This month, I’ve been partaking in a challenge of getting rid of stuff. The goal is to get rid of as many things as the date number. The first day you get rid of one thing and on the second day, you part ways with two things and so on. During the month of January, it will around to 496 things all together. Not easy but so good. Getting rid of unused or otherwise unnecessary things makes room for peace…
What motivates you? Inner motivation beats outer motivation. So if you only do things because other people tell you so, your New Year resolutions won’t last. But if you really want change yourself, you have better chance to succeed. So it is in our spiritual life. It does matter what/who we are motivated by. Watchman Nee points out “Many saints cannot distinguish inspiration from emotion. Actually, these two can be defined readily. Emotion always enters from man’s outside, whereas inspiration originates…
As this year is almost over, our thoughts start to swirl around new beginnings. That’s good. But often we forget that finishing well is a skill that helps us to start well and live well. But, you see, if we don’t finish well, we can’t move on. At least, not well. And that’s what we want. We want to embrace the new with gusto. But that won’t happen if we don’t finish well. Okay, you say, how can we accomplish…
I don’t know about you but I feel I am so far behind in my Christmas preparations. I don’t even dare to tell my American friends how behind I am. It’s not the first time either. The first year I was teaching at Concordia College (at Moorhead, MN) I bought my gifts – other than from the college bookstore – at the airports on my way home. I just had been so busy with teaching and grading and everything else…
Do you wish there was more time in a day? I do. 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, especially during these last weeks of the year. Life is meant to be enjoyed, people cherished, and God worshiped. How can we accomplish that when we rush through things…
Are you craving for unity and peace? Yet you don’t know how to go about it? Especially among your own extended family or workplace? Isn’t it sometimes so hard? And don’t let me start talking about world peace or the lack of it. Or how about the unity among believers? Sigh. My response is ‘Come, Lord Jesus’ and I realize that Jesus really is the answer to unity and peace. How to go about it in our everyday life? We…
One of the blessings Jesus gave us was the direct access to God. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can be made right with God. Hence, we are welcome to draw near to God. Our sins have been and will be forgiven so we can boldly approach God. There’s nothing that can ever separate us from God but us. If we do not draw near to God, we will miss out all the good things. We can choose to stay away…
Hearing God’s voice or experiencing his presence is beyond wonderful. But there are times in all of our lives when God is silent and feels distant. It’s not fun but it does not mean that God would not love us anymore. We need to know that the promises of the Bible are valid each of us every day. Not just on those days when we can feel it but also – especially – when we feel desperate and alone. That’s…
Wednesday night I was teaching a class about how faith can help us in tough times. While I was teaching I realized how much we really miss out if we keep on making excuses for why we are not getting to know God better. God can be everything we ever need and more. Yet, we prefer to struggle on our own. Why is that? It’s our loss for sure. But, also, living that way does not prepare us to heaven…
Life is complicated, isn’t it? When you feel you’re getting hang of it, something happens and everything changes and you’re once again trying to cope. You don’t know how long you will live either. Life sure is unpredictable. When you’re young, life seems endless but the older you get, the shorter life seems to become. What to do then? How do you handle aging? Is death something that will take away all your fun or could it be something more…
