Sturtz Stuff

      Pride is one of the big stories in the Bible. It begins in a very interesting place. In Isaiah 14 we read some things that are being said about the king of Babylon. Isaiah 14:11-14 11 All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,     along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you     and worms cover you. 12 How you have fallen from heaven,     morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth,     you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart,     “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne     above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,     on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;     I will make myself like the M...

The book of Proverbs uses the word sloth or sluggard in various passages. For example Proverbs 26:14 states As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. I was fresh out of Bible College and serving as a youth minister at a church in GA. One evening I got a phone call about one of the teenagers in the youth group. I was asked to head to the local hospital.   The teenage girl that I was asked to see was only 15 years old and had been in a terrible accident.   She was on her way home from a date with her boyfriend. They were traveling down a country dirt road that had a tight curve. As they went around the curve another car, which was being driven too fast for conditions, hit them head on. The Mom and Dad of the girl had received the frightening phone call about their daughter’s dreadful accident. The parent’s were told that their daughter was being taken to the local hospital. The parents quickly gathered themselves together, hopped into their car and began...

           Many of us have heard the saying that “Money is the root of all evil.” Some say that this saying comes from the Bible. 1 Timothy 6:10 reads “ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs ." So it is in the Bible . . . kind of. The saying that we are used to hearing is that “money is the root of all evil.” That is not exactly what the Bible says. It does not say that money is the root of all evil. If it did say that then I suppose we could all simply get rid of our money and thus rid ourselves of evil. Yet, what the Bible says is that love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. As we have explored with the other deadly sins of lust and gluttony the questions we are facing are those of our desires and passions. Remember that the 7 deadly sins are vices or habits in our hearts that drive us. It is our desires that ...

Luke 12:22-34 22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life[b]? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? 27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows...

In Matthew 5:28 Jesus says “ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” I think that Jesus has just called us all adulterers. Jesus was a very provocative teacher. He challenged the statuesque. Issues of sexuality are typically not enjoyable topics espcially within the Church. Sexually has the potential for trust, life, commitment, sharing, caring and at the same time it has the potential for violence, shame, aggression, hatred and death. Some of the cruelest acts that human beings are capable of doing to other human beings are often sexual in nature. American society struggles with issues of sexuality often because we have come to believe that there is a separation between our physical bodies and our spiritual selves. We are all more Platonist then we realize. I would suggest that sexuality is deeply spiritual just like everything is spiritual. When we attempt to separate body and spirit then we often end livin...

The Seven Deadly Sins   If you don’t know what the seven deadly sins are then here is the list . . . Lust Gluttony Greed Sloth Envy Wrath Pride Turn on the TV.   Watch just about any movie. Pay attention to your own life and you will see Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Envy, Wrath and Pride. It can sometimes be difficult to talk about sin in general and it can get a little more complex within a Church setting. Within the Church some have abused others by using the word sin to heap on shame, fear and guilt. The word has even been used to threaten and manipulate people within the Church. Adding to these complexities there is often a silent assumption that when the word sin is used, in Church or elsewhere, everybody has the same understanding as to what that word means. Thus the word sin has been abused by some and is probably confusing for others. So does that mean that we should just throw the word out?   No Yet we need to recognize that talking ...