God’s creation silently shouts to us about God. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” (Psalm…

In today’s world, our birth certificate, driver’s license, and passport identifies us by our name. A person’s name in the Bible, however, was often more than just their identification. A person’s name carried with it the essence of that person’s identity. Naming a child was significant. Mary was told by the angel to name her…

Every child asks, “What is God like?” And every parent struggles to give an adequate answer. God has showed us what he is like in the Bible. To Moses, for example, he described himself as “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness,…

The woman in the Gospel who broke the alabaster jar of perfume and anointed Jesus’ feet illustrates worship. “A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet…

I played racquetball with a guy recently who believed in following Jesus’ Golden Rule – “Do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12). He felt that this ideal was the essential expression of all religions. As I thought about this I realized that, while following the Golden Rule is important,…

The way of the cross is all about brokenness and humility before God and others because we know the inbred nature of sin, the inward deceitfulness of our own hearts, and the innate ability to deceive ourselves. We can fall too easily into the pattern of the proud Pharisee who prayed: “God, I thank you…

Though we might understand life and death in more scientific and medical terms today, in the minds of the ancient world, “the life of a creature is in the blood”. Thus in the Old Testament, God ordered and accepted animal sacrifices in making atonement for the sins of his people. “It is the blood that…

The word “servant” sounds demeaning to us. A servant serves people above them to do work that is beneath those being served. Yet Jesus “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). The apostle Paul viewed himself as a servant of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1) and therefore a…

Having worked in a factory that sawed oak and cherry wood designed for expensive French furniture, I know how irritating it is to get a speck of sawdust in my eye. Jesus asked, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your…

Thousands of years ago, in a most beautiful Garden, lived a man and a woman. Made in the image of their Creator, they lived solely to reveal him to the rest of creation and to each other and thus glorify God every moment of the day. They humbly accepted themselves as created people in submission…