Not Good Enough?
We often mistake the things that God wants from us for what we want to give to God. It seems that as humans we find it difficult to believe that in order to love God, we are not responsible for anything but to follow His leading and trust in His providence (John 3:16). And the Accuser stands ready to make sure we do neither. It seems that in our attempts at justification, we try to produce something that we think
Freedom!
“And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free”! Taken at face value, an unambiguous, ringing and powerful statement of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in John’s Gospel. This freedom is taken (and mis-taken) in many ways. A contemporary reading would have us free to do what we want, when we want and that without inhibition, which is pretty much the standard dictionary definition. And yet when we look at the complete passage, Jesus’ statement is conditional
Think on These Things!
We all have multiple lives on the go at the same time. We have family life, work life, spiritual life, prayer life, friendship life and probably a few others. And then we have our thought life, which is interwoven with all the others. Thought life is what occupies our mind through day and night; it is the things we think about. God has a thought life too – In Jeremiah 29 He says, “For I know the thoughts that I
Determined to Win the Prize
I am terrible at board and card games. I rarely play them, and generally lose when I do. It is not because I don’t understand the object, which is to win the game, but I think it is because I am simply not determined to win, so I play casually, sometimes negligently. Thankfully, in those games, that approach is entirely acceptable and fun as I enjoy good laughs and some ridicule from family and friends. The “game” of life and the
An angel…in work boots?
Squinting against the bright morning sun, it was his boots I first noticed as he approached; sturdy, no-nonsense, thick-soled, work boots they were. As I raised my gaze, I took in the supportive cane and the small dog he had in tow. In a fenced parking lot adjacent to a commercial district, I was somewhat surprised to see someone walking their dog. “How are you this fine day?” was his affable greeting, accompanied by a friendly tail wag from his
The Golden Rule
“We’re all in this together”. We see or hear this statement on billboards and in various advertising in these pandemically conscious days. However, this is not just the latest buzz word or catchy advertising phrase, it encapsulates a mindset, a way of living, the very ethos of community. Jesus’ injunction to his disciples was to ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’, words that we refer to as The Golden Rule. If we want to go further
