The New Testament frequently and emphatically reminds us that the Law of Moses was a foreshadowing of the work of Messiah. 

Today I was struck with a realization of how many people we encounter in scripture, of whom God asked a lot—way beyond what we might think of as a “standard” level of commitment. 

Everyone knows what a scapegoat is:  someone who is made to take the blame for something, allowing the actual perpetrator(s) to go scot-free.

The apostle Paul remarks on our human frailty, and at the same time on the resiliency which is characteristic of those who perceive the light God has provided to shine in the darkness, in the face of Jesus Christ.

How would you react, if you were transported into the throne room of the Almighty?  Met by seraphim, who proclaim the Lord’s holiness with an earth-and-heaven-shaking voice?  Somehow “awe-inspiring” doesn’t do justice. 

The Book of Revelation is filled with frightening pictures, isn’t it?

There are a number of ways we can grow weary.  The most common and obvious is physical—if we exert ourselves hard enough for long enough, we will get tired.  After we tire, we can keep going for a while, but eventually if we keep pressing we’ll get to a point where our reserves are exhausted and we collapse. But of course physical weariness isn’t the only kind.

Quick:  Form a picture in your mind of Jesus.

Psalm 10 seems particularly appropriate to my mental state right now.  It is a treatise on “the wicked”. 

The battle against sin is the foundational theme of our salvation. All men have sinned, and there is not one of us that can boast of their own righteousness.

How did Jesus ever come to be in what we now call Lebanon?  We know about his excursion there because of his encounter with a woman, called Syrophoenician by Mark, Canaanite by Matthew.  Why was he there? 

It’s become a cliché to say that something is “a marathon not a sprint”.  There are certainly times in life when a brief very intense effort is called for.  Yet most of life shows the cliché is the reality—most things in life require long-term, sustained effort.