good

  • Pay Attention

    I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate;  1 Timothy 6:13  NASB Good confession – Paul gives orders to Timothy.  Those orders still govern us because we are volunteers committed to the same way of life Paul…

  • Leadership Quality

    David went out to meet them, and said to them, “If you come peacefully to me to help me, my heart shall be united with you; but if to betray me to my adversaries, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look on it and decide.” 1 Chronicles…

  • Once or Twice

     . . . she heard that the LORD had taken note of His people and given them food.  Ruth 1:6  JPS Had taken note – Once or twice in life it’s nice to hear something from the Lord.  Two times is the extent of direct mention of God in the story of Ruth.  Yes, the…

  • Sin’s Opposite

    Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.  James 4:17 NASB Right thing – Two factors are immediately apparent from James’ statement.  First, sin attaches to what I know, not what I don’t know.  And second, if I know what is the right…

  • Holy Perfection (1)

    “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Matthew 5:48  NASB Perfect – Yeshua’s demand seems perfectly reasonable, right?  You and I can be perfect, can’t we?  God demands it.  We are accountable.  Therefore, we should do it. When I was much younger, this verse scared me to death.  I knew…

  • East of Eden

    Only this, I have found, as a real good:  that one should eat and drink and get pleasure with all the gains he makes under the sun, during the numbered days of life that God has given him; for that is his portion.  Ecclesiastes 5:17 NJPS Real good – There are two views of what…

  • See No Evil

    The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these. Isaiah 45:7  NASB Calamity – If God is sovereign, then why is there evil?  How can a good God allow evil in the world? If you’ve never struggled with these questions, perhaps you haven’t read…

  • The Absence of Awe

    and the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, . . . Genesis 3:6  ISR Saw – Are you able to see what’s good?  Can you look below the skin of something and see its true nature?  Maybe…

  • Blasphemy Against the Spirit

    Woe to those who say to evil, good; and to good, evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20 (KJV) Evil/Good – What characterizes the ethics of the world more than this?  “Evil is good, good is evil.”  At some level, most…

  • Biblical Antonyms

    I YHWH and none else, forming light and creating darkness; making peace and creating evil – I YHWH do all these things. Isaiah 45:6-7 Peace – What is an antonym?  Answer: the opposite.  The antonym of black is white.  The antonym of fast is slow.  The antonym of leader is follower.  But when it comes…