'Christian Living' Tagged Posts (Page 7)
On Your Knees: Missions Work Thousands of Miles Away
A man once spent twenty minutes and twenty seconds of his life one day looking at two different emails. The first email was from a local store that shared all of its weekly deals. He studied it in detail, not only hoping to find a great offer, but also to see what was new in the world of technology. He took 20 minutes to do this, although he thought often throughout the rest of the day about what he discovered. The…
Reclaiming Your Eyes from Pornography
I used to watch my dad brand cattle. I still remember the awful smell. The bovines would wail at the momentary pain, and the smoke from singed hair and burnt cowhide would rise into the afternoon sun. One by one the cattle would file through to receive the mark of our farm. Once branded, the cattle bore our mark forever. We owned them, and they had the scar to prove it. Sin is a like a brand, etched in our…
Ready to Rejoice; Ready to Mourn
If you are having a great day today, someone else is living in new or continuing tragedy. If you can do nothing but cry, someone else cannot stop laughing. If you are experiencing freedom, someone else is enslaved. If your marriage is in shambles, someone else is enjoying the wife of their youth. If you are in a season of triumph, someone else is suffering another defeat. If you are beaten down, someone else is lifted up. And because this…
Reminding Me
I haven’t always liked “reminders.” Inherently, a reminder occurs because we forgot the first time—or the last 10 times—what we were told. Nobody likes to think he is so incapable of remembering. More than once as a boy who loved to daydream, my parents would send me upstairs to the bathroom to wash my hands for supper, yet I would brush my teeth instead. At other times they would find me several minutes later staring at the mirror making faces…
Frustration, Dadgumit
“Dadgumit,” my dad used to say. I have no idea what it meant, except that it was an indicator of frustration over something not working right. “Dingbusted” might also be heard. My father didn’t curse, but these might well be white-washed substitutes. We all know what frustration feels like. Something is just not working right, or is at least not going according to our plan. Some turn of events makes life more complicated than bargained for, or takes away something more…
The Year Beginning Now — Making Plans?
You may have reason to fear the year now upon us. What is on the other side of the door? Every person has their allotment of trouble, even among believers. Will there be loss, illness, death, aggravation, perplexity? Will those you love come to distrust you? Will you sin badly, ruining your reputation? Will there be economic trials and anxiety over money? Will you lose your job, or worse, your mind? Will you be hurt deeply? Will you be in…
From Fear to Trust
When I first heard the account of George Muller’s life a few years ago, I was intrigued and frightened. By faith and through prayer Muller declared to a watching world and thousands of orphan children how God could provide for his own. Muller did not take a salary or ask for money to feed the orphans in his care, but trusted God to provide all their needs through prayer. My intrigue with Muller’s life of trust was compounded when I…
Teaching the Bible Well Even if You Only Have 5 Minutes to Speak
My church meets in multiple “home congregations” throughout Kansas City. Most weeks in our church gatherings, we have an “open sharing time.” During this portion of our meeting, people are free to communicate with the group in various ways, such as by sharing a testimony, telling about an evangelistic experience they recently had, confessing sin, and asking for prayer. During this time, the men of the church are free to teach something briefly from Scripture (usually for 5 to 10…
My Preferred Way to Read the Bible
It’s presumptuous for a man to suggest that he knows the best method for everyone to read the Bible. But I’m going to tell you the way that I best read the Bible . . . and why it works so well for me. I’ve been a Bible reader for many years and the plans I’ve followed are certainly varied. At times I’ve read the Bible through every seven weeks. I believe I even read it in a month a…
Christian Brothers Taking Care of Us
The “innards” are being redone. We had a problem in our home with a fireplace. The repair costs close to the same price as the purchase of a new direct gas unit, so we opted for that, and planned to do some of the work to save money. It was also time to check our furnace for the year, something we don’t do that often but seemed right at this time due to some “issues.” The furnace check revealed that…
MEDITATION
By meditating on Scripture you are transformed into the person God intends you to be. Meditation is a blend of your words to God and His Word to you; it is loving conversation between you and God through the pages of His Word. It is absorption of His words into your mind by prayerful contemplation and concentration.
Christ’s Nazarite
John was filled with the Spirit in the womb, and would drink no wine (Luke 2:15), a Nazirite vow. Shadows of this Nazirite vow show up in Ephesians 5:18, “And do not be drunk with wine…but be filled with the Spirit.” In essence Paul is saying: Don’t be overcome w wine so you can be overcome with the Spirit. To be “filled” with the Spirit is like a man who is filled with rage or filled with ambition. It means…
REPENTING EARLY
David’s tryst with Bathsheba illustrates how one sin brings another. A look led to lust; lust in the heart led to adultery; adultery led to an attempt to cover up by David calling her husband in from battle so he might lie with her. That failing, David sets his faithful servant Uriah up for death on the battle field–murder! Then follows months of agony & guilt (Ps 51) until finally David crumbles in repentance before Nathan. For believers, the chain…
SO THEY PERSECUTED THE PROPHETS BEFORE YOU
Speak to them, whether they listen or not, “Thus says the Lord God”(Ez 3). We shouldn’t be so arrogant as to think we’re prophets like Ezekiel, hearing direct words from God. Rather, we humbly speak what the prophets spoke. We sometimes succeed, yet they preached with the knowledge that almost all would not obey. So, don’t despair when you meet up with insults and resistance to words God first gave through His writing prophets.” In the same way they persecuted…
FORGETTING LABELS
I hope it’s a sign of becoming more heavenly-minded to find myself uninterested in labels among true believers any more. When we’re the next world, what possible difference could they make? What good are they now, except to create division, end conversation, and promote loyalties that may diffuse our true loyalty to Christ alone? I don’t mean Bible TRUTHS are unimportant, or that they shouldn’t be talked out passionately—just that it seems more consistent to be Bible Christians than system…
Are You Poor in Spirit?
Are you poor in spirit, mourning over sin everywhere you find it, gentle and approachable in your relationships, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful to others, pure and unmixed in your devotion to Christ? Are you a peacemaker? Are you sometimes persecuted in subtle or even striking ways for your distinctiveness as you live out life from a changed heart? If not, you should have no assurance that the kingdom of heaven is yours, that you will receive comfort from God…