We Get a Glimpse into the Spiritual Realm Through Scripture We live in a physical realm. In our physical world, we experience it with our senses. We see things, touch things, and hear, taste, and smell things. Through our senses, we experience our physical reality. However, there’s also a spiritual aspect of our existence, which […]
In my newsletter a four years ago, I recommended we periodically check our credit reports. This is a wise move in order to correct reporting errors and catch possible identity theft. Other finance-related initiatives include making an annual budget, having life insurance, establishing an emergency fund, and planning for the future. On the health front […]
I don’t like the label “Christian,” even though I am one. The Christian label is a loaded term. It means many things to different people. To some, Christian implies narrow-minded. To others, Christian means hateful. Still others think Christian refers to a political party or secular movement. And what about mean, militant, murdering, manipulative, and […]
We Discover Parallels Between Deuteronomy and Jesus’s Death The book of Deuteronomy, which most people skip and the rest of us skim, does contain interesting passages for us to consider. In one short section, God addresses capital punishment. Though the idea of executing people for their offenses may offend our sensibilities, don’t dismiss this passage. […]
God Calls Us to a Faith That Produces Fruit Two reoccurring themes in the Bible are the ideas of being faithful and being fruitful. We are to be faithful and fruitful. The word faithful occurs over two hundred times in the Bible and shows up in most of its books (41). The word fruitful occurs […]
How to Inherit Eternal Life There are many things Jesus didn’t tell us to do to inherit eternal life or become saved. He didn’t say: He didn’t give Four Spiritual Laws, share The Roman’s Road, or recite the ABC’s of Salvation. His answer was easy. His most basic instruction was “follow me.” Then he wants […]
There’s Nothing We Need to Do to Earn God’s Love In the book of Deuteronomy, a book of the Bible that most people skip, God explains his relationship to his people. He starts by saying that he didn’t choose them because of their numbers or greatness as a nation. In fact, they started out as […]
When It Comes Time to Change Churches, Attitude Is Everything Last week we talked about when not to change churches, instead of looking to find a new church. Too often people treat their church as a commodity and behave as a consumer, switching their loyalty over trivial things. Most of the time, however, the best […]
Ecumenical Is a Word Some May Be Unfamiliar With One definition of ecumenical means “relating to the worldwide Christian church.” A broader understanding is “establishing and promoting unity among religions.” More generically, ecumenical simply means “worldwide; universal.” In simple terms, I understand ecumenical to mean unifying. So that means ecumenical guidelines are advice to unify us. […]
When We Go Church Shopping We Behave as Consumers and Don’t Honor God In today’s practice of retail religion, we pursue faith has a consumer and miss the purpose of church. We’re quick to change churches over the smallest of issues. Yet, usually the best action to take is no action: Don’t change churches. Often […]