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Releasing the Knowledge Trap
In reading and pondering John chapter 7, verse 18 stood out to me, “The one who speaks on his own authority, seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him is true, and in Him there is no falsehood.” Jesus is making a contrast with Himself (who was sent by God with His teaching and sought God’s glory) and others (who spoke on their own to glorify themselves). Others possibly started with some truth but used that truth to glorify themselves. I asked myself a question, “How do I use knowledge?” This question led to other questions: “What are some inappropriate uses of…
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Cancel the Cancel Culture
About 2000 years ago, a Samaritan woman came to a well to draw water. She came alone during the heat of the day which was unusual. Generally, women came to the well together as a social time (Gen 24:11; Exo 2:16) and during the cooler part of the day. From John 4, it seems the woman was immoral and an adulterer. Not just 1 time but 5 times. Two thousand years ago, it was typical for the other women to ostracize, ignore, or shun an immoral woman. This unnamed woman, who feels lonely and hopeless, came to the well where Jesus was at. She was surprised to be the recipient…
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Decrease, Increase?
John the Baptist’s words in John 1:29 cause me to pause and wonder. Why would his simple words, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” seem so profound? Who was John the Baptist? What can I learn from this unique man that lived over 2000 years ago? These types of questions sent me on a search that revealed some life lessons for me. By God’s great mercy, John the Baptist was born to Elizabeth and Zachariah. Elizabeth was from Arron’s line, Zachariah was from the division of Abijah, they were both elderly and considered righteous in the sight of God (Luke 1:5-7). Because there…
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The In-House Holy Spirit
The concept of in-house came to my mind as I was contemplating the Holy Spirit this week. “In-house, or insourcing, is a term used in business to describe the utilization of internal sources rather than outsourcing for activities.”[1] Advantages of in-house as opposed to outsourcing include: less time to understand issues and the way the organization works; better comprehension of the organization’s history and atmosphere; and escalated trust which increases knowledge sharing.[2] Clearly, the Holy Spirit is in-house for every believer (John 14:17; 1 Cor 6:19); yet, His presence and activities are largely ignored.[3] In comparison to a business in-house in the preceding paragraph, the Holy Spirit exhibits the following:…
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Diligence in Fighting off Habitual Sins!
Early summer mornings I enjoy my front porch with my Bible and coffee pondering God’s Word and His creation. His birds sing sweetly and the wind blows gently. But lately I have noticed an intruder to my minutes of peacefulness. Red paper wasps. Red paper wasps flying in and out of my house eaves. Because I know they do sting, I began to ponder how to get rid of them. I could get the fly swatter and get after them, I could spray them with wasp spray, or I could go tell my husband. Over the past weeks, I have chosen all three of these options on different occasions. However,…
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A Gumby Attitude and the Sovereignty of God
You may remember Gumby, the green clay figure of the 1950’s television series created by Art Clokey. I vividly remember the Gumby Davey and Goliath series that featured the hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God by Martin Luther. The Davey and Goliath youth series dealt with issues like authority, sharing, and prejudice. I thought of an attribute of Gumby that I had not been aware of as a child that broadened my understanding of how to respond to the sovereignty of God. Let me explain. Recently, I noticed my lack of flexibility in life. I have subconscious ideas of how areas of my life should be. These ideas…
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Asking God Questions
In the past, irreverence and disrespect tended to flood my mind when I thought about the rightness of asking God questions. Who am I to ask the sovereign, good, wise, loving God questions? However, I have been reflecting on the idea of asking God questions and now am growing to view it differently. The best place to go when you want God’s perspective on something is to prayerfully look at the Bible. So, I started there. In the New Testament, Zechariah (the father of John the Baptist) after hearing the message from Gabriel (God’s messenger) about bearing a son in his old age, asked “How shall I know this?” Gabriel…
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The Importance of Pronouns
Recently, I discovered an important lesson in the book of Lamentations from my Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) questions. Upon observing the pronouns used in the different chapters of Lamentations, some things became clear in chapter 3 that impacts my life and how I live. Most scholars consider Jeremiah to be the author of Lamentations. So, in Lamentations 3:1-20, the pronouns “I” and “me” refer to Jeremiah. These particular pronouns occur 30 times in the first 20 verses of chapter 3. Furthermore, “my” occurs 18 times in these verses. The references to God in verses 3:1-20 focus on retelling the devastation Jeremiah has experienced from God’s hand. In summary, in the…
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One of the Impacts of Easter in our Lives
Easter is a particular time we set as a celebration of our God of the gospel—Christ dying on the cross for the payment of our sins, God accepting Jesus’ payment by raising Him from the dead, and the Holy Spirit’s transformative work in our lives for righteousness. One of the beautiful impacts of Easter on my life took form as I reflected on a particular incident. One evening my eye began to hurt. My eye would go from feeling normal, to hurting, to back to feeling normal. After about 18 hours, I had someone look at my eye to see if anything was on it. An eyelash was slowly…
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This is My Father’s World
Maltbie Babcock, a nineteenth century pastor, often said, “I’m going out to see my Father’s world” as he left for his morning walks. Babcock was an admirer of nature and penned the poem, “This is My Father’s World”, which was later put to music.[1] I enjoy singing this hymn, especially when I am out in my Father’s world. Recently, I was reminded of this hymn as I was learning about flowers as companion plants to vegetables and fruits. Several parallels to my life unfolded. Historically, planting flowers in vegetable gardens has been a common practice. For various reasons (including food, beauty, and medicinal access) vegetable/flower gardens were placed near kitchens.…
