The Bible Verse No Guy Enjoys Reading

J. LEE GRADY

 

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Deuteronomy 23:1 is painful—but it shows us that God wants to heal the wounds of the masculine soul.

I’d never heard a sermon on Deuteronomy 23:1 until last month, when my Puerto Rican friend Luis Roig had the courage to read the text out loud to a group of men in Florida. When he did, one guy gasped and fell on the floor. Several others laughed nervously, and we all drew our knees together and groaned.

The Holman translation says it this way: “No man whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may enter the Lord’s assembly.”

Ouch!

Please pardon the graphic language, but older translations just aren’t clear. The King James Version says, “He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.” That’s putting it mildly!

Change Your Self-Image

Written by Terri Savelle Foy

When I was a little girl growing up in church, many times they would call all the children of the church up to the front for the guest minister to pray over. We would all be lined up waiting for the preacher to get to us and wondering what he might say. I would hear all these amazing things about the kids down the row, then I would hear the preacher say things to my sister like, "You're bold and courageous! You're a powerhouse! You're a lion!"

I would be standing there just waiting to hear what awesome things he might say over me. Suddenly, he'd get to me and his voice would become very soft and he'd almost whisper, "And you're just precious! You're a little sweetheart. You're a peacemaker and a little lamb." I thought, "That's not fair! I want to be the lion!"

Do you want to get well?

Sharon Jaynes

Today’s Truth
“Do you want to get well? Get up! Pick up your mat and walk” (John 5:6,8, NIV).

Friend to Friend
Do you want to get well?  That seems like a strange question, doesn’t it.  But sometimes we can get so used to being soul sick, we don’t even realize that we are not truly well. Sometimes the chains we wear shackled to our hearts become so comfortable, we get used to the pain and forget what it is like to be well. Perhaps some of us have never known. But the big question is – do you want to get well? Do you want to be free? Of course I do, I hear you say.  

But do you really?  

There was a certain man that Jesus encountered who faced the same crossroads in his life. In Jerusalem, men and women with various infirmities congregated at the Sheep Gate Pool. Surrounding the pool were five porticoes or shelters, where sick people clustered, waiting for the “moving of the waters.”  They believed an angel of the Lord came down from heaven at certain seasons and stirred the pool.  When the people saw the waters ripple, they all made a mad dash to jump in. They believed that the first one to make it to the pool would be healed.

What Did You Say?

Mary Southerland

Today’s Truth
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (Proverbs 25:11).

Friend to Friend

Fruit is one of my favorite foods. When I go grocery shopping, it always takes me longer to get through the fruit section than any other area of the store. I spend what some might consider a ridiculously long time picking out what I hope will be the juiciest apples, the plumpest grapes and sweetest bananas. Experience has taught me to quickly discard any piece of fruit that is bruised, mushy or discolored. I shake cantaloupe and thump watermelons. Ripe strawberries have a unique sweet scent and only the reddest cherries will do. Plums and tomatoes must be firm to the touch, bright in color and wrinkle-free while the more wrinkles the better when it comes to choosing passion fruit.