to live a holy life. … Continue reading →

Wednesday, July 2 Peter’s motivation for writing 1 Peter is widespread persecution under Nero and the suffering the Christians were enduring. The letter is addressed to the “elect, scattered in the world,” i.e. the church. The persecution was extreme, deliberate, … Continue reading →

Tuesday, July 1 “In God we trust.” My guess is that your first thought here was “Oh, yes, the next thing is that they will take this motto off our coins.” For many, this is a big issue. Christians will … Continue reading →