“I’m clueless how someone could get spiritual inspiration from The Book of Joshua since it’s all about blood and battles!” If that sounds familiar, you might be overlooking some of Joshua’s spiritual insights in this Old Testament gem which I’ve been recently discovering with a deeper reading. First, Joshua is about claiming one’s inheritance from […]
I remember the moment. I was standing in a tiny Cairo Hotel gift shop, one of those places not more than 7’ square chock full of exotic trinkets, statues and keepsakes. How ideal for the tourist who had waited a lifetime to see the pyramids and was now – somehow–trying to find the perfect symbol […]
While growing up and hearing stories of Jesus and his followers, and later reading them myself, the two terms disciples and apostles just kind of mushed together. They were interchangeable, weren’t they? One of the joys of Bible study is learning distinctions that open new vistas that actually make a difference in our everyday lives. […]
“Holy flattery”. That’s how Martin Luther described this shortest of Paul’s seven authenticated epistles since Paul uses every rhetorical technique, including bald flattery, to encourage Philemon to take back his runaway slave, Onesimus. Why Philemon, the letter, has become a favorite for me–especially when reading it aloud in a Bible Study group–is for the insight […]
A favorite ‘bucket list’ item of spiritual seekers is reading the Bible through at least once in their life, and preferably within a set time frame such as a year. Yet for many who have tried this noble undertaking, Leviticus often stands as the dividing line between the sheep and goats – between those who […]
