Grains of Sand

The old saying, “ practice makes perfect ” rings true when you read the author’s words in Hebrews 5:14. “ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. ” Both the latter part of Hebrews 5 and the beginning of Hebrews 6 have to do with moving on from the fundamentals of the faith to spiritual maturity. The author’s concern is with the apparent slowness of his audience to catch on, describing them as children who need milk instead of meat, “ …for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child ” (5:13). The challenge is to “ …leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity… ” (6:1) marked by an ability to wrestle with good and evil and choose the good. It is in the application of truth that we discover just how much of what we have come to believe is actually rooted in our hearts and not just recorded in our minds. Discernment, the abili...

John Piper, writing about the great preacher Jonathan Edwards, said this: “ …our people need to hear God-entranced preaching. God himself needs to be the subject matter of our preaching, in his majesty and holiness and righteousness and faithfulness and sovereignty and grace. And by that I don’t mean we shouldn’t preach about the nitty-gritty practical things like parenthood, and divorce, and AIDS and gluttony and television and sex. We should indeed! What I mean is that every one of those things should be swept right up into the holy presence of God and laid bare to the roots of its Godwardness or godlessness. What our people need is not nice little moral or psychological pep talks about how to get along in the world. They need to see that everything, absolutely everything—from garage sales and garbage recycling to death and demons—have to do with God in all his infinite greatness. Most of our people have no one, no one in the world to placard the majesty of God for them. Therefore ...

Google Images Sometimes you just have to let things go and move forward. Joseph’s older brothers arrive in Egypt (Genesis 42:3). Famine has spread to Canaan and there is nothing left to do but to leave home turf and try to buy food elsewhere. The brothers are basically unchanged in appearance, older to be sure, and perhaps a lot wiser as well. Joseph has radically changed, taking on the appearance of an Egyptian. So when the brothers are presented to him, they do not recognize him. Of course, neither did they expect to ever see him again. As Joseph eavesdrops on the conversation among the brothers, he is aware that the jealous siblings who sold him into slavery are not the same men that he once knew. But he determines to test them to be sure. When they arrive back in Canaan they are one brother short (42:24). Simeon is captive in Egypt as surety for the return of the others with their young brother, Benjamin. They also have all the money they took with them to pray for the grain (4...

I cringe every time I hear someone headline Satan. He craves attention, feeds on our focus, delights when we make him bigger than life. That's why I like what James has to say about the struggles that we all face. Rather than making "good press" for the devil, James calls us to look beyond the minor players in the great drama of life to the One who gives us good gifts even when they come wrapped in dirty rags. " Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything. . .Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him " –James 1:2-4, 12, NIV. Our tendency is to give Satan credit for what God is doing in our lives. We don't usually look on difficulties as "...