Big Buts of the Bible

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

“They will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins… But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors… I will remember my covenant.”—Leviticus 26:39–42 There are consequences to wandering from God. Leviticus 26 doesn’t soften that truth. Israel’s rebellion would lead them into brokenness, loss, and exile. But.… Continue reading

Take a look at Genesis 7. There isn’t much in Genesis 7 that feels hopeful. The flood comes. The waters rise. The earth disappears beneath them. And tucked safely inside the ark are Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives—and a representative gathering of the animal kingdom. Seven pairs of every kind of clean… Continue reading