Joe Barnett

To whom will you compare me?                   —Isaiah 46:5 Here is a graphic comparison between God and gods. Pay special attention to the “carry” words. Listen to me … you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your […]

Appoint a king to lead us.       —1 Samuel 8:5 “Appoint a king to lead us,” Israel demanded. Samuel was plenty put out by that, but God told him to go ahead and do it, saying it was Him they were rejecting, not Samuel. The people put their kings in place. God put

By faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.      —Hebrews 11:4 Punch the pause button and stare into space just long enough to name three people who have had a major role in shaping your life. They may have joined the ranks of the dear departed, but death has not ended your

Get rid of all bitterness.     —Ephesians 4:31 If you’ve been around a spell, you have been mistreated … by a spouse, a parent, a child, a teacher, an employer, a co-worker, a friend. And you’ve probably been waylaid by an agonizing chapter in your life: divorce, failure, betrayal, illness, loss. The natural reaction

By this gospel you are saved.      —1 Corinthians 15:2 Gospel means “Good News.” But before there is good news there is bad news. The bad news is that we are sinners: transgressors and trespassers; derelicts and deadbeats; reprobates and renegades; frauds and phonies. You can’t make us good by giving us a good

I have come into the world as a light.                     —John 12:46 Isaiah saw people walking in darkness. So do we. Darkness permeates our world, our towns, the conduct of many who govern, the lives of some we love … and too often our own lives.

It is he who made us, and we are his.                      —Psalm 100:3 Jesus left his church in the hands of eleven men. Ornate cathedrals in Europe depict them in stained glass and sculpted marble as seraphic saints. Truth be told they were men of moderate

Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.                        —Luke 14:27 You make some decisions that aren’t life-or-death important: where you eat, what you wear, where you live. And some that are bottom-line crucial; decisions that determine direction and

Do not be anxious about anything.                 —Philippians 4:6 How did Paul come up with that Pollyanna line? He was in the pokey when he wrote it, and had reason to be anxious about everything. He wasn’t delusional; didn’t deny that bad things happen. You’re going to have

Teach us to number our days.               —Psalm 90:12 Frederick Buechner said it takes about one-sixth as long to write Xmas as it does to write Christmas. “If you do your cards by hand,” he said, “it is possible to save as much as seventy-five or eighty minutes a