Save My Darlings

Ever hear people talk about "eliminating suffering"? Or maybe you imagine heaven is a place with "no pain" (cf. Revelation 21:4). This week I show you that pain is actually baked into the human experience, what that means for us, and how parts of heaven itself might be difficult. The question is not when the pain will stop. The question is what we are going to do with it, or, really, what God is going to do with it through us. 

If you've ever wondered what is at the center of human disorder, the answer we get from Genesis 3 and Romans 5 is pride. See what the first sin was, what God did about it, and how we can respond to re-receive edenic joy.

Part of the secret of enjoying God is, according to Psalm 37, "staying in your lane." Here we parse a bit of controversial Hebrew and show how "farming faithfulness" is essential to being able to "relax and enjoy watching God be God." A very small bit of Hebrew with some HUGE consequences for how we live!

Not sure if this is surprising or not, but one of the things I've learned from working with AI is how much our personal relationship with God, Scripture, and the church will impact our ability to use it safely. In this episode, I break down how AI can be amazingly helpful in our thinking and understanding and at the same time insanely dangerous if we are not deeply embedded in Bible, Grace, and Family.

My dad used to tell me, "Life's not fair" whenever I complained about not getting what I wanted. Well, God does something similar to Moses in Numbers 20 and it is a doozy. Is God not fair? Is life not fair? What can or should we expect from God? Find out how the Bible thinks about fairness and why.

When God reveals his nature and character in Exodus 34, he seems to indicate that he is a living contradiction, or at least what appears to be a contradiction to us. He says he's faithful and forgiving to 1,000 generations BUT he doesn't let the guilty off the hook and their children and grandchildren experience the results of their wrongdoing. Which is it? In this episode, we answer, "Yes!" and show how we can imitate an incomprehensible God and "live the contradiction" like he does.

Are there people in your life you wish would come to faith? Do you have a hard time sharing the gospel? Israel's story in Exodus 18 shows the first "convert" to God's Way--and neither Moses nor any other Israelite has to lift a finger to make it happen! Maybe the Bible offers a new pattern for how to "get the word out" that you can try. It all begins with your "personal" relationship with Jesus and the team you have building it. Listen to this quick hit for more!

In Numbers 11:33, older translations say that God hit the Israelites with a "great plague," but that's not what the Hebrew word makkah means. Find out what it does mean and why it matters (a whole bunch!) and how God's response to their complaining helps us make sense of Ecclesiastes AND the meaning of life!

In a very odd text in Exodus 4, we learn that "God tried to kill Moses." This is right after Moses has set out to do exactly what God wanted him to do. Why!?!? What is going on? There are some hints, and I think we can learn a ton from this section, but it isn't straightforward at all. So in this episode, God appears homicidal and possibly crazy, we learn how circumcision is a proof that God saves by grace alone through faith alone, and we see how God takes the most marginal people and makes them central to his saving plans. Listen, like, share, subscribe!

A lot of times the Bible leaves out all kinds of interesting details when it tells stories. Why? Part of what is going on involves how the Bible leaves space for us and our stories too. Listen to hear more!