Leaving Egypt

Does life ever feel like a tough journey through a desert?  Biblically, the Israelites' 40-year journey through the wilderness provides a rich analogy for the kind of life to which a Christian is called.  John Bunyan employed the image vividly in Pilgrim's Progress, a book he wrote while in jail making an allegory of the Christian life's journey from salvation to the gates of Heaven.  What if the Christian life is like a journey leaving Egypt, the Country of Sin, walking through the Desert of Life, and coming home to the Promised Land of Heaven with Jesus?  The link below is a brief sketch of what the allegory played out might be like: Click Here.

Thank you to Dr. Peter Gentry for teaching me that it is easier to get the Israelites out of Egypt than it is to get the Egypt out of the Israelites.  Thank you, too, to Pastor Bill Winton for teaching me that far too many times Christians try to return to Sin Town.

Why Become Human?

God the Father sent God the Son to be born as a human child.  The Son left the beauty and splendor of heaven for the harshness and danger of earth.  Why would God the Father subject Jesus, His Son to pain and suffering?  How does the humanity of Christ affect my daily life and my eternity?  These questions led to the attached article "Becoming Human to Kill Death by Death."

It is based on Hebrews 2:14, "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil."

Accountability Partners for True Friendship

What does having a true friendship look like?  Or, to ask it another way, how do you know when you have a really solid friendship?  Also, what picture does the Bible paint of true friendship?  These questions led me to some self-analysis and personal Bible study.  The product is a conviction that God intends to bless men and women with true friendships that are based on wanting God's best for each other.

Meditation on Psalm 5

"In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly...I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple," (Ps 5:3,7).

First thing in the morning, getting up early even, is a wonderful time to delight in God.  I enjoy getting somewhere quiet so that I can relish the words of His Scriptures and meditate on Him and His character as His stories unfold.  Abram believed God's promise for an heir and then numerous descendants, and despite Abram's many flaws, God credited that belief to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6).  To think on God's goodness is to mentally explore the perfections of the Almighty played out in Scripture.  God credited righteousness to Abram based on his faith.  He believed God so he acted accordingly, eventually impregnating his aged wife and bearing the promised son, Isaac.  This is but one passage, and the passage on which I meditated this morning.  My whole day is greatly affected by being with God, reading about Him, listening to Him, and talking to Him.