Over the weekend some of the quotes I tweeted got very enthusiastic responses from the tweeting community. I realized they have a common theme and thought I’d explore this a bit further. Especially when my daily Bible reading seemed to answer the yearnings of these quotes. “Life is too short not to spend it doing what God wants us to do.” (Jack Hyles) Life seems to fly by. The biggest threat seems to be that we don’t get anything done…
All children of God are called to bear spiritual fruit, to cultivate a spiritual crop. What this means for each of us is a little different. We’ve been gifted and wired special and peculiar ways. God has created us unique and also our callings will be unique. Hence we are not to compare ourselves with each other. We are to do the creative best we can with our own life and help others along the way. The main goal for…
God is calling us to a radical life-change. Are you ready? Because “God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.” (Romans 2:4, MSG) We are called to be followers of Jesus Christ. Not just fans that keep on doing whatever they wish. Where are you in your walk? Are you a fan of Jesus or are you ready to really follow whatever the cost? This…
The demands of everyday life are great. Sometimes I do wonder how we all manage to get by with all the things we are asked to do. Juggling seems to be the style of living for many of us. Yet life is meant to be enjoyed, people cherished, and God worshiped. We all want peace, love, and harmony. How do we get there? The trick here is to do something the world despises: put ourselves last. But by putting God…
What can we learn from the temptations of Jesus? Or are they inapplicable in today’s world? But it is not just about big temptations, it’s about our daily choices. It’s about putting God first in everything. My thoughts on Matthew 4: 1-11 were inspired by Eugene H. Peterson’s sermon notes found in Conversations – the Message with its translator. The core of the temptations is to put something else first in our lives and God second. The things can be…
One of the important decisions in life is to choose how we frame our life. Because our focus leads us to choose the elements that will define and refine us. Do we frame the troubles and disastrous elements of our lives? Or do we frame the grace of God and joys of the Lord? The choice is ours. Do we want the troubles and hardships to define us? Or do we let God define us? Living in grace does not…
Are you a friend of grace or a stranger to grace? I don’t know anything more liberating, more exhilarating and more exuberant than God’s abundant grace. In grace the whole salvation story comes together and starts to bloom. Grace is so wonderful, amazing, powerful, wild but gentle that it tames me over and over again. It embraces me and woes me for God time after time. It surprises me, it encourages me, it corrects me, it renews me, it treats…
Don’t let the fear of religious rituals keep you away from experiencing the blessings of Lent! The fear is needed to keep us on toes when it comes to practicing piety. There are great dangers in empty religious rituals. Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. (Matthew 6:1, MSG) But the solution is…
The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. (Psalm 145:17,KJV) God is holy. What does it mean? Holy in Hebrew, qadosh, literally means “to be set apart”. So God is something else! God is distinct from anything and everything. God is totally different from us. God is holy! “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth,…
Most people want joy, peace and harmony in their lives. Too often people look for them at wrong places. Very often they get exactly the opposite what they were looking for. Because the only way to get joy, peace, and harmony in our lives is through Jesus. Why? Because we have all messed up our lives so badly. We need Jesus in order to be set right (reconciled if you will) with God again. Once we open our hearts and…
