Mothers mourn over children falling away, over ones they217;ve outlived, over the ache of children they never had. That grief feels heavy for Mother217;s Day, yet Jesus declares in Matthew 5:4, 220;Blessed are those who mourn.221; How is it blessed to mourn?
We all load our suitcases for life with what the world promises will make us wise—predictions, solutions, human answers—yet when Revelation calls for wisdom to understand the beast, it217;s asking something far more unsettling: whose wisdom are we actually following?
What is required to be a Christian? We believe that trusting in Jesus for salvation, confessing him to be your Lord and Savior, is the necessary step for being a Christian. At the same time, there is much more the Bible has to say that it is important for Christians to know and to grow in the truth of and what follows gives you an understanding of how we understand different key Biblical teachings at Little Hills.
We're drawn to people who seem useful, impressive, ready to contribute—and in Luke 18, the disciples felt the same way when they turned away parents bringing infants to Jesus. But Jesus stopped them: 220;Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.221;
It is easy to read “You shall not commit adultery” and decide that command belongs to someone else. But in Matthew 5, Jesus carries it beyond the outward act into the hidden life of our looks, desires, and thoughts—so where does that leave any of us, and why does God care so deeply about our purity?
Problems pile on until life feels more like a grave than renewed life, and we wonder where God is. The Book of Ruth opens with Naomi back from Moab empty and bitter, renaming herself Mara because the Almighty has dealt harshly with her—still certain God is King, yet unable to see whether that King still loves her. Is there hope when we find ourselves feeling the same way?
Most of us have something we'd rather not put on the table before God—something we're holding just tightly enough that we hope He won't notice. In Luke 18, a ruler who has kept the commandments since his youth comes to Jesus asking what he still must do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus names exactly the one thing he isn't ready to hear.
Amid turkey and pie and football, we can list what we're thankful for and still miss the point. Psalm 95 won't let us settle for vague gratitude; it calls us to sing to the Lord and come into His presence with thanksgiving to the rock of our salvation.
The two weeks meant to end the crisis stretch into forty years, and the only question left is a weary 220;now what?221; In Numbers 20 the whole congregation reaches that breaking point in the wilderness of Zin—no water, Miriam gone, and hearts already wishing they had simply perished sooner.
