Fighting Our Passions
The Christian life is hard. From a worldly point of view the Christian life is unnatural, and when given a choice, the right one is often the tough one. As long as we live on this earth, we struggle to please God even when we have already been saved by Jesus through faith. In 1 Peter 2:11, the apostle wrote about our difficulties: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and…
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“Consider Well Her Ramparts”: Participating in the Psalms
Reading the Psalms is a great devotional habit, and every now and then a Psalm or a section of a Psalm gives instructions to its reader. The author is inviting us to participate in something about God that they have experienced by taking specific actions. Earlier posts on participating in the Psalms (here, here, and here) have covered Psalms 96 and 100, which asked us to sing a new song…
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Is Science Good? A Quint of Quotes
Fellow travelers, Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection. Five quotes somewhat related to each other, but not exactly in agreement. Hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking. Enjoy! “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” – Albert Einstein “Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator” – C.S. Lewis “Because we…
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God’s Mysterious Sovereignty
Although God isn’t explicitly mentioned in the book of Esther, the story (like everything else in the Bible) is really about Him. On the surface, the story revolves around the plot of Haman, a key advisor to King Ahasuerus, to have all of the Jews in the kingdom of Persia killed. Haman was probably already an antisemite, but his fury was inflamed when Mordecai, a Jew, refused to bow down…
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Barbs in Our Eyes
As Israel was preparing to enter the Promised Land of Canaan after wandering in the wilderness, God gave them many instructions through Moses about how they were to live when they got there. One of the instructions was to eliminate all of Canaan’s inhabitants. Part of the warning not to ignore this comes in Numbers 33:55, which says: “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land…
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Daily Readings for August 17 – 23
Fellow travelers: For those looking for a Bible reading plan, each week I post 2 chapters to read per day as a main reading plan, and for anyone who wants to read the whole Bible in 2026, I’ll post the extra chapters to read that week. The main readings will include nearly all of the New Testament, plus Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Prophets, and a few other Old Testament books.…
Keep readingA Constant Need for Righteousness
Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount begins with a series of Beatitudes, a series of statements that begin with “Blessed are…” These may be seen as a random collection of sayings, but I think they are in an intentional sequence. Not a sequence where we need to master the first Beatitude before learning the second, but like gears in a machine that all need to work together for the machine…
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Don’t Let the Stink Stop You – Blessed are the Meek #5
Here’s a review of the series on meekness so far. The first two posts contrasted two characters from the movie The Matrix, Agent Smith and Neo, to Jesus. Agent Smith was the “Malevolent Incarnation,” who used and enforced rules to keep people in their place. Smith can’t stand the stink of humanity and just wants to be free of it. Neo, the hero of the Matrix series, is the “Ambivalent…
Keep readingWhen You’re Stuck in Second Gear – Blessed are the Meek #4
Everybody struggles with maintaining hope in tough times, and also with knowing and doing God’s will when what we feel is right seems irrelevant. Today I’m going to cover a story of how the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah struggled to understand an idea God gave him to share hope with future generations, including us. The story also loosely follows the outline of the first three Beatitudes and therefore fits in…
Keep reading4 8 15 16 23 42 – Blessed are the Meek #3
Do you ever feel that God has appointed a task to you that you can’t see the point of? These opening verses refer back to previous posts about Jesus asking Martha to move the stone away from the opening of Lazarus’ grave, and also to the man who was given only one talent to put to work for his Master’s benefit:“Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of…
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Driving Toward the Morning Sun 