Every once in a while, a new innovation emerges that completely changes how things are done. The horse drawn plow has been replaced by mechanised farm equipment. Flip phones have been replaced by smart phones. In Canada, our paper currency has been replaced by polymer bills.
Read More innovation, Judaism, priest, covenantAccess is all important. What use is there in a fat bank account if you can’t access the funds? We may draw a vague measure of comfort from knowing there is money stored up in our account, but if we can’t access the funds to pay for urgent daily needs how useful is that bank account?
Read More nearness to God, access to God, covenantI simply love photos of beautiful landscapes. A beautiful landscape picture draws me. I want to be there. And a stunning photograph is the next best thing to being there. But make no mistake; a photograph of Lake Louise is a poor substitute for actually being present to behold the Rocky Mountain grandeur of Lake Louise.
Read More worship, access to God, holy place, old covenant, Jesus' presenceI just had my morning shower. Nothing special about that – daily showers are the social norm. But they haven’t always been the norm. Step back a century and the weekly bath was the norm. Step back a thousand years and a bath was a semi-annual event. With this lack of personal hygiene is it any wonder that epidemics ran rampant …
Read More sin, forgiveness, cleansing, spiritual hygiene, Jesus' blood“We all have our faults. I’m not perfect – far from it.”
We all have heard statements like that. I’ve said just that on more than one occasion. I can even quote scripture to back me up. “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:23).
Read More perfection, holinessToday’s reading marks a turning point in this letter to the Hebrews. Up to this point the author has been advancing a whole series of reasons or arguments, which explain why the coming of Christ marks the beginning of a superior way of life – a superior faith – when compared to traditional temple-based Judaism.
Read More confidence, access to GodWith today’s reading we begin an examination of the Bible’s great chapter on faith. The author of Hebrews begins with a definition of faith. This is followed by the first installment of a gallery of heroic Old Testament believers who by their example showed us how to put our faith into action – how to live by faith.
Read More reality, faith, evidence, proofWith yesterday’s reading we were introduced to the first inductees into the gallery of faith. Abel, Enoch and Noah come to us from the first few chapters of Genesis – the pre-flood world. Today’s reading introduces us to the faith of the patriarchs – the fathers of the Hebrew nation – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.
Read More faith, reality, circumstances, patriarchsFaith changes everything. It changes the world. It will change your circumstances and the world around you too. That’s the great takeaway from today’s reading. Faith is the “because factor” that set the enslaved people of Israel free.
Three consecutive paragraphs from today’s reading begin with the word because.
Read More faith, because factor, infectious faithMaybe it’s due to Canadian modesty, but we do not have much of a hero culture in Canada. That does not mean there are no true heroes. We simply are not as quick to recognize and celebrate them as our neighbours to the south.
But we need heroes – heroes of the faith to show us the way.
Read More heroes, example