love ⁽³¹⁹⁾

Psalm 107:1–16; Isaiah 60:15–22; John 8:12–20 In the US, Christians as a whole (versus individually), are disliked (if not hated), forbidden (i.e., closed-minded, intolerant, bigoted, prejudiced, etc.), and culturally abandoned (granted, much of that is based upon Christians running for the “holy” hills and their…

Psalm 107:1–16; Numbers 20:1–13; 1 Corinthians 10:6–13 Imagine saying, “Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love lasts forever,” to the Israelites at Kadesh. Those words would have been grating (at best) the ears of all the tongues lashing against Moses and…

Psalm 107:1–3, 17–22; Daniel 12:5–13; Ephesians 1:7–14 We love countdowns. Before church service starts, we have a countdown. Every sporting event has a countdown. Part of its attraction is the pressure. It moves us. Another attraction of a countdown is finitude. We know there is…

Psalm 107:1–3, 17–22; Genesis 9:8–17; Ephesians 1:3–6 I don’t remember elementary school sports very much. I do know that while I was never picked first, I was rarely picked last. I was neither particularly good nor bad at sports, hence being a middle pick. I…

Psalm 19; Exodus 19:1–9a; 1 Peter 2:4–10 Trust is a scarce commodity. True trust. You and I trust that the person approaching the intersection will stop, but we’ve all had enough experience to undermine that trust (we even might be the reason we are this…