Morning Musings: Psalm 106:45

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“For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

God doesn’t have mercy on us for His sake.  He doesn’t extend to us His steadfast love because it does something for Him.  He does it for us.  He does it because His love naturally moves outward and we are the only creatures in the world made in His image.  He does not deal with us according to our deeds, but quickly offers mercy when we cry out to Him for our sake.  He doesn’t want to see us destroyed.  He wants to see us live abundantly and flourish. Read the rest…

In the Beginning…

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This past Sunday we kicked off a brand new teaching series called, Marriage Myths.  The idea is that when we survey the picture of marriage offered up by our culture, what we end up with is a pile of myths that leave couple disillusioned and, sometimes, divorced.  Over the next few weeks we’re going to talk about what some of these myths are and why the truth is so much better.  In this first part we begin by laying a foundation of what marriage is and what its purpose is.  Keep reading for more…

 

In the Beginning…

We live in a day in which marriage is on the wane.  That’s actually kind of funny if you think about it.  Not all that long ago it seemed like marriage was the only thing we could talk about as a nation.  The storm of who gets to define what marriage is in the first place along with who is able to be married to whom was intense.  In fact, we are still feeling its after effects.  The Obergefell decision from the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage may be behind us, but we are still only at the beginning of figuring out exactly what it will mean for our society.  The Masterpiece Cake Shop case coming up this term will have a major impact on that question.  The irony in this is that some of the most vocal supporters for marriage equality have now come out and revealed that they never really cared about getting married themselves, they just wanted to wreck the thing because they don’t believe it should exist as it does.  But, before you jump to hoot and holler at such a person, a few minutes of reflection can fairly quickly bring someone to the conclusion that while you may not agree with them, you can’t blame them all that much for harboring such hatred for marriage. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Isaiah 26:3

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“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

What a powerful exclamation!  Many people go through this life on a quest for peace.  They search and seek for rest in the midst of the craziness of life.  They journey to all kinds of different places to find it.  They take up with a variety of practices.  Anyone who promises peace has their attention. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Psalm 106:16-17

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“When men in the camp were jealous of Moses and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord, the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Reading through verses 16-31 here leaves a couple of strong impressions, both of which are important for us today.

The first is that the people of Israel were stupid.  There were times they were misled and times they were weak or short-sighted and even times when they were deceived.  But on many occasions they made the wrong decision in full awareness of the consequences and without any prodding from the enemy.  They were stupid.  They turned away from the Lord constantly.  And they did it in spite of what we can now see as His obvious action in their midst.  They did it in spite of experiencing the consequences of such actions in ways that were both dramatic and, often, immediate.  It’s like they were dead set on going their own way instead of in the direction the Lord was leading them.  They couldn’t even receive the good things He wanted to give them.  Again, they were stupid. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: 2 Corinthians 11:30

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“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Why did Paul rattle off this list of experiences that by almost any account would make someone conclude that the particular path of life he had chosen was not for them?  He was boasting about why he carried the authority to call them to behave in a certain way.  If they were going to claim to be followers of Jesus, then he was someone they should listen to in terms of how to do it right. Read the rest…