Micah 2:8-12 ESV But lately my people have risen up as an enemy; you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly with no thought of war. The women of my people you drive out from their delightful houses; from their young children you take away my splendor forever. Arise and go, for this is no place to rest, because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction. If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be the preacher for this people! I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob; I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men. ¶ The people of Israel in the 8th century B.C. were in their "days of wine and roses". Not unlike us, it was hard for them to imagine why a prophet would come among them warning of destruction and deportation. Instead of relying on the Lord as their Rock and their salvatio...

Deuteronomy 26:5, 18-19 ESV [5] “And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous.   [18] And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, [19] and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.” ¶Among these "wandering Arameans", God placed His Chosen One, and gave Him an inheritance among the nations. By His divine nature, by His perfect obedience, He alone is worthy to receive a people for His own possession, a people made by the Holy Spirit into a royal priesthood, and a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9). We seem to think that owning items of great value makes us more valuable.  Be it a simple ...

Proverbs 25:16 ESV   If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it. ¶God gave us bees, that we might have honey, and He gave honey, that we might have bees. Taking all the bees' honey would not only make us sick, but there'd be no more bees. If we leave some honey, we'll have more bees. In a world at peace with itself, we share. ("Do not neglect doing good and sharing." Hebrews 13:16) The world is brimming with life under the provision of God's creative word: "let there be...life!". By it He ordained the balance of the entire ecosystem, every "Goldilocks moment" that sustains us. In the new creation there'll be rest, but only from "dead works". If there is still to be honey, bees will still work, and man will still harvest, and "all things (then) living (will) song(s) of thanksgiving to God the Creator triumphantly raise... till all things (then) living unite in thanksgiving ...

Deuteronomy 23:21-24 ESV “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.   ¶When our word is reliable, we do not need to bind ourselves with a vow to the Lord. It's just who we are. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:33-37), Jesus Christ encourages us to speak simply and with integrity when we make an agreement. Like so much of this sermon, Jesus is not releasing us, but calling us to a higher standard. He calls us "the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14), not only speaking God's truth, but reflecting God's truthfulness. The sacrifice, the vow, that pleases Him is the "sacrifice of praise...the fruit of lips that praise His name...and doing g...

Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. Philemon 1:8‭-‬10‭, ‬14 ESV ¶Paul does not order Philemon to make a sacrifice. He appeals on the basis of love. It is interesting how people respond when asked to make a sacrifice for the sake of others. Some seem to receive it as a command and bristle, others receive it as an opportunity to show their love. Perhaps it depends on how abundantly you have received the love of God in your own life.

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."  Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Matthew 4:18‭-‬22 ESV ¶Peter and Andrew, James and John were not the only ones fishing along the shore that day. Jesus was there, already fishing, fishing for men, to bring them out of their humdrum world, and into a world of possibility, and not only them, but men like them, simple men, comfortable with the simple tasks before them, and making of them men like Himself. There is no evidence in the text that these men felt like "a people living in darkne...