Grandpa's Reflections

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28,29 ESV) Almost everyone has their favorite passages of scripture. We tell ourselves we don’t and that our view of God…

What does the so refer to? Does it refer to Jesus’ example or does it refer to a loving God who disciplines us for our good? Does it matter? For me it doesn’t. We have many reasons, more than we can count if we really thought about it, to want to finish the race. So…

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:3-4 ESV) And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves…

“Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.” ― Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1 ESV) The word conviction makes me think. Conviction is defined as a firmly held…

I was actually privileged to read a fifth edition copy printed in 1898. I was given the book by our preacher who is a direct descendant of T. B. Larimore.  If you’re interested a newer addition is available through Amazon here.  This is a fascinating book for anyone who is interested in the Stone-Campbell movement….

Life is a marathon and not a sprint. Yes, it’s a cliché, but it’s still true. We all have different things to endure. Currently, I’m dealing with some health issues. One of them is going to take months to resolve, but that is nothing compared to a lifetime as a quadriplegic. When you get discouraged…

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once…

One of my favorite stories in the gospels is the encounter that Jesus has with a Pharisee named Simon and a woman who was a sinner that is found in Luke 7:36-50. Here is the verse that sticks in my mind that also connects with Hebrews 9: Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are…

We should constantly be saying thank you to the people of the Old Testament. Their life experience provides a physical illustration of spiritual realities we wouldn’t otherwise understand. The book of Hebrews constantly uses the experience of the Israelites to help us understand what God has always been doing. It is easy to wonder why…

But the Melchizedek story provides a perfect analogy: Jesus, a priest like Melchizedek, not by genealogical descent but by the sheer force of resurrection life—he lives!—“priest forever in the royal order of Melchizedek.” The former way of doing things, a system of commandments that never worked out the way it was supposed to, was set…