Big Buts of the Bible

“The people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large… But Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.’”—Numbers 13:28, 30 The other spies weren’t wrong. The people really were powerful. The cities really were fortified.… Continue reading

Acts 4:32–37 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.—Acts 4:32 What a beautiful picture Acts paints of the earliest believers. They shared a life-changing bond in Jesus. They had become a family of faith, moved by grace and… Continue reading

Dr. Buttersworth has encountered a problem. Perhaps you’ve seen this quote floating around the Internet: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” It is almost always attributed to Maya Angelou. There’s just one little problem. She probably didn’t say it.… Continue reading

Read Isaiah 9:1–7 & Matthew 4:12–22 Sometimes familiarity causes us to miss the wonder. Jesus walks beside the Sea of Galilee and sees Simon and Andrew casting their nets. “Come, follow me,” He says. Farther along He finds James and John working with their father, and He calls them too. We’ve heard the story so many times… Continue reading

An excerpt from Chapter 7. The word hypocrite first appeared back in chapter six. The term referred to an actor—someone playing a role on a stage. There, Jesus applied the word to people who had learned how to perform spirituality. But hypocrisy takes more than one form. Sometimes it appears as public displays of devotion… Continue reading

It may be the most well-known, beloved, and frequently quoted verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Talk about broken stories meeting God’s grace. If you watched much televised sports in the late 1970s… Continue reading

Pride only breeds quarrels, BUT wisdom is found in those who take advice. (Proverbs 13:10) Pride has a way of turning differences into battles. When being right becomes more important than listening, learning, or understanding, even small disagreements can grow into quarrels. BUT wisdom is willing to admit, Maybe I don’t know everything. Maybe someone else sees something I don’t. Taking… Continue reading