You might be a legalist if: You’re trying to be a good spouse, parent, child, sibling, etc. Appearances are everything. You’re afraid of making mistakes. You might be a legalist if: A person is made unclean by what goes into them (Mark 7:18-23). You’re afraid to make decisions when the Holy Spirit gives no…
Category: The Gospel
Lord of the Dead and of the Living
Picture by Patrick Murphy Death and resurrection cannot be separated. This is so obvious it seems like a platitude. Often our words and thoughts divide these into separate categories. For the sake of clarity it’s sometimes helpful to consider them separately. But it’s disastrous in real life. Perhaps we are too used to treating death…
A Single Stone
David used only one stone to defeat Goliath and the entire Philistine army (1 Sam. 17:49, 50). One stone set right the many blasphemies Goliath shouted at God’s people day after day (1 Sam. 17:16, 23). One stone redeemed the disobedience of every Israelite soldier who did nothing to resist Goliath. One stone was all…
Reject All Lies. I Am in Christ.
Living Sacrifice album cover Living Sacrifice is one of my favorite bands. The other day I was listening to a compilation of their songs that I put together. As the chorus of one of the songs came on, it seemed the Holy Spirit was pounding the lyrics into me: “Reject all lies! Reject all lies!”…
What the Lord Said…
This what the Lord said to me last night: “If you never sinned you still wouldn’t be righteous.” “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). “Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I…
Me and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
I woke up this morning in a grumpy funk. As I tried to finish waking in the shower, my head filled with visions of the whole family going out for muffins and coffee. Post-shower, I told my wife. She said she planned to work out. Could we do it mid-morning after the workout? Well, that…
Cancer. Suicide. Grief.
“One Act” by Patrick Murphy My dad died of cancer in 2009. For some reason, I’ve been thinking about him, missing him, and grieving the last couple days. I’m a social worker by occupation. I manage in-home caregiver services for people who are disabled and/or elderly. On New Year’s Eve, one of my clients killed…
Change or Die: A Post-Christmas Wrap-up
Image from A Christmas Carol (2009, directed by Robert Zemeckis) This year, I introduced my daughter to Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. We read the book then watched a couple film versions. The 2009 animated version (with Jim Carrey playing Scrooge) is her favorite. It’s my new favorite as well. While adding flourishes here and there, it follows…
Take Me Away with You
http://services.flikie.com/view/v3/android/wallpapers/33571230 Below are lyrics to a song the Lord gave me. You can listen to it here. The words come from Song of Songs 1:2-4. The song is about the Lord drawing us into a relationship with Him “in His chambers.” In His chambers there is only Him, His love, the kisses of His mouth….
Narrowing Sonnet
Could we put oceans in a cup, a desert in an hour-glass, the skies in a falling rain-drop, the planets in a marble-bag, it wouldn’t touch the Lord, swaddled in a body, who also humbly wore the girdle of our laws, was threaded through the streets of Jews, endured the spit and then was split…
The Voice of One 