“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31 NIV Love – It’s Day 14. What a glorious day! For a dozen sessions, we have examined our true state of self-protection. We found something vitally important. God’s favor (hen) is God’s business. It does not depend…
The sins which pass unnoticed beset a man on the Day of Judgment. Avodah Zarah 18a Unnoticed – “Hypocrisy and rationalization transform the tokens of religious life from sources of grandeur to sources of shame.”[1] Stone goes on to suggest that worshipping God in a state of “uncleanness” is worse than not worshipping Him at…
I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word. Psalm 119:16 NASB Delight – Moses Luzzatto published Mesillat Yesharim in 1740. His insights into the relationship between righteous acts, joy and obligation are just as important today as they were two hundred and fifty years ago. Luzzatto argued that human beings are…
A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. Proverbs 22:1 NIV To be esteemed – For ten days we have examined the emotional climate of our rebellion. We discovered that YHVH accepts our self-serving criticism and casts it aside in an act of pure favor…
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11 NASB Grace – Day 10. We have taken time to examine ourselves. We put aside some of our theological constrictions in order to feel the heart of…
“For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Luke 7:47 NASB Much – All or just a lot? That’s the question with the Greek adjective polli. Is the use of this word in the gospel inclusive…
“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25 NASB Your – “Centuries of Christian usage have accustomed readers of the New Testament to think of ‘forgiveness’ as primarily a gift to the individual person, which can be made at any…
“Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed, and they did not know how to blush;” Jeremiah 8:12 NASB Blush – Why don’t we know how to blush? Actually, I’m afraid we do know the feeling. We just suppress it in order to pursue the yetzer ha’ra. But…
For I will be like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver. Hosea 5:14 NASB Tear to pieces – Day 6. Did you think God didn’t care?…
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, in 2016 I am planning a biblical study of WONDER at a safari camp in Africa. This is the perfect place to reflect on YHVH’s wonder displayed in His creation, to examine how wonder guides our lives as believers and followers. The idea is to take a MAXIMUM…
