Author Archives: Intentional Faith

Your Calledness. Yes, That Is a Word.

Years after hearing God’s call as a boy, Samuel became a prophet and ajudge, and the one God appointed to anoint Israel’s first king—Saul. Eventhough the writers of this part of Israel’s history described Israel’s desire fora king as a rejection of God (1 Samuel 8:7), God still worked with thepeople to appoint and callContinue reading “Your Calledness. Yes, That Is a Word.”

What Ever It Takes

It is useless to give offerings to God while you are at enmity with your brother. Jesus said that His followers should be reconciled with anyone who has something against them. The world seeks reconciliation on limited terms. Christians are to be reconciled, whatever it takes. You say, “But you don’t know how deeply heContinue reading “What Ever It Takes”

Riding the Second Wave of COVID

While many predicted a second wave of the COVID virus and related shutdowns, very few thought it would be this serious. At the same time, the impact is vastly different across the country. In some states, church is pretty much business as usual, while in places like Los Angeles (where I live) it’s becoming aContinue reading “Riding the Second Wave of COVID”

The Christian and Astrology

The Bible has much to say about the stars. Most basic to our understanding of the stars is that God created them. They show His power and majesty. The heavens are God’s “handiwork” (Psalm 8:3; 19:1). He has all the stars numbered and named (Psalm 147:4). The Bible also teaches that God arranged the starsContinue reading “The Christian and Astrology”

The Surprise of Wonder

Nathaniel got a big surprise when he met Jesus. Having heard where Jesuswas from, he had all sorts of prejudices that made him skeptical of Philip’srecommendation. But then, when he met Jesus everything changed – notbecause of anything he did, but because of the way Jesus revealed God’sglory to him. The image Jesus uses ofContinue reading “The Surprise of Wonder”

Killing Is Not Curing

Lebensunwertes Leben is a chilling German phrase that means “life unworthy of life.” It was coined in 1920 by two German professors, Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche, who thought that people with congenital, mental, or developmental disabilities burden their families and the state while contributing nothing. Hoche described such people as “human ballast” and “emptyContinue reading “Killing Is Not Curing”

Before You Knew How

Jesus, revealing himself, calls his servants to him. Nathanael’s response to that call is particularly poignant for people in our age of isolation who are seeking identity: “How do you know me?” The Fathers’ opinion of Nathanael as a learned man, versed in the Scriptures, cuts an even more striking parallel to modern people. NathanaelContinue reading “Before You Knew How”