I have always wondered why people insist that Christianity is about being good. That all decent, good people are going heaven. Hence our salvation would be based on works or our behavior. But the Bible is telling us the polar opposite: You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith.This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus…
Lent is a perfect time to get an annual spiritual check-up. How is your hearing? How is your vision? How is your spiritual heart-beat? Are you doing OK? “Look! I’m standing at the door and knocking. If any hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to be with them, and will have dinner with them, and they will have dinner with me. ” (Rev. 3:20 CEB) Jesus is knocking. Can you hear him? Or is your…
Are you serving out of love? Or are you helping people because you expect a praise or a reward? Do you ask -like Jesus- “What do you want me to do?” Or is your motivation based on what you can get out of the situation/relationship? It’s time for a motivation check-up. Why do you serve? Or should I ask: Who do you serve?Don’t work to make yourself look good and try to flatter people, but act like slaves of Christ…
Even though the world around us is full of marks of death and dying we try to deny our own mortality. We like to live in La-La Land and pretend we are not aging and our life will go on forever. But the sooner we face the reality: we are dust and we will return to dust, the better we can embrace living fully. Like a parent feels compassion for their children— that’s how the LORD feels compassion for those…
“The New Testament word for repentance means changing one’s mind so that one’s views, values, goals, and ways are changed and one’s whole life is lived differently”, J.I. Packer states. “The change is radical, both inwardly and outwardly; mind and judgment, will and affections, behavior and lifestyle, motives and purposes, are all involved. Repenting means starting a new life.” Lent is a blessed time: we can slow down and actively reflect on our spiritual journey. We can chance the course…
Do you believe in the forgiveness of sins? Do you have hard time believing that you are truly forgiven? We proclaim -often without thinking- in the Apostolic Creed “I believe in the forgiveness of sins”. But do we really, really believe? Do we live in the joy of forgiveness? Because being free is what Christian living is all about. If we are still carrying the burdens ourselves, we are not truly trusting God’s grace to do its job. We have…
How do you feel about holiness? Is it something on your ‘ought to do’ list or is it something you embrace wholeheartedly? Why is it that holiness sometimes has a bad reputation? Nancy Leigh DeMoss asks us an excellent question: “Why do we make holiness out to be some austere obligation or burden to be borne, when the fact is that to be holy is to be clean, to be free from the weight and the burden of sin?” Let’s…
It is fun to see how children learn Bible stories and act them out in their play, like our son yelling “I am strong like Samson!” in the triumphant superman pose. Samson’s life story is indeed colorful but, all in all, rather sad, don’t you think? He was wasting his gifts! Lord, have mercy! Samson had everything going for him. He had godly parents and he knew he was specially chosen and gifted. But he ended up misusing his gifts…
Compassion makes life beautiful. Compassion makes life worth living. Compassion gives us a glimpse of heaven here on earth. Because God is is the epitome of compassion. If we want to be compassionate we need to become more like him. The fifth spiritual fruit discribed in Galatians 5:22 has traditionally been translated kindness (NIV/NRSV/CEB) or gentleness (KJV). The Message describes it as “a sense of compassion in the heart”. I think it is more thought-provoking than kindness or gentleness. It…
Whose side are you on? You know, there’s no middle ground. Even if we’d like it to be so. Jesus said: “Whoever isn’t with me is against me, and whoever doesn’t gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30, CEB) This verse stopped me this morning. I’m either with Jesus or I am against him. I either gather with Jesus or I scatter. No other alternatives. Jesus or no Jesus. Whose side are you on? God wants it all. God wants obedience….
