Soul Sister Time

            Psalm 51:13 says: Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you . What an outrageous thought—a person who just pled guilty to first degree murder, along with other noncriminal offenses such as deception, lust and adultery suddenly becomes qualified to teach others about sin!   What more crazy, unpredictable, insane direction could Psalm 51 take us now?   Seriously, shouldn’t David’s days of teaching sinners be the last thing he thought about after God confronted him with his sin?   How did coming face to face with the reality of his sin bring him to the conclusion that he would be the person to teach other sinners about God’s ways?             I heard JI Packer once explain that it’s not so much that people fall from faith, rather, it’s just that some people have not been deeply converted in the context of ...

              God gave us a great gift in the book of Psalms.  Every person who has ever lived can relate to the expressions of anguish and confusion found in this collection.  Each Psalm is formed by words that illustrate the reality of a soul in search of God.  Psalm 51 is no exception.  It was written by David after he confronted his own deep, dark sin previously hidden from himself and everyone around him.                David was living his life as King of a World Power with little thought of his sin.  He had recently married a beautiful widow who was pregnant with their first child.  His heart was full of pleasures and comfort.  He was living the good life that God has promised him.  It wasn’t easy to get to this place.  On his journey to becoming a king, he had been ostracized from his country and ...

              One of Jesus’ mysterious parables is found in Matthew 13:33.  It’s a parable contained in just one verse.  It says: He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”               Yeast or leaven always represents sin or corruption.  How is the Kingdom of God like sin penetrating the huge amount of dough?  Yeast itself is not sin.  Yeast causes bread to rise and double in size.  Everyone knows that.  Yet, God led the people of Israel to consider their sin by applying it to a physical representation—yeast.  He could have chosen something else; but God knows us, and He teaches spiritual lessons through realities that transcend time.  Just like the ancients, we are still ...

              If I really believed that, I might not get so fixated on myself.  It is a daily struggle to become convinced of the goodness of God.  That was the original temptation.  Adam and Eve doubted God’s goodness.                It has become easier for me to realize that God is in control of the world He created—in that He has a plan that could not be overcome by evil, and He promises that there will be a day when He rids the heaven and earth that He created of all evil.  I believe in that truth more and more as I see the ways He has rid some of the evil in me.  I know He is wise and mysterious.                I don’t doubt that God loves me.  Have you met me?  Even though I fail to obey all I know that God asks of me, I receive daily en...

              It’s the end of the first month of a new year as I write about time.  Time takes so long yet it rushes away.  It seems the longer I live, the worse I become at calculating time.  When I don’t have time to get to everything I want to do today, I assume I can catch up tomorrow.  I always think I have more time to cram more tasks into a morning before I arrive at work.               I wasn’t created to become a slave to time.  In the original creation time was not a constraint.  It was simply a measure of God’s goodness.  The first day began a succession of many other days, each a gift to receive.  That was before sin.  Time became a burden after the fall of mankind.  Limited time is a fallout from sin and death.  Time sentences my existence on earth to a number of years, months and days....

              Sanctity of Life Sunday rolls around every third Sunday in January. It is celebrated near the date of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision date.  This sometimes makes Sanctity of Life seem to be only about abortion and making laws against its legal practice.  Sanctity of Life is so much more than changing one law.  It is about drawing attention to the reality that life is God’s gift.  God highly values life.  It is not a political debate; it is a recognition of the work of our Creator God.  He breathed life into His creation.  Seeing life (all lives) as sacred stems from a love of God. Death is our problem.  God never wanted death to be a part of His creation.  God warned Adam and Eve about death.  We have death because we have been deceived by satan.  Once death entered our lives, it left us powerless to do anything about it.  God never want...

              The Pope has suggested that we reword the Lord’s Prayer when it comes to temptation.  Why would the Lord’s Prayer be altered?  As a Christian I am amazed by how many people can basically quote these few phrases of a prayer.  Most cannot tell you the Ten Commandments, but the Lord’s Prayer is heard frequently enough that many can join in once it is started.  Why would Christians want to mess with that?               I heard JI Packer, an evangelical theologian, give a talk on Ephesians 6 (Christian instruction about how to defeat Satan).  As he introduced this topic, he told us that in his late 80s he has dedicated the rest of his life to training Christians to be true disciples of Christ.  He said Ephesians 6—how to defeat the evil one—is the place he would start.  I love and respect JI Packer; but I thoug...