I like the account in Genesis 2:18-22. And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. One has to wonder, did God not know that Adam was alone? Did God think just making one human was enough, only to realize that He needed to create two? Well, of course God doesn’t make mistakes. Adam needed to understand the value of another creation like him. After naming the animals, Adam noticed that he was alone; this made the creation of Eve all the more special to him. God has never expected His people to be alone. Naturally, this is the case with marriage, but the same is true in

I recently did a word study on the word “baptism,” especially as it is used in Acts 2:38. The Greek word is “baptizo” and was transliterated and not translated. It was Anglicized into “baptize” instead of rendered “immersion” because the King James translators viewed different so-called modes of baptism (i.e., pouring or sprinkling). They did not want to give the proper picture of what baptism is – an immersion. I used the Blue Letter Bible app to do my study. It gave this illustration of the word baptism: This word should not be confused with baptô (911). The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words. Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be ‘dipped’ (baptô) into boiling water and then ‘baptised’ (baptizô) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change. I understand this analogy well. My grandmother once made pickles in her kitchen when I was a kid. Once the cucumber was immersed in the vinegar, it certainly would never be the same! Baptism produces a permanent change in us! Paul wrote: Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His

For as long as I can remember my grandmother has made rugs on her loom in her basement. She has taken old rags such as jeans, shirts and other various materials that are long past their use and turned them into beautiful rugs. I have 14 of them all throughout the house, and they mean so much to me. It truly is remarkable how someone can take what others have discarded and turn it into something special. This is what God has done with us. We were broken with sin and guilt, and He made us whole. Think about the words of Isaiah, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool’” (1:18). God can take our sins that have stained our souls crimson and make them white as snow. While others may cast us away, God is the One that can make us new. Paul wrote, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). At one time, we were lost and without hope in the world, but God made us new for good works. Just like rags that are of no value but are turned into useful rugs, God changes us and makes us useful in His kingdom. Too often, we devalue ourselves when we are priceless to

The attributes of God are tremendous to the thoughts of mortal man. They are spectacular in nature partly because no person on earth possesses all these qualities. The God of heaven is loving, patient, merciful, vengeful and all knowing. The one attribute that is often overlooked is the all-knowing side of the Mighty God. Do we really believe that God can see and know everything that happens at every moment on earth? As children, we do things that we think our parents never know about simply because we do not see them. A young child that is told to stop screaming goes into another room, where he cannot see his parents, and then proceeds to scream. This is how we look at God. We do not sin in the worship service but will engage in any sin that we please when we leave the church grounds. We may be able to hide our actions from man, but not from God. Notice two examples, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament, which demonstrate the power of God to know all things, even though man may not. David & Bathsheba, 2 Samuel 11-12 This is a story of deception, adultery and sin. This is one instance that makes the Bible so unique in its nature. Even though David is the chosen king of Israel and described as a man after God’s own heart, his sin is not omitted from the pages of inspiration. The Bible tells us that

According to Greek mythology, Cadmus came upon a terrible dragon that blocked his path. After battling and killing the dragon, he pulled out all its teeth and buried them in a field. Later, traveling back that same way, he was shocked to discover that each tooth had transformed itself into an armed giant! How could he possibly overcome these savage giants and pass through? Suddenly, a plan! Hiding behind a tree, Cadmus threw a stone — striking one of the giants. The giant, thinking one of the others had struck him, retaliated by hitting one of his fellow giants. Battle lines were drawn, the giants chose sides, the fight escalated, all were drawn into a bloody free-for-all. Soon, all lie dead or dying. Cadmus was then able to pass through the pitiful, fallen creatures with no danger of being attacked. As we all know, Greek mythology is just that, myth. Stories like this, however, do give great lessons that can be learned. The Bible tells us that Satan wants to walk through us as a “destroyer.” “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer” (1 Corinthians 10:10). When we draw near to God and remain united as his people, the Devil is frustrated in his evil plan. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). God takes ordinary men and women and makes great giants of them. However, when giants fight, we become weak and