Like Father, Like Son, Like Me

If you know that He is righteous, you know that every one also who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 John 2:29 NASB Righteous – This is about as close as John comes to describing “born again.” But John’s focus is not on the experience of forgiveness. He focuses on the practice of righteousness….

Point Guard

Who will bring me into the besieged city? Who will lead me to Edom? Psalm 60:9 NASB Lead me – If God is sovereign, why am I concerned? If He truly holds my enemies in His hand, why am I afraid? Ah, because I don’t know which way to go. It’s not that I doubt…

Loosely Translated

The Lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. Psalm 103:6 NASB Righteous deeds and judgments – When you read the NASB translation of this verse, do you picture God doing righteous things? “Performs righteous deeds” might lead you to imagine God, calmly sitting on Heaven’s throne, issuing orders to His angels…

There’s Hope for Me

The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. Psalm 18:20 NASB My righteousness – Want joy? Be obedient! Ah, sounds so easy, doesn’t it? But that’s not usually the way it works. The yetzer ha’ra has deep hooks in us and often manipulates…

The Problem (2)

And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.” Genesis 18:20 NASB Sin – What is sin? According to the Hebrew word, hatta’h, sin means “to commit an offense against someone with whom one stands in an institutionalized community relationship.”[1] Notice that sin assumes a set…

Small Additions (2)

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”   Romans 1:17 NASB The/man – Now that we’ve taken a longer look at the addition of the definite article, we need to pay attention to the addition of the word…

Small Additions (1)

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”   Romans 1:17 NASB The/man – The NASB adds just a few small words to the Greek translation. Perhaps these two tiny additions don’t make any difference. Perhaps. But we should…

Chasing the Dream

Now flee youthful lusts, and pursue after righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart. 2 Timothy 2:22 NASB Faith – Do you have faith? It’s a fair question—if you are thinking like a Greek. You see, in Greek thought it is possible to possess something, to…

Where’s the Target?

Now flee youthful lusts, and pursue after righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart. 2 Timothy 2:22 NASB Righteousness – How can you pursue something if you don’t know where it is? That’s pretty much the situation in spiritual discipline today. We want to follow Paul’s…