A WHOLE MAN

 “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.” Psalm 34:1-3 Sometimes you do not need to go far to find the glory of God. At other times in your life you may feel like you are so far away from God that nothing can bring joy into your life because of the void which exists. I believe that it is in each of those moments when we should exalt the Father even more. In every state our soul may be in, we should yearn for Him and desire to bring glory and praise to His name. Since I do not yet have children I cannot extend this analogy to myself, but I have heard from Fathers that one of the best times of the day is when they return home from a long day at and waiting for them at the door is their son or daughter. And with a high-pitched scream, “Daddy!!!!” is yelled as they run into the Father’s arms ...

“…No, but I will buy them from you for a price; I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” 2 Samuel 24 (NRSV) A burnt offering in the times of the Ancient Near East meant literally a sacrifice in which the entire offering was burned completely to ashes as a soothing aroma to the Lord. It would symbolize the complete destruction of the sacrifice in order to renew a relationship between the Father and man. In 2 Samuel, David had sinned against God by taking a count of his armies in pride to see his power. When confronted with his sin, he was given a choice of the consequence he would be have to accept. Towards the end of the time of punishment, David went to offer God his burnt offering to restore his relationship with the Lord God. What is so remarkable about this passage is that David refused to offer a sacrifice that would cost him nothing. How often do we in our lives repent for the sins that we have committed and do so with empty words, and eve...

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NIV) There was a little girl who had a very large collection of dolls heaped on her bed. A guest in her room one day asked her "Do you love dolls?"  The little girl replied, “Yes! I love all of them!” Then with tender loving care she spread out the whole collection for the guest to inspect and admire. The guest then asked her, "Which doll do you love the most?"  She hesitated, then asked, "Promise not to laugh if I tell you?" He promised. She picked a ragged doll with a broken nose, whose hair had mostly come off, and one arm and leg were missing. "This is the one."  "Why?" the visitor asked. "Because if I didn’t love this one nobody else would." How amazing is God’s love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Understanding the magnitude of that statement I believe will he...