Posts from August 2026

He Who Has Ears to Hear… At the end of the parable of the sower, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record these words of Jesus: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 13:9; Mark 4:9; Luke 8:8). This idea behind this directive is also repeated in Matthew 11:15, Matthew 13:43, and numerous times in the book of Revelation. When we examine the context in which this…

Great and Getting Better! Feeding on Ashes: The Folly of Modern Idols In Isaiah 44:12–20, the prophet exposes the absurdity of idolatry with sharp irony. He describes a blacksmith and a carpenter exhausting themselves to shape a god out of wood and iron. The craftsman cuts down a cedar tree, uses half of it to build a fire to bake his bread, and uses the remaining half to…

What to Do About Our Idols As we’ve discussed, idolatry is not merely an Old Testament problem. And while the New Testament repeatedly warns Christians to reject idols, the higher concern for modern Christians is the risk of anything taking the place of God. Scripture makes it clear that we are to love and worship God alone, separate ourselves from distracting obsession,…

Are We Becoming Like Them? It is easy to condemn Israel’s idolatry. We shake our heads at their repeated rebellion and wonder how God’s people could abandon Him so quickly. Yet Scripture invites us to ask a far more uncomfortable question: Are we any different? Repeatedly throughout the Old Testament, we read of the trouble that came upon the Israelites because of their…

Great and Getting Better! Waiting on God and Other Lessons From the Golden Calf Waiting is one of the hardest parts of living the Christian life. It only took forty days of silence for the people of Israel to lose their way. In Exodus 32, we find the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai, facing a major test of patience. Moses had been up on the mountain for nearly forty…