RUMINATIONS OF A REVEREND

 At times, I’ll read a verse that I memorized when I was younger and ignore the context. It’s not that I’m trying to do that or that I’m unaware of contextual importance. “Context is king” has been beaten into my brain since I was a youth. I get that and embrace that truth. Yet, when I have an isolated verse memorized, I can easily default into focusing just on that verse and missing the surrounding context. This morning in my bible app, such a verse popped up. It’s a wonderful verse with a powerful truth in and of itself. Philippians 4:9, “ What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. ” You don’t necessarily need much context to understand the truth of that verse. It’s a basic verse on discipleship. Paul challenged the believers in Philippi to put into practice the lessons he taught and the lessons he lived by example. We get that.   But having recently read through Philippians, I was famili...

Have you offered God the sacrifice of thanksgiving today? I recently read Psalm 50 in my morning devotions and that phrase popped up twice in my reading, once in verse 14 and again in the last verse (23). Now I have often reflected on the essential nature of thanksgiving in the life of a believer, but this phrase struck me and prompted further study. The ESV translates verse 14 this way, “ Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving .” They also provide a footnote with the alternate rendering, “ Make thanksgiving your sacrifice to God.” The New Living Translation adopts that alternate rendering and translates the phrase, “ Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God .” Verse 23 maintains that understanding and the ESV translates verse 23, “ The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me .” So how do you offer thanksgiving as a sacrifice? Isn’t a sacrifice supposed to cost you something? If someone gives me $100 for my birthday, I don’t feel like I have to struggle to say, “...