Articles written by Gordon Runyan
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Service comes before authority in the Kingdom
When King Solomon died, the rule passed to his son, Rehoboam. His story doesn’t take up much space, but it changed the nation of Israel forever. The account of his sad reign can be found in 1 Kings...
Faith is not the absence of fear
When you read the Psalms, right away you see David calling to God for rescue from his enemies. They have surrounded him and are threatening his life. This starts in Psalm 2. David cries out to God. I...
Take up your cross this new year
As we stare another new year right in its face, it’s helpful to gaze back for a moment. I mean all the way back, before the beginning. The Scripture says that a few things happened even before the...
Christmas hymns a great blessing
I grew up singing the old Christmas carols. I was stuck in the children’s choir at church when I was that age, and we learned these hymns by heart. I’d stand there, in front of the congregation...
Turn small talk into God talk
We’re studying through the book of Acts in church and one thing that struck us recently was the availability of places for those first preachers to engage listeners with the claims of the Gospel of...
See the signs, change your mind
The Bible says a lot about prayer. Many other books have been written, talking about what the Bible says about prayer. Space would fail me here to scratch the surface of the topic. I’m not even...
There is nothing new under the sun
I’d like you to meet my friend, Herman. He’s super nice. He mows his lawn. He waves when he sees you out and about. He watches the news, at least until it makes him want to throw a brick through...
Fear a deadly challenge to faith
The No. 1 challenge facing Christianity in America is fear. This also happens to be the No. 1 challenge facing America in general. Fearful people do things that are especially deadly to New Testament...
Sink into the riches of the Lord
Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desire of your heart.” The word “delight” puzzled me, as I dug into the original Hebrew of the text. When it’s used...
You have a right to a clean conscience
Who is the master of your conscience? Or, who gets to define for you what is right and what is wrong? Who has the authority to tell you what you must believe to be true? If you could answer those...
Church discipline is up to you
When God established his own nation, Israel, the system of government he installed, had no legislature (since it already had the law of God) and no executive branch (someone authorized to use force...
Arguments on Griner case examined
My last article here, about the injustice done to WNBA player Brittney Griner, resulted in a few angry responses. These were not responses to me personally, but to the friend who posted it on his soci...
Brittney Griner case basically unjust
WNBA player Brittney Griner has been sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia on drug charges, including the possession of marijuana. From the standpoint of biblical principles, this is an unjust...
No shortcuts to kingdom greatness
Simon the sorceror in Acts 8 has the distinction of having a particular sin named after him, “simony.” Note to self: There are things you don’t want to be remembered for. One of them would be me...
No conspiracy threat to God's plan
One popular saying about wealth is that he is a rich man who has a dollar more than I do. Similarly, among conspiracy theorists, the maxim seems to be that a nutty conspiracy theorist is one who...
Morality flows from religious faith
I enjoy listening to podcasts. One of my favorites is from a retired, long-time veteran of professional wrestling. I’m not a wrestling fan so much, but this guy is genuinely entertaining and funny....
We must stop downward slide
It can’t keep going like this. I mean, it can’t, right? Something’s got to give. The divisions in this country get deeper, and then the threats hurled across the chasm get darker. Tragedies...
Grace should be seen in us
In Acts 6, the first Christian martyr, Stephen, is described as a man full of grace. For your future Bible trivia conquests, note that there are only two people described as “full of grace.” The...
Acts 5: Tactics of tyranny defeated
In Acts chapter 5, we have the second confrontation between the church and the centralized government of the day, the Sanhedrin council. The first clash came (in chapter 3) in the wake of a...
Socialism absent from book of Acts
“Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.” — Acts 4:32...
Authority and law: Religious concepts
Issues of power and authority are inescapably religious. Why do you get to boss me around? What if I don’t comply? How far does your authority extend? What if you command something immoral? How...
Trust puts skin in the game
In Christian circles, we have a tendency to develop “jargon,” a technical short-hand way of speaking. We use words, and we just assume everybody knows what we mean. They don’t, however, and the...
Jesus Christ our model for marriage
In the Bible book of Ephesians, the apostle famously (or infamously, depending on your outlook) tells wives to submit to their husbands (5:22-24). That instruction would not have shocked any resident...
An accounting of sin is on its way
In King David’s famous prayer of repentance, Psalm 51, he includes this odd sentiment in speaking to God: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” It’s an...
Gospel leaves nothing untouched
Just preach the Gospel, they tell me. “Who’s they?” you ask. You know: they, the ones who get either nervous or angry about any attempt to apply the teachings of the Bible outside the church...
