“He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation asks
for a miraculous sign!” Matthew 12:39 (NIV)
I well remember a time long ago when I was working for an electronics firm. I met a particular man who always dressed crisply and without a wrinkle in his shirt. He wore the standard white shirt of the day with a tie around the neck. His small moustache was trimmed perfectly. He was a fine employee for the company.
This particular day I had spoken of the Lord to him and his response to me was surprising. He quickly made it known that he did not believe in God. I asked what would convince him that God existed and was interested in him. His response was, “The day God turns my white shirt blue, I will believe in Him.”
While I was still a new Christian at the time with much to learn, I did know that his challenge to God was one that the Creator would not take up. God does not have to prove Himself to anyone. If we have eyes with which to see the beauties of creation, if we have ears to hear the carols of the song birds, if we can string two or more thoughts together, then we have all it takes to recognize that the world around us says much about the God who fashioned it.
Watching a common North American red tailed hawk soar in the sky is a wonderful tribute to God. Those birds could not say one word about the laws of aerodynamics and how to fly but nevertheless they use those laws to circle and circle a field looking for prey.
Continue reading 'Turn My White Shirt Blue'»
“If this man were a prophet, he would know…
that she is a sinner.” Luke 7:39 (NIV)
When He walked this earth, Jesus earned a reputation for spending too much time with the worst people in society. Indeed, His critics were appalled that He would spend any time with them at all.
For the religiously self righteous of our Lord’s day such “sinners” were invisible and nothing could convince these people to have anything to do with such dreadful people.
Looking at the context of our verse we read that Jesus was in the home of a Pharisee named Simon in the northern area of Galilee. The man had invited Jesus to come to his home for dinner. Apparently the Pharisee was curious about Jesus and wished to learn more about Him.
A woman, who was probably a prostitute, living in the town where the meal took place found out about Jesus being the guest of this man. She did what others living nearby were welcome to do who did not have an official invitation to the meal. She came into the house to observe what happened.
Her actions were certainly remarkable. First she wept many tears so that she was able to wash Jesus’ feet with them. She then dried His feet with her hair, kissed His feet and finally anointed Jesus’ feet with a perfumed oil from a container she had.
Continue reading 'Hanging Out With The Wrong People'»
“If only I knew where to find him;
if only I could go to his dwelling!”
Job 23:3 (NIV)
In the opinion of some Christians we should always be smiling, happy, and victorious in our daily walk. There is no doubt that we all wish for such a lovely journey through life.
No one seeks to be miserable unless they have a distorted way of thinking. But is the correct view of the believer’s life a pilgrimage that is all joy and peace and all the negative things of life absent?
Only if you ignore all the stories of God’s people in the Bible can you maintain the theory that life for Christians should always be fun and games.
The verse today describes just how low and desperate Job is in his suffering. He has lost his children, his herds and flocks of animals, he has lost his health, he has lost the comfort of his wife, his friends have attacked him and said lies about him, and now his connection to the Lord has been severed.
Continue reading 'How Lost Can You Be?'»
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes”
Revelation 21:4 (KJV)
When many of us as children were taken to the doctor’s office for an injection or some other unwanted procedure, we would become frightened. Perhaps our parents would urge us not to cry and promise us a reward for being brave. When I had my tonsils removed I was promised all the ice cream I could eat. That was a great treat we only enjoyed on special occasions.
In parts of western society crying has been seen as a weakness, especially when a man cries. We allow women to weep and it is acceptable, but from childhood boys are told, “Men do not cry.” The idea was that if we boys wished to prove we were grown up we would not cry. Imagine if an actor like Clint Eastwood had a crying part in one of his movies such as Dirty Harry. It would ruin his image of a tough man in seconds.
Yet most of us, men and women, have had occasions when we wept and did not try to hold back the tears. Well meaning friends may urge us to stop crying, but it does not matter to us in the pain of our new situation.
Continue reading 'No More Crying'»
“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Job 1:21
I well recall reading some books given to me, that were written by an author I had never heard of before. As I read the books I grew concerned by the ideas the author had. For example the main thrust of the books concerned the matter of praising the Lord at all times. With such a teaching I heartily agreed.
But the author went on to say that we were to praise the Lord FOR all things. That was when I started to become concerned. The author gave an illustration that if our unmarried daughter came home and told us she was expecting a child we were to praise the Lord for this new situation in her life.
I could not accept the idea that God was to be praised for a sinful act that had been committed. If a young person was pregnant outside of marriage this was wrong according to the Bible. Hence Joseph decided to divorce Mary when he learned she was expecting (Matthew 1:18-19). Obviously Joseph did not praise the Lord for the situation, rather he quietly chose to divorce Mary.
Continue reading 'Praise the Lord!'»
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