For the last few days I have been reading in Romans 9-11. This morning I finished up the section. Toward the end of chapter 11, Paul, who has spent nearly all of the previous couple of chapters talking about the Jewish people, shifts gears and focuses on his largely Gentile audience. In vv. 17-24 he says this: Read the rest…
“And when they prevailed over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him.” (ESV)
Here is another gem hiding in the tedium of the genealogies of 1 Chronicles (maybe they aren’t so tedious after all?…). The warriors of the Reubenites had their urgent plea to God granted because they trusted in Him. When we trust in the Lord and live out of that trust, we can go to Him in our times of need, in our battles, and He will be our help. If He was faithful to them as they trusted in Him, He will be faithful to us as well.
“Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers did not have many children, nor did all their clan multiply like the men of Judah.” (ESV)
Children are a blessing from God. This is something the secular culture that is growing more and more prominent in the West (but also in many places in Asia including China and Japan) does not understand. A few decades ago an environmental activist named Paul Ehrlich wrote a book called The Population Bomb in which he argued that the world was on a path toward rampant overpopulation which would lead to mass starvation as the environment could not produce enough food to feed everyone. The only solution was for world leaders to take drastic steps to decrease the world’s population and prevent its rapid growth in the future. Read the rest…
“But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis on works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” (ESV)
Our insistence on salvation by grace alone must be absolute. If we allow even a smidgen of works in the door the whole thing comes undone. Grace flies out the window and doesn’t return until we drive out works completely. When it comes to salvation, grace and works are mutually exclusive. You can have one or the other, but not both. Period. Read the rest…
“For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.'” (ESV)
Have you ever believed something, invested a lot in that belief, and then it turned out not to be true? Have you ever argued some point to the ground with another person only to discover that they were right and you were wrong? Crow doesn’t taste good no matter how you serve it. Read the rest…
The Nexus 