Psalm: 89 Meditation 1 Corinthians: These verses may help us to understand why Paul was discouraging marriage. It is not because Paul thinks there is anything wrong with it but rather, I think, by the sense of urgency brought on by the imminent return of Christ. I suppose there could have been a natural disaster …
Tag: Matthew 6
Saturday, September 26
Psalms: 136 Meditation 2 Kings: Who says the OT is boring? Here we have all the makings of a Shakespearean tragedy. We have an evil queen, Athaliah, the only woman ever to have ruled in Jerusalem (or Samaria, for that matter). She was likely the daughter of Jezebel (evil queen in Samaria – wife of …
Friday, September 25
Psalms: 91 Meditation 1 Corinthians: Here Paul gets to the crux of one of our most basic instincts – sex. He seems to think the world would be better off without it as it seems to be the fount of all immorality. He is also pragmatic – if you must have sex then you must …
Thursday, September 24
Psalm: 85 Meditation Matthew: What fun is this? The problem is that we all like to take credit for things we do or accomplish. Personally, I’m proud of my humility, probably because I don’t have any. I believe we all like to think that what we do matters but how can it matter if no …
The Lord’s Prayer
Prayer is one of two daily spiritual practices that are key to keeping spiritually fit. We learned in our last post that prayer is a two-way conversation with God that involves both listening and speaking. We already covered silence as the listening aspect of prayer, this week we will look at our part of the …
The Three-Legged Stool
I've been thinking a lot about three-legged stools since Mark's sermon this past Sunday. They are superior to the four-legged bar stools in my kitchen which are never flush to the ground. They rock. They squeak. Their legs work themselves loose. Three-legged stools are unique in their stability. Mark, of course, was not talking about …
Our Daily Bread
"Dear God, put me in a position where I won't need you anymore." I was startled when a mentor suggested that was what my prayers were like. I didn't like what he was suggesting, but I saw that he was right. Deep down I think we all hate being dependent on someone else. I know that …
Our Father
In our previous post we explored the idea of the Lord's Prayer as a pattern for our prayers. This week I'd like to begin taking a closer look at each piece of the Lord's Prayer, beginning with ... Our Father in heaven. I don't think we can begin to appreciate the audacity of addressing God …