Jesus Wants Us to Fully Forgive Others So That We May be Fully Forgiven In asking the simple question, “Is God’s forgiveness conditional?” the answer seems obvious: “No! God’s forgiveness is unconditional.” I was taught that if I followed Jesus, he would forgive me. It was a fact. Forgiveness was unconditional. It made sense, and […]
We Need to Order Our Priorities With Intention and Do What Matters Most Whether we realize it or not, we form priorities to order our lives. For most of my adult existence my number one priority has been God. Though I held this out as my ideal, sometimes, perhaps too often, my actions didn’t live […]
Making Travel Connections You may recall that air travel is low on my “things-I-like-to-do” list. I view flying as something to be endured. As such, while my body is flying, my mind goes to my “happy place”—whatever that means. Therefore, I can miss opportunities around me. But sometimes I come out of my self-imposed cocoon […]
We are to go out and preach repentance under the power of the Holy Spirit After Jesus calls his disciples, he trains them and then sends them into the world. He gives them five simple instructions: Go Out To be effective Jesus’s disciples can’t hang out with each other. They need to go out into […]
While traveling for work, on a Sunday morning I needed to leave for my convention by 7 a.m. To my dismay, the hotel’s kitchen didn’t open until 7. The front desk had no alternative options for my morning meal. I recalled a McDonald’s a few blocks away. So at 6:45 I set off on a […]
A Grand Adventure Awaits Us but Only If We Leave What We Have Behind The first chapter of Mark talks about Jesus calling his disciples. As he walks along the shore, he comes across two brothers fishing. Jesus says, “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people” (Mark 1:16-18, NIV). […]
We can learn to pray by following Jesus’s example, as long as we don’t misapply it When it comes to praying, there is no better teacher than Jesus. Perhaps that’s why many of his followers memorize the prayer he taught his disciples and why many churches include this prayer in their church services. We commonly […]
I used to be fixated with knowing what time it was. You might say I was slave to the clock. I was compulsive about checking my wristwatch and the more concerned I became about time, the more often I looked. I think it was the dark side of time-management. As I planned my daily activities, […]
God Will Shine So Brightly that We Won’t Need the Sun to See As the epic battle in Revelation continues, just before Babylon—the symbol of all that’s evil—is about to receive her final punishment, an angel comes from heaven. John writes that this angel has great authority, and his splendor illuminates the earth (Revelation 18:1). […]
Through Jesus We Can Discover Our Response to Violence and Oppression Seldom a day goes by when we don’t hear of terrorists who commit violence and murder in the name of their faith. These religious zealots believe a higher calling gives them the right to kill others in order to elevate their beliefs. This seems […]