Christian Living / heaven / Judgement

God is not Bad

Hosea 11:9 declares I am the Holy One living among you, and I did not come to destroy.images

God is good but we don’t always think so. We like the freedom to make our own decisions, to do what we want but we don’t always like the consequences of those decisions or the choices others make which impact our lives.

We blame God for the bad things that happen without considering that most of those bad things are the result of our own or other human choices. We want a god who will intervene in our lives to keep us from injury but not to command us to do good.

When bad things happen not as a result of human choice we still blame God for it feeling that He is disinterested in our affairs. This is not the picture the Bible paints of Who the One True God Who is love in character, nature and ways.

The God in the Bible is the God Who is full of compassion, abounding in mercy and unlimited in love. (more…)

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November 5, 2014
Christian Living / obedience / Titus

The Importance of Good Works

Titus 2:1 teaches that there is right living that goes along with true Christianity.image

One of the problems with Christians defining themselves as ‘believers’ is the disconnect that occurs with the responsibility to live ‘rightly’ as a result of right belief. This disconnect is furthered when we discuss our acceptance by God through grace by faith and not by our good works.

While true, it wasn’t that no good works occurred giving humanity the opportunity to be forgiven, Jesus Himself earned our pardon through His perfect obedience to all the will of God. Without His good works we would have none appropriated to us for us to be forgiven. (more…)

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November 3, 2014
Theology

Who is this Jesus?

2 Timothy 2:8 describes Jesus Christ a man, born into King David’s family; and God, as shown by the fact that He rose againimage from the dead.

The Trinity is wholly unique within Christianity. No other religion, not Islam, not Hinduism, not the Jehovah Witnesses, not Mormonism nor Buddhism make that claim that God Himself became and is both God and Man.

Why is this one truth so important to Christianity and so despised by Muslims, Witnesses and Mormons particularly? (more…)

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October 30, 2014
Christian Living / evangelism / obedience

What is Your Purpose?

2 Timothy 1:3 declares my only purpose in life is to please Him.image

Why was one man so productive in the work of God? He had one aim.

This shouldn’t be surprising to any of us. Many people are successful in this world for the same reason. The Olympic athlete and the billionaire business man are probably the best examples of having a singular focus combined with dogged determination to produce the desired end.

Most of us just aren’t that committed.

We are content to be weekend warriors and living comfortably. In the things of God too many are content to attend Church weekly and try to be good during the week, whatever that means. (more…)

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October 29, 2014
Christian Living / Suffering

Feeling Forsaken

Matthew 27:46 About three o’clock, Jesus shouted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”image

Have you ever felt forsaken by God? Most of us have. If so, we are in good company.

The Son of God, Himself God, somehow in the mystery of the Trinity, was also forsaken by the Father, Who is God. We accept Jesus being forsaken for we understand it was the process by which He took upon Himself all of our sins, all of the sins of humanity from and for all time, so that we could be forgiven for all time for all the evil we have ever done.

God, the perfect One, was forsaken so that the imperfect could be reconciled to the Father. If God was forsaken should we not also at least feel the same way on occasion?

TV Christianity promotes a God loves you and wants to bless you no matter what image of God but that is not the reality the Bible portrays. All of the great saints in the Bible suffered at various times. (more…)

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October 27, 2014
evangelism / Judgement / work

Getting Paid for our Work

Colossians 3:24 reminds us that it is the Lord Christ Who is going to pay you, giving you your full portion of all He owns. He isimages the one you are really working for.

Work is inherent to our existence. If a man will not work neither should he eat, at least not for free from the church doles – we have the government to take care of that!

In all seriousness, it is work that determines a man’s wealth in a free society. And wealth determines a person’s comfort and opportunities.

Work in itself is good and not evil though many have been taught otherwise. God made man then set him to work in His pristine environment that guaranteed success. It was through the rebellion that work suffered a curse and therefore became inherently more difficult by yielding thistles and thorns in addition to good crops instead of just good fruit as God designed.

The real problem with work is the propensity to define ourselves by the results of our work and to use the fruit of our work for our own pleasures and wants. (more…)

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October 13, 2014