Author Archives: Pete

How You Hear

If you’ve been around the gospels for any period of time, I’m guessing you’re familiar with the following kingdom teaching by Jesus: “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the … Continue reading →

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Making Our Mundane Magnificent

“Welcome to your first day on the job. Listen carefully as I explain your duties. Open the door in the morning. Close it at night. Did you get that?” This morning, I’m hovering over some verses in 1Chronicles that have … Continue reading →

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The Riches of Full Assurance

They were in a battle. Not against flesh and blood, but against thoughts and ideas. Paul referring to them as “plausible arguments” (Col. 2:4) and empty philosophies “according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world” (Col. … Continue reading →

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A Glorious Mystery

It sits in the shade, as it should. But glorious truth in the shade of “glorious-er” truth should still be jaw-dropping. But sometimes we become accustomed to that which should evoke awe, too familiar with that which should foster praise, … Continue reading →

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If It Had Not Been . . .

Some readings in my reading plan seem new every year. Sometimes because there’s a hidden detail never seen, or unfathomed depths yet to plumb, or, as often is the case, a brain defect that somehow minimizes memory. And then, there … Continue reading →

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Somebody Wasn’t Praying!

I don’t know if the people who put together my reading plan did it on purpose, but to have both 2 Kings 24-25 and Psalm 122 on the same day, to read them back to back, is to say the … Continue reading →

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Face to the Wall

The news was devastating. “Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.” Not what King Hezekiah wanted to hear. Though at the point of death, how he had hoped that the prophet’s visit would have … Continue reading →

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Concluding With Confession

I know I’ve observed it before. Looking back on my journal, I know that I’ve written of it before (last time was 2017). But I’m captured afresh this morning by the manner in which the songwriter concludes the longest of … Continue reading →

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A Caution About Imitating the Wrong Stuff

It seems he was an innovator. A collaborator. An imitator. Ahaz, king of Judah, took the things of God and thought he could improve on them. He visited other nations and partnered with them to bring the best of their … Continue reading →

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An Inferior Brand of Righteousness

If anyone had a legitimate reason to boast in their own righteousness, Paul says, it was him. And I think he was right. I don’t think he was blinded by pride, but provided a realistic assessment of pedigree. When he … Continue reading →

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