The God Who Gives

When I was a young teenager, it was not uncommon to find myself assigned the responsibility of entertaining little children while the adults enjoyed some after-dinner conversation. I remember one such occasion quite vividly. I sat down in the living room with a boy, perhaps 3 or 4 years old, whose parents had set out a collection of toys for him to play with. I picked up one of his toys whereupon the lad exclaimed “That’s mine!” and immediately snatched it out of my hand. I knew right then, it was going to be a long night…

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Walking the Plank

A motif of pirates in popular culture, “walking the plank” was a method of execution for rogue seafarers. The practice involved extending a wooden plank over the side of a ship and forcing the captive, often bound and blindfolded, to walk across the plank until stepping off the end and falling into the sea, presumably to his death. I have observed, the Christian life is often portrayed in a similar fashion – a kind of walking across a narrow board or balance beam…

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Poor Horatio

I’ve always enjoyed The Andy Griffith Show. One of my favorite scenes is from Episode 8 of Season 1 entitled “Opie’s Charity.” Andy learns that his son Opie had contributed a “piddling amount” of only 3 cents toward his school’s Underprivileged Children’s Drive. In trying to help his son understand the importance of charity, he begins his instruction with some numbers to help him understand how great the need is. The dialogue proceeds as follows…

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Old-Time Religion

I remember singing the song “Give Me That Old-Time Religion” back in the 1980s. Back then it was just another song, but these days I seem to have somehow developed a sincere longing for that old-time religion. Interestingly, the song dates back to 1873, which means people singing this song in the 19th century also wanted some of that old-time religion. It then also occurred to me, that reformation never involves the discovery of something new. It has always been the recovery of something old that had been lost…

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Sufficient Grace

I often find it essential to the life and health of my soul to reflect on the full sufficiency of Jesus Christ. This is not surprising, since my daily life is one of constantly being confronted by my own insufficiency. This usually involves feelings of not “measuring up” in the various roles I find myself trying to fill. Am I a good enough brother or son, or could I be better? Am I a good enough employee or could I be better? Am I a good enough friend and so on, and there really are so many more…

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Sabbath Rest

I’ve been wrestling with chapters 3 & 4 of Hebrews now for several weeks, reading various commentaries and listening to sermons. Most outlines of this book would sum up these chapters under the heading “Jesus is greater than Moses” and chapter 3 clearly begins with a comparison between the two. In verses 1-6, we are exhorted to consider Jesus as worthy of far greater glory than Moses – as much glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. And while Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, Jesus is faithful over God’s house as a son…

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Setting Sail

Welcome to my new humble blog, The Holy Anchor. Over the years, I have posted a wide range of content on various topics to multiple blogs, but will now be simply posting here. The purpose and mission for The Holy Anchor is to glorify the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ by exalting Him to the fullest, magnifying His name above all other names, and demonstrating the full richness of God’s grace towards us through Him…

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