Often we have big why questions when horrible things happen. But that question does not help us to deal with disasters. Because we can’t understand why certain things happen. Some of the evil things are caused by humans, directly or indirectly. But there are a lot of mysterious, inexplicable suffering in the world too. Whatever the cause of the current suffering is, taking it all in is taxing. Then it’s just time to lean on God, trust Him for seeing…
Sometimes you hear people saying there’s no way of knowing that we really need Jesus for eternal life. They don’t believe that whoever has Jesus has life because it does not make sense to them. But to me, it does not make sense to refuse Jesus. If you’re one of these people or know someone who could benefit from knowing the answer to this dilemma, may I suggest reading a few verses from the first letter of John? According to John,…
What does Amen mean? Is it just a way to end a prayer or does it mean something more? Amen means ‘so be it’ or ‘truly’ and it is very appropriate to end one’s prayer with an Amen. But it can also be said after a statement that is true. Very often you hear people shout Amen when they agree with the speaker. It’s like stating ‘Amen to that’ or I agree with that. However, we should never say Amen…
Christmas is not a day for Santa to bring gifts to well-behaved kids. It’s a day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Actually, the birth of Jesus has such a huge impact on our lives that we celebrate it for 12 days. So, Happy Second Day of Christmas, all! Jesus is better than Santa in so many ways. For the starters, Christmas without Christ is just a big mess. Not something we want to celebrate for days for sure. But…
Are you ready for Christmas? Or are you secretly hoping for an extra week? Thankfully, Christmas does not depend on our mindset or feelings or how perfectly prepared we are. The journey to Christmas joy starts slowly and it is more than okay to come as you are. No preparations needed. Just come and meet Jesus. You can walk to the stable at your own pace. There are no requirements. You can come empty-handed and heavy-hearted. Yet you don’t ever…
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…
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…
Sometimes we overlook things that we are familiar with. We are more excited about things that seem to be exotic. Like Christianity might feel boring to you if you’ve grown up with it. You look into mindfulness to look for peace and you forget that the prince of peace is Jesus himself. You forget that he gave his all that we could have all. That’s the best bargain of all. You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich…
Today it has been exactly 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg church. He did not know his actions would change history but they did. Luther just wanted to remind people of what faith was all about and what it was not. He wanted to get people back to the basics: we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Luther nailed it. There’s still nothing else that saves us. The power…
Our God is so awesome. We are so blessed because our God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We can count on him to do what he has promised to do. God is faithful in all he does. Did you hear that? God is faithful in all he does, the Bible tells us so. For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. (Ps. 33:4, NIV) The Lord is trustworthy in all he…
