Many Christians are content with believing in God and Jesus Christ, but they do not want to become followers of Jesus who would change their lives. They ignore Jesus’s call to follow Him (Matthew 16:24, John 12:26) and all the ways the Bible tries to engage us in living the Word. They live in […]

3.21.22   Our human lives are meant to be a growing experience, with each challenge and blessing meant to change us, and as we absorb all that happens to us, we are still learning and growing until we die. The same is even more true with Christians, because the Lord has a plan for each […]

We are called to know God from our depths, not just from our church’s teachings and the Bible, but to have such a relationship with the Indwelling Spirit of God that we know His voice—that “still, small voice” of 1 Kings 19:12. We are to follow His suggestions: we lay all that would stand between […]

  As we approach the day we celebrate Jesus’s birth, all of us who would follow Jesus might well acknowledge our very human nature: 1) the walls we’ve built to protect us that also keep God at some distance, 2) our own egocentricity that won’t allow us to trust Him completely, and 3) the habits […]

  Last week I wrote about living in the truth instead of the narrative: the narrative is the story that we have been taught by our culture, our parents, and through our own experience—it is what we want to have happen in our lives. And now this week, I turn to what happens in our […]

  In this line of the Lord’s prayer, we are admitting that we alone cannot withstand the pressures of this world. We need God’s help in steering us towards His kingdom, for we are surrounded and overwhelmed by the pulls and desires of the world. We ask because we are committing ourselves to living in […]

Following Jesus is a life-long journey that takes us to the fullness of who we were created to be, free of our ties to the world, free of the dominion of our minds and egos, free of the control of our lives, free to follow Jesus wherever He would lead us. It takes our willingness, […]

“You have searched me, Lord,/and you know me” are the beginning lines of Psalm 139 with David explaining how much God knows him, and all his ways, all that he is going to say and do. He continues, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” There is nowhere […]

The Sermon on the Mount is an insightful summary of Jesus’s teachings in the Gospels. And, to me, the Beatitudes show what the teachings lead us to—complete devotion to God. So this 8-week series will focus on each of the Beatitudes and relevant passages in the rest of the Sermon. I would group the Beatitudes […]

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” [Matthew 11:28-30]   Jesus’s […]