Search results

The sower became the seed, Jesus went down into the ground of death, alone, buried and out of that single buried grain came a harvest no one could count. The same logic as the field, something has to go into the dark before anything rises. Hold the two images together, in the parable, the seed...

There is one more place this parable points and it comes into focus when you remember who is telling it, Jesus is the sower, he is the one going out, scattering the word freely across every kind of ground, holding nothing back from the path or the rocks or the thorns. Jesus sows generously...

Many people sit on the throne of their own hearts and then wonder why everything feels unstable, scripture is clear about the condition attached to God’s promises, Matthew 6:33, Jesus doesn’t say seek God when it’s convenient, it says first seek. First, that word matters, because when God isn’t...

Luke 18:3, when Jewish society worked the way God had designed it, widows were meant to be at the front of the line, not at the back, the courtroom was supposed to bend toward the defenseless, not away from them, that was the design, but when that system broke down, widows were the first to feel...

The problem is not resolved with rules about what to eat, wear or physically avoid, because it is in the orientation of the mind, in the direction of thoughts, in the center of gravity of inner life. Paul is calling for a reorientation from the inside out, a change in what governs decisions and...

Matthew 22:12, now the text gives the man’s reaction and he was speechless, but the Greek verb behind speechless is not silence, it is not embarrassment, it is not the loss of words, it is something far more violent. The English language says speechless, the Greek word Matthew chose is the same...

When you understand the agony that Romans chapter 7 ended without resolving, but the division into chapters and verses did not exist in the original text, these divisions were introduced centuries later for practical reasons of study and reference. This means there was no dramatic pause between...

Luke 18:1-8, hypopiazo, a Greek word meaning to strike under the eye and it is a boxing term. Hypopiazo literally means to strike someone under the eye, to give them a black eye, to land a punch on a face, it is the same word Paul reaches for in 1 Corinthians 9:27 when he says, I discipline my...

Romans 11:26, in God’s wisdom, the rejection of Jesus by much of Israel, led to the good news being preached to the Gentiles, but Paul says that God’s plan isn’t finished yet, he prophesies that a time will come, when Israel will turn back to God. Not every single person of Israel will...

1 Peter 2:6, Peter is urging believers to live as a spiritual house, built on the foundation of Christ, having laid the foundation of holiness as your response to God’s grace. Turn your gaze to the bedrock of it all, Christ himself, the cornerstone upon which everything stands and of believers...

Galatians 5:16-17, this is the most psychologically relatable part of the entire Bible, every single believer knows exactly what this feels like, you have two natures living inside one body. You have the flesh, which is your old human nature that wants to please itself, it is selfish, fearful...

Galatians 5:14, Paul explains that the entire law creates a heavy burden, but the intent of the law can be fulfilled in one simple command, love your neighbor as yourself. If you love your neighbor, you will not seal from him. If you love your neighbor, you will not sleep with his wife. If you...

Galatians 5:13, if you are free from the law and you are saved only by grace, why not just sin as much as you want, if God’s job is to forgive and my job is to have fun, let us get to it, this is the most common objection to the message of grace. People are terrified that freedom will lead to...

Humans don’t have the power to create a state of blessedness in each other’s lives. How fortunate are those who or how good is life for you, essentially is in the eye of the beholder, a description of a state of happiness on someone that’s being observed by another, by a bystander who isn’t the...

Galatians 5:6, real faith is not static, it moves, it acts, but the motivation is different. Under the law, you loved your neighbor, because you were afraid of being punished if you didn’t. Under grace, you love your neighbor, because you are so overwhelmed by God’s love for you, that it...

Matthew 25:14-30, the reward the master offers, deserves more attention than it usually gets, enter into the joy of your master. The key word is the Greek preposition, “eis,” into, not toward, the joy is not handed to the servant like a bonus, the servant is invited to step inside it. The joy...

Matthew 4:17, from that time Jesus is announcing, to turn around. In Hebrew, the word “repent” is literally “to turn around,” there’s something happening that requires you to go in a different direction, the Kingdom of Heaven has come near. The Kingdom of Heaven has touched down right here...

To be alienated from Jesus Christ means, you have cut off the flow of power, when you operate by rules, you are on your own, when you operate by faith, you are connected to the power source of Jesus. So, if you do not follow the law for salvation, does that mean you just do nothing? Does faith...

Grace, on the other hand, demands faith in the one who was perfect, Paul is forcing the Galatians to make a choice, do you want to be judged by a system where one mistake destroys you or do you want to be saved by a system where all your mistakes are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, you...

Galatians 5:2, today, most of us are not tempted by circumcision, we look at the Galatians and think their problem was silly, but we have our own modern versions of this trap. People fall for the Jesus plus lie all the time, they think it is Jesus plus their financial success, they think it is...