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Paradise Regained Some people like to skip ahead when reading a mystery in order to read the rest of the story with the end in mind. Others like to watch the game after it is over to anticipate the victory. Perhaps that is the point of the book of Revelation. It is not really “history written in advance.” It paints its picture of the end...

Human Silence: Job and the Silence of Humility When Isaiah received the call to be a prophet, He saw a vision of the Lord and responded, “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” God graciously sent an angel with a cleansing coal to touch Isaiah’s...

Divine Silence? A Prayer for God Not to Be Silent Moody professor John Koessler wrote about the silence of God in a recent blog post. We tend to interpret the silence as “proof of His absence,” “a sign of disinterest” or “disengagement.” “We worry that it means that God can’t hear us or even worse that He won’t hear us.” But we’re mistaken.

Worthy Eating In an article in The Atlantic titled “Why Americans Now Dress So Casually,” Deirdre Clemente observes, “Americans began the 20th century in bustles and bowler hats and ended it in velour sweatsuits and flannel shirts—the most radical shift in dress standards in human history.” Dressing for church used to mean dresses, suits,...

Come to the Water “Our kitchens and other eating places more and more resemble filling stations, as our homes more and more resemble hotels,” author Wendell Berry observes. “‘Life is not very interesting,’ we seem to have decided, ‘Let its satisfactions be minimal, perfunctory, and fast.’” As we close this month’s study with Christ’s invitation...

Mature Faith: Contrasting Examples The mission statement of the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago is to “serve with the compassion of Christ and minister with the transforming message of the Gospel.” For over 140 years, America’s oldest rescue mission has reached out to the hungry and the homeless with food, clothing, shelter, medical care,...

Mature Faith Does Not Show Favoritism Symbols of social status in America tend to be material goods. The person at the wheel of the sleek sports car is powerful. The one wearing expensive designer clothing is wealthy. The individual with the latest piece of pricey technology is ahead of the curve. The people seated in box seats or first class...

Treasures Can Be Hidden Hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains is the Fenn Treasure. Multi-millionaire Forrest Fenn hid more than one million dollars of gold and jewels, then in 2010 published a poem with nine clues for treasure hunters. He wanted to encourage people during a recession and “give hope to those who had a sense of adventure...

Treasures Can Take Many Forms Charles Spurgeon wrote in Morning and Evening about today’s verse that Mary’s reflections had engaged her whole being, including “her memory—she kept all these things; her affections—she kept them in her heart; [and] her intellect—she pondered them; so that memory, affection, and understanding, were all exercised...

Israel as God’s Treasured Possession There are many ways to treasure our memories. We collect souvenirs. We take photos or make videos to enjoy later, sharing them with family and friends via social media. We write about them in a personal diary or blog post, trying to capture for ourselves or others what was so special about the experience...