The world news are very upsetting, don’t you agree? Every week we read about some horrific news. It makes us homesick to God. We long for a place where righteousness is at home, where we can all be at peace. Blessedly, heaven is such a place and we are all invited. Even the price has already been paid by Jesus. Hence anyone who believes in Jesus is more than welcome there. Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow,…
Are you trained in greed or a creed? One alphabet makes a big difference, doesn’t it? The difference is as big as between day and night or life and death. How do you live your life? Are you becoming an expert in greed or are you training yourself in God’s ways? What are you teaching your children? Greed or a creed? They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! (2 Peter 2:14b, NRSV) This verse got my attention this morning….
Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? I have made one New Year’s resolution. It’s always the same. No matter what others do. No matter what’s going on in the world. No matter what’s going on in my life. It’s always the same. It’s resolution for life. But me? I will hope. Always. I will add to all your praise. (Psalm 71:14, CEB) I will not give up hope in Jesus. No matter what others do. I will hope continually….
Are you ready to say goodbye to the old and hello to the New Year? There’s two Bible verses to help us deal with the change. The first one is very familiar and the second one little less so. But they help us to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new into our lives. First of all, we all mess up. No matter how hard we try we don’t quite succeed. The trick here is not to…
The second day of Christmas is a national holiday in Finland and many other European countries. This day is a great day to reflect what Christmas means in our everyday life. Do we have a stable influence of Christmas in our lives? It was great to celebrate baby Jesus and welcome him to the world. But what does it mean to us that Jesus was born 2000 years ago? It is time to put Christmas into practice! It is time…
Are you trying to leave your problems in the past? I have a better idea. Do you know why? Your history is part of you, there’s no way you can leave your past behind you. But don’t despair. I really do have a better idea. Something that works time after time. Namely facing your problems, sins, any kind of emotional wounds with Jesus. With the words of Francis Frangipane “For the past cannot be forgotten, it can only be forgiven…
Preparation is a big part of any celebration. The bigger the celebration, the larger-scale preparations are needed. As human beings we need time to get ready. But also God carefully prepared the creation of the world and the way of salvation long before they happened: In the beginning God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1, AMP,*) How wonderful to know that God took time to prepare everything in the world, including you and me….
One of the great things about the Bible is that people are mentioned by their names. There are lists after lists telling us the names of the people involved. What does that have to do with you? Everything. Just like the people gone before us, also you are special. God knows you by name. God knows all of us by name. We are not just numbers. We are persons with names and each of us have a different life story….
Are you painfully conscious of your need of those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported, and strengthened? Do you know what those things are? How do you get your soul refreshed, supported, and strengthened anyhow? If we hurry and go after all the bling-bling in the world, we will miss it. But if we take time to listen, we find our way to the well. God has been calling us to the fresh waters long, long time. Already…
It’s getting dark very early these days. Even the days seem gloomy. We yearn to have more light. We try to get rid of darkness by putting up Christmas lights. But no amount of Christmas lighting can take away darkness of our lives. Only God can do that. Psalm 36 verse 9 has been giving me comfort and perspective as it gets darker and darker around us: For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see….
