Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

Since I try to write a blog, you may assume that I love words.   I do and here are some that I love: Rebuild - to make extensive repairs to; to restore to a previous state; to make extensive changes Restore - to put or bring back into existence or use; to bring back to or put back into a former or original state Renew - to make like new; restore to freshness, vigor, or perfection; to make new spiritually; to restore to existence; to make extensive changes in; to begin again I almost feel like I found a treasure when I noticed all three of the words in one verse! “They will rebuild the ancient ruins   and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.”   (Isa 61:4) The verse, of course, was written for the nation of Israel.   But, the meanings of the words are not unfamiliar in the New Testament.   From the meanings above, I think what I particularly appreciated was ...

It happened, much to their dismay, just as he said it would. The event and everything preceding it rocked their world.   In their desperation, they had to make it all disappear or at least invalidate it.   The best that they could do was to argue that his friends did it.   They came and stole it. But they also had to deal with the guys who supposedly allowed his friends to come and steal it.   These guys were supposed to guard it.   And they were not your run of the mill rent-a-cops.   They were seasoned professionals. So they convinced the commanding officers over the guys to say that they just fell asleep on the job.   Then his friends came and stole it.   But there was a problem with that story.   They either forgot or overlooked or simply chose to ignore it in their desperation to create a narrative.   The problem was that those who fell asleep would normally be put to death for dereliction of duty. But, they presse...

In last week’s blog post, I mentioned that we should fix our eyes on Jesus (Heb 12:2).   This One we are to fix our eyes upon is described as being the author and perfecter of our faith. An author, according to one definition, is the creator or originator of a written work such as a book or play.   But, even more broadly defined, an author is the person who originated or gave existence to anything and whose authorship determines responsibility for what was created.   In another verse in Hebrews, we find that Jesus must be the Author of all authors since He is the One “for whom and by whom all things exist” (2:10).   In our world of economics, authors, if they are to make a living with their writing, need to be published, and, of course, be paid for what is published.   “To publish is to make generally known, to disseminate to the public.” I recently came across a verse in Isaiah that referred to publishing in a unique and interesting way: H...