What Is Your Faith Built On?

Faith is the foundation of Christianity—faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus alone. Jesus is the cornerstone of that foundation. Without Him, our faith is worthless. In Matthew, Jesus describes two types of builders:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV)

The wise builder built his faith on Jesus, while the foolish builder did not. I think most people recognize this truth when they read this passage. However, we cannot ignore that Jesus prefaced this parable by referencing the preceding passage. Hence, the “therefore.”

What’s this “therefore” referring to?

Did Job Pray to Angels?

I began my daily devotional reading today with Job, and right off the bat, something strange caught my attention:

All of ‘This’ Before Church?

Something I appreciate about Scripture is the perspective it gives me. Of the sixty-six books we call the Bible, nothing is quite like Job for helping someone regain perspective.

I was reading Job today and couldn’t help but laugh at myself.

It all began last week when I subscribed to Walmart+…

When an Inference Passes as a Fact

I like—no, I love—figuring things out. Unless it’s a puzzle inside an RPG (Role-Playing Game). I don’t love those because sometimes they are so abstract that I have no idea where to begin. Also, if I wanted to play a puzzle game, I’d play one instead of a game where I build a character from nothing and turn them into a hero. Still, for the most part, I enjoy deduction and coming up with solutions.

I’ve noticed that my tendency to “solve” things has contributed—usually—to a greater understanding of Scripture. For the most part, I think Scripture is straightforward, but as I’ve said before, there are “silences” in the text—places where it doesn’t tell us exactly what happened or didn’t happen. Often, we can infer meaning from the context, but not always.

In the legal system, there are two types of evidence: direct and circumstantial. Direct evidence might come from a witness who testifies, “It’s raining outside.” Circumstantial evidence, on the other hand, requires us to draw an inference: Bill enters the office soaking wet with an umbrella. It must be raining, right? Maybe not.

In Scripture, we frequently encounter “circumstantial” evidence that we treat as direct evidence. Consider this incident from Acts.