Have you let the pursuit of leisure, success or security turn you away from God? Do you feel that the world persuades you to lower you standards? Are you failing to live as though God mattered? These are questions that were piercing my heart this morning. And I let the Holy Spirit do its work in me throughout the day. Everything that keeps God’s will from happening in my life needs to go. For you say, ‘I am rich, I…
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…
Are you dreaming and praying big? Or are you just trying to get by everyday? Is your soul living large? Or is your soul cramped? I was stopped in my tracks this morning when I was reading this from Isaiah: “Clear lots of ground for your tents! Make your tents large. Spread out! Think big! Use plenty of rope, drive the tent pegs deep. You’re going to need lots of elbow room for your growing family. You’re going to take…
Christmas is gone. What to do now? Should we still sing for joy? Should we still exalt God, give him glory? Well, yes, of course. Heavens, raise the roof! Earth, wake the dead! Mountains, send up cheers! (Isaiah 49:12, MSG) What if you feel that you’ve been forgotten? What if Christmas was just an earthly happening? Shouldn’t we just pack Christmas neatly away? Not so fast. Hold on. God has comforted his people. He has tenderly nursed his beaten-up, beaten-down…
John 3:16 is one of the most known Bible verses. But do you know to whom Jesus was preaching at that time? Do you know what happened to the listener later on? Jesus was talking to a pharisee named Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night. Maybe it was easier to come in darkness. Other pharisees could not see him visiting Jesus. Or maybe it was the only time he could find Jesus alone. Anyhow, he came and had a…
The second day of Christmas is a national holiday in Finland and many other European countries. This day is a great day to reflect what Christmas means in our everyday life. But do we have a stable influence of Christmas in our lives? It was great to celebrate baby Jesus and welcome him to the world. But what does it mean to us that Jesus was born 2000 years ago? It is time to put Christmas into practice! It is…
Too often we keep dabbling in sin because we think there’s no harm in a dab of something. But this dabbling in sin keeps us from becoming Christ-like. One dab at a time we become what we worship, either lovers or enemies of God. We don’t drift towards holiness (it’s always a choice) but, yes, we gravitate towards worldiness one dab at a time. Like D. A. Carlson has so powerfully said “We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance;…
We all know that Jesus is our best Christmas gift ever. But do you know what to give Jesus this Christmas? Just yesterday this was a novel concept to be. It had never occurred to me that I could concretely give Jesus a birthday present until I read Ann Voskamp’s blog post where she shares how their family gives birthday gifts for Jesus by buying goats or mosquito nets. I thought it was a brilliant idea. So during the dinner…
Faith is meant to be robust and life-giving. But too often we let the worries of the world and the hurries of our lives to take over and we end up suffering from Spiritual Anemia. Or we get so caught up following religious rules that we forget what was the point of all of it. Somehow our lives get muddled and soon refreshing faith is just a memory. We forget that faith is about walking with the Living God!
Faith is a gift from God. When God reveals to us that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, sent to save us, our eyes are opened. When we believe this and receive God’s grace for ourselves, our whole existence gets a new meaning. The seed of faith starts growing in us and our faith journey begins. But it is only a beginning. Faith journey takes a lifetime.
