Yesterday we talked about Solomon who chose wisdom over wealth and how he was richly blessed. So inspiring! But this is unfortunately not how his life ended. But before his wisdom waned his reputation as a sage was widely known. Even the queen of Sheba came to test him with hard questions and she found all the reports of Solomon’s wisdom true. What happened to Solomon? His success was too much for him. He felt entitled to break the law…
I love how God comes to us. It’s always God coming to us. Just think of what happened after Adam & Eve had eaten the apple. The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9, CEB) God is always looking for us. And when nothing else worked, he sent his only son to us. It’s always God first. Always God coming to us. Always God loving us first. Pouring out his grace enabling…
Would you like to dance in grace? Or is that too wild? Would you rather sit out? Or is that too tame? “To what will I compare this generation? It is like a child sitting in the marketplaces calling out to others, ‘We played the flute for you and you didn’t dance. We sang a funeral song and you didn’t mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ Yet the Human One came…
Getting to know God takes a lifetime. But the journey is wonderful. How to go about it? By knocking, asking, and seeking. They are ways to get to know God. How do we then knock, ask, and seek? Let’s find out. The important thing to know is that we all do fail in our pursuit of God once in a while. But the secret is persistence. When we consistently keep on knocking (entering into the presence of God), seeking (cultivating…
Are you feeling down? Is your soul singing unexpected blues? Are you weary, burned-out, at the end of your rope? Don’t worry. There are loads of fresh hope reserved just for you. You might not believe it right now. But bare with me. Do you remember how Jesus, in his sermon on the mount, calls people happy or blessed who are hopeless? Why on earth would he do that? Read it yourself: “Happy are people who are hopeless, because the…
Our pilgrimage to God is a marathon. Hence it’s not about speed but about endurance. It’s as much about taking care of our faith along the way as learning to praise God in the midst of anything and everything. Our marathon will be finished the same way it was started: By taking steps of faith in hope. We were saved in hope. If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope. Who hopes for what they already see? But…
What do you do when you doubt? What do you do when you are overwhelmed? What do you do when a disaster strikes? What do you do when the future is unclear? What do you do when God feels distant? Your response is critical for your spiritual well-being. Your response defines your future. How come? You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss. Distress that drives us to God…
People try to fill the emptiness they feel inside with so many different things without succeeding. One way to avoid feeling emptiness is to stay extremely busy and connected with the world all the time. Hence they don’t have time to ponder why they are so restless and unhappy. But if you don’t take time to sit still, you can’t really hear God. And like Augustinus has said it so well “God, you have made us for yourself, and our…
The whole world is hunting for peace, wholeness, and hope. But these things can only be found in a very unlikely place: the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. Because of the resurrection of Jesus who was crucified for our sins we can be made right with God. And when we are through faith right with God we receive peace upon peace. It’s not outwardly peace but inner peace right where we are. And when we have first peace with God,…
Don’t worry if you can’t understand the suffering of Jesus. You can still embrace Jesus. Don’t worry if you can’t figure out the mystery of faith. You can still enter the mystery of faith. Don’t worry if you can’t analyze the happenings of Good Friday. You can still trust that Jesus carried your sins on the cross. Carrying his cross by himself, he went out to a place called Skull Place (in Aramaic, Golgotha). That’s where they crucified him—and two…
