In Exodus 20 the Lord God presented the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. Some 1300 years later, at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Jesus Christ presented a new version of the Table of the Law, known as the Beatitudes, beginning with, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
I’ve been studying Jesus’ use of figurative language, and I’m not very surprised to discover that He employs almost every known figure of speech—and there are a lot of them! Metaphor and simile are common in Jesus’ teaching, as in His phrase, “The kingdom of God is like …” But now here are some other literary devices that may be less familiar.
In a world that grows increasingly dark and chaotic, I wonder if any topic in theology is of greater significance than that of the sovereignty of God? What a comfort to our minds and hearts if we could actually trust Him to be in absolute control of everything.
Matthew Jones, son of my friend David, died in February at the age of 29, after a four-year battle with neuroblastoma.
I’ve been studying the Lord’s Prayer in the middle of the night. Not every night, but once or twice a week I find myself lying awake for a couple of hours, for no particular reason. Lately I’ve employed this time by reciting the Lord’s Prayer, very slowly, meditating on each phrase, until I fall back to sleep.
There are dozens—maybe hundreds—of names and epithets for Jesus. The photo below shows the cover of a notepad that I keep on my desk, featuring just a few of these.
There’s something I want very much—something big—but I can’t make it happen. I have to wait for it, knowing it may never come. I have to wait in faith, prepared to let it go. I just have to let God have His way. I don’t even feel right about praying for this thing anymore. I’ve given up my rights. And so, in this waiting, I have peace.
As we observe Remembrance/Veterans Day this year, let’s take inspiration from Walt Whitman.
“Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth?” said Jesus. “No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three” (Luke 12:51-2).
On a recent trip to the east coast of Lake Superior, I rode the Agawa Canyon Tour train from Sault Ste Marie into the Algoma region, a round trip of eight hours.