“Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait til the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts.” (I Corinthians 4:5) Several years ago, I attended a funeral at my church where the pastor’s message for the family came from the 19th Chapter of Job. Job is normally not a book of the Bible on which pastors rely for words of comfort to a grieving family. In fact, my pastor readily admitted that Job was not […]

“Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks’.” (Genesis 32:24-26) It was a close encounter of the God kind and one of the most unusual stories told in Scripture. To many, it raises more questions than it […]

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.” (Luke 10:41-42) Many of us are seeking more balance in our lives, so much so that it is one of our most popular resolutions for the New Year. Our yearning for more peace in our lives doesn’t surprise me because we live in our world where peace is yearned everywhere. A college professor of mine told our freshman health class to be sure we had eight hours of sleep, […]

“You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:13) It’s income tax time. You’ll soon be receiving your W-2 or 1099’s and getting your receipts together to prove what you did with all that money you made last year. Why not take a spiritual accounting, too. What did you do last year for the Lord with all that money and talent he gave you? We often think that God doesn’t care a lot about money. After all, the Bible discourages materialism and we all know that money is […]