Recently, President Obama directed American public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom corresponding to the sex they identify with. The Obama administration says this is just a recommendation. But schools that don’t comply risk losing federal funding. It’s an optionless option. I was furious. Transgenderism is a complex issue our nation is…
Tag: dead with Christ
The Fruitlessness of the Cross
The following is excerpted from a booklet I am close to finishing–Despising the Lamb: Pictures of Contempt in First Samuel *** First Samuel opens with a story about Elkanah and his wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Hannah was unable to have children. Peninnah bore children for Elkanah and smugly needled Hannah about it: “Her…
Slimy
There are many days when I’m painfully aware of my shortcomings. My thoughts, reactions, feelings, and judgments flow by like sewage. If I dwell on things at all, it’s easy to start drowning in it. Psalm 40 says, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of…
Secret Place
I’ve been thinking about Psalm 91 lately. This passage teaches us about being in Christ. He is our secret place, our dwelling wherein we are safe and at rest (Psalm 91:1-2, 9). The New Testament tells us that, in Christ, we are crucified and dead to sin. In Christ, we are also raised from the…
Fact & Fiction
The fiction: Trying circumstances, instability within or without, personal failure, weakness, a lack of spiritual discipline, temptation, and the devil can separate us from God. The fact: “Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: Because of You we are being put…
Our Affection for Rubble
“Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king” (1 Sam. 15:23). Israel asked for a king and rejected the Lord as King (1 Sam. 8: 7). God gave them what they asked for. Saul embodied their rejection of the Lord as King. He too (though he denied…
The Camp of Co-heirs (Tabernacles Part 2)
After leaving Egypt, God commanded that Israel’s tabernacles be arranged in a particular way (Num. 2). The Lord’s Tabernacle was in the center of the camp. Three tribes of Israel camped to the east of the Tent of Meeting (the most populous); three to the west (the least populous); three to the north and south…
Passover
Picture from: http://www.hopeofisraelministries.com/passoverpesach.htm Some time ago, one of my readers asked me to post excerpts from my booklet, Christ in the Feasts. What follows is from the section on Passover. *** Passover Judaism’s annual cycle of feasts had its roots in Egypt’s oppression of the Israelites. Prior to the exodus, the Hebrew people had been slaves for…
Change Clothes!
We have this affection for ourselves, for our old life. We do not really want it to die. We want to help it, to change it, to rehabilitate it, and we want God to share our sympathy with self. This is as when Abram prayed that God would bless Ishmael, the fruit of his flesh…
Put to Death…
Sketch by Patrick Murphy: http://inspiredsketch.blogspot.com/ When Paul says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature,” he assumes that “you died,” and also, “you died with Christ” (Col. 2:20; 3:3, 5). We cannot put to death unless we are already dead. Paul is not giving a command with the expectation that we fulfill it. …
The Voice of One 