Church Blog (Page 44)
Righteous Judgement#7. “Trial by TV.”
It has been almost 30 years since the OJ Simpson trial. I had never heard of him before the day that the world watched on as the police pursued him in the infamous White Ford Bronco SUV in 1994. His trial drew tens of millions to their TV screens, and an estimated 100 million watched the jury find him “not guilty” of the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson cut a fine figure…
Righteous Judgement#6. “Judging the Future.”
When my kids were high school age, I asked them if they knew any Frank Sinatra songs. My expectation that at least one of them would break into “I did it my way,” was met with collective silence; not one of them knew a thing about “Old Blue Eyes.” Of course, it just highlighted the fact that “generations come and generations go” (Ecclesiastes 1:4). I’m sure that even Frank would smile to find out that, because of my kids, I…
Righteous Judgement#5. “Judging Snakes.”
In the 1980s I was invited to visit a preacher friend in a faraway city. When sitting down to eat his wife asked him how his visit with Mrs Smith went. “She is doing better,” he said, “but her boys were there standing outside the door waiting for me.” His wife asked him what he said to them, and his reply has stuck with me to this day. “I knew that they didn’t want me there,” he said. “So, I…
Righteous Judgement#4. “Changing Pictures.”
Somebody asked me recently how long I had been singing and playing the guitar. Puzzled at this, I asked them if they had mistaken for someone else. “No,” they said, “we have a photo of you.” Sure enough, they produced a 30-year-old picture of me, sitting with a guitar in hand, and most certainly looking the part. But sadly, my ability to look the part was the only authentic thing about it. It was at about the time that that…
Righteous Judgement#3. “A word to the wise is enough!”
Every parent, guardian, favourite aunt, and schoolteacher all end up praying the same prayer: “Lord, help this child to have some common sense.” It is not for nothing that the scripture says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him” (Proverbs 22:15). Of course, it should go without saying that an adult is a person who has left his childish ways behind. But given the average man’s capacity…
Righteous Judgement#2. “Twice a son of Hell.”
On one occasion, Jesus’ brothers treated him as if he were running for public office. They told him that those looking for popular support could best find it in Jerusalem during the annual Feasts. Ironically, though they didn’t believe in him at that point, they knew that the work of their miracle-working brother could attract more disciples in the capital than in Galilee (see John 7:1-5). No serious reader of the Four Gospels will mistake Jesus for someone trying to…
Righteous Judgement#1. “That OFF switch!”
Back in the late 1980s, I sat in a circle with other twenty-somethings as a lady demonstrated the wonders of the latest “Whey Health Products.” I had not yet eaten dinner, so the modest demonstration servings she distributed to each of us were just enough to make me hungrier still. However, everyone was complimentary of the lady’s efforts and extolled the virtues of her products. But one person in the room, though no one would have noticed, skipped the taste…
Starting Points#10. “Friends again.”
Few things on earth are more beautiful to witness than one brother restoring friendship with another. It is an act that reflects the most beautiful of divine acts, that of Jesus restoring friendship with us: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Trying to get our minds around the thought that our Eternal God would go to such extreme lengths to bring us back into sweet fellowship with Himself…
Starting Points#9. “Prayer—The Battle of the Wills!”
What a man really believes about God comes out in the quantity and quality of his prayers. That, of course, might be a fact rather avoided than contemplated, given that prayer remains a problem area for most Christians. But even the mightiest of prayer warriors are keenly aware that the struggle never goes away. They know that the more determined they are to build a meaningful prayer life, the more determined Satan is to tear it down. That does not…
Starting Points#8. “Disagreements over Facts.”
General Eisenhower, when seeing the horrors left behind by the Nazis at the Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, was determined to make sure that there would be as many eyewitnesses as possible. It is said that the citizens of the nearby town of Gotha claimed they did not know what was happening in the camp. Obviously unconvinced, Eisenhower ordered all the able-bodied citizens of Gotha, Germany to go to Ohrdruf and dig graves for the hundreds of bodies left behind. After witnessing…