One of the hard things when teaching others about metaphor, simile, and allegory is trying to also explain that there are limits to how far one should take them.  Describing someone as a “bull in a china shop” is not intended to make a statement about their servingware shopping habits.  My wife will sometimes refer to the children as “full of beans” and invariably, one of them will inquire about their recent diet.  These simple misunderstandings may be innocent enough in making jokes and puns, but we must be careful that we do not bring these same problems to the…

With the prevalence of media in our everyday culture, most of us recognize when we hear, "Do you feel lucky, punk?" that someone is quoting a movie.  The same goes with “Play it again, Sam,” and “I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto.”  The problem is that as popular as these lines are, they do not appear in Dirty Harry, Casablanca, or The Wizard of Oz.  They are misquotations that have lived on in our public conscience, albeit incorrectly.  This can happen so easily because we very often will rely on our memory of the movie instead of actually watching…

So much of our national interest in productivity is actually about setting priorities.  We all have the same amount of time each day, but some people are perpetually accomplishing more than others.  Poor prioritization makes us seem very busy, without accomplishing the things that truly matter.  By spending our time on less-important tasks, we never accomplish those things that make the biggest difference.

This same problem is partially to blame on the lack of biblical literacy in the world today, and even in the church.  All people have the same amount of time, but only some people use that…

When Jesus was being harangued by the Jews on Hanukkah (the Feast of Dedication) in John 10 (vss. 22-30) about whether He was the Messiah, His answer was that He and the Father were “one.”  This statement was so radical, that the Jews interviewing Him were ready immediately to stone Him for blasphemy.  Jesus' answer to them in this case is very interesting.

“Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him,…

Human beings are often too clever for their own good.  Many of the problems that we face on earth are due to our own arrogance, and even sometimes our attempts out “outsmart” God and the world that He made for us.  We are experts at trying to exempt ourselves even from the responsibilities that we can readily see that we bear.

This mentality is seen in the man who approached Jesus and wanted to know, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25-37)  We know from this text that the man was a lawyer, which isn’t the…

“Better is the end of a thing than its beginning” (Ecclesiastes 7:8).

I confess, I’ve always had some trouble with that statement. I guess it’s easy to see the truth of it when the thing in question is a dental procedure or a tax audit. But in many cases, the end of a thing saddens us: a fun vacation; a memorable school year; a gratifying career; the life of someone we love. The end means it’s over. Done. No more. It means it cannot continue, no matter how much we might want…

In Luke 14, Jesus tells the story of a man who gave a great feast. Many people were invited. When the feast was ready, the host sent out his servants to summon the guests. But instead of coming, those who had been invited “all with one accord began to make excuses” (verse 18). So the host had his servants go out and invite anyone they could find to come to the feast. He added, “none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.”

The parable, of course, is about God’s…

2 Kings 5 tells the story of the healing of the Syrian general Naaman. We read of how this powerful, proud man learned to humble himself and obey God’s instruction through the prophet Elisha, and so was miraculously cleansed of his leprosy. But none of it would have happened had it not been for an obscure Israelite girl.

The chapter begins by explaining that bands of Syrian troops had been raiding Israelite territory. In one such raid a young Israelite girl was taken captive and made a servant to Naaman’s wife. Observing…

Not long ago, in a careless moment around the grill, I burned a couple of my fingertips—not badly, but enough that once the pain went away those fingertips were numb for a few days.

I couldn’t help thinking of some words from the apostle Paul. Describing the pagan Gentiles, he said, “they, having become callous [past feeling, NKJV], have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness” (Ephesians 4:19). Elsewhere he spoke of people whose consciences are “seared as with a hot iron” (1 Timothy…

It seems each new week brings another national commotion over news of controversial social media posts that were made in the past—sometimes years ago—by someone who is now a public figure. A major league baseball player has come under fire for bigoted remarks he posted while in high school. A newly hired editor at a major newspaper has faced criticism for a history of ugly comments on Twitter. And on it goes. The statement may or may not have been deliberately offensive. The person may or may not have changed his thinking since then. Regardless…