Is Tithing a Spiritual Discipline? Last Sunday I asked if going to church is a spiritual discipline. I surprised myself. As I wrote to discover the answer, my opinion shifted from “no” to “it could be.” Today I ask the same question about...
How Has God Revealed His Mystery to You? God reveals his truth to Paul. Paul calls it a mystery. God gives it to Paul so he can share it with the church in Ephesus; he’s not supposed to keep it to himself. This isn’t something Paul figures out on...
Is Going to Church a Spiritual Discipline? Two weeks ago I wrote that a spiritual discipline is something we do to draw closer to God or to honor him. To be of value we need to do this willingly with joy and in anticipation. I gave 17 possible...
Giving Birth to Jesus When I say giving birth to Jesus, I’m not talking about Mary in a Bethlehem stable, birthing our savior into this world in human form. Instead I’m referring to birthing Jesus in a spiritual sense, of giving him to others...
How Do You Affect Others? We have an effect on everyone we meet. We can touch them in a positive way and leave them better off for whatever time we spend with them, or our interactions can have a negative impact and produce the opposite results...
Don’t Be Afraid of God When the Bible instructs us to “Fear God,” it means to honor, worship, and reverence him. That’s a holy fear, not a terrifying one. We need to fear God in that way, but we need not cower in fear if we encounter him...
What Are Spiritual Disciplines? A spiritual discipline is something we do to draw us closer to God or to honor him. But if we do it out of obligation or in response to guilt, we miss the point. To be of real value a spiritual discipline is...
Jesus Rends the Veil That Separates Us From God In the Old Testament, the people perceive the temple as God’s dwelling place here on earth. Therefore, to approach God they need to go to the temple. They worship God there and no place else. The...
Why Do I Love God and Hate Theology? A simple definition of theology is studying God. Since I love God so much and love reading about him in the Bible you’d think I’d love theology, too. Right? Well I don’t. Learning about God and contemplating...
Love Is All That Matters In the Old Testament God gives hundreds of commands for his people to follow. We call this the Law or the Law of Moses (since God gives it to Moses to tell to the people). But over time the people add more rules to it...
