The Circumcised Life

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.” Genesis 4:1 NASB Gotten – Genesis 4:1 is a most surprising verse. First, it is the only place in Scripture that records words from…

Resentment

[Love] does not take into account a wrong suffered. I Corinthians 13:5 NASB Wrong suffered – The day before Shabbat is a time to gather a double portion. Here’s my contribution to keep you thinking for two days. This excerpt is from a longer article called, “The Grammar of Love.” Let’s start with the Greek…

The Wrong Word?

“I love You, O Lord, my strength.” Psalm 18:1 (English version) NASB Love – You would never notice in English, but in Hebrew, this certainly appears to be the wrong word. We would expect ‘ahav, used in Deuteronomy 6:5 and throughout the Tanakh in both commands and descriptions. In fact, ‘ahav is used in all…

Mass Hallucination

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but…

Raison d’être

Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you who serve Him, doing His will. Psalm 103:21 NASB Will – What does it mean to do God’s will? We often think it must mean fulfilling His commandments and ordinances or listening to the guidance of the Spirit or acting in righteous ways. But I’m not so…

What Difference Does It Make?

 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2 NASB All knowledge – Day 28. We are coming close. But lest we imagine that these last days are…

Motivation and Execution

“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31 NIV Love – It’s Day 14. What a glorious day! For a dozen sessions, we have examined our true state of self-protection. We found something vitally important. God’s favor (hen) is God’s business. It does not depend…

Love and Obligation

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. I John 5:3 NASB Love of God – Whom do you love? Visualize that person sitting in front of you. His or her presence makes your heart feel a bit lighter. You have a smile on your…

Seeing God

“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.  You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:17-18 ESV…

Agape Again

Let all that you do be done in love.  1 Corinthians 16:14  NASB Love – An overworked word loses its meaning.  An overlooked word has no meaning at all.  Such is the case with the Greek noun, agape.  We may realize that agape is connected to the Hebrew ‘ahav, but did we know this? Love…