Tag: Sin

Morning Musing: Ezekiel 37:13-14

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“And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.  Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

We serve the God who is in the business of bringing life where it does not exist.  He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.  Where there is death, He transforms it into life. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Psalm 120:2

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“Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

The psalmist is almost certainly talking about the lying lips and deceitful tongue of another person here, but if you’ll indulge me for a minute, let’s run in a slightly different direction.  You have perhaps prayed for God to deliver you from the trouble caused by another person, but how about the trouble caused by…you? Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Hebrews 3:13

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“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Battling sin is a task for today.  We live in a world of doing the hard stuff later and the fun stuff now.  Battling sin isn’t fun.  It’s hard.  It’s dangerous.  It brings guarantees of success, yes, but also of pain.  And yet it is a task we cannot put off until tomorrow.  We must tackle it today. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Hebrews 12:1

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“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Most people have two kinds of manners: Private manners and company manners.  When we’re by ourselves we’ll let certain things go that we won’t when other people are around, particularly people whom we are interested in impressing. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Habakkuk

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“O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?  Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?  Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?  Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.  So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.  For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.”  (ESV – Read the book)

This will be a longer comment, but it’s going to cover the whole book.  Habakkuk is one of my favorite books in the Bible (and not just because it’s really fun to say!).  It is definitely my favorite among the minor prophets.  I am drawn to it because it asks a question that people still ask today, and offers an answer that while not immediately satisfying (in fact, initially, it is deeply unsatisfying), after some reflection leads us into a greater peace and faith than we had before. Read the rest…