Note: This post is part of a series of brief devotional reflections upon the Psalms. Before reading the devotional below, take a moment to open your Bible and read the entirety of Psalm 4:1-8. "You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound." - Psalm 4:7 Everyone is happy when the harvest is plentiful, but only the godly are still found rejoicing in the midst of ...  Read More

Note: This post is part of a series of brief devotional reflections upon the Psalms. Before reading the devotional below, take a moment to open your Bible and read the entirety of Psalm 2:1-12. "He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision." - Psalm 2:4 It is easy for us to look at the present world and wrongly presume the view of dualism—that heaven and hell are at war and t...  Read More

*The following post was originally written as a meditation for our Confession of Sin during Lord’s Day worship. The Second Commandment:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous G...  Read More

*The following post was originally written as a meditation for our Confession of Sin during Lord’s Day worship. The Third Commandment:7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7)The name of any person is as worthy and valuable as the person to whom that name belongs, and whom that name represents. ...  Read More

*The following post was originally written as a meditation for our Confession of Sin during Lord’s Day worship. The Fourth Commandment:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant...  Read More

*The following post was originally written as a meditation for our Confession of Sin during Lord’s Day worship. The Fifth Commandment:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12)Notice, this command begins with a focus on obedience to our own parents—“obey your father and your mother”—but it concludes with a vi...  Read More

*The following post was originally written as a meditation for our Confession of Sin during Lord’s Day worship. The Sixth Commandment:“You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13)We often think of this command as forbidding only those most extreme forms of hatred and violence. By doing so, we severely misunderstand the comprehensive application and value of this command to the lives of all men. Our Savi...  Read More

*The following post was originally written as a meditation for our Confession of Sin during Lord’s Day worship. The Seventh Commandment:“You shall not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14)God is the author of sex and sexuality. Like all other aspects of his Creation, this too was originally made very good. Properly expressed, sex is a holy gift of God to be celebrated and enjoyed within the context of...  Read More

*The following post was originally written as a meditation for our Confession of Sin during Lord’s Day worship. The Eighth Commandment:“You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)Simply stated, the 8th commandment teaches us that obtaining gain by ungodly means is evil. This of course applies to acts of theft, whether great or small, discovered or hidden. Yet, the 8th commandment should not be restricte...  Read More

*The following post was originally written as a meditation for our Confession of Sin during Lord’s Day worship. The Ninth Commandment:“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16)We often abbreviate this commandment by saying, “You shall not lie.”While this abbreviation does maintain the true sense of the command, it tends to result in an oversimplification of what lyin...  Read More

*The following post was originally written as a meditation for our Confession of Sin during Lord’s Day worship. The Tenth Commandment:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.” (Exodus 20:17)The sin of coveting is all about desire. In fact, “des...  Read More

Note: This post is part of a series of brief devotional reflections upon the Psalms. Before reading the devotional below, take a moment to open your Bible and read the entirety of Psalm 1:1-6. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked...” - Psalm 1:1 Here we are given a clear picture and warning of the deceitful way of sin and how it sneaks into the life of a man. It is not of...  Read More