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- Psalm 51:6-15 - Psalm 51:6-15: We are repeatedly instructed to meditate on God's Word day and night (Psalm 1:1), and throughout the Bible there are choice passages that lend themselves to reverent times of prayer and meditation. Psalm 51 is one of those passages that can touch us in so many different ways. Three versions of this passage is offered here. Consider that we are David, offering up our life and soul in the acknowledgment that we are sinners in ways that we may not even understand. God Bless your journeys. Continue reading
- A Little Light - Light: In a recent Watchword I shared a little of my family history regarding a little clay lamp that dates back to Moses day, for which I am caregiver. We were reminded by the Almighty that it is not the lamp, but God’s Word that illumines our way. It is in those times that we need the light of God’s Word to shine a light on life’s path, to show us the way, as Jesus beckons – Come follow my lead. God, with you there is no darkness. Your character has no shadows, and you are pure and good. Yet in our broken world, we see so much darkness around us. Pain, sickness, and disease are in our community and in many of our homes. Bring your light and restoring presence to the dark places in our lives. Continue reading
- The Sadness of God - The Sadness of God: What would cause God to grieve? Can you imagine the Creator God of the universe and everything in it to grieve? Causing Him sorrow? In this scripture passage, above, we are told not to cause the Holy Spirit sorrow by the way you live. How do we do that? It is our actions, our decisions that cause a two-fold problem. First, whatever we may say or do that is contrary to the will and intent of God prevents the Holy Spirit from being what He could be in us. Second, and related, is that our actions prevent the Holy Spirit from doing what He could through us. Continue reading
- What Doest Thou Here? - What Doest Thou Here? Have you ever been disappointed? Silly question. You hoped for one thing and ended up getting something else, totally unexpected and unwelcomed. Maybe you wondered, “What was my Lord thinking?”, yet you plowed on and got through it. The prophet Elijah had spent a major part of his life proclaiming God’s Word, even when it was not popular. There was even a bounty on his head, which caused him to flee and try to hide. He felt totally alone and that everyone was against him, and told God as much. Sometimes I wonder if serving the Lord often comes to us in the midst of our own very busy schedules for a reason, and we ask ourselves, “How can I do one more thing?” It is then that we begin to realize that God meant what He said when He told us that he would equip us to follow his will, even in the face of our current circumstances. Continue reading
- Ancient Clay Lamp - Ancient Clay Lamp: True story. It was in summer, 1936, amidst the rumblings of a world war, that my great-uncle, Harold Davis and his wife, were spirited out of China after years as missionaries. They returned to New Jersey, but late in 1938 were invited to be part of an archeological ‘dig’ in the Holy Land. In the course of that ‘dig’, my uncle uncovered a clay lamp. In succession, I inherited the lamp from my father. On occasion, when I read the words of Psalm 119:105, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”, I do think about this little clay lamp, over which I serve as caretaker. For me, this Psalm reading is a most helpful passage. An ancient lamp, fashioned by hand, a connection with the very beginning of God’s plan for our lives. If I think about that too much, I can get overwhelmed, and I have asked myself, “why am I the holder of this object that I consider sacred ?” This answer comes to me: “It is just a clay lamp, nothing more. However, it is My Word that provides the Light for your path. Continue reading
- Not in the Flesh - Not in the Flesh: People who had known Jesus well, over three or more years, did not recognize Him after the Resurrection. He had become a new person. Jesus tells us not to regard others in the flesh, but to look inward, at their quality. What was there about Jesus that his own mother did not recognize him until he spoke? Christ’s death, which paid for all of our sins who believe in Him, resulted in a drastic change. Paul insists we look at every single person from a different perspective. Instead of looking at the outer appearance, the important question to be answered is spiritual. The value of a person is not found in physical things or worldly wealth or outer appearance. What is within, that is what counts. Are we ‘color-blind’? Shouldn’t we be? Why do we too often lead with ethnicity? Continue reading
- Trouble - Trouble: “My friends, you got trouble, Right here in River City..." I think most of you can hear Robert Preston, as the Music Man, singing a warning to the people of River City about the evils of the game of pool. We’ve got trouble, and it probably has nothing to do with the game of pool. The disciples were surrounded by a terrible storm. They were racked with fear and there was Jesus sound asleep.I think that God allows us to experience trouble in our lives because the trouble has a purpose, a lesson to be learned and we tend to forget that in the absence of faith is fear. Continue reading
- Karma and God? - Karma and God? “Does karma exist with God?” It is well-known that there are more than 50,000 ‘brands’ of Christianity, and each one firmly believes they got it ‘right’. Differences may be far apart, from whether it’s liturgical or non-liturgical, all the way down to very petty issues, but the spirit of “churchiness” seems to pervade them all. More than 40 years ago, J B Phillips wrote his classic, Your God is Too Small, and coined the phrase, ‘God-in-a-box’, where he speaks of how we have made the Almighty much too small. Some churches appear to be saying “here, jumped through our particular hoop, sign on our particular dotted line, then we will introduce you to God. Okay, so what does that have to do with karma and if the concept exists with God. My friend is correct in saying that karma is a theological concept found in the Buddhist and Hindu religions. The short answer is the Bible rejects the idea of reincarnation, so, therefore, Christianity does not support the idea of karma. Continue reading
- The Law of God - The Law of God: Often times in Bible studies we refer to the 613 “Jewish laws” with disdain. We might do some google research and find out that one of the “laws” requires a specified sacrifice to God if your donkey gives birth to a calf. To our modern ears that sounded very dated and we reject it as a "Law of God". There is an array of practical, everyday laws that mask as God’s Holy Word, incorporated by well-meaning Jewish ancients that we have mistaken to be part of the true and simple 613 laws, which, in truth, along with the Ten Commandments, are found in God’s Word. Jesus however, lived by a different law: the law of love! Jesus followed most of the Jewish laws and customs. However, when it came to people in need of love and compassion, Jesus lived by the law of God! Continue reading
- Born-Again, Again - Born-Again, Again: In a recent Watchword, I revealed that it’s been 45 years since my own born-again experience, a singular event in my faith walk. In that recent Watchword, I referenced Nicodemus and his conversation with Jesus and observed that Jesus was not very patient with this Pharisee, this scholar, this teacher of the law. He had been curious enough to come to Jesus at night, and to tell him “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miracles are proof enough of this.” What Jesus had told him was puzzling…”Unless you are born again, you can never get into the Kingdom of God.” What is going through the mind of the Pharisee, as he walked away from that encounter with Jesus? This may be reaching, but in my mind, being born-again is an encounter with Christ. We see that throughout the New Testament, and if we read with discerning eyes certain passages of the Old Testament, meeting Jesus was a life changer. So, why would that meeting not have eventually changed Nicodemus? A Pharisee being born again? Radical! Continue reading
- Dying in Order to Live - Dying in Order to Live: Recently, a subscriber to Watchwords raised this question: What does it mean that you must die, if you want to be alive? Jesus, in his conversation with Nicodemus, was not very patient. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a teacher of the law, yet he did not understand what was written in the Law. Jesus reminds him that “Men can only reproduce human life.” But, only by being “born again” by the Holy Spirit, can that human life become new from heaven. The imprint on a person’s spirit of a “born again” experience can be definitive, or subtle to the point where the only remnant is reflected in the life pattern of the person. Yet, every believer has a point in her or his life when they acknowledge Jesus as God, maybe moving from parent’s faith to their own. That is being Born-again. Continue reading
- The Second Coming - The Second Coming: What are your thoughts on the Second Coming of Christ? With frequency, we read the Apostle’s Creed which tells us that Jesus will come again to “judge the living and the dead.” Hmm, what do you think that means? Another concept, popular among some groups of Christians, is “the rapture” of the church. One definition is “a feeling of intense pleasure or joy”, but that doesn’t quite fit when matched up with the Second Coming. The Christian definition of the rapture is “the transporting of believers to heaven at the Second coming of Christ. That’s a much better fit. Continue reading
- The New Eden - The New Eden: There are a lot of beautiful hymns around Easter time, and one that I really enjoy because I can actually get into the Music is “In the Garden”. I’m sure it’s familiar with all of you. In the actual, scriptural garden, the man and the woman, created by God, displays human qualities by passing the buck, making excuses, being “tricked”. With that, sin entered the world and here we are. That’s not the end of story. God didn’t leave from there and dessert them, he made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them, hinting at Jesus’ covering our sins. We can’t return to the garden, but we can return to the God of the garden.” Continue reading
- Not a One-Way Street - Not a One-Way Street: Different degrees of depression are common to all of us. What may be different is how we deal with it. There were times when I immersed myself in depression, covered myself with self-pity, and wondered if I had value of any kind. Can you relate? Maybe you’re sitting alone in your home, sad. Maybe you’re alienated from parts of your family and feel that loneliness. Maybe you lost your spouse and feel that alone-ness so intensely that it brings you down. Perhaps all of this builds up to the point where you realize that you are depressed and you have to do something about it. One way that I have dealt with my “downtime” was to free associate, to write it down, and let it all out; all the self-pity, all the demeaning things. It was during one of those free association exercises that I came across an interesting sentence, that brought me to a stop: “You are a child of God, and your faith is not a one-way street.” I paused and looked at that idea, and thought about it, as tears came. Continue reading
- Salvation? - Salvation? Salvation? What is that? How would you define it? The basic meaning of salvation is “rescue,” that is being delivered from something. However, the Biblical definition is just a little different. Salvation is not just about being saved from something, but being saved for something. I think the answer to the question of what are we being saved from or for, rests in the little phrase, the righteousness of God found Iin 2 Cor. 5:21. Note the words “might become”. It is there for us to accept, it is our decision. Continue reading
- I Am He - I Am He: This passage of John 4, “The woman at the well”, is a pivotal story in the ministry of Jesus, and it’s a mystery. Who was this woman? Was she really from the nearby village? What kind of a woman was she? We have the impression that she was a woman of questionable morals, but we might come to that conclusion without facts, without any understanding of the life that she had led. She only appears in scripture at Jacob's Well, and we learn that she had five husband, or five men she had lived with. There may have been reasons for that, maybe it rested with the men, possibly her life had been cruel and she had made poor decisions. We simply don’t know. But we do know a few things; we know that somewhere in her past life she had an understanding of the coming of the Messiah. Where had she learned that? It certainly was not revealed to her in the Pentateuch, the Torah that Samaritans studied. So, where did her knowledge come from? We don’t know. That is part of her mystery. Continue reading
- “Does God Curse Us?” - "Does God Curse Us?" I thought about that question and my own life journey and the few remembered adversities that I struggled through. I say “few remembered adversities” because, even though at the time I thought the sky was falling on me many times, the truth is, I can recall only once when I was truly frustrated with the Lord, during the five-year health decline of the love of my life. There may have been other times, but they left no mark. When we embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior, we declare God’s sovereignty and pledge our own submission. The metaphor of the Potter and the clay teaches a truth that is hard for many to accept. We don’t like to say that God is responsible for the trouble that enters our lives, but the answer is that God is absolutely responsible for all those elements that we deem as “troubles” or “curses”. That should be a comfort to us, for if God were not in charge, then our lives would be left to chance, and the matter of God’s sovereignty would have no meaning. Continue reading
- Save Me, Lord! - Save Me, Lord! When stuck against a mountain of trouble, or perhaps in a storm of our own, and we don’t know where to turn, how do we respond? Peter chose to cry out, “Save me, Lord”, in a panic. How about you? The wind was a gale force and the waves were high, but Peter didn’t see them because He had his eye on Jesus. Oh, but then, the wind made itself known and he saw the waves, and he was afraid. There are any number of things in our lives that might cause us to be afraid, or worry, or perhaps you’ve said something that offended some people, people that you really like and respect, and it hits you like it gut punch. What to do, how to respond? What goes through your mind? Continue reading
- Putting God to the Test - Putting God to the Test: Have you put God to the test? Or maybe you made a bargain with God. You know, God if you’ll do this, I’ll do that or I’ll never miss another Sunday or I’ll never asked for another thing. Have you ever done any of that? Satan says to Jesus, turn these stones into bread and enjoy. Jesus counters with, man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And, of course, you might encounter on your own by saying, of course that’s what He’d say, after all he is God. Have you ever thought about this; that the adversities in our lives are first confronted and dealt with in the secret places of our will, in God’s presence. Continue reading
- Do You Trust God? - Do you Trust God? John 6:52-69 is a big bite of Scripture, but the message is pretty clear to us. Many of Jesus’ disciples were having a hard time understanding the analogy, taking some of it literally and it upset them, to the point where some gave up and missed the powerful witness of Peter in verses 68 and 69. We, of the Resurrection, have an understanding of the sacraments and their meaning, and it is there that we place our trust. Continue reading
