When was the last time you heard God speak to you? Did you respond with gratitude and action or did you completely ignore and disregard what he said? This portion of scripture is both fearful and awesome. There’s everything in it from Mt. Sinai and the giving of the law, to Mt. Zion where everything will be made new …

Our culture is so confused by what love actually is. Is it simply having sex with another person? Or is it getting our way all the time? What about a tingly feeling? Or is love being happy 24/7? What exactly is it in relation to others?

Hebrews 13:1 says love is “being concerned about each other.”

Have you ever listened to a commencement speech wondering if it had a coherent message or was it more of a random list of impossible attainments for a well-lived life? Maybe it was the one you heard when you graduated from university. This next section of chapter 13 appears to be a list of disjointed thoughts.

When something hard happens in your life, like unexpected illness or financial difficulty, the dissolution of a relationship or the loss of a dream, how do you respond? Do you pray, committing your pain and confusion to God? Or do you pick yourself up and carry on as if nothing has changed?

Recently, I had one of those spiritual Aha! moments . . . I was the guest preacher at a Christian community on Lake Michigan where my family owns a cottage. My grandparents were strong Christians who began going there in 1938. It is a place where my mom’s faith was formed and shaped by my grandmother’s, who eventually passed it on to me.

I curled in a fetal position, dark eddies of despair threatening to overtake me. My world was crashing down around me. I gasped out to God for help, for a small measure of peace. Over time, he pulled me from that dark place. But it didn’t come easy. I had to believe God could – and would – take those burdens I carried …

There is a saying, “Eat dessert when it’s worth the calories!” Wisdom is just like that decadent dessert, only it’s always worth it.

It is important to know the anatomy of wisdom; this passage of Scripture lays it out for us. We are told what it looks like and what it doesn’t. If the words coming out of our mouth ring of arrogance or boasting, wisdom is absent.