I love Mafia movies for many reasons. One of those is the hypocritical yet dramatic juxtaposition of a hardened, swaggering gangster going to Catholic confession. He seeks absolution for his guilty conscience only to leave and sin again, typically by murdering a family opponent. A child in one of my favorite Mafia movies encapsulated this […]
Week 36 Study | Sin Is Lawlessness
Sin is many things. It is missing the mark (original meaning of the New Testament term). It is rebellion against the father’s love (Luke 15:11-32). It is alienation and separation from God (Ephesians 2:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:9). It is ignorance of the things of God (Acts 17:30). It is failing to trust the goodness of […]
Week 36 Application | Don’t Go Off the Highway
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each day in the United States nine people die and more than 1,000 suffer injuries in crashes involving a distracted driver. Three main kinds of distraction cause accidents: (1) visual: taking your eyes off the road, (2) manual: taking your hands off the wheel, and (3) […]
Week 36 Mission | How Lost Is Lost?
“Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). If, as we believe, Jesus is the only avenue through which we can access Father God, then everyone we meet is either in one of two categories. They are either in God’s marvelous grace as souls saved by faith, or they are lost and separated from God. The […]
Week 36 Character | Imitators of God
Imitation comes naturally to us. You might say it’s in our DNA. Anyone who has spent time with children can confirm this. The other day as I was delivering mail on my route, I saw a man mowing his front lawn, followed closely by his young daughter who was “helping” with her plastic mower. A […]