Back to Fruit

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. – John 15:5 At my house, the last of the Christmas cookies, candy, and other treats are finally gone. They are a rare treat for…

Why and How Should We Love Our Church Leaders?

And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. – 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13a Though my family and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day in any extravagant way, I enjoy using that…

As We Are

As I was reading the story of the prodigal son this week, I asked the Holy Spirit to bring to light a new facet of the familiar tale. For the first time, I noticed that the father how immediately and intensely the father hugged his son, regardless of the fact that the young man most…

Love Requires Obedience

During recent Bible reading, I came upon this statement by Jesus. Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? – Luke 6:46 In the prior verse, Jesus had just explained to his disciples that it is out of the abundant feelings of our hearts that our mouths speak. A…

Take Joy in Your Salvation!

When I read the Bible, I usually study particular words and phrases to clarify the meaning of a passage. But when I noticed this verse several days ago, I soaked up the entire paragraph all at once and enjoyed thinking about it all day - no additional study needed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,…

Bible Vitamins

Every Sunday, our pastor includes an insert called “The Bible View” in our bulletin. Every week focuses on a different theme, and this week’s theme was Bible study. The writer made the point that every Bible study session will not necessarily yield a lightning bolt (or even a light bulb) of fresh knowledge or inspiration.…

Rend Your Heart

When I was a child, I had the misconception that I could knowingly sin – plan to sin – and later tell God that I was sorry. “I’ll do this now, but I’ll plan to ask God for forgiveness later, and he will be okay with that,” was my philosophy. Sounds pretty dumb, right? I…

Old Testament God vs. New Testament Jesus?

I’ve been reading the Bible through chronologically since last summer or thereabouts.  The winter months found me forging through the major and minor prophets. The minor prophets in particular seem a bit dark to me, filled as they are with prophetic warnings from God to his people about what doom would befall them, should they…

Thank You, WordPress Community!

Since I began this blog about a year ago, my reasons for blogging have changed. At first, I blogged to hone my writing skills. My freelance work is steady, but assignments are generally weeks apart. Blogging provided needed practice.   As well, my posts provided a way to extend a branch to a community of…

Is Not This The Christ?

Consider this: when the woman at the well ran to tell her fellow townspeople, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" (John 4:29) she was excited about far more than the fact that Jesus inexplicably knew intimate details of her life. Let’s start at…