Today’s readings: 1 Kings 13:1-10; Philippians 1:1-11; Mark 15:40-47 A prophet went to King Jeroboam and would only say and do what the Lord commanded. The word of God through this man of God was not at all pleasing to the king. Yet, the prophet was not afraid. Paul was in prison. But, he was not afraid. He

Today’s readings: 1 Kings 12:21-33; Acts 4:18-31; John 10:31-42 Jeroboam was in trouble. His kingdom was struggling and people were travelling away from Shechem to Jerusalem to worship God. In this time of struggle, Jeroboam decided to trust the advice of humans and relied on politicians rather than trusting God. In so doing, he made two golden calves

Today’s readings: 1 Kings 12:1-20; James 5:7-20; Mark 15:33-39 The adage goes, “Youth is wasted on the wrong people.” As they say, with age comes wisdom—or it should. Unfortunately for Rehoboam, he failed to listen to the sage advice of his wiser and older councilors. Instead, he turned his ear to those who had grown up with him.

Today’s readings: 1 Kings 11:26-43; James 4:13–5:6; Mark 15:22-32 Our God is a loving God, but as I often told my children, “Yes, I love you, but don’t push it.” Love without discipline is not love. If you love your child, you want the very best for him. You want him to develop the knowledge and skills necessary

Today’s readings: 1 Kings 11:1-13; James 3:13–4:12; Mark 15:12-21 Opportunities to sin lurk all around, and increasingly these opportunities are stepping out of the shadows and into our everyday lives. Images of greed, lust, and sexual immorality bombard our senses. We flip on the television, open the newspaper, scroll through the headlines, and see that once

Today’s readings: 1 Kings 9:24–10:13; James 3:1-12; Mark 15:1-11 Man’s judicial system has always been far from flawless. Sometimes the innocent are jailed and the guilty go free. The chief priests falsely charged Jesus with blasphemy. Ultimately, Jesus was turned over to Pilate, who found no guilt in him. Pilate, however, was under no obligation to

Today’s readings: 1 Kings 8:65–9:9; James 2:14-26; Mark 14:66-72 What kind of faith do you have? Is it the kind of faith that kindles faithful works? Real faith does just that, but here we need to be careful. Sometimes—indeed, too often—people point to their works and think something like, Surely, God favors me because I have

Today’s readings: 2 Chronicles 6:32–7:7; James 2:1-13; Mark 14:53-65 In our Old Testament reading, God is implored to show mercy, even to foreigners and those who sin against him. In the New Testament reading, it is we who are taught to be impartial and to love our neighbors. Yet, in the Gospel reading, we observe