Religious activities, like giving to the poor (Mt 6:2-4), prayer (vv. 5-8), and fasting (vv. 16-18), are not for public spectacle. That’s how they become “religious.” They are meant to be spiritual activities, between you and God. They are meant to honor and show love for the heavenly Father. “Our…
We need a revolution in America. Not an armed conflict, but a real upheaval of our thinking and how we approach things. What things? Just about everything – from common everyday life events to social interaction, race relations, social justice, welfare, immigration, national security, foreign policy, etc, to how we…
You are the dwelling place of Christ – the One who is Himself the radiance, the out-shining, of God’s glory, the exact representation of His nature. That’s pretty amazing. It’s rather impressive! Yet, in perspective, you are an earthen vessel. So, all that amazing awesomeness is from God, not from…
In an earlier post I mentioned my great-grandfather, Papa Sibley, and the influence he had on my Aunt Jean. She wrote of him: “My grandfather, John Coleman Sibley, whom we lovingly called Papa, died when I was only 11 years of age, but he has had the greatest spiritual impact…
Our nation is bleeding out. An old wound, which was yet in the process of healing, has been torn open over the past eight years. We need healing, and it doesn’t seem to be forthcoming. It could come sooner if we, as Christians, would focus on the Gospel and not…
According to the dictionary, the word “religion” comes from religare (Latin) to restrain, hold back, tie up. Where we get the word relegate. It has to do with devotion, in the sense of commitment, fervency, adherence. In that sense, some of the most religious people I have ever met are atheists….
He changes: RIVERS into a WILDERNESS SPRINGS OF WATER into a THIRSTY GROUND A FRUITFUL LAND into a SALT WASTE Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it. True wickedness is settling for and embracing the temporal instead of the eternal. Let me rephrase that. True wickedness is settling for and…
We found some baby oak trees in our yard. Apparently the squirrels and birds have been moving the acorns around because these little trees are nowhere near the young oak trees we already have growing. We left three where they are and put tomato cages around them so we don’t…
How can rational, 21st century man embrace a religion founded some 2,000 years ago? I’m sorry, but how can he not? How can he not realize that although man is building and discovering and accomplishing amazing things, man has not changed. He is still brutal, manipulative, self-centered, and downright ugly…
Jean Ellzey was born in October 1924. She was born blind. It was later discovered she also had a debilitating bone disease, severe curvature of the spine, and dwarfism. The doctors didn’t expect her to survive even a year. She passed away in 1993 at the age of 69. My…
