Jesus had just cast out a demon from a man possessed (Luke 11:14). As usual, two classes of people reacted to this event. The first were the skeptics. They just did not want to believe that someone would speak to demons and they would simple obey.

They had seen many people possessed and had been helpless to offer any solution whatsoever to the plight of these people. They probably blamed the sufferers for their state and only God knows what exercise in futility they must have subjected those unfortunate people to, in the bid to exorcise the demons oppressing them.

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July 22, 2011. A man named Anders Breivik woke up that day knowing he was going to commit what is probably the worst terrorist atrocity in Europe since World War II.  He first set out to plant explosives in Oslo which destroyed government buildings and resulted in the deaths of some people, and then he proceeded to the Utoya, an island where a youth camp was being held. He opened fire on the young people, killing 68 of them. The final death toll from his action was 77.
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“Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praise unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.” (Ps 147:1)

God created us for a purpose. We did not just evolve as the proponents of evolution would have us believe. God is a God of purpose and everything He created was carefully thought out in His infinite wisdom.

Again and again, we are called to praise the Lord. This is not because God is lacking of praise – scripture tells us that billions of angels in the heavenlies continually praise the Lord day and night. However, it means that man can never be fulfilled until he enters the place of praise.
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“Why Me?” This is a question people ask when adversity comes calling at a time they do not expect. We seek answers, wondering why others seem to have the best of life and we seem to be enduring the bitter end.

There was a man who was born blind. He grew up not knowing what the sun looked like, though he felt its heat on his body. He never saw the moon nor did he know how the twinkling stars looked like. He must have asked many times over, ‘why me?’ The disciples of Jesus echoed this man’s question when they asked him ‘Who sinned, this man or his parents?’ (John 9:2) Don’t we all ask the same questions today?

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As a child, I used to be fascinated with the old art pieces and Bible pictures that showed the saints, Jesus, and disciples with halos and a radiant glow.  I did not really understand the concept of spiritual light or the inner light of goodness shining forth, but I did study these pictures carefully hoping for understanding.

Just recently, I have been re-reading the creation story in Genesis, and I was once again reminded that God created light first, separating it from darkness.  There was light before sun or moon were created (Genesis 1:1-5).  It is difficult to understand the nature and source of that light, but we know that it comes from God.
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You’ve watched it too. I know I’m not the first or only person who has observed it. But there is a lesson in it we both may have overlooked.

There are some children on a beach. They’re playing at the edge of the water. Giggling. Building sandcastles. They seem so intent on the project. You get amused at how meticulous and careful they are with crumbly corners and tiny turrets. The looks on their faces as they screw their mouths around and stick out their tongues in earnest concentration are priceless.
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Everyone desires to know what others think about them. It is an intrinsic need of man. When people say, ‘I don’t care what anyone thinks about me’, most often than not, it is because they have heard negative things said about them.

There came a time when Jesus wanted to know what people thought about Him. He asked the disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of man is?’ (Matthew 16:13). He got variations of what people said he was. Some said he was Elijah, some Jeremiah, some said one of the prophets. After hearing what they had to say, he went on to ask them, ‘But what about you? Who do you say I am?’ (Matt 16:15)
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Yesterday, one of the oldest newspapers in the UK, News of the World, issued its last edition and closed down after 168 years of disseminating news to the British people.

Allegations of phone hacking topped the list of crimes committed by reporters of this paper; the worst of it all was the hacking of a mobile phone belonging to a murdered school girl after she was abducted.
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Jesus’ twelve disciples had noticed several times how the master separated himself to pray.   They knew that John had taught his disciples how to pray and they desired this as well. (Luke 11: 1 -4 )

Note that Jesus did not take it upon Himself to teach them, He waited for them to desire it.  It is possible that as part of their training, John taught his disciples to pray but in the case of Jesus, He waited for  them to ask.  The question is why?
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It was an ethics class I was teaching several years ago. I read a newspaper story to the class about two pre-teen girls who returned a purse they found on the street to its owner. They opened it, found the owner’s name on a driver’s license, and looked her up in the phone book. Oh, yes. They returned the $4,000 cash they saw inside the purse as they were searching for the owner’s identification.
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