Making Life Work

By: Allie Dart

    Not long ago, in a discussion that followed a worship service, the conversation made its way to Judgment Day. Much to my surprise, three ministers in the group felt that because they had repented of their sins prior to baptism, that was good enough, and they would not have to stand on that sea of glass and face Jesus Christ for the sins they committed after baptism. We can settle that argument and find the biblical answer in Ronald Dart’s book, The Thread - God’s Appointments With History.

    “Most of what you hear about Judgment Day owes more to the imagination of man than to the Bible. . . As Paul said, ‘It is appointed for men to die once, but after...

By: Lenny Cacchio

Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever. (Jeremiah 25:5 KJV)

    If you are inclined to blame political leadership for all the wrong in our country, you need to rethink it. Sometimes political leadership is nothing more than a reflection of the people it represents, and that is especially true in a representative republic such as ours.     In the last chapter of II Samuel, King David makes an appalling mistake. At the time he is a powerful figure in the Middle East. He has conquered lands as far away as present-day Iraq and beyond. He has friendly relations with the Lebanese to the...

By: Lenny Cacchio

    “A rabbi and a priest walk into a bar.” Ever hear a story begin like that? If you have, you are probably waiting for a laugh line about now. I wonder what Jesus’ listeners were thinking when he opened his act with, “a rabbi and a tax collector walk into the temple.” I wonder if they were looking for a laugh line too. So let’s put the story into the vernacular and maybe hear what the listeners heard and how they heard it. You’ll find the original version in Luke 18:9-14. A Pharisee and a tax collector walk into the temple. The Pharisee goes right up to God and says, “Hey, Lord! Look at me! Aren’t I a great guy? I don’t steal, I don’t cheat, I don’t run around on my wife. I do all the stuff I’m supposed to do....

By: Lenny Cacchio  

No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you! (Job 12:22 NKJV)      Christians have a problem. We know. And we know that we know. And this knowing can get us into trouble. The Apostle Paul said that “knowledge puffs up” (I Cor. 8:1), and certainly those with lots of knowledge can become arrogant about it.     There was once a Pharisee who went into the temple to pray. Jesus tells us that this man gave a very special prayer of thanks. He said, “God, I thank you.” That’s a noble way to start a prayer. But notice what he thanked God for: “ … that I am not like other men.” (Luke 18:11).     Here was a man who on the outside appeared to be everything God expected him to be. He didn’t cheat people. He didn’t sleep...

By: Lenny Cacchio

    What the people of Nineveh must have thought when Jonah strolled into the town! After three days and three nights with a fish’s digestive juices working on him, his skin was blanched and bleached, wrinkly and covered with sores. Seaweed twined around him a time or three, and clothes were likely ragged and torn if he had any at all.     Imagine if a prophet in such a condition walked into your town and proceeded to pronounce the judgement of God on you. I would wager you would write off the old boy as some kind of religious crank. Who wouldn’t?     Well, the people of Nineveh wouldn’t. They listened to this strange looking prophet and his message because God in his wisdom knows how to reach people. The people of...

By: Lenny Cacchio

    On September 28 most Jews and a small but growing number of Christians will be keeping one of the Holy Days mentioned in Leviticus 23 known as the Day of Atonement, or in Hebrew, Yom Kippur. The day is unlike any of the other High Days because, rather than being a feast day, it is instead a fast day, where the people of God are instructed to “afflict” their souls before God.

    Christians who keep this day focus on the atonement the Messiah makes for our sins. Those of the Jewish faith also view it as a day of atonement for sins, and in addition they view it as a day of judgement. But sometimes missed is a nuance revealed throughout the Biblical descriptions of this day that lead me to describe this year’s observance...

By: Lenny Cacchio

    Do you remember what it was like when you first realized you were in love? Do you remember what it was like to walk hand in hand on a cool spring evening sharing your hopes and dreams, looking forward to the future with excitement and perhaps a bit of trepidation?     But the years go by and the monotony of daily living often dulls that first excitement. The flush of first love gets buried in the world of earning a living and building a life. The petty annoyances of life can steal our joy, and it’s hard to get it back.     Our lives as Christians can be that way too. I get reminded of this every time I meet people who are new to the faith. So often they virtually bubble over with joy and with eagerness. The word of God is...

By: Lenny Cacchio

    Lost!  It’s an ongoing saga on network television.  It’s also considered a theological term.  Paul used it to describe those who couldn’t understand the gospel message (II Corinthians 4:3).  Jesus used it to describe the people of Israel (Matthew 10:6, 15:24).  He talked about lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7), and the lost coin (15:8-10). 

    Nobody wants to be lost.  Once as a small boy I strayed from my parents in a five and dime store.  I wasn’t being rebellious.  I just wandered off without any thought, and when I looked up and Mom wasn’t there, my stomach knotted up as I frantically searched for the comfort of home.  I was lost, but I wasn’t evil.  

    That’s the way it is with an awful lot of lost sheep, and that’s...