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…
It seems we all have something to overcome. Sometimes I feel life is about overcoming. If you try to do it on your own, you don’t have much luck. If you do it with some others, you might succeed. Like Vesta Kelly has said ‘Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together.’ But even that approach is lacking at the end. The only thing that enables us to truly…
A few days ago, I was reading an older translation of the Finnish Bible and encountered something beautiful in the last verse of Psalm 5. It declares ‘You will cover them with grace like a shield’. My heart rejoiced to know that we are covered by the shield of grace. How wonderful is that? We are safe under the shield of grace! I was so thrilled about the shield of grace that I immediately wanted to share it with you….
Here are some observations on the Apostle Paul’s spiritual growth. It was not something flashy or quick; it took a lifetime. And the end result was not something the world thinks was necessarily that great. Paul started to talk less about him and more of Christ. He became more aware of his short comings and his perpetual need of grace. His spiritual growth was not up but down. Deeper into God’s grace. This is spiritual growth, folks I’ve got three different…
I love God for many reasons but one of my favorite things is the fact that he guides me. It’s not just talking. You see, it really happens whether we realize it or not. We are not alone in this world. God is with us and he is ready to help us. The best guide in the world wants to connect the dots for us. And Jesus does not just show us the way. He is the way. He guides…
When you’re exhausted you don’t want to be pushed and told to try even harder. Especially when we are down we need grace. Jesus is calling to him all who are weary. He will not urge us to try harder, instead, he gives us rest. And when we have rested, he will empower us with his grace to do what we can’t do on our own. I see Christianity as grace and that’s why it’s difficult for me to understand…
We all love blessings, right? The more the better, I think. A blessing is a favor of God and a life full of blessings is the best kind of life, isn’t it? But don’t fool yourself. God’s blessings are most often not materialistic and temporal but spiritual and eternal. Somehow, that diminishes the ranks of people who want them. We’d like to have a new car and money enough to control our destiny. But that’s not how it works. Spiritual…
‘You are worth it’, says a commercial to get you to buy a product. The number one way to get into debt is to think you deserve to have certain things. Don’t try to buy your worth. You are worthy just because you are made by God Almighty. You worthiness comes from the Lord. There’s nothing you can buy or do that would make you worthy of God but his grace. But his grace is all you ever need to…
Today I am in awe of God once again. I just realized God does not rely on me. What a relief! He knows me and my abilities…and how much I am lacking. Instead, God relies on grace. And so should I do too. Too often we try to rely on ourselves on everything, even when there’s no way we could ever deliver. We get stressed out and all the joy disappears from our life. It’s especially sad if we rely on ourselves…
My last speaking engagement for this spring was last Thursday and when I got into my car I spontaneously started singing a traditional summer hymn. The hymn usually marks the beginning of summer for us. Maybe I just turned off my brain or something because I forgot to blog last Friday. I’ve been blogging for years now and never before missed a post when scheduled. Interestingly, I did not even notice it until I started to write today’s post. Friends,…
