We esteem sumptuous houses. We esteem ease and prosperity. We esteem academic credentials. We esteem opulent facilities (be they religious, recreational, or resort). We esteem exotic accents. We esteem the good-looking, prepossessing, and charming. We esteem popularity, marketability, and superficial fashion. And we invariably strive to imitate what we esteem. God commends ESTEEMING & IMITATING. […]
The book of Judges reads like a series of bizarre dreams. The array of unusual stories is unparalleled. It is a saga of completely off-the-wall, utterly unexpected and shocking events. And the deeper you go into the narrative the more you realize that this dream is actually a nightmare. You come to find that the […]
I’ve noticed that Jesus is often vamoosing amidst a society of people frantically promoting fame. Our appetite for “likes”, and validation, and flattery is crazed and exorbitant. But Jesus did all kinds of impressive stuff, and never once felt the need to publish His performance on Instagram, TikTok, or any other self-adulation platform. For instance, […]
This morning I was reading a pair of letters from one of our leaders. It was startling, and it was sumptuous. Here are a couple of examples of what I mean… The end of the second letter says, “Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in every way. The […]
Imagine you are Ethan the Ezrahite (author of the final poem in Book III of the Psalms). …Ethan – that famous sage in the entourage of wise men – along with Heman, Calcol, and Darda – in the days of King David and King Solomon. This Ezrahite saw firsthand the glory of the Davidic empire! […]