Random Thoughts:
Jesus said that for those who harm little children that it would be better for them if a millstone were hung around their necks and they were cast into the sea. What would our country--let alone the world--look like if God made such people wear their millstones now?
When I wake up in the morning befuddled, discouraged, weary, I always sing this song to myself: "When morning gilds the sky, my heart awakening cries, 'May Jesus Christ be praised!'" Good heart medicine for the day.
Paul: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake." Those are not the words of a man struggling with depression, but the words of a man living in eager anticipation--anticipation of seeing His Savior face-to-face and anticipation of being used by God each day until that "very much better" moment. Paul's confidence in His future inspired his confidence in the present. May such be our heart's desire.
I'm 73-years-old. I lived a long time without a cell phone. Sometimes I wonder if today I have more faith in--feel more secure with my cell phone, than I did--do--in God's immanence in my life? Facetiously, of course.
When I give of my resources to those doing humanitarian work in this world, I have to keep reminding myself of my Lord's warning, of His sobering rhetorical question: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Will the person who I've helped with his earthly struggles and didn't introduce to Jesus thank me in eternity for helping him with those needs, or ask me, "Why did you not introduce me to Jesus?"
And when Jesus told us that "the poor you have always with you," He was just reminding us that we always have an opportunity to do good with our surplus funds.
Why do those people who tell us that there is no truth believe themselves?
Jesus Christ can forgive anything. Jesus Christ longs to forgive everything.
I believe post-modernism is making a home in the church. Oh, we change the name to "scholarship," but it's still interpreting Scripture on the basis of what I want it to say, not what God actually said. We don't like the world to think us fools. Pride is what that is.
I believe that many Christians today have made God the personification of natural selection. All these years He hasn't been telling us the truth, just what it would be profitable for us to believe. Terrifying thought, is it not?
As an educator I'm afraid Postman's fear has become a reality. Many of my students are "amusing themselves to death"--spiritual "death."
The Christian walk is on a narrow road. Do you only feel comfortable with the crowd?
One of America's celebrities testifies that she turned from Christianity when her pastor said that God was jealous of His people. God is not jealous of His people as if they have something He wishes He had--as if they are somehow more talented in some area than He is. God is not jealous of His people but for His people. He loves them so deeply that He longs for a relationship with them, longs to deepen that relationship, will do anything necessary to bring them back to His embrace when they turn away to pursue another relationship with something or someone. He loves them too much to let them pursue another--vastly inferior--love. Of. For. What a difference a preposition can make.
When will we accept the truth that Presidential fiat, legislative action, or judicial decision is never a catalyst for revival? Revival is possible when God's people humble themselves and pray that He will send a revival to their own heart. Or revival comes through persecution when God purifies His church--when it costs something to be devoted to Him. Or revival comes when God judges a nation and sets aside His faithful remnant. His judgment always begins with His people. Revival is for His people.
Darwin in his own writings shows that he was a racist, warmongering, imperialist. He was a proponent of infanticide--especially baby girls, eugenics, genocide. He was amused with Malthus' idea that starvation was nature's way to eliminate the weak-- "at last a theory by which to work." He thought a civilization was "ignorant" to "build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick, . . . to institute poor laws, for our medical men (to) exert their utmost skill to the save the life of everyone to the last moment. .." to vaccinate to prevent those with "a weak constitution" to survive. Why do people admire him again?
When I wake up in the morning befuddled, discouraged, weary, I always sing this song to myself: "When morning gilds the sky, my heart awakening cries, 'May Jesus Christ be praised!'" Good heart medicine for the day.
Paul: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake." Those are not the words of a man struggling with depression, but the words of a man living in eager anticipation--anticipation of seeing His Savior face-to-face and anticipation of being used by God each day until that "very much better" moment. Paul's confidence in His future inspired his confidence in the present. May such be our heart's desire.
I'm 73-years-old. I lived a long time without a cell phone. Sometimes I wonder if today I have more faith in--feel more secure with my cell phone, than I did--do--in God's immanence in my life? Facetiously, of course.
When I give of my resources to those doing humanitarian work in this world, I have to keep reminding myself of my Lord's warning, of His sobering rhetorical question: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Will the person who I've helped with his earthly struggles and didn't introduce to Jesus thank me in eternity for helping him with those needs, or ask me, "Why did you not introduce me to Jesus?"
And when Jesus told us that "the poor you have always with you," He was just reminding us that we always have an opportunity to do good with our surplus funds.
Why do those people who tell us that there is no truth believe themselves?
Jesus Christ can forgive anything. Jesus Christ longs to forgive everything.
I believe post-modernism is making a home in the church. Oh, we change the name to "scholarship," but it's still interpreting Scripture on the basis of what I want it to say, not what God actually said. We don't like the world to think us fools. Pride is what that is.
I believe that many Christians today have made God the personification of natural selection. All these years He hasn't been telling us the truth, just what it would be profitable for us to believe. Terrifying thought, is it not?
As an educator I'm afraid Postman's fear has become a reality. Many of my students are "amusing themselves to death"--spiritual "death."
The Christian walk is on a narrow road. Do you only feel comfortable with the crowd?
One of America's celebrities testifies that she turned from Christianity when her pastor said that God was jealous of His people. God is not jealous of His people as if they have something He wishes He had--as if they are somehow more talented in some area than He is. God is not jealous of His people but for His people. He loves them so deeply that He longs for a relationship with them, longs to deepen that relationship, will do anything necessary to bring them back to His embrace when they turn away to pursue another relationship with something or someone. He loves them too much to let them pursue another--vastly inferior--love. Of. For. What a difference a preposition can make.
When will we accept the truth that Presidential fiat, legislative action, or judicial decision is never a catalyst for revival? Revival is possible when God's people humble themselves and pray that He will send a revival to their own heart. Or revival comes through persecution when God purifies His church--when it costs something to be devoted to Him. Or revival comes when God judges a nation and sets aside His faithful remnant. His judgment always begins with His people. Revival is for His people.
Darwin in his own writings shows that he was a racist, warmongering, imperialist. He was a proponent of infanticide--especially baby girls, eugenics, genocide. He was amused with Malthus' idea that starvation was nature's way to eliminate the weak-- "at last a theory by which to work." He thought a civilization was "ignorant" to "build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick, . . . to institute poor laws, for our medical men (to) exert their utmost skill to the save the life of everyone to the last moment. .." to vaccinate to prevent those with "a weak constitution" to survive. Why do people admire him again?
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