Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
Growing up in southern Missouri, my evangelical roots ran deep. I planned on majoring in religion, studying in seminary, and then help save the world. Two pieces of advice came my way the summer before I left on that adventure. One came from a farmer: “Remember, the devil is alive and well in college and …
Therefore, stop worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. — Matthew 6:34 I’ve always been a bit puzzled by the last part of this verse. The first part is something that we hear preached to us all the time. Today is all we have, so let’s make the …
On the next Sabbath, almost everyone in the city gathered to hear the Lord’s word. — Acts 13:44 Whenever Paul visited a town, he went first to the local synagogue. When a Scripture passage was read, he would expound on it, showing how it related in some way to Jesus. Once, when he’d finished, everyone …
Jesus said to the legal experts and Pharisees, “Here’s a question for you: Is it legal on the sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” — Luke 6:9 The religious leaders in Jesus’ day loved to debate. They’d sift through all the religious laws in Scripture and …
When he sent them away, he went up onto a mountain by himself to pray. Evening came and he was alone. — Matthew 14:23 I have a theory that if you grew up on a farm, you probably don’t have a strong affinity for camping. If you’ve been out in the natural world all day, why would you …
Jesus raised him up, and right away he picked up his mat and walked out in front of everybody. They were all amazed and praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”-– Mark 2:12 When Jesus healed a paralyzed man, whose friends had lowered through a roof to him, the crowd’s reaction wasn’t just …
Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. – Exodus 20:8 What does being holy mean? Sometimes it’s defined in negative terms. The old “holiness” movement conveyed that if you didn’t play cards, drink, and go to movies, you were approaching a holy life. It’s also been defined as something non-human. Some of the …
Now [Daniel’s] upper room had open windows that faced Jerusalem. Daniel knelt down, prayed, and praised his God three times that day, just like he always did. – Daniel 6:10 The chapel at Manchester UMC was built in the 1850’s. I always enjoyed stopping by and sitting a bit from time to time. Although through …
Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. – Deuteronomy 5:15 This is part of Deuteronomy’s version of the fourth commandment, about keeping the Sabbath. In it, Moses has just told the Israelites to make sure all …
On the seventh day God rested from all the work he had done. — Genesis 2:2 All the times I’ve read this ending to the first creation story, I never asked myself a very logical question. If God is almighty, all-powerful, omnipotent, omniscient…etc….then WHY DID GOD NEED TO REST? After all, the psalmist knew this …