Steven Wales

Blessed. Deuteronomy 6:12-14.

In America, we are so blessed, aren’t we? We have great food, clean water, nice homes, education, peace, friends, family, churches—what don’t we have? Is there anything wrong with being so blessed? There is one risk. When people are blessed and life is good, they forget God. They ALWAYS forget God. It’s the same patternContinue reading “Blessed. Deuteronomy 6:12-14.”

What About the Old Testament?

We people of the New Testament have a weird relationship to the Old. Do we obey it or not? We avoid murder but approve eating shrimp and pork? We ignore dietary laws, but honor the BIG TEN? If so, why do we shrug off adultery? And why do we disregard the Sabbath? Some treatContinue reading “What About the Old Testament?”

Bald Samson.

God called His people to be different. Holy. Set apart. A “peculiar people.” The nation followed complex food laws. They circumcised every male child. They sacrificed animals. They never worked on Saturday. Sometimes God’s “Peculiar People” must have felt peculiar. Within Israel, there were individuals whose lives were even more peculiar: Levites, priests, and NaziritesContinue reading “Bald Samson.”

Stop Praying About it!

Jesus spends hours in prayer. He tells stories encouraging us to do the same, first of a judge who gives in because he is tired of a widow’s pleas. In another story, a man has locked his door and gone to bed but gets up to give bread to his neighbor because the neighbor willContinue reading “Stop Praying About it!”

Nation Shopping. Deut. 4:6,8-9.

A retired couple recently moved from the United States to Thailand. Why Thailand? Because their retirement income, meager by US standards, made them wealthy in Thailand. They bought a mansion in the country and hired both a maid and a cook. They lived like kings and traveled constantly, convinced they had discovered the secret toContinue reading “Nation Shopping. Deut. 4:6,8-9.”

Peer Pressure.

What’s the big deal about peers? Do they have the influence everyone claims? Yes. Here’s why: Thus, peers have an influence because 1) you want to be liked, 2) you are inexperienced and peers seem more knowledgeable about… EVERYTHING, and 3) when all you see are foolish peers, the foolish appears normal. God knows theContinue reading “Peer Pressure.”

Judgment of the Gods.

We expect God to judge people. He punishes evil people throughout the Bible. He punished Cain by banishment. He punished the pagan world with a flood. He punished Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven. He punished idolatrous, treasonous Israelites when the earth swallowed them in an earthquake. But did you know God also judgesContinue reading “Judgment of the Gods.”

Fasting is the Antidote to Indulgence. Ephesians 5:18.

Aristotle spoke of “the Golden Mean,” a balance between extremes. He exalted courage, for example, considering it the midpoint between fear and recklessness. He might look for a balance between spending nothing and spending too much, or between consuming entertainment and doing something creative yourself. Trouble is, for centuries Christians have taken Greek ideas andContinue reading “Fasting is the Antidote to Indulgence. Ephesians 5:18.”

Unequally Yoked.

Now there’s an archaic phrase. You’ve no doubt heard the analogy to two unmatched beasts of burden. For example, a horse and an ox cannot work together under the same yoke. They are unequal in height and gait, and cannot work together. God warns His children to “be not unequally yoked with unbelievers” 2 CorinthiansContinue reading “Unequally Yoked.”

Every Day’s a Party!

Some Christians think solitude is more spiritual than fellowship—that being devout means being alone. Jesus made time every day for prayer to the Father (he was not really “alone” at all). And He tells us to “go to an inner room to pray in secret.” Similarly, we should read and study the word alone, soContinue reading “Every Day’s a Party!”