Summer is here and everyone is supposed to chill out and enjoy life. But maybe you are not feeling it. Maybe something weighs you down. Life is confusing and complicated for sure. But I want to make sure you’re not burdened down with guilt or shame or sin. Because there is grace to free you from it all. Maybe you know this in theory but you haven’t really embraced it. Or maybe you have misunderstood it. The Gospel is not…
As the Coronavirus is spreading like crazy, many are getting anxious. I think it is wise to wash your hands and do everything you can to prevent the disease as much as possible. But our life or death are not in our own hands. Hence it’s time to start fretting less by trusting God more. Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling…
Don’t you just love those days when you feel light-hearted and happy? Seize those days. Enjoy them and don’t worry then about darker days. When life is easy, give thanks. And when life sometimes shows darker shades, do not despair. As Christians, we know how to handle them. Our God is bigger than our burdens and nothing is strange to him. We can trust and lean on him on our good days and our bad days, until the end of…
Pain is inevitable in life. There’s just no way around it. So we have to deal with it. How do you do it? What’s your coping mechanism? Some people become bitter when life throws a hardball at them. That is one way to go. But there’s another option, a much better one. I highly recommend it: cast your pain on Jesus. This is why he came into the world: to save us and carry our burdens. Cast your burden on the Lord [release…
All we really do have is today. But that’s really all we need to live well. We don’t know about tomorrow and yesterday is gone. But today is a present for us and we are called to use it as well as we can. If we do so, if we are able to embrace all God has for us today, we are ready for tomorrow, no matter what it brings. Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day…
Do you (sometimes) feel inadequate? Do you wish you could have managed things differently? Do you struggle with your shortcomings? Do you start your sentences with “if only…if only…if only”? We desire to be but we are not perfect. We fail. We are weak. Most often we can somehow deal with our inadequacies and shortcomings when they don’t affect our loved ones. But when we feel that we have failed as parents or spouses or children it is incredibly hard….
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Yes, alleluia! But what does it mean, right? What does it mean to you when you are struggling to make ends meet? What does it mean to you who is just beginning to understand God’s love for you? What does it mean when God seems to be silent? What does it mean here and now? What does it really mean? The first step into resurrection living is to let Jesus carry your burdens….
Oswald Chambers talks about self-consciousness versus Christ-consciousness in his book “My Utmost for His Highest” published in 1935. Nothing could be more relevant for today’s Christian navigating his/her way in today’s world. As we struggle to thrive in the midst of all the demands of our lives the only compass that we can trust to get us through everything is Jesus Christ. When we stress out we are self-centered, self-conscious. When we bring our worries to Jesus our burdens are…
