There was a time, long ago, when you had to do everything for yourself. If you lived on a remote farm, you had to grow your own food, harvest it, cook it, and...
The Bible is full of mysteries that we accept on faith, but just can't quite figure out. The appearance of Melchizedek in Genesis 14 is one of these mysteries. We know almost nothing about the...
Transcript In 1982, Tom Peters published an instant business classic called In Search of Excellence. I don't know if he coined the term "out of the box," but he certainly thought that way...
In Genesis 13, conflict between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of his nephew Lot led to a generous compromise on Abram's part: he let Lot choose the best land for himself, while Abram took what...
Earlier in Genesis 13, Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen quarreled because there wasn't enough land to support their flocks.
As God blessed Abram and his nephew Lot, they both became wealthy, with large flocks of livestock. Unfortunately, the land they shared couldn't supply enough food for the flocks, so Abram's...
Shortly after Abram showed exemplary trust in God by moving to Canaan, a famine forces him to move to Egypt. Fearful that the beauty of his wife, Sarai, might jeopardize his own life, Abram...
As Abram went about in the land God had promised to him, he built altars, pausing to recognize God and worship him (literally, "call upon his name"). In a sense, Abram was staking...
When I moved to San Antonio, I knew nothing of Lent. I was brought up Baptist, and we didn't do Lent. I...
In Genesis 12:1, the Lord told Abram to leave everything that was familiar in his life and travel to an unknown land. Along with this command came a promise of great blessing. Verse...
The phrase "blessed to be a blessing" may be overused in some Christian circles today, but its truth must not be forgotten. The case of Abram is exemplary. God promised to bless him...
In our day, if a couple is unable to have children, it can be a source of great sadness. In the Ancient Near East, if a woman failed to produce an heir for...
The Babylonians sought to build a great city with a high tower. In ancient Mesopotamia, pagan temples featured a tower, known as a ziggurat, which was believed to be a residence for the...
The biblical genealogies often contain tidbits of information about some of those whose names appear on the list. Nimrod, for example, is recognized as a great hunter and the founder of a kingdom...
According to Genesis, one of the first results of sin is brokenness in families. In the first chapters, Adam and Eve sinned...
The language of Genesis 9:1 is almost exactly the same as that of Genesis 1:28 ("Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth . . . ."). After God's judgment of the...
Clearly God thinks a lot of freedom. It is because we are free to live our ...
For the first time in the Bible, a person builds an altar and offers sacrifices to God. This practice was common in the Ancient Near East, where the altar was often envisioned as...
When Jesus instructed us to "consider the lilies of the field," he wasn't making the kind of moralistic point we find in the fable of the ant and the grasshopper. In that tale...
God reveals himself to us through his Word and Spirit in the miracle of revelation. Equally amazing, God created us to respond...
