Lookahead:  People dwelling in darkness have seen a great light! Herod was a representative part of that utter darkness that suddenly got invaded. Just as there was no room at the inn on the night of the Messiah's birth, the Herods of the day were saying there is no room for light in the darkness.  But if only Herod … Continue reading Unpacking #35 – If Herod Had Had a Clue

Lookahead: But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. The problem with arrogance is that it's the purview of the devil and evil.  The devil is, in reality, the very template for arrogance itself.  When we lapse into arrogant behavior, we are knowingly or unknowingly serving his purposes instead of God's.  Why would anyone … Continue reading Unpacking #34 – Arrogance = Pride With An Attitude

Lookahead:  A couple of days ago, I came across a seasonal photo on the website of a well-known e-store which was linked to their holiday portal.  On the surface, it was a humorous plug for Halloween costumes.  But the photograph ironically captured the quintessential dichotomy between good and evil--and also encapsulated predominant Western philosophical thought … Continue reading Unpacking #32 – Side-Hugging on the Holiday?

Lookahead: My question was, why would these teens be seeking external validation?  Answer:  they were probably trying to escape the mode of rehearsing negative internal scripts that originate from words spoken by people in their lives.  Unfortunately (in this frying pan-to-fire scenario) the most dangerous and damaging aspect of social media immersion is that the youth of … Continue reading Unpacking #31 – Judging A Bro = Judging Not Doing the Law

Lookahead: It does occur to me that this is "a lot of overhead."  But it just goes to show that it takes a lot of energy not to judge and to essentially overcome human nature.  Which brings me to (6):  I acknowledge that humans make lousy judges, so I purposely defer to Him.  Basically, people … Continue reading Unpacking #30 – Jesus and James on Judging