The gift of baptism is mind-blowing. When we go under the water we drown our sins. When we come out of the baptismal water we have a free life in Jesus. Experiencing the forgiveness of sins is one of the most amazing things in life. We need to remind ourselves of this gift and receive it every single day. Being alive in Christ is the best thing than can ever happen to us. It’s not our doing but we can…
This blog post is dedicated to my soul sister, sweet friend Candice. This post is based on her favorite Bible verse Galatians 2:20. Abundant blessings to you, sis! What a blessing it is to know you! “We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no…
Are you living the best life ever? Or is there room for improvement? Do you live openly and expansively or do you feel fenced in? Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection….
I was running some errands the other day when a couple of questions popped up in my mind. Who would have thought that God would become a man? Who would have thought the whole salvation history? Who would have thought all of it? I laughed out loud when I came across this C.S. Lewis quote: “Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you…
The empty tomb on the Easter morning is a terrific symbol of Christianity. The tomb was opened so we could get in to see that Christ was risen. Christ did not need the tomb to be opened for him to get out. All the time God helps us to see the power of the resurrection. We have a mighty powerful God! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! God has prepared us the way back to him in Jesus….
Throughout this season of Lent I’ve been trying to ready myself for Easter joy by praying, fasting, and listening to God. Today I will share the biggest repentance trigger of my Bible readings this Lent. Does this speak to you as loud as it did for me? Then Jesus went with them to a garden called Gethsemane and told his disciples, “Stay here while I go over there and pray.” Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he…
Do you let Jesus carry your burdens? Or do you still carry them on your own? Is your faith only intellectual or have you really let Jesus rule your heart? Do you trust Jesus to carry your burdens? Do you let Christ serve you, give you true freedom? Or do you still suffer alone? But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that…
When we live in grace God does not treat us as sinners anymore. We are his saints. But it does not mean that we would not be sinners anymore. We are not practicing sinners, that’s true. But we are recovering sinners. This does not mean that we could do whatever we want to and then ask for pardon. God forbid! A saint can’t willfully and actively continue to sin because we have been washed clean and died to sin. But…
Are you a friend of grace or a stranger to grace? I don’t know anything more liberating, more exhilarating and more exuberant than God’s abundant grace. In grace the whole salvation story comes together and starts to bloom. Grace is so wonderful, amazing, powerful, wild but gentle that it tames me over and over again. It embraces me and woes me for God time after time. It surprises me, it encourages me, it corrects me, it renews me, it treats…
God cares about sin with fiery passion. Sin kills. We are all doomed. But this is not the end of the story. We are called back to God! We are called to repent! To turn around from our sinful ways. To turn back to God and embrace his ways. Because God has better things in store for us. God has prepared a path back to his presence in Christ Jesus. Because of Jesus we can by repenting our sins be…
