“It’s impossible!” Ever read something in the Bible that makes you say that? I’m not talking about something miraculous—which by definition is God’s power doing something that ordinarily would be impossible. I’m talking about it presenting a requirement or expectation that we can’t possibly meet. A prime example: Jesus commands, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Impossible!

You may have heard someone described as being “in a funk”. I think originally a “funk” was a bad smell, especially a musty or moldy smell. Now, it’s used most often to mean, “A dejected, sad, or unmotivated mood.”

I’ve just returned from a week-long Bible School, a retreat with classes and activities for all ages, focused on the Bible. This posting is the result of a point emphasized in one of the classes. (Thank you, brother!) His point was this: When we read of “eternal life” in the Bible, the term is not (at least not always) equal to “everlasting life” or “immortality”.

We need to focus primarily on who God is. However in several places, God inspires writers of the Bible to mention what He is not.  If we think about it, this is bound to be helpful.  We want to understand our God, and that has to include knowing the boundary between what is and what is not true of Him.

The night before last we had a storm. Thunder & lightening, fierce winds, pounding rain. Tornado warnings. Some tornadoes touched down and destroyed homes, though not in our immediate area. Many power outages, some of which continue. Flooding in some areas.

I was surprised to find that, in the 6+ years I’ve been posting these reflections, apparently I’ve never done one titled “Hope”. I haven’t ignored hope of course—it has been talked about in many postings. But still.

An extended focus on the ways we are prone to fail, spiritually, might seem overly discouraging. Yet that’s what the writer to the Hebrews gives us. We may not really think of Hebrews in this way, because there’s so much positive as well. But woven in among the positives, there’s just such an extensive look at spiritual failures.

The church in Corinth had problems. Doctrinal, moral, factional, social, attitudinal, spiritual. The apostle Paul had established this church, staying there for a year and a half during his second preaching tour around the Mediterranean. During his third tour, hearing about their problems, he feels compelled to write letters to this church—two letters preserved for us in the New Testament and apparently at least one other.

Blinded by jealousy, King Saul tries repeatedly to murder David. Even though David faithfully serves Saul, having remarkable military success against Israel’s enemies. And even though David is Saul’s own son-in-law. What is he jealous of?

Many languages have a rich variety of words for some concept or thing. We’re told the peoples native to the Arctic have numerous words for snow. In New Testament Greek , you’ve probably heard that there are multiple words for love. And so on.

Rahab the Canaanite believed in the God of Israel, and was welcomed into Israel. Ruth the Moabite the same. These two were early examples of a principle that was clear in the Law of Moses, and was then made very clear in the New Testament. The nationality we’re born into does not matter. What matters is faith in the God of Israel, extended in the New Testament to include His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

We may think of Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles—which he certainly was. But he was also the “thankful apostle”.  Of the 69 times in the New Testament where thankfulness is mentioned, 49 of them are in Paul’s letters. The only two times being thankful is mentioned in Acts, both are Paul. (The numbers in different translations vary, but only very slightly.)

When we think about prophets in the Bible, we don’t always think to include Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, and Mary, mother of Jesus. But both of these women prophesy, when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth after angelic announcements of miraculous motherhood to both of them. This meeting is recorded in Luke 1:39-55.

At birth my parents gave me the name “Paul”. Partly in honor of a grandfather, whose middle name was Paul. (I got the other grandfather’s first name as my middle name.) But besides the family connection, my parents named me for the apostle Paul. Giving me a reminder, every time I heard or wrote my name, that this was a person they hoped I would aspire to be like.

Here’s one you know the answer to. Is it a good thing to be childlike? Of course you got it. Jesus says it’s more than good—it’s essential:

I thought about giving these thoughts the title “Disruption”. “Transition” sounds much more positive, doesn’t it? But anytime there’s a transition, there’s going to be disruption. There are a handful of important transitions recorded in scripture, and all of them are disruptive.

Paul’s description of the fruit of the Spirit is one of the best loved, most quoted, and most studied passages in all of scripture. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

We make a lot of decisions, every day. A huge proportion of those are tiny, and we make many of them unconsciously. Occasionally a big one comes along, and we may spend hours or days or weeks or longer, making up our mind. But seldom, I think, do we stop and think about how it is that we actually have the power to choose, to decide.

The admonitions we get in the apostle Paul’s letters go way beyond suggestions. They have the force of commandments. We see one such in Ephesians 4:29.