"Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." I once heard someone put what Jesus said this way. It is like an advertising slogan that the carpenter's son put on a sign outside of his shop: "Jesus Christ's Easy Yokes." You may think of a yoke as a big wooden contraption that is placed on the neck of oxen to harness them to do work. You may think of a yoke as work, but it is actually something designed to make work much easier. In some countries people bear a yoke, a stick, …Continue reading →
And Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, which is the ninth hour; and a certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they placed every day at the gate of the temple called Beautiful, to ask alms of those who were going into the temple… – Acts 3:1-2 (JND) We’re going through the book of Acts on Sundays in adult class, and while looking at this portion of the book, it occurred to me that Jesus never healed this man during His earthly ministry. It says here that the lame man was laid daily at the temple to beg money from those going in to worship. This …Continue reading →
There was a discussion at one of our Wednesday night Bible studies over this question. The pastor said it was impossible for Jesus to have sinned, but not all agreed. While the majority focused on Jesus’ deity, some focused on His humanity. It helped them to identify with Jesus’ temptation to know that Jesus could have sinned. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. – Hebrews 2:18 Here’s my view on this question: Jesus had a human body just like ours. It had the same “tools” that we use to commit sin: Jesus had a tongue that was able to lie, hands that could steal, and a brain that …Continue reading →
A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, “I want to. Be made clean.” When he had said this, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was made clean. He strictly warned him, and immediately sent him out, and said to him, “See you say nothing to anybody, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.” But he went out, and began to proclaim it much, and to spread about the matter, so …Continue reading →
When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ – Luke 15:6 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.’ – Luke 15:9 ‘…for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ They began to celebrate. – Luke 15:24 There are two ways of experiencing “lostness”: subjective and objective. In this chapter, subjective is the experience that the lost one has (i.e. me). Objective is the experience that the possessor has (i.e. God). Most of us see …Continue reading →
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. – Genesis 22:1-4 Abraham must …Continue reading →
(This is the first part of a study in Job. The second part is available here.) Introduction “Have you considered my servant Job?” – Job 1:8 (WEB) I have found that the best way to read and study the Bible is to do so with the purpose of knowing God better. I’m not talking about just collecting a bunch of facts like I’m arming myself for a battle with a non-believer. No, I want to know this God who gave me life, sustains me, loves me, sent His Son to die for me and His Holy Spirit to live in me, and with Whom I’m going to spend eternity. I want to walk in step with Him as much as …Continue reading →
Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. … why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or …Continue reading →
I’m thankful I live in a democracy where I have the right to vote for my leaders, and I have the constitutional right and freedom to express my opinions about the direction our government is taking us. I’d rather live in a democracy than under any other form of government. However, I believe this puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to knowing what it means to follow Christ. In a democracy, the public elects its leaders. It votes them into office, and it votes them out. While in office, these elected leaders have limited authority. They must obey the laws of the land, and they can be removed from office if they abuse their authority. While in office, …Continue reading →
For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. – 1 Corinthians 11:29 (ESV) In my reading, I just saw this verse in a way I hadn’t seen it before. The context of Paul’s account of the Lord’s Supper has to do with how the Corinthian believers were moving away from unity and becoming more divided. They were sectarian. Their church consisted of different cliques where each would only associate with those who were entirely like-minded, and they would look down on everyone else (1 Corinthians 11:18-19). This did not have to do with differences over essential doctrine, but preferences over non-essentials such as favorite apostles and teachers (1 Corinthians 1:11-13, 3:3-4), social …Continue reading →
