Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
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I praise the Lord–let the suffering listen and rejoice. — Psalm 34:2, CEB My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. — Psalm 34:2, NRSV It’s always struck me that beginning worship with a big song or songs that are upbeat and praisy can disconnect with people. Imagine …
Instead, desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. — Matthew 6:33 The concept of center of gravity was brought home to me very early in life. When I was around 20 I was asked to drive the church bus as part of my summer …
Once the apostles and other believers heard this, they calmed down. They praised God and concluded, “So then God has enabled Gentiles to change their hearts and lives so that they might have new life.” — Acts 11:18 A lot is packed into the above verse. The setting is when the church leaders in Jerusalem …
He was in anguish and prayed even more earnestly. His sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground. — Luke 22:44 Why did Jesus experience such agony in the Garden of Gethsemane the night of his arrest? That might sound like a silly question. After all, Jesus saw the bigger picture. He’d predicted his …
Be angry without sinning. Don’t let the sun set on your anger. — Ephesians 4:26 I highly recommend the daily wisdom of Father Richard Rohr; you can sign up for these meditations HERE. I was particularly struck by what he wrote recently regarding anger: We need the wisdom of a “full prophet,” one who can love and yet criticize, …
“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” –Acts 1:8 I’ve written before about how traveling is not my strong suit. All the preparations, arrangements, worries, unknowns…Why not just stay home and stream the world on TV? Well, that’s not a very Christian attitude. …
I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope. — Jeremiah 29:11 This verse from Jeremiah is one of the most inspirational in the Bible. I remember stumbling upon it while in a dark period of …
This I know, that God is for me. — Psalm 56:9 I subscribe to a weekly meditation offered by Pastor Debbie Bronkema on her connect.faith website. In a midweek meditation she recalled a seminary professor, in one of her classes, pulling out a wrinkled piece of paper upon which he had written the above verse from …
He enacts justice for orphans and widows, and he loves immigrants, giving them food and clothing. — Deuteronomy 10:18 An interesting undercurrent in the Bible is the presence and place of immigrants. The tone is set in Genesis 12, with Abraham leaving home to seek God’s promise of establishing a new nation through him. Scripture details …
Wash! Be clean! Remove your ugly deeds from my sight. Put an end to such evil; learn to do good. Seek justice: help the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow. — Isaiah 1:16-17 What we sometimes take for sin is unbiblical. A popular conception is that sin involves a list of iron-clad do’s …