Devotions
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Psalms – The Treasury of David
I have started to read The Treasury of David by C.H. Spurgeon. This fascinating commentary on the Psalms dates from 1869, but nonetheless has much to say to me and you in the twenty-first century. Designed to be a help to both ministers and lay people, Spurgeon’s commentary serves up quotes from other scholars such as Martin Luther and Matthew Henry, and summarizes passages succinctly in sidebars labelled “Hints to the Village Preacher.” Psalm One begins with a contrasting description of the one blessed by God. The first verse is a negative description of a godly man; the second verse is a positive description. Here, from the first verse, is…
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Assigning Value to Human Life
When my son was young, he used to collect hockey cards. He enjoyed tearing open a new package of cards to see what treasures it might contain, and spent many enjoyable hours organizing and viewing his collection. He had great binders full of cards, all sorted by team, and more binders for the doubles of his most valuable cards. All these are in a box gathering cobwebs in my attic today. At the time, though, they were very important to him. He would buy industry magazines that claimed to assign a value to each card. The value varied according to the prowess of the player, the ranking of the team,…
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Unintended Beauty
I was driving north on Highway 6 on a recent midsummer morning. It was about 7 a.m. and the sun was already heating up the day, in the midst of what could be classified as an unbroken heatwave. Suddenly, I saw to my left a vast sea of shining yellow gold. A field of mature sunflowers was basking in the morning light, its myriad faces smiling directly at the drivers passing up and down the road. It seemed to go on forever. I have no way of estimating acres, and I don’t doubt that, if I returned I would be stuck by how few there were. But at the time…
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Don’t throw away your shield
In his descriptions of the first century AD German tribesmen, the Roman general Tacitus wrote that it was a disgrace to throw away one’s shield. He was referring to deserting soldiers, who dropped their heavy shields and ran away from the battlefield in fear. His observation has meaningful application to the realm of faith as well.
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Beyond Impossibility
My grandmother did not believe that a man could walk on the moon. Even as we sat, mesmerized, watching the television that momentous day, July 20, 1969, she kept repeating, “That’s not real. That’s not real.” Her worldview did not allow for the occurrence of such apparent impossibilities. But many people have no trouble believing that men have actually walked on the moon. We believe that future travellers to the moon will find mementos of those visits such as footprints, flags, and abandoned equipment, including a used car or two. History, if we choose to
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L’essentiel invisible
“On ne voit bien qu’avec le coeur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.” – Le Petit Prince Qu’est-ce que c’est que l’essentiel? Il y a tout un tas de choses dont on a besoin. Si on n’a besoin de rien, ils existent les publicités pour nous convaincre au contraire. Si on ne sais pas dont on a besoin, il y a la télévision pour nous le dire. C’est evident qu’on parle ici des choses visibles. Mais si l’essentiel est invisible? Comment peut on savoir les choses dont on a vraiment besoin? Comment peut-on voir l’invisible? On peut dire, c’est avec le coeur, bien sûr! Mais ce n’est pas
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Reflecting God’s Glory
We use mirrors every day in our society. We look into a mirror to style our hair, prepare our makeup, brush our teeth, check our hemlines, and make sure our ties are straight. While this might seem to indicate that we are all a bit vain about our appearance, it can be argued that striving to look one’s best is really an act of kindness toward those around us who have to work with us, and look at us, each day. Looking into a mirror, we see a reflection of the world we live in. We can judge depth and distance, and see three-dimensional perspective within its two-dimensional surface. As…
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Walking in the Dark
“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God…. My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?'” – Psalm 42:2-3 (NIV) Have you ever felt like asking, “Where is my God?” Even those of us who have experienced great joy and delight in the presence of God will sometimes go through dark nights when God seems distant, or even absent altogether. It sometimes feels like God disappears just when we need him the most, when we are at our weakest and most needy. How do we reconcile this with the concept of a loving, caring Father in…
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Solving the Mysteries of the Universe
Okay, so the title is ambitious. I don’t really think that you and I are going to solve all of the mysteries of the universe in this article. Besides, if we know anything at all about the universe, we know she is very coy, and likes to reserve a few mysteries and keep some things to herself. Personally, I think that there are mysteries that are unknowable this side of eternity. God doesn’t tell us everything. He wants to leave a few truths open to interpretation by faith. He has planned that we shouldn’t know everything at this stage of the great game. This is only a good thing. Faith…
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But is it Bread?
The book of Isaiah is one of my favourite reads in the Bible. Some of the church's most beautiful and meaningful images come from these writings. In chapter 55 verse 2, the prophet asks an extremely loaded question: "Why do you spend your money on that which is not bread?" (RSV) As you can probably guess, Isaiah was not talking here about flour and yeast alone. In the lifetime that I have been endeavouring to be a Christ-follower, this question has come back to me over and over again in many guises, as I have tried to make the best choices as to how to spend my money, my time,…
