Category: Christian

Holy Spirit Come

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-16)

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Into the Son

These are the words I read from a story about one of our presidents: “[He] talked about the absolute need to believe that with hard work and faith in God there is every reason to start each day in the Oval Office with hope.”

After I read those words I found a thought creeping into my head – when was the last time I told a client or a business associate or anyone in my day to day business world something like that?

I wrote the italicized words and left them up on my computer for a week, unfinished. Just a thought that impressed me.

In the White House, with the awesome responsibility that rests on the most influential nation in the world, a president must surely feel the import of that office and the weight of that responsibility. Relying on God must be real, immediate and present with that kind of responsibility. I can see how God’s presence and my reliance on Him would be so immediate in that kind of position.

How immediate is the presence of God in your life? Do you wake up each morning filled with faith and hope for the day ahead? I don’t. Continue reading “Holy Spirit Come” →

Relevant to What?

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I read a thought provoking article by Patrick Schatzline on the danger of the Church being “relevant”. Take this quotation from a mentor to the author:

‘Relevant means ‘connection with the subject at issue.’ If the subject at issue is the Great Commission, given by Jesus to His church, and the church is connected to that subject, then relevant is still in and will be until He returns. When the church loses the connection to that issue, then the church becomes irrelevant.

Zing! Right between the eyes! Are we so relevant to the world that we are virtually indistinguishable from it? Continue reading “Relevant to What?” →

Stereotyping and the Church

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DIverse People Holding Text Church

One thing that is a constant theme for me, something that is always just beneath the surface of my thinking, one that is continually rising to the top, is the truth that people are not stereotypes.

I am probably as guilty as anyone of stereotyping. Sometimes stereotyping is useful, but we must never forget that people are not stereotypes. Stereotyping people into groups, and stereotyping groups themselves, can be an impediment to truth and an impediment to real dialogue, effective communication and understanding. Continue reading “Stereotyping and the Church” →

Jesus Is

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Jesus st sunset

I have heard it said that Jesus never actually called Himself God. Even if the Gospels recorded those exact words in Jesus’s mouth, I believe many would find ways of discounting what He said. It was no different in Jesus’s day.

Jesus did not say, “I am God” in those exact words, but what he did say could not have been misunderstood by his audience. Jesus made many statements, but one in particular strikes me as the most significant. Before I get to that one statement, a little background is helpful. Continue reading “Jesus Is” →

Whatever We Fix Our Eyes On We Reflect

I have found myself recently caught up in the torrent, reacting and re-reacting to the various comments, news clips and videos, like waves of offensives and sieges…

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Flagstaff Mountain Flowers Philippians 4 8 by Chris Fraley jpeg

The world seems to be coming unglued! Militant, radical Muslims in Iraq are killing Christians, minority religious groups and even other Muslims. Hamas bombards Israel, and Israel responds with shelling that is killing women and children. At home, police decked out in military gear in a Missouri town are confronting an angry mob looting in the street and threatening to kill policemen.

Daily posts on Facebook and other social media demonize Barack Obama and “liberal Democrats”, or greedy corporations and capitalists, or Israelis or Hamas. The air is filled with ranting on both sides and all sides decrying every conceivable evil in the world. The cacophony seems to be reaching new heights. The many forms of social media make ranting as easy as shouting out the window to a world that is right within earshot.

I have found myself caught up in the torrent, reacting and re-reacting to the various comments, news clips and videos, like waves of offensives and sieges, until I began to realize something was happening to me…. Continue reading “Whatever We Fix Our Eyes On We Reflect” →