What is the best part of Christmas? I’m sure there are as many answers as people giving them. Very often we talk about food and gathering with our loved ones. And they are great blessings for sure. But the outer things of Christmas do not make what’s the best part of Christmas. I think the best part of Christmas is that the true message of Christmas is always valid. For everyone, everywhere. Jesus came to set people free. Hence hope…
Christian hope is a different kind of hope. It’s not based on wishful thinking or false hope. Christian hope does not depend on our own positivity and we are not hope-makers either. Instead, Christian hope is based on Christ and what he has done for us. Jesus is our hope. And that hope never lets us down. How freeing it is to realize that God is the source of hope. He is always the same. Hope is also not something…
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…
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…
Did you know that you have a standing invitation to Jesus? How wonderful is that? We are always welcome to Jesus. No matter what time is it or how badly we have messed up. Neither does it matter how long it has been since we’ve visited with Jesus. We are always welcome. Jesus keeps on inviting and is always delighted to see us. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28,…
What do you think? Does faith work or is it just a collection of meaningless religious rituals and a collection of outdated dogma? Too often people make their minds about this without testing it. Because if you do test-drive faith in Jesus, you will soon realize: it does work. How does faith work? It is a mystery. We don’t know how God operates. I find it wonderful that I can’t put God in a box. God is God and still,…
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…
