I pray that we “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3: 18-19 Learning to receive God’s love has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my entire life. Without a close sense of His love, I tend to reject or minimize His nudges and …
Category: Sin
For many years I trusted God but resisted His pull for my whole heart. I would (and still can) so easily turn from God to pursue my own way. It was as though some days I was living life on a razors’ edge – a non-committal place, yet a place of tremendous peril. In this poem I try to convey the two sides – the pain and darkness of turning away and the light and joy of being …
There’s a lot being written about the CoronaVirus….how to thrive in quarantine, how to do social distancing, what the latest statistics are, what’s shut down, etc. But I want to invite you to go inward and examine your heart and how this new environment has affected your motives and heart. As I reflect, it has certainly forced me to look inward at my heart. First, my heart feels frustrated and a bit out of control. Not so …
“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin (a falling away, lapse, slip, false step, trespass, sin) you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”Galatians 6:1-2 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I …
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36 ESV The process of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly is one of the most dramatic natural phenomena that I know. The poor caterpillar only knows one world….climbing on limbs and stems eating leaves. Caterpillars are slow and are significantly susceptible to being eaten by other prey, like birds. Yet, at some point, the earth-bound insect dies, dissolves into a glob of enzymes and proteins, and emerges as …
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. 1 Peter 3:18 ESV ~~~ At Easter we celebrate a great victory at a terrible cost. The agonizing work Christ completed on the cross and His miraculous resurrection from death’s grip changed literally everything. For followers of Christ, Jesus’ victory over Satan and death is the trigger …
John 3:18 reminds us of a wonderful resolution to a horrific reality. M Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. M Jesus didn’t come to earth to condemn us…we were already that way from birth…separated from God. Desperately sad, but true. M So, we need a Savior to release us from the prison of sin we’re born …
I love the near-instant satisfaction of working in the yard. When it’s tended to regularly the results can be fabulous. Just like our soul. Tending to and caring for the health of our soul can result in its blossoming into the wonderful entity God intended. The opposite is also true, right? My work in the yard involves a lot of weeding. Identifying and removing the stuff that doesn’t belong. Looking back on this past summer’s weeding, I …
A beautiful and brilliant “harvest” moon made its mark on North America on September 16, 2016. Its light was a near pure white. In Georgia, with no clouds in sight, the moonlight cast defined shadows onto normally darkened ground. When we experience the moon’s light, we’re actually experiencing the light of the sun….and the moon does its best job of reflecting the sun’s glory when it’s full. We too are reflections of the Greater light. We make no light of our own. …
If you are a gardener or someone who loves the beauty of nature in a yard, you know that weeds, dead leaves, overgrown vines and yard clippings have to be taken out. Large brown bags from home stores line our street as evidence that we have to do something with the refuse, the weeds…the junk. We too have to take out the weeds and overgrown vines that sometimes lurk near our heart and influence our actions and thinking. These weeds move …