Why do you think, O soul, that God must give you what you want? Does the Almighty owe you? Is He your slave that He should do your bidding? Must the only Sovereign bow to the will of His servant? Who is the King of kings and who is a mere man? Who is exalted and who lives in the dust? Does He who formed the stars answer to clay? Or He who gives life bow to flesh? Should you, O soul, live in the fear of God, or should He live in the fear of you? Do you govern…
We are more sinful than we think. We deserve far worse than we think. The Cross is God’s infinite mercy, but too often we don’t believe we need mercy. Until God opens the eyes of your heart to see the depths of your sin, the Cross will make no sense. You need to see the justice of hell in order to fully see the mercy of God. We deserve eternal punishment but believe God owes us earthly happiness. Our blindness in this respect drives our dissatisfaction. We complain that we don’t have as if we somehow deserve to have. The…
Lawrence (not his real name) showed up for class one morning. We were more than a week into the fall semester, and I had never seen him before, though I knew his name from the class roster. I asked to speak with him after class. “We’ve missed you?” I said. “Have you been sick?’ No, he had not been sick. He had simply been skipping. Didn’t feel like coming. “Well, then. Here are the assignments you have missed.” He promptly told me he would not do them and that he would not be coming to class. School was not important….
“All authority is given me in heaven and earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” (Mt 28:18-19) Lord, I praise You that You love the nations and that I am a beneficiary of Your great love for the nations. If You had not taken the initiative to save the entire world, I would be lost today. Hallelujah! Jesus is for the world. Sometimes we get so focused on what God is doing in our local circumstances that we forget that God is for the nations and not just for us. Jonah forgot this, and God had to correct…
. . . vanity of vanities! All is vanity. (Eccl 1:2) It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. (Ps 119:71) The past few weeks I helped care for my mom as she died from cancer. I briefly discussed in the last blog how this experience has affected my thoughts on death. It has also made me think on suffering as I watch my mom suffer. Let me take some time and share some thoughts on suffering. Consider these two questions: Why did God allow Stalin to take the lives of 20 million Russians? …