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11/30/2023 0 Comments

Taking Blows

Fragile. Thin-skinned. Does it increasingly seem that we live in an age when many Christians cannot take criticism or rebuke of any sort without getting defensive and angry? Try confronting a believer over sin and see how that goes. Observe someone’s attitude or comment on questionable conduct, and be prepared to be attacked or shunned. Myles Munroe wrote in Waiting and Dating, “Being open to correction means making ourselves vulnerable, and many people are not willing to do that.”

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11/20/2023 1 Comment

Karma

Brita angrily kicked the wandering Cocker Spaniel, who dared to enter her front yard. Her neighbor, Betty, viewed the mean action with disgust. Two weeks later, when Brita broke her leg after slipping off her front porch, Betty noted to her husband with some satisfaction, “That’s karma. She’s getting what she deserved.”

Karma is a Hindu concept that views one’s actions as bringing upon themselves good or bad results either in their present life or in a reincarnation. It is a cosmic reward or punishment principle based on a person’s deeds. In The Logic of God, Ravi Zacharias explained, “Hinduism has two nonnegotiable beliefs: karma and reincarnation. No Hindu will trade these away.”

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11/17/2023 2 Comments

Blind Faith

Johnny* bought a car, a really nice new shiny red car. His wife counseled him not to make the purchase. His financial advisor warned him it could put him in unsustainable debt. But Johnny didn’t care to listen. This car was going to make up for all the “beater,” used, ordinary cars he was tired of driving. It would let everyone know he was doing well—after all he served the King and those who serve the King deserve the best. Right?!

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11/9/2023 0 Comments

If

Oswald Chambers made an interesting observation in My Utmost For His Highest, after musing upon John 14:15, “If ye love Me, ye will keep my commandments.” (RSV):
"Our Lord never insists upon obedience; He tells us very emphatically what we ought to do, but He never takes means to make us do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an IF—you do not need to unless you like."

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10/28/2023 4 Comments

A Wonderful Aroma

Meditation
2 Corinthians 2:14-16—But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. And who is competent for this?

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10/20/2023 0 Comments

When It Isn't Easy to Please

Have you ever run across someone who gets under your skin? In other words, whether it is their tone, comments, or behavior, something about them is irritating, and that irascibility is continuous and annoying. I met such a person playing pickleball. In this case, an older man seems to feel that he needs to tutor everyone else on the court even though his skills are inferior. He makes snarky comments, and I don’t like it. It gets to the point where when he signs up to play, others stay away because they don’t enjoy playing with him. Unfortunately, he does not seem to take hints or suggestions. He is fixed in his mannerisms and perhaps does not care what others think. So, I have to admit I was not thrilled when I read Romans 15:1,2 this morning.

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10/10/2023 0 Comments

Pressure is a Privilege

The guest speaker on Sunday said, “Pressure is a privilege.” That got my attention. What?! Is pressure really a privilege? Pressure causes stress. Stress can be debilitating both physically and mentally. Pressure is synonymous with anxiety, burden, and difficulty—three words hardly appealing. So, how in the world is pressure a privilege?

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9/30/2023 1 Comment

How Could I Hinder God?

There may come a time when God asks you to do something that takes you out of your comfort zone and violates your religious beliefs. For example, what if you are a pro-life conservative, and God calls you to minister to abortion advocates? Or, perhaps you are a pacifist and democrat, and God leads you to present the gospel to Marines, a group trained and willing to take lives. What will you do? How will you explain to all your friends or those like-minded believers you fellowship with about your actions?

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9/25/2023 0 Comments

Every Generation

God has left the planet. The world is a mess. He does not care about His people or humanity any longer. Have you ever had those thoughts? That is why it is so important to study Scripture.

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9/16/2023 1 Comment

No Love for His Brother

Meditation
Luke 15:28-30—"Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’”

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9/9/2023 1 Comment

Bent Over

Meditation
Luke 13:10—11--As He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for over 18 years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

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8/30/2023 0 Comments

A New Language

When God first created mankind, they spoke the same language. But when the earth’s inhabitants used the advantage of a common tongue to manifest their own good and to make a name for themselves, it was an act of rebellion that God did not approve, so he scrambled and confused their speech so they could not understand each other (Genesis 11:4-9). From then until now, communicating with people worldwide has been challenging.

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8/23/2023 0 Comments

Ability

Susana got up in front of everyone at the funeral and shared that she was sure she would be in heaven because she was a good person. Her expression is a classic belief held by countless people that because of their capacity for good, God cannot but let them into His place of dwelling.

Joe struggles with life. He feels he is not very good at anything and questions his value to God even though he has a strong relationship with Jesus. Because his abilities are limited, his self-esteem is relatively low. He weakly understands how valuable he is in God’s sight.

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8/13/2023 0 Comments

The Warrior is a Child

Dad sits at the small kitchen table with his Marine ball cap covering his scattered gray hair. His brow is furrowed, and his piercing blue eyes appear deep in thought. Slowly he adds words to a journal that increasingly makes little sense. I asked what he was writing, and he shared that he was composing thoughts on how God likes eggs cooked. I had just asked him how he wanted his eggs that morning; that thought was fixed in his mind.

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8/2/2023 0 Comments

Thinking of You

When there is a death in the family, it is so encouraging to see people rally around and step up to provide support and comfort through meals, cards, flowers, phone calls, and just being present to listen, console, and encourage. The sting of death is not erased; the pain is real and sometimes overwhelming, but a caring community can and does make a difference.

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7/26/2023 1 Comment

Dried Up

The earth is tilting? What?
Pumping groundwater appears to have a greater consequence than ever previously thought. But now—thanks to a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters--we can see that, in less than two decades, Earth has tilted 31.5 inches as a result of pumping groundwater. This equates to .24 inches of sea level rise.[1]
I’m unsure of the science of tying the earth’s tilt to pumping groundwater, but I know God is sometimes the primary cause of disasters and climate change.

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7/16/2023 1 Comment

Phronesis

Adriano made a mistake. The Uruguayan was given $500 in pesos from his uncle to help pay for his tuition. Instead of paying the University of Montevideo, he loaned it to a friend who claimed his mother was sick and unable to pay her hospital bills. Later, Adriano found out he had lied to him and used the money to gamble. When the school bill was due, the friend couldn’t pay him back, so he had to explain to his uncle why he dropped a class.

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7/11/2023 1 Comment

Grumptitude

What is grumptitude, you ask? Essentially, it is the quality or feeling of being grumpy or unthankful. Whereas people with gratitude look for things for which to be thankful, those with grumptitude prefer to live in a prickly state of dissatisfaction. Their lousy attitude has several consequences. First, who wants to spend time with them? Their negativity makes life miserable. Second, their philosophy is built upon an underlying conviction for fault-finding or gloom globbing. If the sun is shining, it is sure to rain. If it is raining, expect a flood. If it floods, count on losing everything. If everything is lost, it’s because life is stacked against them. Do you get the picture?

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7/3/2023 1 Comment

"The Sparkle Creed"

Edina Community Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Edina, Minnesota, celebrated Pride Sunday led by their female pastor in reciting the sparkle creed whose words state:
I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural. I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads, and who saw everyone as a sibling child of God. I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.[1]
This creed is a gross perversion of theology. It represents the misguided attempts of a congregation to fit God into their inclusive agenda that will spare no expense to accommodate a world fully intent on making sexual sin something to celebrate and force upon all those who take God’s warnings seriously and strive to obey Him.

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6/19/2023 0 Comments

Using Discernment

Ann faced a challenging situation in her new supervisory role with a nonprofit company that recently hired her. One of the employees, Calista, who worked on a different team, was giving her a tough time. Calista had applied for the job Ann now held and resented that she was not chosen. She used Ann’s inexperience to belittle her on calls (shared by others in the organization) and was rude when speaking to her. Ann realized she needed Calista’s help, but she first had to figure out a way to win her over, and that did not seem easy. So she asked for prayer from her close friends and asked God for His assistance.

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