September, 2011 // Posts published in September, 2011
Huge Debt Paid
I’ve been told that Jesus paid a debt I couldn’t pay, that nothing I can do is sufficient to compensate for my sins. Why would God to do that for me? Evidently, his love is beyond my comprehension. I don’t deserve his sacrifice, but I’m smart to accept it. If somebody paid my hundred-dollar debt,...
Under God’s Reign
I sing songs about how God reigns forever. I know there’s a scripture that promises a day when every knee will bow to the name of Jesus (Philippians 2:10). That’s a promise, which means it’s not universally true today. It’s easy for me to say, “Jesus is Lord.” Believing those words to the extent that...
Authority
When I sing, “There is power in the name of Jesus,” I’m wonder how this promise is supposed to work. So far, I’ve not been successful in saying, “In the name of Jesus,” in a way that gets me what I want. I’ve read the Bible verses where Jesus says we can speak to mountains...
The King’s Speech
Whenever the king speaks, the people should listen. Since Americans have no king, we don’t know what that feeling is like. We are independent thinkers who aren’t inclined to always believe what someone says, even if that person is the president of the United States. The Bible tells us Jesus is King of kings and...
Confidence
When David asked King Saul for permission to confront Goliath, he could not have been a youngster carrying a toy slingshot. We know this for several reasons: (1) With the future of the nation at stake (1 Samuel 17:9), Saul would not have taken his decision lightly. He had to have seen a higher probability...
Staying Long?
I remember my grandmother saying, “I’m the only one left.” She was ninety-three, and most of her friends were gone. As I grow older, more and more people I know are getting to Heaven before me. I expected my parents to go first, and they did. My wife went when she was only fifty-six. Many...
The Main Character
A storyteller knows we don’t have Story without insight and transformation of the main character. Jesus was tested in all points consistent with humanity but never once sinned (Hebrews 4:15). He had no flaws to overcome and no life-changing lessons to learn. Therefore, his life is the Good News, what we call the Gospel. He...
Etymology
A preacher once said, “Atonement means at one with.” Really? Supposedly, the word is compounded from at-one-meant. Words can be split for better understanding when they were at one time separate words. I now work online at my computer, but at one time, it was “on line.” A townhouse used to be “town house.” In...
Where Angels Tread
Long ago, someone said, “Men walk where angels fear to tread.” I’m not sure how that was determined, but it seems to have been well received, repeated for more than two hundred years, so much so that many people regard it as a truism. Perhaps this statement is a claim of human bravery, but I...
Who Sinned?
The Bible tells us about a man who was born blind (John 9:1–38). The Jews believed all suffering was caused by sin. Therefore, for the man to be born blind, either the infant in his mother’s womb or the parents had sinned. They couldn’t imagine how pain and suffering could serve a God-ordained purpose. Bound...
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