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I’m going to indulge myself with a slightly longer post today to share a meditation on one of my life versus that I anchor to daily: Psalm 16:11. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The history of Israel in the Old Testament is written for our instruction, that we might not fall into the same unbelief that plagued our spiritual ancestors. I love the story of the twelve spies (Numbers 13-14) sent to search out the land of Canaan that God had promised to give to the people. The examples are so clear cut. We find two groups: ten who walked by sight and two who walked by faith. The ten looked at the situation and saw an impossibility. The two—Caleb and Joshua—remembered the promise of God and saw a victory. The difference between the two groups was not the circumstances they observed, but the eyes through which they observed them.

There is a great disease which afflicts the heart of man: forgetfulness. We forget what we ought to remember and remember what we ought to forget. If a man wrongs us, we engrave it in marble; but when God grants ten thousand mercies, we write them in the sand.

Recently, I’ve been meditating on the intersection between faith and love. The gospel and gospel living (abundant life) is all about faith in Christ. Why then is the great commandment all about love? In the NIV version of Galatians 5:6, Paul states that “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

A question that has come up recently as we focus as a church on Lent is “Do you practice a regular Sabbath?” Yes, I do practice Sabbath, but, no, I do not follow a fixed Sabbath schedule. I practice Sabbath when the Holy Spirit lays on my heart to do so, trusting Him to manage the schedule.