May 22, 2026

Malachi 3: 8 (NIV)

“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings.”

It’s unhealthy to view tithing as a place to stop, but it can still be a good place to start.*

If you have ever been on a diet, perhaps you have struggled with some of the same issues that I do. Such as: shouldn't saying "no" to ice-cream burn a few calories? If I skip that brownie, will I wake up thin tomorrow? How is it fair that one day of indulgence can undo a week of righteous eating?

Through Malachi, God told his people that they were robbing him. This puzzled them. They hadn’t stolen anything from anyone. But similar to how saying no to a fattening treat doesn’t burn calories, withholding their tithe from God was the same as taking from him. A lack of action does not equal a positive action. Their lack of giving actually equaled a negative action: disobedience.

Are you robbing God? While tithing is not specifically commanded in the New Testament, we can find precedents and principles for giving a portion of our wealth to support the work of the church.  In 2 Corinthians 9: 7, Paul writes: “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Here and now, I write: If you dare to ask God, “How much should I give,” I am positive that you will decide in your heart that 10% of your income is the least you can give. And if you determine to give more, you will find yourself becoming that cheerful giver that God loves.

If our question is, “How little can I give and still be pleasing to God?” our heart isn’t in the right place at all.*

May 21, 2026

II John 6 (NIV)

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

Love has no definition apart from how it looks.*

How would you define love? While we have one English word for all kinds of love, the Greeks were a little more precise in their language. But even knowing that the New Testament differentiates between brotherly love and erotic love and unconditional love, we still are compelled to include feelings in our definition of love.

The apostle John writes a lot about love in his letters. We can trust his credentials as an authority on the subject because he walked and talked with Jesus who was the living embodiment of love. This expert on love tells us that the definition of love is that we walk in obedience to Jesus’ commands – and says not one word about how we should feel about it. From the beginning, John says, the command is that we walk in love.

So how does that make you feel? How often have you done the right thing even though your heart wasn’t quite as engaged as it should have been? Have you ever felt guilty because your charitable actions made you look more saintly than you felt?

I am not suggesting that we can say we are walking in love if our obedience involves a defiant spirit. I am not advocating hypocrisy. I believe that John is telling us that love means honoring the one we love, regardless of how we feel. When my husband needed my assistance with a household project right now, I helped him because I loved him – not because it’s what I wanted to do right then. Or what I felt like doing. Over the years of our marriage I came to realize that the more lovingly I behave, the more loving I feel.

Love Jesus? Prove it. Follow his commands. Someday you will even feel like it.

The test of your love for God isn’t what you do when you’re feeling in love with him. It’s how you live when you don’t feel anything for him at all.*

May 20, 2026

Joshua 22: 28 (NIV)

“And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar, which our fathers built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’” [Read verses 10-34 for the complete story.]

Human nature is fond of climbing up into the judgment seat and proclaiming its decisions, without hearing both sides or calling witnesses.*

The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had built a monument which the other tribes thought was an altar. They were all righteously indignant because erecting altars was the priests’ job. Verse 12 of chapter 22 says that the “whole assembly” of the other tribes gathered to go to war against the supposed violators of God’s law. Imagine their chagrin when they learned that the purpose of the structure was to commemorate the tribes’ unity with each other and to remind their descendants to fear God.

If jumping to conclusions or rushing to judgment actually burned calories, we would be very fit people. Case in point: my friend was making lots of money until the economy crashed and suddenly she had no income. Some people were critical when they learned that she had applied for food stamps and asked the church to help with mortgage payments because they saw that she was still driving around in her high-end SUV. What they didn’t know (and what was really none of their business) was that she had paid cash for the vehicle back when her financial situation was good, but no one else wanted to buy the gas-guzzler now that she couldn't afford to fill the tank. (What "they" also didn't know was how generous she had been to the church and to people in need before she lost her income.)

We should be less eager to believe the worst of others. Yes, people lie, cheat, and betray - but not all people all the time. What would it cost you to give someone the benefit of the doubt, to trust that their intentions are good? If someone’s behavior appears to be out of character, perhaps you don’t know the whole story. Would you want to be judged and condemned upon incomplete evidence? How can we call ourselves followers of Jesus when we ignore his command to do to others as we would have them do to us (Matthew 7: 12)?

Some Christians delight in finding what is false, while never searching for an ounce of gospel.*

May 19, 2026

Matthew 9: 5, 6 (NIV)

“Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so you know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . .” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”

Testimony is evidence.*

If I told you, “Your sins are forgiven,” how would you know it was true? What proof could I present that I had the authority to forgive sins – or even just the ability to know that your sins had been forgiven? But if I said to someone who had a visible affliction, “You are healed,” it wouldn’t take long to know whether or not I was for real.

Jesus used his healing power as evidence of his divine power. Many people then, and today, are willing to accept that he could heal and that he was a good man but not that he was the Son of God. Could they not follow that misconception to its natural conclusion? How could he perform miracles if he wasn’t who he said he was? And if he wasn’t who he said he was, how could we call him a good man? If Jesus wasn’t the Son of God, he was an impostor and there is nothing he said or did that we could trust. But multitudes witnessed his miracles so how can you explain them without including his claims as to his divinity?

Much of our Christian life requires us to walk in faith. We must believe and trust in a lot of things that can’t be seen or explained. But Jesus never intended for us to wander blindly through life. He used his healing power to prove to his witnesses that he had the authority to forgive sins. Their testimony would have stood up in court then and it’s enough to convince us today. He has not promised physical healing to us, but we can trust that his offer of forgiveness is valid and applicable to those who choose to accept it.

What would it take to convince you?

Faith in the Christian sense goes beyond reason but not against it.*

May 18, 2026

Ruth 2: 3 (NIV)

So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.

We weren’t created to pursue the lives we want.*

When I was a single mom, my boys went off to their dad’s every other weekend. On those childless weekends, my friend and I took advantage of my freedom to go out and have fun. Both of us were interested in remarrying some day but in the meantime, we just went our merry way. I joked that Prince Charming wasn’t going to come knocking on my door and that even if he did, I wouldn’t be home anyway.

The truth is, whatever you think it is that’s missing from your life - whether it’s love, friends, career advancement, purpose – you probably won’t find it by looking for it. Ruth was a young widow with very few resources but instead of launching a campaign to find a man to fulfill her needs, she just lived her life. She went out in the fields to glean behind the harvesters – hardly glamorous – because that was her current opportunity, and she just happened to find herself in the field of her Prince Charming. If she had been franticly searching for love in all the wrong places, she might have missed her chance to meet Boaz and to become an ancestor of the Messiah.

My advice for you, if you have a void in your life, is to walk with God. Ask him to fill that vacancy. Live your life, take advantage of opportunities, and wait for God to make arrangements. He will either fulfill your desires or you will find yourself no longer desiring the same things.

By the way – my happy ending: part of “living my life” included being involved in the singles group at my church. It was at a singles group Christmas party at the home of my minister and his wife that I met my Prince Charming. And we lived happily ever after.

He knows precisely when we are spiritually ready to receive blessings for our gain and His glory.*

May 17, 2026

Joshua 11: 14 (NIV)

The Israelites carried off for themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities, but all the people they put to the sword until they completely destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed.

God does not call us to be separate for the sake of isolation.*

Israel’s invasion of Canaan is a bloody and brutal story. We wonder why God would command that even the children should be included in his scorched-earth policy. To help us understand, fast-forward to another era of Israel’s history: their conquest and captivity by other nations. These invaders weren’t so diligent about wiping out their new subjects, sometimes even going so far as to allow them some measure of religious freedom, and promoting them to positions of authority. Among the Israelites exiled to other lands were many who continued to practice the religion of their ancestors – even some who had no memory of their homeland or perhaps had never even been there. Similarly, if God had been willing to spare any of the Canaanites, even babies, there could have been a remnant among them who would one day resurrect the wicked idol-worship of their parents and infect the Israelites. God was thorough in protecting the purity of his people.

The church is under attack all over the world. We rightfully fear for our religious freedom in the United States. Satan may use his forces of evil to conquer God’s people but his victory will be hollow – and temporary. There is a message of hope for us in the idea of a remnant. In Romans, chapter 11, Paul refers to the story of Elijah who thought he was the only surviving worshiper of God in all of Israel. As it turned out, there was a remnant of 7,000 who had not bowed down to Baal. Paul then reminds us: “So, too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.”

The most powerful and hopeful message for the church comes from Jesus himself: “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16: 18)

The church . . . was God’s idea. This means it is good and it will succeed.*

March 17, 2026

Matthew 5: 23, 24 (NIV)

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift.”

People sometimes assume that they have secured forgiveness without specifically asking to be forgiven.*

Jesus’ message in this chapter was about “fulfilling the law.” That is, filling the law full of authentic worship instead of empty ritualistic obedience. Here, he is specifically addressing religious Jews who knew what it meant to offer a gift at the altar. But Jesus was speaking to us as Christians, too.  While we don’t bring offerings to the altar, we do participate in comparable activities – corporate worship; the Lord’s Supper; private devotions – anything that brings us to the throne of God.

For an act of worship to be authentic, we must examine ourselves, our relationship with others, and our standing with God. In the course of our introspection, we may recall some rift in our connection with another person. As someone has stated, “Proper worship makes us mindful of duty to others.”* Jesus isn’t satisfied with our mere acknowledgement of the problem – he wants us to make amends with the other party and he wants it done now. 

I like this alternate rendering of Jesus’ words: thy brother hath cause of complaint against thee, just or unjust.* This version puts the responsibility on us to take action, whether our brother knows about the offense or not. We don’t get a pass just because the other person isn’t aware of what we’ve done or if we believe ourselves to be falsely accused.

Finally, he says, “Be reconciled, then go offer your gift.” Jesus doesn’t give us instructions about what to do if our attempt at reconciliation isn’t well-received. I won’t presume to tell you what to do in this case, but there are other scriptures that set a precedent for how to proceed if it becomes clear that you are engaged in futile activity. I think it is safe to say that if you have dropped everything to be reconciled to your brother as Jesus commanded, then the Holy Spirit will speak to your spirit and direct your next course of action.

In geometry I learned that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line. And that may be true in geometry but not necessarily true in your getting to God. Quite often in our approach of God . . . the most direct approach . . . is not a straight line but it is by an offended brother.*