After Jesus feeds the crowd of 5,000, the next day members of the crowd chase Jesus down looking for another free meal (John 6:22-26). The Lord rebukes them sharply for it. Then he adds some of the most difficult teaching of his entire ministry, saying they have no life unless they eat his body and drink his blood (verses 41-60). This disturbing image is so revolting that many stop following Jesus. The most loyal don’t understand it, but they stick with Jesus when he asks if they will leave too. As Peter puts it, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (verses 66-68 ..read more

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the incident when a rich young man asks Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. The man says he’s kept the commandments Jesus names. Jesus then replies, “You just need one thing…” (Mark & Luke), or “If you would be perfect…” (Matthew) The one thing is that the man must give away all his possessions. He’s very sorrowful over this, and goes away. Then Jesus expounds on how extremely hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom. This incident is disturbing in a couple ways. First of all, I can’t imagine the Lord telling me I’d be perfect if I just ..read more

Maybe there are people who don’t need memory aids. I’m definitely not one of them. Apparently our Creator figures that most of us, maybe all of us, do need tangible things to help us remember—because He has supplied a number of them. Here’s one I recently was reminded of: The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitu ..read more

On his third journey, the apostle Paul collects donations made by the churches he visits, to help out the believers in Jerusalem.  Various representatives of those churches travel with Paul.  Think about a time without credit cards, checks, or even paper money.  Money at this time means metal—silver and gold coins.  It takes numerous people just to carry it, and a large group would deter thieves. Why are these contributions needed in Jerusalem?  Those who became followers of Christ were thrown out of the synagogue (John 9:22).  This meant they were shunned, unemp ..read more

In the parable, when the father sees his prodigal son returning home, he runs to meet him and kisses him (Luke 15:20). When Jesus is invited to eat at Simon the Pharisee’s house, the Teacher rebukes his host for giving him no kiss (Luke 7:45). When Paul says goodbye to the Ephesian elders, they kiss him (Acts 20:37-38). Four times Paul exhorts his readers to greet one another with a holy kiss (Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:26), and Peter says the same (1 Peter 5:14). There are quite a number of similar instances in the Old Testament as well. Clearly ..read more

Here’s what I want to be: Thankful, joyful, thoughtful, peaceful, faithful. Loving, praising, giving, forgiving. Patient, gentle, strong, prudent, content. A sympathetic listener, an active doer, a willing servant. How about you? Bet you can come up with some additional ones that I’ve forgotten to mention. Some of those things I am, to some extent. Not near enough to be satisfied with. To my shame I’m the opposite of some of those things, to some extent. Are we fools to aspire to be so much better than we actually are? I don’t think so. Look at the beatitudes. Especially, “Blessed are those w ..read more

God’s call of Moses is recorded for us in Exodus chapter 3 and the first half of chapter 4. Chapter 3 shows us the burning bush, God’s declaration that He has heard the groaning of the people of Israel, the revelation of the Memorial Name of the Almighty (YHWH), and the command that Moses confront Pharaoh with God’s demand for Israel’s release. Then chapter 4, verses 1-17, seems to present to us a string of excuses made by Moses, trying to evade the command. First, the Israelites won’t believe him. God’s answer: three miracles he can do to convince them. Second, he isn’t eloquent, doesn’t spe ..read more

My wife and I made bread today.  It’s not something we do very often, so it seemed kind of special.  It got me to thinking about bread in the Bible.  There’s a lot of it. It starts right at the beginning, when God pronounces the consequences of Adam’s sin: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread…” (Genesis 1:19)  From here on, “bread” would stand for all food.  Bread was the staple; if there was any food at all, there was bread. Bread had a significant place in the worship of the Israelites.  Within the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, t ..read more

Endure. Persevere. Be steadfast. Hold fast. Be patient. Different ways of saying the same thing—a thing we have a really tough time doing. Some things are hard in the moment—they can be very hard indeed. But holding on for a long time may be the hardest thing. Our bodies wear out. If you are too young to have experienced this firsthand, take a look at your grandparents. As time goes on, all of us get weaker, slower, less capable. The same can happen emotionally and spiritually. We have been in expectation of our Lord’s return most of our lives, and he has not appeared. The wait can wear on us ..read more

If you’re following any Bible reading plan, you are surely reading Genesis in January.  (I do hope you’re following a plan—if not, January is a good time to start!) Only a few pages in from the beginning of the Bible, we encounter Abraham.  Actually, when we first meet him, his name is still Abram.  If you’re familiar with the Bible, you know that this individual is a crucially important person in the development of God’s plan.  He is important enough to be named 65 times in the rest of the Old Testament after his death, and 74 times in the New Testament. The promises God ..read more