The other day I drove all the way to my office, parked the car, and then realized that I had left my glasses at home. So, I started the car again, and drove home to get them. No use trying to work without them! (more…)

In my last entry on this blog site I said, “Any discontent we feel is a signal to us that we are misplacing our trust.” I’d like to elaborate on that today. (more…)

It could be something small or large. It could be that the thing is right in front of you, or perhaps you’re looking at a picture of it in a catalog. But the inner sensation is the same. You feel a pull to get that item. Or, if it is way too expensive for you to afford, you feel a discontent in not having it. You want it and that desire to have it affects your happiness. What is going on in your heart? (more…)

If you’ve been reading this blog for the last week you now that the Bible has ‘diagnosed’ you (and me!) as spiritually dead, socially ensnared, supernaturally driven, personally enslaved, and supremely condemned! Are we then left with no hope? (more…)

We are nearing the end of our examination. I’ve been trying to point your attention to Ephesians 2:1-3 and let it diagnose our spiritual health. So far we’ve seen that we are (more…)

We’re letting the first few verses of Ephesians 2 ‘diagnose’ our spiritual illness. So far, as we’ve looked at those three verses, we’ve discovered that we are (more…)

I have recently struggled with some health issues. I’ve gone to a several doctors and they’ve run lots and lots of tests. Some of those tests showed some little problems, but none of them showed a problem that, by itself, was the complete cause of my trouble. As time has gone by, though, we’re discovering that it is the combination of a few issues that is causing my trouble. It isn’t only one issue - it is several.

What if I had stopped after the first blood test? What if I only treated one of the issues, but not the rest? Well, I wouldn’t be recovering!

In the same way, we are looking in some detail at Ephesians 2:1-3 and letting it do a series of spiritual ‘health tests’ on us. We’ve already seen that it is declaring us spiritually dead and socially ensnared. Let’s not stop there. That may not be the whole problem. Let’s go further - remembering that once we have the complete and accurate diagnosis we can get the complete prescription for spiritual health! (more…)

I’m looking these days at the second chapter of Ephesians and noting how in the beginning of that chapter it describes us. Last time I pointed out that it said that we were (more…)

About two hours from the village where we lived in East Africa, over rough roads, there is a place called Makiungu. In this little village, there is a mission hospital. We were the only people in the area who had a vehicle, so ours became an ambulance when necessary. As every medical emergency came to our doorstep, we had to make the decision whether to treat them there, or take them to Makiungu over those horrendous roads. When it rained, we were never sure we would get there. Our nurse determined whether or not the person needed to go to the hospital. If she said that a person was in serious condition, we stopped what we were doing and tried to get to the hospital.

In thinking back over those years, I realized that we transported three types of people, (more…)

There is a phrase in Psalm 84:5 that arrests my attention. It says (more…)