365 Reflections

In Numbers 22 Israel suffered a minor setback in spiritual life and vitality when they grumbled about the manna that God had been giving them for forty years. They quickly saw the deliverance of God from their curse in the serpent Moses mounted to the pole and held up for them to see. The repented, realizing their guilt and looking to God's solution. Numbers 21:7 (ESV) And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. You could say, they had a born-again moment here. Because this new generation had not seen much in the way of God's judgment upon their own evil. What they saw in that bronze serpent, and the healing that eventually followed changed how they approached the wilderness. They moved from grumbling to singing. Numbers 21:16–18 (ESV) And from there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the Lord said to ...

Jesus was not a cosmic killjoy. He was not the guy you avoided having over for a good time. How do I know? John 2:1–2 (NLT) The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. Why would Jesus be invited to a wedding if He didn't know how to have fun? And these weddings were 7 day affairs in which people celebrated and feasted together in joyful communion. If there is one thing I cannot stand it is the stuffy Jesus so many people settle for in the Church. The Jesus who never smiles and never has fun. I don't think that is Jesus at all. While He was serious and straight to the point with some, there is ample evidence Jesus knew how to laugh... Some of his parables had such exaggeration, a first Century Jew would have been in stitches. The thought of a man who owed 100 years wages in Matthew 18 asking for more time to pay it back ri...