As with many of God’s commands, the ‘cutting or imprinting the skin’ has become a cultural phenomenon that denies its religious root of worshipping other gods. This rationalization of sin transforms tattoos into an acceptable behavior by believers, except for a few remnant souls who take God’s word seriously.
Category: Reflections
Praying Like Sha’ul
So often my prayers are about my own personal issues rather than focusing on the bigger picture and the needs in the Body of Messiah. Though my problems are important (to God) and the salvation of people I love are important (to me), many of problems in the Body are caused by focusing only on personal issues rather than being prayerful, thankful and grateful for those who have been rescued from darkness to be a light for the Kingdom.
The Tongue and Sparks of Fire
As I considered James’ words, I realized how the tongue can quickly destroy people and relationships. In a moment they can go up in flames from a blazing wicked tongue. When I’ve read this passage before, I only thought of the tongue being the fire and how we needed to guard our tongues, but I never considered the devastation the fire would leave behind and how difficult it would be to dig through the debris and that rebuilding would be very difficult.
A Child and a Concordance
About 10 years ago, against my better judgment, I sent my two youngest children to Vacation Bible School at a local church. The week’s events were based on the life of Christ should have been benign and harmless.