All my Bible readings today spoke about the importance of having a humble heart. The words of Jesus in Matthew 11:29 captured my attention right away: “I’m gentle and humble in heart.” We are called to be like Jesus. “Lord, how can I live this in my life? How can I be gentle and humble in heart”, I pray. I currently reading through Judges. Today’s passage happened to be about Gideon whose faith was even admired in Hebrews (11:32-34). Gideon…
Our family celebrated the birth of Christ in Lapland this year. We boarded an overnight train in rain. And the following morning we arrived to the Arctic Circle and it was all white! Snow everywhere! After a dark and rainy fall snow felt like grace! I was reminded of “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18, CEB). Right then and there I was wrapped in grace. The love of Christ controls us, because we…
Sometimes people ask me “Why should I believe in Jesus?” or “What’s so special about Jesus?” Or they ask “Do we really need Jesus?” or “Couldn’t we just be nice? Or choose whatever would suit us best?” The one thing they are all asking “Is there power in the name of Jesus?” Let’s find out! The whole concept of God is abstract until we meet Jesus. Because Jesus is God with us. What sets Jesus apart from any other teacher or…
Do you feel God is distant and not interested in you? In that case don’t trust your feelings. God is near and very interested in you. But let’s see why we could feel that way. First of all we need to know that God is not hiding. God is waiting to be found. So if we are spiritually unsatisfied it has something to do with us. Do we rush through life so stressed out and busy that we don’t have…
View the story “The Cross & Dying to Sin or What Grace Is All About” on Storify] Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it…
Today is Martin Luther’s birthday, the day after mine. That’s why I’ve always felt a deep kinship with him. I love the passionate way Martin Luther talks about God’s grace. Luther’s most famous hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” is such a good example of his unwavering faith in Christ Jesus. The hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 46. The hymn is widely and ecumenically used which brings me much joy. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark…
Do you believe that God loves you for real? Have you let that sink in your heart? Or is it only a nice, intellectual concept for you? God’s monumental love for us is a fundamental fact of Christian faith. If you don’t yet fully embrace it ask God to enable you to believe it. When you really grasp this lovely fact it opens you up to be fully human and fully alive. Because your value comes from God: you are…
God gave us different seasons. Not only in the nature but also in our lives, even in his presence in our lives. If we understand different times as seasons we are more willing to embrace them as they come. But do we need seasons? I think we do. The change of a season in our lives or in the nature wakes us up to see that time flies, that everything is not same old, same old forever. It is so…
I love the Bible. But it does condemn me pretty much on every single page. What to do then? Do I have any chance 4 eternity? Do you remember the story of the rich man who asked what he needs to do to get eternal life? Jesus lovingly told him to sell everything, give it to the poor and follow him. The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with…
Yesterday we talked about how we all need Christ because we are fallen. These two verses from the letter of Paul to the Colossians sum up the previous post pretty well: For he [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col.1: 13-14, NIV) Let’s continue to look at what living in this freedom really means to us, how…
