Right now, there is a lot of discussion going on in this country about the qualities that a person must possess to be an effective arbiter of justice.  Looking at a person’s past, and prognosticating what their future character might be, weighing those things next to the benefit of age and experience, all help us to decide how they might exercise their ordained authority.

Whether or not we approve of the manner in which these discussions are happening, the discussions themselves are vitally important, if we believe that God’s ways are truly better for all humans.  Furthermore, they should encourage us…

The account of Israel’s devastating loss at Ai due to Achan’s error is one that bears repeating.  Not only was the army defeated easily by a small force from a small town, but about 36 soldiers died, and it felt as though God had abandoned the people.  After Joshua addressed the sin in the camp, and the people were prepared to follow God completely, He gave them a specific battle plan.  They were to leverage the pride of the people of Ai, luring them out into the open and then attack from the rear, then attack from the rear flanks,…

When God delivered His will to His people, He warned them not to obsess over all the details He had not revealed, but to be diligent to focus on what He had.  “The secret things belong to YHWH our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)  However, since then, people have obsessed over the things that the bible does not reveal, and have continued to show a morbid interest into the things God chose to keep secret.  As we look at the…

When we look at God’s laws, we can see the ethical demands that He put on His people, requiring that their behavior was not damaging to others. (Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:8-10)  However, we can sometimes forget that there are two elements of sin.  There is the offense against the other human that fails to love them as ourselves.  More importantly, however, there is also the failure to love God in obedience. (Deuteronomy 6:1-8)  When we sin, we not only hurt others, but we hurt our relationship with God.

Joseph was aware of this concept when he was put in a tempting…

If there is any one issue that I hear complaints about from young married couples more than any other, it is the issue of communication.  It is not always the failure of one sex over the other, but young men are often quite unprepared to speak to their wives in a ways that demonstrates patience toward the "weaker vessel." (II Peter 3:7)  This is made especially difficult if there is an emotional component.

What is amazing is that the bible provides several opportunities to learn how to speak to people, even women, in a way that communicates dignity and respect.  Many…

One of the benefits of reading books like Leviticus is understanding the high requirements God put in place for Him to remain with His people.  If they were to be able to keep fellowship with Him, they needed to retain His presence with sacrifices to remove sin, and also to maintain peace.

Those sacrifices, however, had to meet a certain standard to be effective.  All of the sin offerings, and guilt offers for the people, and the priests had to be perfect, or unblemished. (Leviticus 1:3, 10; 3:1, 6; 4:3, 23, 28, 32; 5:15-18; 6:6; 9:2-3; 14:10)  Even the offerings that…

It is amazing how often children, when being chided or reprimanded, will point to the actions or the errors of another child for justification of their behavior.  Somehow, in their mind, their guilt is lessened by someone else doing something just as bad or worse.  Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise to us, as we so often do the same.

David was certainly a man after God’s own heart (I Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22), and he was the standard by which all subsequent kings of Judah were compared (I Kings 3:3; 15:3; II Kings 22:2; II Chronicles 34:2), but he was…

With the recent immigration debate, much has been made about the intersection of faith and politics.  While it is right that all of us who choose to have political insight, or engage in the process should be letting our faith guide us, we must still be careful to be authentic and consistent.  We must let our actions and communication be guided by our faith and the truth of scripture, instead of letting political opinions and leanings determine how we follow Christ.

When we seek to engage in political discussions, or even decide to exercise our right to vote to make an…

Those who come into the church in this day and age have many questions that we can sometimes fail to give the consideration they deserve.  They might ask us about things we assume are true, and have not questioned in many years.  They might ask us things that we may consider trivial or elementary, and thus have not taken the time to explain.  Sometimes they ask us things that make us scratch our heads.  When they do, then we must be careful to give them a worthy, and correct, answer.

Sometimes people who come into the church with little prior knowledge…

There are often two song books in most congregations.  I’m not talking about the supplemental book of “new” hymns that the younger people sing, but the older disciples aren’t so sure about.  I mean that there are the songs in the book that we have available, and the songs that we know.  Those two catalogues are often very different from one another.  A good brother Ethan Longhenry wrote not long ago, “Do you want to understand the theology of a group of believers? Consider not only their song book but the particular songs they frequently sing!”

When we are choosing…