When someone says, “I love you,” is it fair to assume that they are simultaneously saying, “You can trust me”? I mean, isn’t love just that – a show of trustworthiness? Isn’t that also how our own love for others develops over time? Love in the absence of trust seems incomplete somehow. Is it fair […]
God Teaches Us Trust Read More »
Is there a greater blessing than to love and be loved? I mean, to really know it deep down inside, both intellectually and emotionally, is so very precious that wars have been fought over it. I’d argue that all battles are fought for love; maybe it’s love for another, land, money, power, or whatever else
The Battle for Love Read More »
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. — Luke 16:17 Faith and hope are intertwined: if the object of our faith is fallible, then so is our hope. If it is perfect, then we have a transcendent hope of things to
Scripture Cannot Be Broken Read More »
Whenever I preach a sermon that includes the account of James’ and John’s mother asking Jesus for preferential treatment of her sons, I chuckle, as does the congregation. It’s a ‘roll your eyes’ type scenario, where a mother’s partiality is on full display and her children are completely onboard. It makes me think about how
Unrighteous Indignation Read More »
Over time, I’ve learned to really enjoy the Gospel of Mark. I think it’s because it was written to Gentiles, which gives us contemporary Gentiles a perspective that seems more “natural,” for lack of a better word. The Gospel of Matthew was written to the Jews, implying a different bent. In fact, one of the challenges with Matthew’s
Unlike the blissful ease during unchallenged living, times of pressure have a habit of forcing you to ponder your faith. Even as a well-intentioned believer in Christ, you may not fully understand the extent of it. When faith is tested, fear erupts from within you, always. What is the nature of this fear? That is
Whom Do You Turn To for Love Read More »
Please don your philosophical cap for a moment while I dissect the concept of obedience with you. First, let me begin with a fair enough definition: Obedience, in human behavior, is a form of “social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure”. Obedience is generally distinguished from
The Apostle Paul spent a lot of time in jail. Why didn’t he conspire to break out? Why didn’t others in the faith trounce the jailers and set him free? While you ponder that, let me remind you that Paul wrote the following books in the New Testament while imprisoned: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Whoa! Paul wrote
What Is This Freedom You Speak Of? Read More »
The question on the table is this, “What, exactly, is authority orientation?” The term “authority orientation” is a theological one used to describe a person’s willingness to orient to God-ordained authority. Can this type of orientation be perverted, where a person claims it’s one way but the truth, in God’s eyes, is another? Of course, hence the
What, Exactly, Is Authority-Orientation? Read More »
I was reading my Bible this morning and was struck by something I already knew to be true. Has that ever happened to you? I mean, have you ever relearned or rediscovered a fact that jolted you? It happened to me while I was reading the Gospel of Matthew, chapter twenty-six, beginning with, “You know that
When God’s Will Doesn’t “Fit” Our Expectations Read More »