Tag: family
-
Clear the Earth
Exodus 10:3–15; Joel 1:2–4; Mark 1:4–8 We read the Little House on the Prairie series to our kids. Ingalls relates how locusts one annihilated their crops. A family that barely lived on a shoestring certainly couldn’t afford that loss. That same swarm swept much of the United States, causing horrendous loss of crops and farms.…
-
Incomplete Armor
Psalm 27; Zechariah 10:12; Ephesians 6:10–18 This passage from Ephesians is one of those common favorites. Building and putting on the armor of God is still a popular activity for children. As a formation tool, it was and remains powerful. From the point of the Ephesians, they were very familiar with the attire of the…
-
Following
Matthew 10:21–22; Matthew 12:46–50; Luke 11:27–28 Have you ever been in a conversation…and it’s going well…and then it’s really digging in…and then someone interrupts? That feeling of…really? Couldn’t you have held out just a bit longer? Really? What was so important? Family. Except, in comparison to the Kingdom of God, what is family? That might…
-
You’re MINE
Luke 9:49–56 Family feuds can be long and painful. Some people are relieved that they won’t be traveling for the annual family gathering during Thanksgiving. The Jews and the Samaritans were family. They were at one point, at least. Over the generations, things continued to get worse, until they became enemies. Peculiarly, the Samaritans still…
-
Mindset
Ephesians 1:17–19; Philippians 4:1–9 There is a pernicious thought floating around that if Christians really believed what they say they do; they would all think similarly. Sadly, that often comes from Christians who perceive they are not being heard or perceive that someone with whom they disagree is being heard. In my immediate family, I…
-
A Small Project
2 Samuel 12:13–23; Ezra 8:21–23; Mark 2:18–22 Fasting is an age-old spiritual practice that has mostly lost its place in American Evangelical Christianity. Yes, there are some that practice it. Fasting remains strongly part of the Orthodox church and somewhat the Roman Catholic church. As American Evangelical Christianity has discovered Advent and Lent, fasting has…
-
Chained or Unchained
Deuteronomy 27:12–28:1; John 8:31–40; Galatians 3:7–14 There are many wonderful things in life that begin well and then become dead weight. Buying a house is one of those. We are now in an era when people buy houses and pay against a large debt for 15–30 years. It doesn’t take too long for the joy…
-
Circle Mission
Acts 16:11–15; Acts 16:25–40 Rob Wegner states that a missionary is an ordinary person who’s equipped to make new disciples in a new context, and that mission isn’t first an activity, it’s an identity. How does that apply to Lydia? She has three circles. The first circle is the (Gentile) God-fearing circle. The second is…