Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
But the people refused to listen to Samuel and said, “No! There must be a king over us so we can be like all the other nations.” – 1 Samuel 8:19-20a This passage reveals the make-or-break point of faith. Israel started out trusting the manna-giving God then, when safe and secure, they wanted a king. That …
We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. – 1 Corinthians 13:12a (The Message) That sentence from Paul’s “love chapter” in Corinthians is quite out of character for him. He was uncompromising in his beliefs. Sometimes, when people argued with him, his temper rose proportionately. For …
Be sure to make friends quickly with your opponents while you are with them on the way to court…When they wish to haul you to court and take your shirt, let them have your coat too. – Matthew 5:25a, 40 At one point there were a dozen court programs on TV. A dozen! I believe they were popular …
I will lift you up high, my God, the true king. I will bless your name forever and always. – Psalm 145:1 It’s easier to have faith when the sun is shining, birds are singing, and you’re feeling fine. It’s a lot tougher when it’s stormy and you received the lab results. In other words, …
And then there’s the sea, wide and deep, with its countless creatures—living things both small and large. – Psalm 104:25 We’re a culture celebrating big. Skyscrapers, mountains, galaxies. It’s important to note that without the small, there is no big. For example, each of us is made up of 50 trillion cells. Each of those cells …
Jesus said to someone else, “Follow me.” He replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you go and spread the news of God’s kingdom.” – Luke 9:59-60 On the farm we grew corn. I hated growing corn. It was hot work harvesting …
Then Moses said to himself, Let me check out this amazing sight and find out why the bush isn’t burning up. – Exodus 3:3 The tale of Moses and the burning bush is a great description of the faith journey. INCIDENT HAPPENED: Weird, burning-bush thing. Something out of the ordinary caught his attention. A bush …
Then turning to the woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, “Do you see this woman?” – Luke 7:44 (The Message) We get no better x-ray of Jesus’ heart than this scene. A prostitute kneels before him. She cries profusely and, having used money from her profession, bought oil and anoints his feet, a sign …
As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession—a woman’s only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, “Don’t cry.” – Luke 7:12-13 The story of Jesus restoring life to a widow’s son doesn’t fit your …
A man with a skin disease approached Jesus, fell to his knees, and begged, “If you want, you can make me clean.” Incensed, Jesus reached out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do want to. Be clean.” — Mark 1:40-41 A man with leprosy asks Jesus to heal him, and Jesus is “incensed”? This seems out …