A Writers Block

     As is usually the case with my quiet times, there are often words that jump out at me from the verses I read. Today it was ‘prove.’       “Then the Jews demanded of him, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’” John 2:18      Jesus had just finished whipping the tar out of the merchants for selling animals for sacrifice within His Father’s Temple. There is a lot more behind all of that - the area they were set up in was where the gentiles’ were allowed to pray so to the Jews it was not really important, it wasn’t in the temple building… just within the outer walls, and it was necessary for them to provide a way for sojourners to purchase their sacrifices - but the authority of Jesus was being questioned instead of the Jewish misuse of His temple.      Why do humans always need proof?      My first thought is so that our pride is not pummeled by our mistaken belief...

  Most of us cringe at the thought of the word judgement. It is a word that has taken on a harsh meaning that maybe shouldn't have. Here's what I mean: To judge is to determine... not to condemn or justify. It is the simple process of defining the action taken. I think the encompassing of condemnation into this word is partly because we already know we are imperfect therefore punishment if deserved and the only possible outcome from judgement.  God, however, turns this idea on its head, as He usually does. He asked His Son to take that deserved consequence on Himself. Jesus, who would have been judged blameless and awarded all the prizes for his works of good, volunteered to take the punishments that we would most definitely receive upon judgement of our actions. He endured for us what we so justly deserved. Why? So that when we stand before God to be judged, the actions have either been wiped away leaving nothing to judge negatively or they are there but the punishment has al...

I went to a private Christian school for my elementary years and one of the requirements throughout the years was the memorization of scripture. It was something I actually liked doing, although I can't say I remember more than 4 or 5 long passages and a handful of verses, but one such passage that "stuck" was 1 Corinthians 13. I'm currently going through that chapter, taking it one verse at a time. I don't know if I have ever done it so slowly before. It affords an almost out of context focus on their meanings.  Today was verse three:  "If I give away all I possess to the poor, and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."  First, it seemed interesting that we could gain anything by surrendering. Why would that be a motivator? Sadly, I'm guessing that humans don't do much of anything without some promise of gain. Paul, the writer, knew that.  I tabled that thought and went on to the meaning of the word surrender. To su...