Langdon's Devotional

So I've become a lot more intentional about spending time in the Old Testament over the past couple years or so, and it's been super rewarding for my perspective on various seasons I've experienced since I revived this blog. There were plenty of things that I learned from the New Testament as well, but like most young Christians, I'd considered a lot of the Old Testament to be more or less uncharted territory. When I finally took the time to read through all of Scripture from start to finish, I was surprised by how relevant some Old Testament concepts were to my own life. Probably the most impactful of those concepts that I read about was the concept of  offerings . If you've read any of the books of the prophets (or really any Old Testament book), you're at least a bit familiar with the fact that God's people made sacrificial offerings to find favor with the Lord. These were intertwined with what we know as the Law, as the biggest way that followers of Yahw...

I've spent some time lately reading a book called Pleasing People by Lou Priolo. He writes about how our desire to please man manifests itself in our lives, and he offers Biblical solutions for it. I think it's an important read for anyone who struggles with any kind of social anxiety, or for anyone who falsely believes they're immune to it. So everybody. This might only end up being the first post of multiple on people-pleasing, because as I've gone through the book, I've discovered more perspectives of that whole pursuit since I started this post.  Regardless, the concept of valuing man's approval more than that of the Lord's is obviously all over the place in the New Testament. There was plenty of time between the final prophet of old and John the Baptist (and Christ) for corruption to enter the Church and harden the hearts and motivations of the God's people. Being a Pharisee was more of a status symbol than anything, and God had slowly been pushed o...

"But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'"  Genesis 3:4-5 (ESV)   Knowledge and capability is often evidence that God is working in and growing us – but it shouldn't be worshipped. Being obedient is always step one. The corruption of Creation showed us that ultimately, the desire to know everything is what led to mankind's downfall. The human desire to bring ourselves to God's level is something we frown on, and we resent the original man and woman for allowing to bring sin into the world God created. The fact that we think that we have the authority to condemn them is ironic, because it proves that man will always, at one point or another, place himself above others out of the pride and arrogance that he masks as righteousness. If anything, our desire to limit the capability and will of the Lord, whether by prioritizing our...