What Is Delight?
Read: Ephesians 3:7-21 That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth. (vv. 17-18) Sometime between 1490 and 1510, Hieronymus Bosch painted a three-panel work he titled “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” Scholars debate the meaning of this […]
New Clothes and Permanent Ink
Read: Revelation 3:1-6 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. (v. 5) I don’t really like the word overcomer, the word my preferred translation (AMP) uses for this verse. To me, it suggests behavior I practiced for the first […]
The “Secret”
Read: Philippians 4:10-20 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (v. 13) There are always people who want to know the secrets of success, and for those peddling the latest and greatest methods, people will jump through hoops of fire to achieve it (and spend a lot of money). There are diet and […]
Interwoven
Read: Colossians 1:15-23 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (v. 17) In the final, climactic words of Scripture, a resurrected Jesus testified, “I am . . . the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:13). As old as the story of God, Jesus existed before history, and will be present after the end of […]
Builder and Wrecking Ball
Read: Jeremiah 23:23-29 Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? (v. 29) In her 2003 song “Wrecking Ball,” Jill Phillips wrote a jarringly honest lyric I’ve often appreciated: “Triumph and tragedy, only God can be / Both the builder and the wrecking ball.” Like […]
The Ultra-Wide-Angle View
Read: Psalm 34 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. (v. 7) There’s the simple zoom lens, then there’s the ultra-wide-angle lens. Spiritually speaking, to God belongs the ultra-wide-angle. While we often pull out the simple zoom, viewing what we fear at larger-than-life proportions, God sees the whole picture, […]
The Ocean of Abiding
Read: John 15:7-12 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (v. 7) For a vessel safe in a dry dock, one might ignore the fact that ships are made for water and swells and storms and anchors, smelly fish and heavy […]
Tightly Held
Read: John 10:11-30 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (v. 29) Security is a big deal. If you get it when you’re little, you’ll likely have more confidence as an adult. If you lacked arms to hold […]
A Promise of Welcome
Read: Hebrews 4:14-16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (v. 16) A throne of grace. What a beautiful picture of the place our God reigns from, especially in our time of need. When Jesus died, the […]