Jesus gives incredible promises and a message of new life and eternal hope to his followers, however one thing we often forget is that we are also called to suffer for Jesus, if we are truly his people. “Your enemies will be right in your own household! If you love your mother or father more than you love me, you are not…
“let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.” Hebrew 10:22 HCSB One of the things Christians often struggle with is the concept of assurance, specifically the assurance of salvation. Jesus spoke warnings against those who did works in his name but did…
We live in a culture of entitlement, or essentially insisting that we deserve this or that. We go to grocery stores and enter as “preferred customers”, “VIP members”, or something similar that builds our egos. What does all this do to our psyche? Well, it certainly doesn’t cultivate gratitude, or a sense of dependence on those around us for the things we…
Thoughts on Charity, from C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity: “The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If…
Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.“ If the devil were in our churches, homes, society, or culture, he would be pretty obvious, wouldn’t he? Would he be this obvious? Satan is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). Yet the “Satan” bumper sticker…
James chapter 1 reads, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4 ESV) Probably none of us will say that we enjoy trials, but God uses them…
Every relationship we have with other people consists of choices and actions: we either work to build bridges to others, sharing in relationship with them and building intimacy, or we put up bricks and barriers that become a wall between us. As followers of Christ, we must realize that other people will invariably disappoint us (because we are fallen human beings…
Obadiah 12 ESV “But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress.” Here God tells the Edomites (the descendants of Esau) not to gloat over the misfortunes of Judah (descendants of Jacob). When…