“Who say ye that I am?” is the question with which Jesus confronted the twelve at Caesarea Philippi. Men and women of our day are no less challenged to answer the same question, a question upon which hangs the very meaning of life itself. Who is this whose influence has cast itself powerfully across nineteen centuries?

The only Jesus we may know is the one whose story is written in the New Testament by His close companions and disciples. This is the “historical Jesus.” If we attack their simple, straightforward accounts as unreliable, we have burned the only bridge by which…

    “May your days be merry and bright.”  That’s not a problem for me during this season.  I love everything about it: the decorations, the music, the movies, the cooler weather, the family traditions. I think strangers are even friendlier to one another when they pass on the street, exchanging a chipper “good morning” on a cool, brisk day.  

    But to some, this is not “the most wonderful time of the year.”  The Holiday Blues are real.  They usher in periods of pain, sadness, and even depression.  While I’m enjoying a predictable plot on some Hallmark movie, another might…

    The backdrop of the book of Romans was a congregation made up of both Jews and Gentiles. In addition to this mix of peoples was the fact that the emperor of Rome kicked the Jews out of Rome for a time and then after his death they were allowed to return. These two factors caused many issues for the Christians as their backgrounds and traditions were much different. Jews were raised with the mindset of being God’s special people, close alliance to the law and its traditions. Gentiles came from a pagan background with less regard for the traditions…

    Over the course of my lifetime wartime conflicts have taken place, mostly in the Middle East and Africa. Even now there is again another war going on in the Middle East region.  It is very hard to ignore exactly what is happening and what drives these wars, particularly in the Middle East.  Both sides of the current conflict look to spiritual issues as their driving force, just as we Christians should do in regards to our everyday life.  Mark 9:50 tells us to “be at peace with one another.”  Is that our attitude as we live here in our…

    Galatians 6:2 reads, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”  The dictionary defines “burden” as “something carried, often too heavy to carry easily - a load of things, work, duty, financial cares, worries, sorrows”.  Certainly, the scripture calls the Christian to care for the physical needs and burdens of our fellow man and brethren.  Consider, for example, the story of the “Good Samaritan” or perhaps Jesus’ description in Matthew 25: 31-44 of the final judgment where the deciding factors for eternal life versus damnation revolved around how we cared for the physical needs of others…

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“Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16).  A seemingly simple statement that is not so simple to do.  Why is it so hard to confess your sins?  I can’t speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself, and I think it applies to others as well:  PRIDE.

Why does pride keep me from confessing my sins?  I wear a mask, metaphorically speaking.  I don’t like dressing up and wearing a mask for a costume, I really don’t like wearing costumes at all.  The metaphorical mask I wear is that…

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GOSSIPTOWN
(By Bobby L. Graham)

Everybody's been to Gossiptown at least once in life.   Most people spend much time there, because they enjoy the amusements of the place or the company they meet there.   Frequently they meet people much like themselves; and occasionally they become so astonished at what they are like when seeing others doing the same thing, that they wake up and decide to leave the place and never return again.

Gossip and all sorts of activities associated with it occupy the time of the people who live there or visit there.  …

I first met her in high school. She was older than I and exciting. She’d

“been around.” My parents warned me to have nothing to do with her, but

I kept meeting her on the sly. She was so sophisticated and worldly. It

made me feel grown up just being with her. It was fun to take her to a party

in those days.

We began seeing more of each other, after I started college. When I got a

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in

heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my

burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)

I am increasingly aware of the limits that my body can sustain. Whether it

is losing control of weights in a public forum, or painfully working through

We know that if the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down, we have

a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling

from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.

For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we

do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed,…