In these verses the prophet Hosea tells us that Israel has become prosperous and has drifted away from their faith, their hearts are false, and now bad things will happen.
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Yes, I like to use fancy words. I usually find myself not having the right ones when I need them, but in this case I do…
Drinking the Rain
The vineyard has been with us all week—soil, tending, expectation. Hebrews shifts the focus slightly. Now it is not only vines, but ground. Earth that drinks.
The vineyard has carried us all week—Isaiah’s love song, Jeremiah’s lament, tenants who forgot whose soil they stood on. Now Jesus shifts the image inward.
“I planted you as a choice vine, wholly of pure seed.
How then did you turn degenerate and become a wild vine?”
Before Jesus tells of violent tenants, Isaiah sings. A love song.
Finally, he sent his son.
“This is the heir,” the tenants said. “Come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.”
The kingdom of God, Jesus says, is like a mustard seed (Mark 4:30–32).
At the end of my first Master’s degree, I spent a summer studying through Cambridge University in England, traveling to excavation sites in Greece and Turkey
Most of us spend a lifetime trying to look strong. I personally try to make it to the gym 3 to 4 times a week so that I can increase my physical strength and endurance.