Grains of Sand

Reading: Isaiah 22-24, Titus 2 These Old and New Testament passages aren’t intended to combine in any particular way, but once in a while one seems to mesh quite nicely with the other. Today is one of those times. Let me give you the background. Chapter 22 of Isaiah recounts the story of God’s dealings with Jerusalem. The inhabitants of the city knew they were in trouble. They had offended God and had subsequently been warned that He was not going to let them away with their rebellion any longer. The truth was that they were defeated long before the enemy arrived at their front gate. From verses 8 to 11 we see them frantically looking for a solution to their problem. They saw the weaknesses in their physical defenses and began to make what they thought were adequate repairs. Their mistake was not asking the One whose walls these were what HE saw. “ You did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago, ” writes Isaiah in verse 11. If they...

“ In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. ’” —John 3:3, NIV. Who’s the liar? Voices today (though this is not a new phenomena) tell us that everyone is going to heaven, that hell is what we make it here on earth. Neither of these statements is true. The book of John alone is full of verses that hammer away at the misguided thought that in the end love will prevail (i.e. John 1:12, 3:16, 17, 5:24). Love does prevail—for those who confess their sins and throw themselves on God’s mercy for forgiveness and restoration. Do those who so cavalierly dismiss the statements of Scripture and the clear teaching of Jesus even wonder what else might be a lie? If they can so quickly say that Jesus didn’t mean what He said about salvation, what else didn’t the Lord mean? Perhaps He also didn’t really mean to say that there is a literal heaven, since there doesn’t seem to be a literal hell. Perhaps He didn’t mean that He was l...

“ The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor ” —Luke 4:18-19, NIV Nope, can’t do it. Must be strictly a job description for Jesus. They won’t let me preach ‘cause I’m a woman. The last time I tried to break someone out of jail—oh wait, that was someone trying to break me out of jail and it didn’t go well (another story for another time!) and I don’t have the gift of healing. I’M the working stiff so it’s ME someone has to release from oppression! Personally I’m not part of the inner circle and therefore unaware of the date that marks the Lord’s return so I can’t tell anyone about when He might favor us with His physical presence again (though that, from my perspective, is the best favour He could do me). So we’ll just read these verses and pass on by. We won’t? It’s spiritua...