When Sarai “dealt harshly” with Hagar and ran her off into the wilderness, the Angel of the Lord came to Hagar to reassure her that “the Lord has heard your affliction” (Gen. 16:11) and would bless her child Ishmael. Hagar realized that “I have seen Him who sees me” (16:13). After the birth and weaning of Isaac (about 17 years later), Hagar and…

When the football team is on the field, who has it easier to make the plays just right? The quarterback on the field or the armchair quarterback at home? It’s a lot easier to sit at home and rail on the quarterback for missing the throw or misreading the defense than it is to actually be the quarterback on the field making the throws…

There is very little known about Demas in the New Testament. We know that he was a Christian, who spent time with Paul in Rome, while Paul was imprisoned there for the first time (Col. 4:14; Phile. 24). But by the time Paul was imprisoned in Rome the second time (about 5-8 years later), something had changed in Demas’ life. He had lost his first…

Kids! They know how to make excuses, don’t they! Whew! When they don’t want to do something, they can come up with “the best reasons” to explain their inactivity. “My foot hurts.” “I need to go to the bathroom.” “I’m tired.” As adults, we can see right through their excuses to just how pitiful their efforts to avoid action really are. It makes me wonder. If we can see right…

We use terminology like “falling in love” or “falling out of love,” but what is “love”? We use that word in a variety of ways today, but the Bible explains it very clearly. Do you “love” someone? Here’s how it will be known. In Ephesians 5, Paul tells Christians to “walk in love” (Eph. 5:2). What a way to say that! Make your way of life, how…

There are some highfalutin names that folks use for men who publicly proclaim the Bible today. Some are called “Father So-And-So” or “Pastor So-And-So” or even “Reverend So-And-So.” When you read through the New Testament, did you ever read anything like that? Can you imagine Paul addressing a letter to “Reverend Timothy”? Timothy’s name is found about 24 times in the New Testament. This man, who…

Don’t you like it when things are made easy for you? We love meals that are “made easy” or tax filings that are “made easy” or online purchases that are “made easy.” What about when activities in a Christian’s life are made easy? A present tense (signifying ongoing activity) imperative verb (indicating a command of God) is recorded in James 5:16 – “Pray for…

Usually, we would not think that something could be both “tender” and “firm.” We might think of a piece of meat and want it either tender or firm, but not both. If something was both tender and firm, we might consider it to be deformed or undesirable. Is it possible that something could be enhanced and superior because it was both tender and firm? In…