If you’ve been around Church folks for any length of time, you may have heard about Balaam, the prophet whose donkey protested being hit with a rod three times. In furious response, Balaam swore he’d have killed the animal if he had a sword in his hand. It’s amazing what anger can do to someone’s intellect. If your dog stared […]
Paul’s epistle to the Romans has been called the apostle’s greatest work. Chosen by God to reach the Gentile world with the gospel of salvation, Paul’s task is anything but easy. To begin with, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is a new concept, not only to Gentiles, but to Jews themselves. Secondly, Gentiles have persecuted Jews for millennia. To […]
Have you ever wondered if someone you held in high regard even cared about you? Existence of doubt is very telling about a relationship. Love belongs in a special class of values. Its elevated position makes it as unmistakable as daylight. Under what circumstances would you wonder if it’s day or night? The moment love becomes doubtful, a relationship hangs […]
What does it mean to take the Lord’s Table in an unworthy manner? Have you ever heard those lines from a Church pulpit just before a Holy Communion service? Did you make a quick prayer of repentance to ‘acquire worthiness’ before the bread and juice reached your pew? Have you ever felt so unworthy you altogether skipped the sacrament? By […]
Insecurity rides on public approval. It’s an ego inflater—the juice that fires locomotives of cowards. Talk of flying by the seat of one’s pants! Fantasy builds groundless castles, but no sooner than a little wind blows through, its smokescreen dissipates, and confidence is lost. That’s why the same mobs that attempted to forcefully install the miracle worker as king, only […]
The word ‘reproach’, as used in the New Testament, implies infamy, repulsion, etc. By associating with Christ, a believer often exposes him/herself to ridicule. That’s because much of society views people who take Christian faith literally and personally as weird or dim-witted. There’s nothing new about that attitude. From the dawn of Christian era, faith in God took a radical […]
Hope is a potent virtue. It nudges us forward with a strange expectation of rewarding outcomes, even in the face of ominous circumstances. Let’s use an example from annals of the ancient world. Once upon a time, Benhadad king of Syria besieged Samaria, capital of Israel’s northern kingdom. Consequently, the city was famished for lack of supplies. Famine was so […]
Exhibition of human greatness has few men as tall as Moses. God Himself testified of it. In protesting Israel’s sin, He told Jeremiah, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I would not feel pity for them!” Spiritual greatness derives from someone’s ability to bend omnipotence to human need. Moses’ intercessions altered the course of […]
Humans have incredible capacity to adapt to adversity. Driven by inordinate fortitude, many make-do, and survive, when forced into near impossible situations. It doesn’t even take that much effort. Ironically, invitations for advancement are often greeted with stupefying resistance. For instance, four hundred and thirty years of tyranny didn’t prepare Israel for the liberty they craved. They couldn’t conceptualize its […]
Through Eyes of an Introvert Rejection is one of the most painful human experiences, one from which many of its victims never fully recover. American psychologist Abraham Harold Maslow (1908–1970) is famed for his theory on the hierarchy of needs in people’s quest for self-actualization. The theory posits that human needs are ordered in a prepotent hierarchy. In other words, […]
Publicly owned companies keep a tight lid on information. Their future plans, sudden fiscal changes, mergers, scandals and other matters of public interest invariably affect value of stocks. It is a criminal offense to procure insider information in order to make trading decisions! Using insider information to buy or sell stocks gives an investor unfair advantage over other stakeholders. While […]
Fig trees are grown for their fruit. They have no value otherwise. 18 Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured. (Prov 27:18). Don’t miss the comparison. Whoever cultivates fig trees gets figs as his reward. Similarly, a faithful servant gets his master’s recognition. Every investment is tied to […]
