When Even the Best Medicine Can't Cure You

"Every human heart carries the feeling of disquiet and of separation from its true home."¹

Nathan Dumlao

 

THIS WORLD OFFERS a taste of some of the most beautiful, exhilarating, and heartwarming phenomena. God's creation—intrinsically good—can leave one filled with awe at the sight of something as mundane as a sunset. The earth spins away from the sun once per day, yet still we marvel at its magnificence.

If you ask me, one of the best things about life is comedy. I love to laugh.

Most people do, of course, but why do we laugh? Why do we enjoy it?

The Nature of True Blessings

 Enrichment is more important than riches.

Jon Tyson

 

THE TRICKY THING about discussing blessings is that the word means so many different things to different people.

Many consider the word only in financial terms.

Some pastors, because of ignorance or deliberate misinterpretation of the Scriptures, teach that mountains of cash is a birthright for the child of God. Are you a believer, but are not rich? Then you do not have enough faith.

So the thinking goes.

Setting aside the charlatans for a moment, those who honestly come by their interpretation of the promises of Proverbs—that blessings are all about the material world—could be forgiven for such a shallow interpretation.

Christianity Is Not an Ethnicity: What Jesus Really Meant When He Said "Born Again"

The most famous passage in all of Scripture is John 3 in which a Pharisee called Nicodemus visits Jesus at night.

During the encounter Jesus uttered the renowned verse sixteen stating, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This is the foundation for Christianity. It is the gospel encapsulated in one sentence.

Photo by Janko Ferlič

But the impressive nature of the chapter is the deep subtext which eludes the average reader, but enriches the reading for those in the know. This is the amazing thing about scripture. It is multi-layered, complex, and beautiful, but not so technical that the common man cannot understand it.

Warning: Your Mom Can't Save Your Soul

Having a mom who goes to church is not grounds for salvation.

Maybe you even attended church as a child. You read the Word, you sang "Jesus Loves Me". But you never submitted your life to Christ.

Simon Harrod (Creative Commons)

Your mother might be Teresa, but she cannot save you. Sure, she prays for you. She hopes beyond hope.

How the Ultimate Screw-up Got One of the Bible's Most Important Gigs

When you think "screw-up" in the context of the Bible, a whole slew of people probably come to mind.

There's king Saul, anointed of God, who disobeyed the LORD by keeping the plunder of Amalekites instead of destroying it, broke the law by offering sacrifice, and consulted with a medium.

There's Solomon who, despite a heaping amount of wisdom and vast wealth, turned from the LORD to foreign gods.

Moses, who took matters into his own hands by killing an Egyptian.

Adam and Eve, the original screw-ups, who ate from the one tree God forbade.

But perhaps the ultimate screw-up in all of scripture is none other than Jacob, son of Isaac.

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (Rembrandt)

You know the stories. Beginning at birth he grabbed the heal of his twin brother on the way out of the womb earning him the name "supplanter". He later extorted his brother to gain the birthright, then tricked his near senile old man into giving him the blessing.

So naturally God chose him to be the father of His people.

Say what?

The Most Important Bible Character You've Never Heard Of

Quite a few obscure characters line the pages of the Bible. There's Gomer, Ahithophel, and Orpah. And who could forget Dorcas or Methuselah?

But of all the obscure people in the scriptures, one rises to the top as an important figure. He's mentioned in Genesis, referenced by King David, and even the author of Hebrews writes about him.

But there's a good chance you've never heard of him. Or, you read those passages and moved on, not knowing what he was about or why he mattered. You probably thought he was just another Dorcas or Nimrod. I did the same thing.

A Christian of nineteen years and raised in the church, I too did not know who this man was until a few years ago when I read through the entire Bible. He is mentioned only in five chapters spread across three books, but we shouldn't be so quick to overlook this man. Who am I talking about?