Persistently people assume you need to do something bad in order to end up in hell. They are very surprised when I tell them “all that’s already taken care of”; they don’t need to do anything and they will end up in hell. Yes, humankind lost its innocence back in the garden of Eden: 1The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not…
“Remove Christ from the Scriptures and there is nothing left”, states Martin Luther. That is so true. Without Christ there would not be a way back to God. Without Christ there would not be life and more life to come. Without Christ we would be lost. That’s why I agree wholeheartedly with Paul writing: For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified…
What is the name of the ruler of your heart? Shame? Fame? Game? Or a significant other? Sometimes shame keeps us from coming to Christ with the mess we’ve made. We think we are not worthy of God. So we keep away from Christian gatherings and God himself. But here’s the news flash: no one is worthy of grace! Just listen to Jesus: “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit.”…
Have you met some extra radiant people who just glow and shine God’s love and grace? Have you wondered and marveled the way Moses glowed when he came down from Mount Sinai after spending 40 days and 40 nights with God? When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, he didn’t know that the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking with God. Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, saw…
Are you flirting with the world? Are you cheating on God? Sounds like the questions are getting even tougher today. But this is not just about motivation any more. First unthinkable becomes thinkable, then suddenly it’s doable. Slowly worldly things creep up on us. Are you all for God? Or do you still play the field? Do you suppose God doesn’t care? This is a spiritual form of adultery we are talking about here! You wouldn’t think of just asking…
Do you know Jesus? Or do you just pretend to know him? Or do you know about him but not him? Those are two utterly different things. Because if we rationalize faith we start doubting. But if we enter into the presence of God and get to know him we are filled with joyful awe and peaceful certainty. Do you hang around Jesus because you want to be blessed? Or because you want to personally know him and love him?…
Yesterday we talked about being saved by grace through faith. I felt a couple of things needed some clarification: 1) It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t save ourselves. God does. All we do is trust him to let him do it. But God does not force salvation upon us, either. He respects us that much. Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and…
The amazing message of Christianity is that God has prepared a way in Jesus for all the people to be made right with him. There’s nothing we can do to earn salvation or anything we can do to put us out of reach of God’s grace. But we are to accept the gift of grace in order to be saved. Faith receives and embraces grace. Unbelief sends the gift right back to the Giver. Our choice. Our decision. Our…
After years of theoretical preparation for Christian faith formation I have found extremely delightful to experience child rearing myself. To witness firsthand how a child forms his or her world view is a marvelous blessing itself. But I also feel that just seeing how a child constructs his or her view of God has really made all the knowledge come together. More than before I treasure how a child finds trust in God and how he or she collects information…
Often people think that they’d get more out of life if their goal was simply to satisfy all their needs and wants. But the opposite is true! It might first look like that people who pile up most material goods win. But that’s little short-sighted. When you grab all you can get, that’s what happens: the more you get, the less you are. (Proverbs 1: 19, MSG) Isn’t that the saddest thing? People who want to “create themselves” by buying…
