Tagged: Bible Study

“Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?” –Isaiah 58:5 Fasting is limiting our intake of food in obedience to God for the building of His kingdom. It may involve eating nothing, eating a little less, or eating plainer, less tasty foods. Although the Lord often calls us to cut back significantly in eating, fasting is not a matter of quantity but obedience. For instance, to fast severely when God is calling us to something else is not pleasing to Him. A Lenten fast is a little different than another fast. The Lenten fast is an...

“I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life.” –Deuteronomy 30:19 On this second day of Lent, the Lord tells us that Lent is a matter of life or death. Because of what we let the Lord do in us last Lent, some babies, poor people, and elderly people are alive today who would have been killed in our culture of death. Conversely, it is possible that because of our resistance to God’s grace last Lent, some attacks on life which could have been stopped are continuing to plague us. Moreover, Lent is a...

“Are your minds completely blinded? Have you eyes but no sight?” –Mark 8:17-18 Jesus was appalled at His disciples’ spiritual blindness. They were blinded to the significance of the two multiplications of the loaves and fishes. They were blinded to Who Jesus was. This blindness would eventually lead His disciples to abandon Jesus on Calvary. Spiritual blindness caused Jesus’ death on the cross. It caused the Third Reich, the Holocaust of six million Jews, slavery for centuries, and countless other atrocities. Spiritual blindness causes starvation, racism, the sexual abuse of children, mass murder from abortion, etc. Spiritual blindness is caused...

“Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock.” –Genesis 4:4 Both Cain and Abel brought offerings to the Lord. God accepted Abel and his offering, but He did not look with favor on Cain and his offering. Although we don’t know the details of this event, Scripture does provide us with a clue into what God looks for in a sacrifice. Abel brought to the Lord his “best” (Gn 4:4). Cain simply brought “an offering” (Gn 4:3). The Lord repeatedly emphasizes offering the best we have, without blemish (see Lv 1:10). What we give to...