Are you broken? What do you think? Could there be any beauty in brokenness? Yes, there can be. Especially if we surrender all the pieces to God. He is ready to create something new out of the messes of our lives. We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan. (Romans 8:28, VOICE) Kurt Bubna in his new…
Are you trying to be holier than Jesus? A shocking question, isn’t it? But – Lord, have mercy – unfortunately a valid one. With the words of Brennan Manning “Christians have an unfortunate tendency to be preoccupied with the trivial”. When we occupy our time with being just right with every little trivial thing, we are trying to be holier than Jesus. But that is never possible. And Jesus did not have a condemning attitude. He oozed love and grace….
Do you ever choose in the battle within what’s wrong even when you know what’s right? That’s way too familiar for all of us. Even Paul wrote: I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:19-20, NLT) Do…
There’s never too much grace. I love grace and I breath grace. It’s what sustains me and keeps me going. We should never take God’s grace granted and get too used to it. That’s why we need reminders of God’s abundant and amazing grace along the way. That’s why I was thrilled by the title of Kurt Bubna‘s book Epic Grace. Isn’t that true? Grace is not just amazing; it is truly epic. I’ve been waiting to get my hands…
Spiritual blindness seems quite an extreme idea. Somehow we are quick to toss away that idea. If we know God, we are not spiritually blind, right? Not so fast. Look again. This is not an either/or matter. We are not either spiritually blind or have a 20/20 vision. We can also be spiritually shortsighted. What to do then? How can we ensure that we are not spiritually shortsighted? First of all we need to remember that it’s not about us…
I know the title gives a tall order for this post. But that know-how is necessary for spiritual growth. In order to bear fruit we need to be pruned. But we don’t like it. We don’t like to get hurt. So we resist it. But that leaves us in spiritual limbo. And that is not a desired state of being. Not from our point of view and not from God’s point of you. What to do then? Any branch in…
God’s word is a mirror. We just need to dare to look at it. What do I mean? We could take, for example, any story Jesus told to his disciples. If we dare to ask the Holy Spirit to read our heart and show us what we need to know, God’s word will be a mirror for us. The picture that we see in our hearts is God’s message for us. Keep this in mind when you read the parable…
Who is in charge of your life? A dead man or the living God? You see, this is a question of life and death. As long as we are in charge we are living in the world of dead. But when we surrender to Jesus, we take a giant step to the world of the living. “It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father,…
I’ve always thought that we should only serve one God and we should not have idols. God should be number one in our lives. I had thought those possible idols would be other people or work or hobbies, somebody or something else than me. But then I read this from Isaiah: “Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress…
“Is your default mode toward others judgment or grace?” asked Rick Warren on Twitter a few years ago. It got me thinking. This is crucial. Have I fully embraced grace, been changed inside out and now truly reflecting and extending God’s love and grace? And not hate, doom, and judgment? Because God is love and he wants us to live and move in grace. “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so…
