Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
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 …
“Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask.” — Matthew 6:8 I’m a planner. Always have been, always will be. I look ahead, anticipate things, and strategize to either make good things happen or keep bad things from happening. Planners, by definition, have difficulty relinquishing control. That’s not exactly …
For God so loved the world that [She] gave her only son. — John 3:16 Recently I returned to Columbia, Missouri, where I had served as campus pastor in the 80’s and 90’s. I was amazed at how young the students looked. [It couldn’t have been because I’m much older now.] That youthfulness reflected the …
“Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” — Luke 2:14 It’s pretty clear that if we want peace in the world, we need to enter into the lives of others as God did. There were no savior-from-on-high theatrics. No confrontation between sword-wielding angels and the Roman legions. Indeed, …
Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature. — Romans 12:2 My wife and I got back from Ireland a few weeks ago, which means you’ll see Ireland popping up occasionally in …
Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate. — Luke 6:36 You can learn a lot about a person by the bumper sticker they may choose to stick on their vehicle. I was behind a large white pickup at a stoplight. Its bumper sticker caught my eye: “Trump 2024” and underneath is was “*@#! Your Feelings.” Of …
If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, I have chosen you out of the world, and you don’t belong to the world. This is why the world hates you. — John 15:19 The first 300 years of the church saw explosive growth. From a few thousand in the middle 1st century, it grew to between 5-6 million by 300 AD. It didn’t get …