Head-dibs

“ Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that has been set before us .” (Hebrew 12:1) After a heavy workout, I feel like collapsing. Though the ground feels nice as I gush sweat like a lawn sprinkler, that pile is really not the best position in which to be. One needs be upright. So I walk around with my hands on my head, filling my lungs with air. I’m running much faster now that some of this weight is coming off. I started at 252 by walking for 15 minutes. Then 15 minutes became 20 minutes, then 30 minutes, then 45 minutes. Then my body whispered “faster.” So I went faster. And the weight is coming off. With faster comes stronger and the end of the workout is full of accomplishment. The encumbrance, the weight must come off in order to run with endurance. Jesus said the thorns that choke are world-worries, things that ...

Japan observes the 成人の日 , “Coming of Age Day” or “Adult Day” this time each year for every person who turns the age of 20. This is the formal day responsible citizenship begins and is a much different celebration than “Boys Day” (when boys turn 15) and “Girls Day” (when girls turn 13). I recall my first Boy’s Day celebration because this was a day I felt included. I had a Japanese friend I often visited and though I did not know his family well, they opened their home and introduced their culture to me. I wore so many various traditional clothes and we enjoyed our favorite TV shows together. Boy’s Day was the day I was made much of because I was a young man coming of age. This was also the day I learned how much I enjoy eating seaweed and confirmed my distaste for ants--no amount of chocolate covering is of any help, believe me. Two thoughts come to mind this day, the first being that Jesus was born and grew in the eyes of men and God. He was a man of time and space who, like any oth...

I spoke with a woman was told me she could not wait to get to heaven because she would see her mother there. The woman explained her excitement further: her mother had been an atheist all her life, but now she was enjoying the presence of God in heaven! Really? Time after time I’ve heard people speak of the forgiveness and grace of God as if were automatic, as if God was obligated. Are mercy, grace and forgiveness part of the package deal of life simply because God knows we are sinners? Does God owe anyone forgiveness simply because they repent? People tell me, “I repent all the time! God just forgives!” He does? Let’s think about David for a moment. Most people remember him for killing Goliath, the champion of invaders. David is also known for murdering a man and taking his wife. He later repented and was granted forgiveness and we have evidence of this in a few places in scripture, namely Psalm 51: David cries out, God responds. That settles it, right? Hebrews 12:16-17 (fro...

Question:   Why does the Bible say that Melchizedek is " Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life ?" Does that mean there are people who did not descend from Adam and Eve? Answer: This verse taken alone seems to say exactly that, doesn't it? The best understanding comes from the context of the verse--we can't leave it in isolation. The subject of the context of the passage is the greateness of Melchizedek in terms of his office (the "priesthood") not his greatness as a person. The source of his priesthood is different than those who descended from Levi. Note: " But this man [Melchizedek] who does not have his descent from them [descendants of Levi] received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. " (Hebrews 7:6) His priesthood is different because he was not born into it, as the Levites were. The text even says that in principle the Levites paid tithes to Melch...

2 Kings 4:8ff records an incident that goes nearly unnoticed. Elisha and his servant, Gehazi, cross over into Shunem and meet a woman described as "great," or, "prominent." When Elisha comes near, she actually persuades him to eat some food she has apparently prepared for him. Her home became as base of operations (of sorts) for him, for each time he came through the neighborhood, he stopped off at her house to eat. Why was this woman was considered "great" or "prominent?" She fed the prophet, sure; but, there must have been something else that caused the Holy Spirit to inspire the writer to make certain she recieved this designation. We get an idea of that "something" through what she says to her husband. " Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God passing by us continually. Please, let us make a little walled upper chamber and let us set a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; and it shall be, wh...

I recieved this question from a reader in Oslo, Norway: "When God died for our sins during his death who was in charge of the heaven and the universe?" I believe your question is answered here: “ And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high .” (Hebrews 1:3) Did you notice the phrase, “ upholds all things by the word of His power ?” This term reflects the efficiency of His power; that is, He commanded, all things came to be and will continue to be because of His power, until He makes all things new. He holds all things together by His effective Word. Consider: these words. I am writing them in my present, which is now your past. You are reading them in what is for me, my future. Do my words lose their meaning, or their power in conversation? How much more powerful are God’s words?

Hebrews 6:13-20, " For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, 'I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU.' And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek ." God's preservation of His Word is tied to His unchangeable natur...

Thoughts on “Religious Affections” “Religion” has been explained to be an attempt to explain or understand the Creator. The noun “religion” can be actually be traced to the French root “relier” which implies the idea of “connection”; that is, “to rely.” Is your life characterized by commitment, devotion and practice, service in worship of the Creator on whom you rely? In other words do you demonstrate a mastery of divinity, or are you mastered by divinity? Human beings exist either in the state of action or the state of non-action. If we are not caused to move or act, then we will remain at “rest” until we choose to move. Jonathan Edwards, in his master-work “ Religious Affections ,” explains the nature of humanity is to be inactive unless influenced by our affections. “These affections are the ‘spring of action,’ the things that set us moving in our lives, that move us to engage in activities.” In other words, we are disinclined to act unless our own purposes are served. Edwards conti...

The word of God does things to people. Don't believe me? Somebody reading this right now is either accepting it or rejecting it. Someone is either ducking it or being discerned by it. Why? Because God's Word is contemporary despite all temporal gaps, applicable despite all geographic and cultural gaps, and personal despite opinion. God's word is living. Older translations say God's Word is ''quick". Though the word used in Greek is that rightly translated ''life' or ''living", we should not be so hasty to dismiss ''quick", which is really an older word for "life". Our current use of "quick" is used to denote speed and haste. I like this word because the English helps us grasp the kind of life the Bible has--expedient. The Word of God does not sneak up on people as it is ''there" already, waiting for us to catch up to it that the Holy Spirit can interpret it to us. It is alive, has l...