Category: Faith

What Is the Point of Faith?

God certainly has made Himself known in spectacular ways at times, but not very often. There must be a reason. The reason, I believe, lies in the importance of faith.

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MV Pacific Hope Sails to Fiji

I believe that faith has a point, though I have often wondered exactly what it is. I believe there is a reason that faith is necessary, though I have often wondered why. I think these questions are worth exploring.

“Seeing is believing” is a truism that characterizes the world that we live in. Some people are generally skeptical and not willing to believe anything (to give themselves to an idea) unless they are overwhelmingly convinced. Other people are quick to believe the things they want to believe, even in the face of evidence to the contrary. People are quirky that way.

I believe both extremes are rooted in the same soil. We naturally want to control our own destinies. Skepticism is one way we hang on to that control. Believing in something we want to believe is just another way of clinging to the control of our own destiny (gullibility and naiveté aside).

Continue reading “What Is the Point of Faith?” →

Why My Hope Is In You

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Harrison Wright Falls at Ricketts Glen State Park by Chris Fraley
Harrison Wright Falls at Ricketts Glen State Park by Chris Fraley

The ephemeral existence of man is a theme to which I keep returning these days. From our general perspective, a lifetime seems to go on forever, though that perspective changes over the years.

When I was young, summer days and blue skies seemed to go on forever. Summers seemed to be endless. I could not wait to be older. Old age was a very distant horizon.

As we get older, the pace of life quickens. We fill up our days to overflowing with busyness and activities. We are constant thinking, planning, worrying, distracted, looking forward, stewing over the past, attending to the needs of spouses and children and clients and customers and neighbors and co-workers and … we hardly notice how time passes. Continue reading “Why My Hope Is In You” →

Revisiting Life and Death: The Gospel from Beginning to End

We can have every choice (but eternal life) without God, or we can let go of every other choice to choose God (and gain eternal life).

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Chris Frayley On Rock at River Bend

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

These familiar phrases from 1 Corinthians. 15:55 (quoting Hosea 13:14) jumped out at me as I read them again. Of course, I know that God has swallowed up death in victory through the resurrection of Jesus Christ! But, what does that really mean for us?

This statement is the tip of the iceberg, and it occurs to me that we cannot understand without remembering and contemplating “how we got here”. Therefore, we must go back to the beginning. Continue reading “Revisiting Life and Death: The Gospel from Beginning to End” →

Church. What’s The Point?

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The point of the Church is important to understand. We often get it wrong. This blog is a good reminder that the Church does not exist for what the individual members can get out of it, though we often see it that way, especially in a consumer society. The Church is vital to the individual members to be sure! If we allow ourselves to be cut off from the Church, we are cut off from the branches of the vine, which is Christ! As vital as the Church is for each of us, we are vital to the Church and should be bearing the kind of fruit that grows from a Church connected to the vine which is Christ.

My Redeemer Lives

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lightstock_110704_xsmall_user_7997290 - Copy

 

“I know that my redeemer [i]lives.”[ii]

Do you know who said this? You might be surprised if you don’t know. It wasn’t the person who wrote the song.

This statement is a triumphal statement of faith. We sing it as a joyful pronouncement of gratitude and proclamation of our confidence in God. These words convey hope. They are a reflection of overcoming faith, but there is much more to the story. Continue reading “My Redeemer Lives” →