Uncategorized

True Comfort in a World Obsessed with Ease

/ enactedword / Leave a comment

Isaiah 40:1-11

Since the pandemic, comfort has become a cultural obsession. Where do you go for comfort? Do you reach for the half gallon of ice cream in the freezer, settle in for a streaming marathon, or slip into your softest sweatpants?

Isaiah 40 begins with a word we all crave: Comfort. But this comfort doesn’t add pounds, wear thin, or fade with use. It endures when every other source fails. Over the coming weeks, I’ll explore how the comfort Isaiah 40:1–11 offers contrasts with the ways we typically chase comfort today.

We begin with this truth: True comfort comes from God’s redeeming work, not from present ease.

Many of us believe comfort will arrive when our schedules lighten, our workloads shrink, and our relational drama ceases. Isaiah 39 gives us a sobering example of that mindset. King Hezekiah receives devastating news: Babylon will invade, Jerusalem’s treasures will be carried off, and even his sons will be taken. Yet because this disaster won’t happen in his lifetime, he responds, “The word of the LORD… is good,” thinking, at least there will be peace in my days.

Hezekiah found comfort in present ease. It made him selfish. When present ease becomes our highest goal, we stop caring about anyone beyond ourselves.

Isaiah 40 announces better comfort, rooted not in ease but in redemption. God promises that Israel’s warfare will end, not just their exile in Babylon, but the deeper warfare caused by their sin.

Israel had forgotten the God who rescued her. To picture this, imagine a father who leaves his homeland to give his daughter a better life. Back home he was a doctor; here he works as a janitor so she can flourish. She grows up, becomes a doctor herself, but she rarely calls, scarcely visits, and abandons the virtues her father tried to pass down to her. That is what Israel did to God. He redeemed her from Egypt, nurtured her in the wilderness for forty years, passed down a good law, and gave her a verdant homeland. But she turned away. Almost every citizen was complicit. Now God promises to pardon her rebellion, by fully paying for it himself.

True comfort comes from knowing that Christ was crucified to pardon our sin. Hezekiah clung to ease and became self‑centered. Christ discomforted himself to bring us comfort. And that kind of comfort doesn’t shrink our hearts. Rather, it enlarges them. It makes us love God and others more, not less. True comfort gives us a purpose outside of ourselves that enriches us as we enrich the lives of those around us.

Find a Gift Worth the Journey

/ enactedword / Leave a comment

Matthew 2:1-12

Christmas is full of familiar scenes: the manger, the shepherds, and yes, the wise men. Have you wondered why Matthew includes them? They were strangers from afar, following a star and an ancient prophecy. Their travel reminds us that sometimes the greatest gifts come when we are willing to seek. They crossed deserts for one reason: they believed this child was worth the journey. Maybe you have been searching too, for peace, hope, or something more.

It seems odd that of all people, they were the ones who came. Herod, the king, saw Jesus as a threat and tried to get rid of him. The religious leaders? They knew the prophecy, yet they stayed home. But these wise men, outsiders though they were, traveled hundreds of miles to see a child. Not a throne. Not a crown. Just a child. And when their eyes looked upon him, they fell in worship.

Why? Because in all their wisdom, they still had not found what they were looking for. Until now! For the first time, they saw their heart’s deepest desire.

Maybe that is true of you. People chase success, security, even knowledge. But deep down, we are all searching. Christmas tells us the answer will not be found in power or popularity. Rather, you find it in a person. You find it in Jesus.

So allow me to ask a question. How will you respond to him? Like Herod, will you push him away? Like the crowds, will you ignore him? Or, like the wise men, will you worship him, giving him your life?

The greatest gift you can get this Christmas cannot be found under a tree. People for thousands of years have found it in the same place. They found it in their hearts bowing to the King who came to give joy and light and to set them free. In a world where we can be our own worst enemy, he came to break the chains of our sin. In a place where darkness often dominates, he came as the Light. And the joy he gives to all who receive him is the true reason for this season.

He left his home to bring you home. He came down to lift you up to God. He died to give you life. You can find the deepest desire of your heart in worshipping him. But like all good gifts, it will mean nothing unless you truly receive it. This Christmas, will you?

Imagine What Heaven Will Be Like…

/ enactedword / Leave a comment

The Bible does not tell us all that we would like to know about heaven (Isaiah 64:4). Heavenly things exceed our capacity to understand. The Bible does, however, give us enough information for us to imagine what it will be like.

In heaven, all sins are forgiven (Micah 7:19). Your biggest blunders. Your greatest mistakes. Those things that cause you terrible shame. All these are forgiven. You will also forgive those who sinned against you (Colossians 3:13). That thought might be difficult to entertain now. But in the presence of the One who forgave you so much, you shall forgive generously. Since everyone in heaven is wonderfully changed, you will find forgiveness much easier. A man who murdered another in this world will see his victim walking down the street. We can imagine this ex-murderer darting into some alley to hide from the one he caused soo much pain. Yet, his victim will hunt him down to embrace him as a friend.

In heaven, you are reunited with loved ones who entered before you (Matthew 8:11; John 14:2–3). We shall not dissolve like a raindrop into a puddle. Our uniqueness will not melt into a pool of light. The true you will remain. Is it not foolish to think that you will know less there than you know now? You will recognize all those friends and family members who went before you. You will also wait with expectancy for those who enter after you.  

In heaven, you rest in security, safety, and ease (Revelation 21:4). Death will be no more. Illness a thing of the past. War obsolete. Aching bodies a phantom memory in your glorious body. You shall run and not weary (Isaiah 35:6). You will not need to stop to catch a breath. You will not worry about muggings, murders, meanness, not to mention earthquakes and hurricanes. All will finally be what you have always known, deep down, things should be.

Best of all, you will see your Savior face to face (1 John 3:2; Revelation 21:3). In this world, you have not plumbed the depths of his love for you. I hope you have thought of his love. I hope those thoughts have brought you to your knees in worship. Yet, to see the love in his eyes might be the one thing in heaven that undoes you. It will set you free as you have never been before. To fully know you are completely loved and delighted in will change you, all for better.

Why can’t we go there now? We are not ready. That will be the marriage feast (Revelation 19:6-10). This life is but the courtship. We need to say yes to the One who woos us. If we say yes, and only then, he will forever take us home with him (Revelation 3:20). He refuses to play the role of a coercive lover (Ephesians 5:25-27). He will not force himself upon anyone. You must receive his gifts of forgiveness and righteousness. Yet, his offer stands. He would love to take you home. Like a lover on one knee – or a cross – he wants to love you like this.

The sacrifice that kills negativity (Leviticus 2)

/ enactedword / Leave a comment

1578338631961_verse_image.jpg

Leviticus 2

A critical spirit infects the world we live in. Instead of expressing gratitude, we are prone to grumble and complain. We complain about the school board, politicians, or the way people parent or spend their money. Our inner voice tempts us to think we could do things better in their shoes. The Israelites had an offering to counter such negative attitudes. It was called the Meal Offering (or “Grain Offering”). Continue reading →

No Scheme Can Out-Save God’s Plan

/ enactedword / Leave a comment

Genesis 12:10-20

Have you ever bent the truth just a little, just enough to avoid discomfort?

It’s Thursday night. You’re halfway through dinner when a text buzzes in: “Can you help Saturday?” You sigh. You don’t want to go. So, you and your spouse craft a reply: “So sorry, we’ve got commitments.” You actually have no commitments. The reply is smooth. Polite. No drama. But across the table, your 10-year-old heard every word. The discomfort. The collaboration. The carefully worded excuse. And your child’s learning, not just how to decline a request, but how to make deceit feel normal.

Multiply that by thousands of households, week after week, and what do we get? A society where truth becomes negotiable. Integrity optional. Why not be honest, and trust God to work out the relationship?

Genesis 12:10-20 recounts a more severe trail than a text message for help, Abram (later Abraham) faces a famine and is forced to seek refuge in Egypt. Fearing for his life, he tells his wife, Sarai, to pose as his sister. It’s a clever half-truth meant to protect them. But it backfires. Pharaoh takes Sarai into his harem, and Abram is powerless to stop it. His scheme works too well! He gains wealth but loses his wife and jeopardizes God’s promise. If Sarai becomes another man’s husband, how will she give birth to the son of promise (compare Genesis 12:1-3).

Have you ever eaten a stolen apple? It never tastes as sweet as you thought it would. You eat it in secret, and it sours in your stomach. But an apple handed to you by your father, picked with love, tastes sweet. You eat it out in the open, in the field.

Fear often drives us to schemes. But God calls us to faith, to trust in God. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and is righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

The good news? God doesn’t abandon us in our foolishness. He miraculously rescued Abram and Sarai, not because they were clever but because He is gracious. He saves their marriage and protects his promise.

God still rescues today, most significantly through his Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16-17).

If you’ve been hiding behind a small deceit, or letting fear drive your choices, bring it into the light. Call it what it is. Repent. Trust that God’s ways are better than your own (Isaiah 55:9). He won’t let you down. He keeps His promises.

No scheme of ours can ever out-save God’s gracious plan.

Make every second count

/ enactedword / Leave a comment

James 4:13-17

We all have the same allotment: 1,440 minutes each day. The question is not whether to plan but whether our planning acknowledges the One who gives time. James 4:13–17 rebukes the arrogance of making confident plans as if tomorrow were fully ours.

James contrasts sensible planning with presumptuous certainty. He does not ban planning or making wise financial decisions. Rather, he condemns the posture that treats future days as guaranteed and plans without acknowledging God’s sovereignty. The early Christian ethic echoes Jesus in Gethsemane, who freely submitted his own will to his Father’s.

True wisdom recognizes this. None of us can control what tomorrow will bring. We do not even know how long we’ll live. The need to adapt to changing circumstances is a given. However, James calls us not merely to adapt but submit our plans to God’s sovereign purposes.

The gospel makes time a trust that is not ultimately ours. Christ’s willing submission to his Father’s will, choosing the cross for our redemption, reframes our plans. Most of us would have avoided the place of our arrest that would lead to death like the flue. But Jesus knew it was for our benefit. However much his flesh may have wanted to avoid the bodily pain, he submitted to that act that forgives our sins, makes us new, and glorifies the Father. Jesus died to call a people to be transformed, so that they would ache, plead for, and long for God’s will be done in their lives and the world. To have a people who would say, “I’d rather have a penny to my name while doing God’s will than to have millions of dollars without God in my life.” Do you – do I – have that aching pleading for God’s will to be done in our lives?

When we believe in the gospel, we stop hoarding minutes for self-glorification and begin returning them to the Lord with gratitude. Time becomes the arena of discipleship. Prayer, worship, family presence, and acts of mercy become the currency of a life focused on God’s glory.

Look at your calendar. Are you missing events that should be there in place of others? Do you have the big rocks – the things you know God wants you doing – in the middle of the stream, so the other things flow around them?

Pray, Lord, may the minutes of my life tic with the pulses of your will. May the seconds I squander be reclaimed by your mercy. May the hours I plan beat in rhythm with your sovereignty. May the days I chase pulse with your eternal purpose. May my calendar be filled up with your will.

When we plan humbly, live sacrificially, and seek with all our hearts God’s perfect will, our calendars become maps of gospel glory rather than monuments that will one day inevitably crumble. Make every second count.

A Joyful Noise

/ enactedword / Leave a comment

Psalm 100

In Psalm 100, ancient words call us into God’s presence not with formality, but with jubilant praise: “Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.” The psalm moves us from the outer courts into intimate encounter. In doing so, it reorients us to the heart of worship.

The psalm is both a call to praise and a reminder why we praise. Worship, in the Hebrew sense, isn’t separate from work. It’s joyful work that we can refuse, but when embraced brings restoration and gladness. “Serve the LORD with gladness,” the psalmist exhorts.

Why this joyful response? Because the LORD is God. The name behind “LORD,” translated from the Hebrew, Yahweh, was once considered too holy to utter aloud. Yet this holy God made us, claims us, and calls His people to worship Him. “We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.” The imagery intensifies in light of Christ, who said, “I am the Good Shepherd.” God doesn’t just guide. He lays down His life, seeking each of us, rejoicing to bring us home into his house of worship.

Psalm 100 invites us to enter deeper into God’s presence. The invitation doesn’t stop at the temple gates. In the New Testament, the movement continues. Hebrews 10 reveals that, through Jesus, we don’t simply approach God’s dwelling, but we enter the Holy of Holies itself. Christ, by His sacrifice, has torn the veil and brought us near. We stand now in the place where no priest could tread without solemn preparation: the innermost sanctuary of God’s presence.

Why do we dare such intimacy? Because the LORD is good. Not good in some mathematical sense, but in that soul-stirring, delight-filled way that satisfies our deepest longings. His love, rooted in covenant, is steadfast and sure, even when we falter. In Christ, this covenant of grace is sealed in his sacrifice.

So, let your song rise. Not for ceremony, but from the recognition that in knowing Christ, we remember who we truly are. Worship becomes not just what we offer, but the place we become whole. Come before the LORD with jubilant song.

Have you grown lax in your worship of God in the presence of the people of God? Make this Sunday the Sunday you come home into his presence. Enter into intimate fellowship with him in his house, one not made of stone but the people Christ spilled his blood to redeem and bring back home into the heart of worship.

Known by Being Known

/ enactedword / Leave a comment

Psalm 139

Who are you, really?

In an age where we curate versions of ourselves through social media and struggle under the weight of comparison, Psalm 139 offers us something far more grounding than image or achievement: the soul-deep truth that we are fully known and deeply loved by God.

This isn’t abstract theology. It’s intensely personal. The God who made the stars also sees you when you lie awake at night, thoughts spinning. He knows every word on your tongue before you speak it, every fear and joy behind your silence. He knows your history, your path, your comings and goings, as a companion. Like a hand gently cupped around a marble about to roll off the table, God’s presence hems us in, protecting us from ourselves and from a world that often forgets our worth if we’ll let him.

This kind of knowing can feel frightening. What if God sees what I’m trying to hide? What if He’s disappointed?

And yet, the Psalmist reminds us that God’s gaze is not a spotlight of shame, but the steady light of love. The One who saw you in the womb and spoke you into existence also sees the parts of you that feel unfinished or unworthy and calls them “wonderfully made.” What would happen if we saw ourselves that way? If instead of chasing approval, we rested in the truth that we were handcrafted with purpose?

Even in moments of pain or confusion, when we might want to flee, we discover we cannot outrun the God who pursues us, to lead us home. Like the poet Malcolm Guite writes, “You search me out and lay your hand upon me,” not to constrain, but to steady and guide.

Perhaps the most freeing realization is this: when we open ourselves to the God who knows us completely, we begin to know ourselves truly. We don’t have to pretend, or pose, or self-promote. We are free to live honestly, courageously, and joyfully, secure in the care of the One who knows us best—and still chooses us.

As George MacDonald, said, “I would rather be what God chose to make me, than the most glorious creature that I could think of. For to have been thought about—born in God’s thoughts—and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, most precious thing in all thinking.”.  

To be known by God is not merely comforting. It is transforming.

Let yourself be seen. And in being known, come to truly know the One who loves you.

A Fresh Start with Genuine Change

/ enactedword / Leave a comment

Psalm 51

We’ve all had moments we wish we could take back – decisions made in frustration, choices shaped by pride, mistakes that leave us feeling burdened with guilt. Whether in small ways or significant ones, we all experience the reality of sin in our lives. So, what do we do when we’ve truly blown it?

Psalm 51, written by King David after his greatest personal failure, offers hope for all who long for a fresh start. David’s story is one of disastrous consequences, but also one of divine grace. Instead of denying his failures, he appeals to God’s steadfast love, confessing his sins and asking God to make his heart clean once again.

That deep renewal that reaches the heart is something we all need. It’s more than behavior modification or trying harder next time. It’s real transformation.

A vivid picture of this renewal comes from the classic film “Mary Poppins”. The rigid, unfeeling Mr. Banks, once consumed by his career, is utterly changed. His turning point happens after he’s discharged from the very profession he staked his identity in. That loss broke him. Yet, in one of the most memorable scenes in the movie Mr. Banks is genuinely smiling and joining his children in a chorus of “Let’s Go Fly a Kite”. As he does so, his top hat is busted, his collar torn, and tie disheveled.

David’s sin had real and irreversible consequences, just as Mr. Banks experienced. Yet, just as Mr. Banks found freedom in his brokenness, David could ask God to restore joy where his sin had crushed him, because only God has the power to do that.

That’s the kind of renewal David seeks in Psalm 51. He prays, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” And that’s the kind of renewal available to us when we turn to God. As British preacher Martin Lloyd-Jones once said, “You and I must never look at any sin in our past life in any way except that which leads us to praise God and magnify His grace in Christ Jesus.”

No sin is too great, no failure too deep. God stands ready – arms open – to embrace us when we turn to Him. He can take our lowest moments and use them for our benefit – to change us. If you ever forget that, just look to the cross of Christ.

Psalm 27 and the Fight Against Anxiety

/ enactedword / Leave a comment

Anxiety is an ever-present struggle—one that can grip us in uncertainty, fear, and exhaustion. But in Psalm 27, King David offers a different approach to fear, one that transcends mere positive thinking or self-help strategies.

David begins with a bold declaration: “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?” His circumstances are dire. Enemies surround him, false accusations tarnish his name, and even the heartbreak of parental rejection weighs heavy. Yet, instead of dismissing his fears, David confronts them head-on.

Unlike the common advice to minimize worries, David acknowledges the worst—armies encamped against him, war on the horizon. And yet, he remains confident. His strength doesn’t come from wishful thinking but from anchoring himself in the presence of God.

David’s singular focus—the “one thing” he desires above all—is to dwell in God’s presence. Not just in a ritualistic sense, but in an intimate relationship. This is the peace that surpasses understanding. When fears arise, David turns his gaze toward something greater than his troubles: the beauty of the Lord.

When David entered the Temple, he witnessed the sacrifices—the blood, the smoke—but he saw something beyond it. He beheld the holiness of God, a just God who does not turn his face away from sin. Yet, in that moment, he also saw a God of mercy. Instead of himself on the altar, an animal was provided in his place.

This foreshadows the ultimate sacrifice of Christ at the cross. There, we see the fullness of God’s beauty—not only in His justice but in His boundless mercy. Christ, stripped, whipped, bloodied, and hung upon a cross, bore the weight of sin to deliver us from our deepest troubles. He was there because of the violent slander against Him, because an army was raised to arrest Him. On that cross, for a brief moment, He cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) He experienced forsakenness so that we might never need to.

It is God being sent out so that we might be taken in. To behold His beauty is not passive—it requires intention. But as we face life’s struggles while gazing upon His grace, we realize just how magnificent He is.


In the face of anxiety, David’s final words offer a call to resilience: “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage.” In a world filled with uncertainty, perhaps the most powerful response is not simply pushing aside fear, but knowing where to turn when it comes. For those struggling with anxiety, Psalm 27 offers a path to fearlessness—not because the storms disappear, but because we no longer face them alone.