You recognize smooth talk when you hear it. Sometimes it’s too late, though, after you’ve set your heart on what you’ve heard. By then you’ve likely given away something you never thought you would. Smooth talk is a grifter. Thievery’s chiseled but sinister cousin. Always cutting the corner as he pickpockets his way out of town. He was good. Too good. He said just enough but never quite enough. He […]
“So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come” (Heb 13.13-14). We Memphians sit on the edge of the notorious New Madrid fault. It’s been relatively quiet since 1811-12 but there are regular tremors in the seismic zone. Geologists warn us about The Big One which portends […]
Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house; then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him (Ps 45:10-11). Psalm 45 was a song written for the king’s wedding. Israel’s handsome, valiant and humble king was joined to a radiant woman who “is all glorious within” (v13). In vv10-11, the the bride’s father gave her […]
Every Saturday The Commercial Appeal in Memphis publishes a “Faith in Memphis” section with a “Faith in Memphis Panel.” The editor asks local religious leaders to respond to a current issue in the news. That issue is usually about atonement when Yom Kippur rolls around each year. Yom Kippur is the Jewish “day of atonement” and the holiest day of the Jewish year (Lev 23.27-28). Since the holy day began […]
“For in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him” (Heb 2.8). All the world sat agape as the future King of England entered the world last week. Given the ubiquitous news coverage, I am surprised there wasn’t an Obstetricam to stream every second of the delivery live on the internet! Who wouldn’t want […]
“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the […]
For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous (Rom 5.19). The type/antitype relationship between Adam and Jesus in Romans 5 is a theological gold mine. In a sense, we can simplify all men down to this relationship. We are sons of Adam until we are sons of Christ. We are old men […]