Sound Words (Page 26)

Resisting Sin Begins with Prayer At some point during each day, you feel a familiar tension: immaterial objects of your fancy tug on your worn heart strings while you vacillate between what you want to do and what you ought to do. We all have been in that battle. And we all have lost. Perhaps the struggle concerned clicking an internet link that led to a pornographic webpage. Maybe the struggle regarded releasing a verbalized rage that destroyed the spirit…

An Appetite for Abomination If you have lived with someone who has a severe allergy or some havoc-wreaking malabsorption condition, then you know what it means to be concerned about most everything you touch. Hopefully you do, at least, or you probably have paid many visits to the hospital. Having a Celiac spouse is one of those things that demands such increased conscientiousness. Most days, I am concerned about everything I touch. Is it safe for her, or is it…

A Seat at the Table The dining scene in Ruth 2:14 illustrates how feasting relates to fellowship. There is a tender feeling of belonging that follows an invitation to the table. Ruth understood this well. Ruth knew she did not belong at that table. It would be a mistake for us to expect a female servant in ancient Israel to be so honored by the host of a dinner. Moreover, she was a Moabite—something the text never lets us forget…

Distinctions that Dishonor We live in world in which people will divide over nearly anything. People make distinctions based on skin color, political affiliation, economic status, and, in some cities, even the side of the train tracks on which someone was raised. This is the way the world works. But this is not the way God works. Because God does not work this way, a Christian cannot honor God while making distinctions about others that God does not make. James…

Kind Like Our Creator “Though the wicked is shown favor, he does not learn righteousness; he deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, and does not perceive the majesty of the LORD.” (Isaiah 26:10 NASB)  The truth upon which Isaiah’s observation is founded says something significant about the purpose of God’s favor: it is meant to teach me righteousness and show me the majesty of the Lord. The kindness of God is not merely something I receive and for which I am grateful. His kindness is, in fact, the…

A Resurrecting God There are few things more integral to the teaching of the New Testament than Christ’s resurrection. It’s a part of the core gospel message, as Paul reports to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:3-5). But this belief was more to the first disciples of Christ than a mere credal statement of faith, and it should mean much more to us as well. Jesus, being God, is uniquely capable of bestowing life. John argues as much at the beginning…

Inadequate, Inactive, Inexcusable Why do Christians hesitate to speak the word of God they know is truth? It seems silly to suppose that saints who have been saved by faith in and obedience to the word of the Sovereign Lord would skirt situations in which they might spread that saving truth. Still, saints stay silent. And while there are, presumably, many reasons for this reluctance, perhaps one of the most prominent is a feeling of inadequacy. In short, we just feel that…

A Reason to Believe Standards shape cultures. Several thousand years ago, a woman’s worth in many places was measured by a standard: fertility. Consequently, society at large honored women for bearing many sons, but it likewise shamed them for being barren. Wives who could not be mothers considered themselves cursed. This is exactly the kind of cultural environment that surrounded Sarah, and she understood this plague all too well. Moses records, “Sarai was barren; she had no child” (Genesis 11:30…