Luana Ehrlich's Blog, page 4

Voices! We hear voices each and every day. They tell us t...

Voices! We hear voices each and every day. They tell us to order this, pay attention to that, go there, come here.

Other voices post on our Facebook page, our Twitter feed, our social media sites, wanting us to sign this, like that, watch that, play this.

Who merits our attention? Whose voice is the worthy voice?

A crippled old man appears in the gospel of John to answer these questions. (John 5:1-17).

He doesn’t have a name in the gospel, but everyone at the pool of Bethesda knew h...

A Ready-Made Garden

As I was working in my garden this week, I kept reminding myself of how much I was going to love sitting on my patio this summer surrounded by thriving, flowering plants. I had to keep repeating this mantra because gardening is hard work.

In the midst of one of my many “rest periods,” I thought of the verse from Genesis 2:8, “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden.” That sounded good to me, especially the part about God doing the planting. When Adam and Eve showed up in Eden, they had a r...

Don’t Stay Away!

There’s a verse of Scripture in Hebrews that gives me pause whenever I read it. It’s Hebrews 10:22, “Therefore . . . let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”

Drawing near to God sounds like a terrific idea. So, why don’t we draw near? What makes us stay away?

Believers don’t stay away from God on purpose. It’s usually the result of not doing something, rather than actually doing something.

Not confessing sin. 

After the writer of Hebrews described what Jesus ...

I Can Do Anything

I love the story of the little girl whose mother found her crying in the kitchen. When her mother asked her what was wrong, she said, “I’m in the kitchen, but I still don’t know how to cook.” Her mother put her up on a kitchen stool and proceeded to help her bake some cookies. Later, as they munched on the delicacies, the little girl observed, “If I let you do it, I can do anything.”

There are times when I’m standing in the middle of life, and I suddenly realize I don’t know how to do it. Th...

A Little Reality, Please

Most of us realize the food ads we see in magazines and on television are created by highly skilled photographers, and the food has been artfully manipulated to make it appear irresistible. A few years ago, I saw an article that described what happened when a professional photographer took pictures of the real thing and placed it alongside an appealing ad for the same product.  The results were humorous, though not too surprising.

In God’s Word, He’s presented us a “photograph” of the best, ...

Why Was He Born?

Born to be cursed, not to curse.
Born for sinners, not to sin.
Born to love, not to hate.
Born to accept, not to reject.
Born for failure, not for success.
Born to poverty, not to wealth.
Born for hope, not despair.
Born for healing, not for affliction.
Born to set free, not to bind up.
Born to reveal, not to conceal.
Born for laughter, not tears.
Born for compassion, not anger.
Born to die, not to live.

Blurry Around The Edges?

One of the great things about most cameras today is the automatic focusing feature. I’m old enough to remember using a camera that required fiddling with a bunch of dials before snapping the picture. Most of the time, those waiting to be photographed weren’t very patient about this process, and, oftentimes, after all that effort, the photo turned out to be out of focus after all.

As children of God, it would be nice to have this automatic focusing mechanism built into our daily lives, so tha...

A God Who Loves Dirt

I love the way David describes how God treats His children in Psalm 103. David says He “satisfies your desires with good things.”(Psalm 103:5).

Later on in this Psalm, David writes, “He remembers we are but dust,” and he writes this in connection with the compassion of God.  “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are but dust.” (Psalm 103:13-14).

God created human beings out of a common s...

To Be Loved

The words, “I don’t love you,” have to be the most hurtful words ever spoken. As human beings, we are born with the desire to be loved. Whether it’s romantic love, family love, brotherly love or even self love, God gave us the desire to be loved and to love God, others, and ourselves.

Love comes from God. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.” (1 John 4:7).

Because human love is so flawed by sin, none of us can ever love ourselves or another human being perfectl...

What Does God Know About Worry?

Everything, of course. That’s why we should follow his instructions about living a worry-free life. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.” Matthew 6:25.

Even though it’s worded a little differently each time, the command not to worry appears in all of the gospels, including a double warning in the gospel of John. “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27.

Paul also teaches the worry-free life in his letters. “Do not be anxious about anyt...