Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and […]
It’s often said that what’s in a man gets revealed when he is squeezed under pressure. What’s truly in a man comes out. Why is that? Why Does Pressure Reveal the Inner Man? Because it forces what’s inside the heart to the surface. *** In the Life of Pi, the movie we’ve been using to […]
Who knows what happens in the nanosecond before the brain waves cease? Does Jesus make a final appeal, offering one last opportunity before an eternity in hell? Yes, but it’s still an invitation to come, to follow Him, and a choice we have. It’s not like grabbing the hand of the toddler melting down and […]
If we can’t earn our salvation by our good works, frankly, why bother doing them? Why not just eat, drink, and be merry? Let Jesus be your insurance plan and open your Bible now and then to remind yourself that it’s God’s gift to you as you go on with your life? Seems simple enough. […]
Salvation is not a do-it-yourself program because—even back when it was found only in the mind of God—saving mankind was always a “Did-it-Himself” program. If there’s one distinguishing feature of Christianity in contrast to all the other world religions, it’s this fact: we cannot earn salvation. We must accept it as a gift of God’s […]
In the Life of Pi that we’ve been using to dig into the Scriptures to answer 40 questions “Why?” Pi responds to his father’s claim that believing in all things is like believing in nothing by saying he wants to be baptized as a Christian. In case we might be tempted to cheer along with […]
If there was one thing that I found troubling about Life of Pi that we’ve been using to launch our 40 days of asking “Why?” it’s that the movie often feels like a cinematic COEXIST bumper sticker. A religious mumbo jumbo that makes all religions seem equally valid, effective, and here’s a word for you: […]
*** Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. 5 One will say, ‘I belong […]
How often have we heard it? I’d believe if God gave me a sign or wrote something across the sky so I could know He exists.” We’re not all like Thomas who got a first-hand experience of the Risen Lord. John 20:27 Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach […]
What does following have to do with faith? Well, what is following but one person acting upon a decision to go in the same direction as the leader? A Christian, really, is nothing but a Christ follower in the great tradition of the earliest disciples. Matthew 4:18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of […]
