It ought to hit us like a slap.  “Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,” Jesus says. (Luke 6:26) Can this really be? 

“This can go two ways.” I can’t tell you how many dramas have used that line. Usually as the prelude to a threat.  No threats here, but definitely serious.

The rumors come ahead of the man himself: Joshua is out again, preaching again!  He’s apparently going all through Galilee.  And now here he is, right in Capernaum! 

John emphasizes that we must love one another. Indeed, it’s a command that we do so and he presents us with no middle option. We want to force a middle position, we want to claim we don’t really hate them, even if we have ill feeling toward them.  But John (actually the Spirit through him) says:  No, no middle ground.

Spring is just about done now, and we’re moving into early summer.  It’s beautiful.  It’s wonderful—that is, it causes me to be full of wonder!

I’ve been looking at the origins and meanings of the words sympathy, empathy and compassion. If exploring words isn’t exactly your thing, I hope you’ll stick with me anyway; there is a point to it.

These verses are the climax of the Song of Songs. They express, in the most eloquent language, the primacy of love in all of God's dealings with us.

We know this one by heart: "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:17)  The principle James states rings absolutely true.  There is nothing hard to grasp about the principle.  Except, what actually is the “right thing”?

I’m pretty sure we would have figured it out anyway, but the writer to the Hebrews leaves us in no doubt whatever:  the tabernacle and temple detailed in the Old Testament are symbolic.

But there was one, and only one, disciple who was literally, physically crucified with Jesus.  He is usually called “the thief on the cross”.

God has frequently assured mankind, and in particular His faithful followers, that His Kingdom will come (whether we are ready for it or not) and His will will be done throughout the earth.  So why the instruction to ask for it?

Shouldn’t my faith be able to handle this? Why am I so upset? The psalmist does not deny the reality or the validity of his pain and distress, what he does is remind himself to keep his eye on the eternal.