The process of spiritual formation, the internal transformation of souls, is a life-long pursuit for Christians and can be a difficult and confusing journey. As with any journey, we need to know two key things: where we are and where we are going. If we do not know where we are now, it may be …
In the beginning the way is broad and easy. The road is smooth and the ascent is barely noticeable. I walk happily and easily along the gentle slopes. I have my pack well-stocked an and on my back. I also have my wooden two-wheeled cart, loaded with my most cherished possessions. Even loaded as heavily …
Have you found that God seems to begin some good work in you only to have it seem to evaporate, to disappear, as if it had never been there at all? He may have begun some emotional healing, restoring some relationship, or bringing some fresh awareness or understanding in your life. Then, some time later you discover that what you thought was being born in you seems to have been illusory. To use the metaphor of grapes growing on a vine, we see the small, round new grapes appear on the vine, but then, as time goes on, instead of maturing to ripeness, the grapes have withered and died.
Here is look at what may have happened.
For many of us, coming to believe in Jesus as Messiah and the son of God was a hard, hard, thing to do. I know it was for me. Indeed, Scripture tells us that we can't come to belief on our own, it is only through God's grace. “For it was only through this wonderful …
At sometime or another, nearly every parent's refrigerator starts to resemble an art gallery. We take the wonderful, if not fully recognizable, artistic renderings our children produce and put them on display on the 'fridge door. But I think my Father in heaven doesn't have much of my artwork on his 'fridge. Why not? Because …
Continue reading "Why God Doesn’t Have My Artwork on His Refrigerator"
A touching Father's Day story of a father's love for his son is a good reminder of our heavenly father's love for us.
We can chose Jesus' side, which allows no divisions. Everyone is part of us. Or we can chose the world's side, a life of constantly deciding who is in and who is out, whom we should love and whom we can marginalize, and struggling to maintain our place on the right side of countless lines we …
Pride takes many forms. There's vanity, the love of self. There's a sense of entitlement, impatience, arrogance, hubris, desiring relevance or appreciation, incessant dissatisfaction, complaining, demanding. Pride is a stern master.
But God has given us an escape from pride. Listen to learn how you can be freed from pride and free to become your best self.
Recently I was reminded of how the Lord can take the straw of our very imperfect efforts and spin it into kingdom gold. A child we had sponsored years ago reached out and contacted me through social media. Her story reminds me of how God takes our most ineffective actions, whether we are seeking to do kingdom work or just to know him better and hear his voice, and spins our straw into gold.
If we want to know God, good theology is important; personal experience can be sweet; but they cannot be our starting place. We cannot start with those and work our way up to the cross, the stumbling block and folly. We must start with the cross, the God's love for us perfectly reflected in Jesus on the cross.
