Christian Living / evangelism / obedience

Being less so He can become More

John 3.30 summarizes the Christian life: He must become greater; I must become less.image

John the Baptist makes simple both the process and the goal of the Christian life: Jesus must become increasingly clearer to us, in us and through us and we must become increasingly less proud, selfish and self-serving. John arrived at this conclusion because he saw himself as a servant of God.

Our occupation is the redemption of the world to God through Jesus Christ regardless of our vocation. Our vocation funds our occupation but the Christian life is simply being occupied with the work of seeing God’s kingdom come to earth as it is in heaven. (more…)

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May 21, 2015
Christian Living / Judgement

Living Burden Free

Psalm 68.19 declares, praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, Who daily bears our burdens. Godimage bears our burdens.

Does that really make any sense? No other religion other than Christianity makes such a claim.

Surely allah doesn’t bear anyone’s burdens. Most gods place burdens on humanity forcing us to get better by their impossible demands.

Our idols have the same burdensome propensity. We beat ourselves because we are not strong enough, smart enough, rich enough or pretty enough so we keep working trying to pacify that voice in our head that is never satisfied. (more…)

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May 11, 2015
heaven / Judgement

Welcome Home

Hebrews 10.17 proclaims their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.images

What if seeing God for the first time really was a welcome home party, sort of like when your parents welcome you home after having not seen you for months? What if God really did treat us like He knew nothing of our faults or failures?

How would truly believing these things transform our behavior now? Wouldn’t we begin to treat God like we do that person in our life who just loves us for who we are and cares nothing about our performance?

That is the kind of promise God makes to us; to welcome us into heaven as though we had lived a perfect life having never ever done anything wrong. (more…)

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May 6, 2015
Christian Living / obedience / Prayer

Beating Temptation

Mark 14.38 commands watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, imagebut the flesh is weak.

Watch means read the Book, understand what it says so that when you see things happening you can interpret them properly. Pray, so that the Spirit within is able to overpower the flesh without that is unwilling to obey the prescription found in the Book.

While Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for humanity’s disobedience, this was not done to give license to the children of God to disobey the commands of God. (more…)

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April 14, 2015
Christian Living / obedience

Why be Holy?

Leviticus 10.3 warns those who approach Me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I willimages be honored.

Our holiness not our happiness is what concerns God most. This is true because God is holy, that is His nature.

Is God happy? Happy is an emotion we feel based upon our circumstances. I doubt God is ever happy.

The Bible commands that we always be joyful. God promises us joy, probably because He Himself is joyful and exudes joy. Joy is a state of contentment, hopefulness and love all bundled together. It is why Paul in prison could say he was joyful and command we be joyful always. It is why God promised us joy though He promised us hard times because joy is possible in difficult circumstances unlike happiness.

Joy focuses on what we have and the relationship we have with God Who is always near regardless of where we are or what we are going through. (more…)

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April 8, 2015
Judgement / obedience

Is God Fair?

Leviticus 5:17 declares if anyone sins and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible.image

God says we are guilty of disobedience to Him, sin, even if we don’t know what He requires. For many, this seems too harsh, unfair and therefore unacceptable to them for giving their allegiance to God.

Why does God take this position, that all will be held accountable to Him for disobedience even if they didn’t know His commands? I think there are three primary reasons. (more…)

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April 2, 2015
evangelism / heaven / obedience

Loving God First

John 21.15 asks do you love me more than these?image

What are the ‘these’ God was contrasting Peter’s devotion with His love? Fish.

Its not that God was asking Peter if he loved fish more than Him but rather if he loved the fruit of working for himself more than the fruit of working for God.

Peter was hand chosen to be a fisher of men. The cost to accept this calling was to cease seeing himself as a fisher of fish. Succeeding in fishing meant a life of personal gain, good living, great reputation, worldly opportunities.

Succeeding at fishing for men would mean eternal life for some at personal sacrifice even to the point of death. Peter said he loved Jesus more so God told him to go to work building the church. (more…)

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March 31, 2015
heaven / Judgement / obedience

The Choice of Evil

Job 40.8 asks would you condemn Me to justify yourself?image

A few weeks ago the papers reported another atrocity of ISIS terrorists murdering children in the name of their god. The story I read, reported by a journalist from Great Britain, ended with his comments of disgust concerning religion and its abuse of people. Correctly, this man had a problem with religion that justifies the murder and maiming of children.

Below the surface was his disdain with the belief in god because if there is a god then he should be good and if he is good then he should stop the killing in his name. (more…)

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March 11, 2015
heaven / Judgement

What Happens When We Die?

Luke 20.38 declares He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.images

Every religion seeks to answer the question concerning what happens to humanity after we die. Why does this question plague us so?

The educational institutions from grade school through graduate school tell us there is no God. The media confirm this belief by their incessant promotion of atheism and all things antagonistic toward a God Who Created the universe and will hold His creation accountable to His will.

Yet we cant seem to shake the notion that there really is a God and someday we will see Him when we leave this life. All people from all time in all places of the globe have held this nagging question and have created various answers to it.

So why the question and what does happen when we die? (more…)

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March 6, 2015
heaven / Judgement

Judging Evil

Job 24.1 asks ‘why are times not appointed by the Almighty? Why do those who know him not see his imagesdays?’

Job wants God to judge him believing he will be found righteous. His friends are accusing him of being an evil doer which is their explanation for the tragedy that is occurring in his life.

Job argues his trouble is not a result of his wrongdoing but rather the result of some injustice being leveled against him by God. Job would like to see God hammer the evil and reward the righteous.

I think we all fall into this ‘prayer’ that God would smash those who do evil and bless those who please Him. (more…)

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February 24, 2015