Grow in Your Faith

        “Cross my heart, and hope to die!”—Do you remember this simple oath from your childhood days?  It usually meant that you were really REALLY going to make good on your promise.  Children have such good intentions, don’t they? Now, let’s move into the adult world.  Many agreements are completed with a handshake.  Sometimes, a document is drawn up and signatures are affixed to the end of it to show a mutually-agreed upon “deal”.  Somewhat related, a person in a courtroom swears on a Bible to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  And then there is the simple advice of Jesus in Matthew 5 to “let your yes be yes, and your no be no”. But have you ever heard of the ancient Biblical ritual to show that an oath has been agreed to by two parties?  The Books of Genesis and Jeremiah both reference this “weird” ceremony.  First, there is the sacrificial cutting of an animal into two parts, and the divided carcass in laid upon the ground.  The covenant was completed by having both parties walk through the animal parts together, repeating the oath that they were agreeing to.  The symbolism was plain—this covenant was […]

Parts of the Book of Exodus can be very “dry” spiritual reading.  Of course, the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea can easily capture one’s attention.  But as one progresses toward the middle and end of Exodus, the reader is seriously wondering why God would put so much detail into things...

How much attention do you pay to “road signs”?  If you are like most, you pretty much are on auto-pilot when driving on roads that are familiar to you.  (I wonder how many Highway 57 signs in Calumet County that we pass by without even realizing that they are there.) However, when we are in a different state on unfamiliar roads (without google maps), we intently watch the road signs along the way.  Speed limit signs, highway markers, and detour routes all demand our attention to arrive safely at our destination. Signs, of course, are not only limited to highways.  Parks have signs that allow dogs, yet forbid alcohol.  Grocery stores have smaller signs with prices, and larger signs telling us which aisles are open to check out at.  We all look forward to seeing our “first robin” as a sign of spring.  As the popular 1970 hit song so accurately says—“sign, sign, everywhere a sign…” Would it be any different in God’s realm?  We are given the infallible Word of God to help us navigate the road to our finish line.  The Bible lists multiple signs which will be present before our Lord comes back at the end of […]

1/12-24 By Just when one thinks that perhaps we have turned the corner on the pandemic front, you read about another pandemic on the horizon?  Just when we thought that we could develop vaccines and methodologies to keep us from harm’s way, we find that there is another, arguably more potent,...

Have you ever heard of the “Doomsday Clock”?  Apparently, it is the invention of a publication known as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.  Established in 1947, each year the public is alerted to how close we are to the destruction of this world.  Last year, the group set “the...

As the Easter holiday approaches, most of us feel that we have “the basics” down pretty well.  We learned that Adam and Eve sinned, and that as a result God sent His Only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross.  His resurrection three days later conquered our sin problem, and allowed heaven’s...