August 18, 2021 | Hosea 8:1–14 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Have you ever watched vultures devour a carcass? That violent image would give you a strong, if unpleasant, visual of what Hosea is communicating in today’s passage. Vultures eat mostly dead animals and rarely attack something alive, though they may descend on a creature who […]
August 17, 2021 | Hosea 7:13–16 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue I grew up hearing “sin” defined as “missing the mark.” God’s will and law were the target for our behavior, a target not one of us will hit perfectly this side of heaven. That concrete image of an arrow falling short or landing off-center was […]
August 16, 2021 | Hosea 7:3–12 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue In the mid-1630s, thousands of Puritans migrated to New England. They built homes, established government, and founded churches. Quite quickly, though, they recognized the need to train the next generation of clergy. So, in September of 1636, classes were first held at New College in […]
August 15, 2021 | Hosea 6:7-7:2 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Unfortunately, sin is not a once-and-done event. James 1:14–16 describes its clear progression: “But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is […]
August 14, 2021 | Hosea 6:4–6 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Our children are 9 and 12, and one aspect of parenting that currently requires great patience from me is reminding them (again and again and again) to clean their rooms. Too many Saturdays they complain about how long it takes. They know that it wouldn’t […]
LET US RETURN August 13, 2021 | Hosea 5:15-6:3 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue While my mother-in-law loved Jesus and pursued Him passionately, Dad Worrall wanted nothing to do with God—until he contracted terminal cancer at the age of 56. When the doctor delivered the diagnosis, Dad W. took Mum to the hospital chapel and told […]
August 12, 2021 | Hosea 5:8–14 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Author Flannery O’Connor once wrote that when you’re talking about faith to an unbelieving audience, “you have to make your vision apparent by shock—to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind, you draw large and startling figures.” Her story “Greenleaf” tells of […]
August 11, 2021 | Hosea 5:1–7 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Have you ever been present in a courtroom when a bailiff says, “All rise,” just before the judge enters the room? Everyone in attendance stands to attention, out of respect—for the judge and for the law. Today’s passage begins with a similar proclamation. “Hear, you […]
August 10, 2021 | Hosea 4:15–19 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue What should a church do when a member is pursuing sin? The New Testament teaches that an individual should approach the brother or sister one-on-one. “If they listen to you, you have won them over” (Matt. 18:15). If they do not listen, two or three […]
August 9, 2021 | Hosea 4:4–14 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Being a spiritual leader of any kind is an immense responsibility that we dare not take lightly. The book of James warns us that people holding such positions incur a stricter judgment (James 3:1). Jesus told His disciples that causing a young, impressionable convert to […]