Scott Peck was right. Life is difficult. But perhaps it is difficult in a different way than he imagined. He noted that our expectations of comfort and pleasure are at odds with the reality of true fulfillment. Real life comes from the willingness to live for something bigger than myself (Heschel). That means sacrifice at…
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55 NASB Death – My friend John is dying. Elegantly. As cancer consumes his body, every pore leaks righteousness. God is spending him into eternity. We all die, of course, but most of us don’t die with godliness. Perhaps we die…
How lonely sits the city that was full of people! She has become like a widow who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer! Lamentations 1:1 NASB Lonely – This is the really big one, isn’t it? Lonely. Badad. To be alone, by…
Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. Micah 2:1 ESV Beds – What do you think about when you lay awake at night, unable to sleep? What comes to mind when your mind is…
“In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NASB Overcome – Here is the Greek word nenikeka. This is a form of the verb nike (you can see it in the middle of the word). It means, “to be victorious over.” Now you know why a shoe…
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Psalm 13:3 ESV The sleep of death – I just can’t sleep. I lie down. My thoughts will not turn off. I even take sleeping pills. Nothing. All night long I fight with vaporous creatures, invisible…
“‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” Matthew 22:32 NASB The living – “Scarcely anywhere else on earth has the mystery of death so moved and fascinated people as in the valley of the…
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature,…
I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me. Psalm 101:3 NASB Worthless – Does David’s declaration match your vision? David declares that no beliya’al will come before him. If we’re going to follow David’s devotion, we must know what…
