Can you imagine the audacity of the Pharisees to continually question Jesus to His face about His doctrine and practices?  Wow!  We see one of those occasions in Mark 2, when “His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.”  The Pharisees, in their typical fashion, said, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” (2:23-24).  As a…

Being around large crowds last week, it struck me.  There were babies of all nationalities, with parents who obviously had a native language other than English, crying and crying and crying.  Yet, they all sounded the same, and any parent (no matter their nationality and native language) could understand their cries (prompted by hunger, discomfort or exhaustion). Then, I made the spiritual…

I remember when my girls, yet unborn, moved about in their mother’s womb, and I was able to feel their movement and kicks, even on the outside.  I also remember holding them in the hospital and rocking them to sleep at home.  In God’s eyes, when did my girls receive life? You know the story of Mary greeting her relative, Elizabeth, and…

In Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” a gypsy named Esmeralda, seeking asylum in Notre Dame, sings the song, “God Help the Outcasts.”  The song begins, “I don’t know if You can hear me Or if You’re even there…”  I don’t know if You’re there! Unfortunately, that is the approach many take to God. A mother was recently being questioned by her…

Have you ever sinned and felt just horrible for doing it?  Have you ever sinned and wondered how in the world God could or would ever forgive you?  Have you ever struggled with overcoming a sinful temptation or sinful habit that seemed to afflict you day after day after day?  I think we’ve all been at one or more of these points…

Probably most of us have heard the Proverb, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall” (16:18).  Can you think of anyone in the Bible who experienced such a result due to pride?  There was one Bible character who, after suffering first-hand the consequences of his haughty spirit, extolled the God of heaven, “all of whose works are truth,…

The Jews, following the Old Testament law, had annual feast days and “holy days,” but Christians, following the New Testament, have no authorized annual “holy days.”  Instead, God instituted holy days for Christians that are much more frequent (not even quarterly or monthly).  The Jews’ holy days corresponded to a major event in their history or lives (e.g., deliverance from Egypt, the…

God told Jeremiah that He had “ordained [him] a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5).  That was God’s desire and plan for Jeremiah—to take His message to the people.  However, it was not Jeremiah’s desire or plan.  “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth” (1:6).  The Lord told Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for…