For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15 Neither – How easily we gloss over and diminish the harsh reality of Jesus’ teaching! You won’t hear much about this condition of…
For there must be factions among you in order that those who are approved may become evident among you. 1 Corinthians 11:19 Factions – You better sit down for this one. Something happened in the early centuries of the history of the church that altered the way we read what Paul says here. The vocabulary…
The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, Judges 6:1 Evil – How many times does it take to learn the lesson? That seems to be the theme of the history of Israel in the book of Judges. This verse expresses the common occurrence of Israel’s apostasy; all the more amazing…
For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says “Do not fear, I will help you”. Isaiah 41: 13 Help – It takes a long time to get to the place where we ask for help. In a culture where self-sufficiency is the measure of personal worth, we often know…
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self control Galatians 5:22-23 Fruit – My dear friend John Samuel unravels one of the great paradoxes of Scripture when he talks about the Greek word karpos (fruit). John points out that the only entity that does not benefit from…
See, I have longed for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life. Psalm 119:40 Longed For – How do you know what God wants you to do? Sure, some choices are obvious. The commandments, for example, spell out correct choices. But what about the hundreds of life choices that aren’t mentioned in some biblical…
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living. Genesis 3:20 Eve – God doesn’t make mistakes. So, when God chose to use the Hebrew language to reveal Himself, it wasn’t an accident. The Hebrew language is the perfect vehicle to communicate what God wants to share about Himself…
“The heart is deceitful above all things and it is incurable. Who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9 Deceitful – We don’t think of the heart as an inside scheming deceiver. After all, we know ourselves pretty well, don’t we? We know when we lie and when we tell the truth, so why does God (He…
“its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Genesis 4:7 Desire – Once again I am indebted to the splendid work of Rabbi David Fohrman for this insight. We have looked at this word before, noting its unusual connection to ‘ezer, the Hebrew term that identifies “woman” at her creation. But Rabbi Fohrman…
Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.” Genesis 4:1 NASB Have Gotten – One more look at Eve’s declaration is even more frightening. Here’s the crucial question: Why doesn’t Eve mention…
