Garden Party

Take a moment to savour theStory today. It’s all about innocence. Yesterday’s reading describes the creation of all that exists, today we see God bringing all that now exists into context. Streams emerge from the earth to water the ground. From the ground a man is formed and in an act of intimacy God breathes the breath of life into his nostrils and he becomes a living being.

We Are Family

From this point on we see a divergence between those who follow God and those who go their own way until the culmination in the one man who stops this pattern of rebellion against God, the one who “crushes the serpent’s head”

Lord God on My Team!

Have you been the target of venomous words? Have you been the victim of cruel and malicious people? Bullying is rampant in our schoolyards.

Maggot Theology

Faced with all this, Job asks the question we have all asked at some time. Why doesn’t God do something? Why does he let injustice go on and on? Job’s list of crimes is perhaps a conventional one. We can come up with a contemporary list, and ours is more extensive. TV coverage makes us aware, night by night, of the immeasurable evil all over the world. To the sins of individuals in Job’s list we can add the wars taking place, government corruption, atrocities in countries like the Congo, terrorism, genocide . . .

Jesus’ Authority

Evil Spirit Declares Jesus God’s Holy One in Capernaum Synagogue!

If there had been a local Galilee newspaper at the time perhaps this would have been the sensational headline.

The “Who” Question

Evil is real. A few minutes of CNN provide ample evidence that there are people on this planet who take pleasure in destruction.

While no one is without sin (1 John 1:8), Psalm 36 describes a special breed of sinner. The “wicked” surrender themselves to sin, dismissing any claim God has on their lives. For them, evil morphs from temptation to obsession – “sin is all they think about,” day and especially night.

Jesus’ Authority Over Demons

Some people playfully use the phrase, “The devil made me do it.” Usually they’re kidding. But they are flirting with a subject that is far more real than they know.

Mention the word “devil” and a Halloween street scene comes to mind with red-suited, barb-tailed, pitch fork wielding devils of all sizes mixed in with the princesses, witches and super heroes. But evil is a dark reality in the world today. And it has been since the seduction of Eve

Resist evil, or it will overcome you

King David’s son Absalom had plenty of reasons to be angry with his father. David did not act fairly as a parent. He favoured his elder sons and ignored the defiling of one of his daughters. When such family conflict was left unresolved, Absalom took matters into his own hands and murdered his own half-brother.

Absalom’s anger landed him a season in exile before David reluctantly allowed him to return to the proximity of the palace.

The Folly of Evil Desire

To take on retribution is to take on God’s role of judge. Paul spoke about this in Romans (12:19). There we’re told to love our enemies, feed them, and give drink to the thirsty. (Rom.12:20-21) Our temptation is to repay in kind. It is the role of wisdom to call us to restraint. Once we restrain our natural instincts we open the way for a redemptive response and leave judgment to the One who judges righteously.

A Matter of Focus

There is so much wickedness in our world that sometimes it can overwhelm us and we begin to worry. We see evil men succeed and wonder if God is aware of it. We watch terrible things happen to innocent people and we wonder why God does not act. All the “what ifs” build in our minds and create ulcers in our stomachs. Dwelling on all that is negative and evil will do that to you.