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Let There Be Light

  No parameters, no speed of light nor time nor space. Nothing to measure in light years or miles and then God created the Heavens and the Earth.   In and around and above that wet, dark and formless empty earth The Spirit Hovered.   From beyond the night, beyond the heavens and apart from the Earth God said, "Let there be light." And there was light.   Six measured days later God created man in His own likeness. But man believed a lie to be more like God and indeed became less like Him. Man's thinking became futile, and his foolish heart was darkened.   Now we are measured in time, square miles, and by the Bureau of Standards. Into that measured land, in a farmhouse on a quarter section in central Nebraska God created a man, partly in His likeness.   Twenty measured years went by, and over and around that man with a dark and formless void, The Spirit hovered.   Into that void, formless and dark, pierced, and then flooded, a
Recent posts

Proclaiming Peace and Salvation

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” (Isaiah 52:7). We do not normally think of feet as beautiful. Why are these feet different? They are carrying a voice that proclaims good news, peace, good tidings, salvation, and the reign of God. The apostle Paul quotes this text in Romans 10:15 right after a series of questions. "‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:13-15). This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please

The Best Church in Town

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27). If you are normal, you want to be in the best church in town, and you may be in it. However, does this church or any church fit the definition of pure and faultless religion? This is in the sight of God the Father. He is paying attention to see if your religion is pure and undefiled. There are two requirements: 1) to visit orphans and widows who are in distress and 2) to keep yourself unspotted from the world. Concerning the first requirement, you may not know any widows or orphans in distress. However, they are there in your town. Ask God who they are. The second requirement is not letting the filth of the world touch you at all. Jesus prays in John 17:15-17, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not

Three Problems from Proverbs 18

In my reading through the Proverbs, the eighteenth chapter got my attention. Here are three from that chapter: "The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body" (v. 8). "If one gives answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame” (v. 13). "He who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (v. 17). They all have to do with conversation, and they hit three great problems in the church today: gossip, not listening, and listening to only one side. All of these can be corrected by a simple desire and act of the will. However, to act properly means that there will be no more “choice morsels,” no “ego talking,” and no choosing up sides. Here are two New Testament sentences which will help us in our decision: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen”

Able to Do

It is relatively easy to believe great things of God as in Psalm 33:6, 9: “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” It seems to be more difficult to believe great things of God when it has to do with us: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Cor. 9:8). “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Eph. 3:20). “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25). “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand ” (Rom. 14:4). “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because

Get Forgiven Like Abraham. Obey Like Joseph.

God, in inspiring the Bible, went through the Creation, the Fall, and the Flood all in eleven chapters. It is as if God was in a hurry to get to Abraham. Then with the next 38 chapters God goes into detail on Abraham and the next three generations. Abraham was the “friend of God” and the father of the Jews and the Faithful. David is a “man after God’s own heart.” The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the son of David. “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to who

Viewpoint & Repentance

Our view of God, our view of our own sinfulness (or our own righteousness), and our view of the sinfulness of others all have an effect on how and when we repent. David had a great view of God’s mercy and unfailing love and a great view of his own sin. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me, against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge” (Psalm 51:1-4). A simple parable presented by Nathan, the prophet, broke David into repentance. Job had a great view of his own righteousness and a great view of God’s injustice to him. “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made me taste bitterness of soul, as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostri