You know what passive voice is? It’s the opposite of Jocko Willink’s “extreme ownership.” Writers and English teachers deride passive voice because it is an attempt to conceal the cause of things, such as when you say, “the lamp fell and broke,” rather than “I broke the lamp.” In Exodus 32, Aaron employs passive voice.Continue reading “Passive Voice of Biblical Proportions.”
Author Archives: Steven Wales
Integrity is More Than Telling the Truth.
You can WORK with integrity. How? By doing your best, by not cutting corners. Give it your all. You can also READ with integrity. Integrity requires not giving up until you fully understand. That may mean reading over and over or looking things up, or asking for help. When you read with integrity you grabContinue reading “Integrity is More Than Telling the Truth.”
The Bible is Full of Practical, Everyday Wisdom.
College professors love theory. One favorite question is “How many angels could dance on the head of a pin?” But when profs talk theory, students lose interest, answering “So what? What does that have to do with my life?” Some think the Bible is like that too: ALL THEORY, and that scripture is all deepContinue reading “The Bible is Full of Practical, Everyday Wisdom.”
WORK. Exodus 26.
I heard an interesting conversation on DOWNTON ABBEY. The new heir, a distant cousin from the city who is not used to being waited on, talks to Lord Grantham, suggesting he does not need servants. “Perhaps not. But would you take from a man the dignity of his work? Would you cast the cooks andContinue reading “WORK. Exodus 26.”
I’ve Never Seen a Hearse Pulling a U-Haul: You Can’t Take it With You.
Do you give? Are you giving to God’s kingdom the way He directs you to? You have to start now. It’s so much easier when you are young and you have no bills and few expenses. Pray and ask God what He wants you to give. God asked the children of Israel to give rightContinue reading “I’ve Never Seen a Hearse Pulling a U-Haul: You Can’t Take it With You.”
Would You Stop for the Burning Bush?
While Moses was shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep, he saw a bush that was burning, but not burning up. Moses said “I must turn aside and see this marvelous sight…!” Exodus 3:2-4. Burning but not burning up is an indication of holiness. This was a special fire, a holy fire, a fire that lit up theContinue reading “Would You Stop for the Burning Bush?”
Do You Still Think Like a Slave?
Remember when Moses went up the mountain and God gave him the Ten Commandments? Moses was up there for forty days. And what did the people do? They worried. They fretted about the absence of their leader and told his brother Aaron, “Come, make us a god who will go before us, because we don’tContinue reading “Do You Still Think Like a Slave?”
Foreigners.
In the 1980s, Sharpstown High School welcomed a sudden influx of refugees fleeing the Communist government of Vietnam. The students showed up knowing no English and carrying a pass that entitled them to free lunches. Every day three of the loudest non-English speaking Vietnamese girls would cut the line in the lunch room to grabContinue reading “Foreigners.”
Divorce and Abuse.
Paul teaches that husbands and wives can be witnesses to unbelieving spouses and should not seek to divorce them: “If a woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his believing wife…. But if the unbeliever leaves, letContinue reading “Divorce and Abuse.”
How Does God Describe the Exodus?
If you had to describe the Exodus, what phrases would you use? Miraculous Deliverance? God Rescues His People? God’s Grace in Action? If I were a cynical newspaper-headline writer from Ancient Egypt, I might describe it this way: God describes the Exodus differently. He performed ten amazing miracles. He sent plagues to prove He wasContinue reading “How Does God Describe the Exodus?”