Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone throwing demons out in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.” — Mark 9:38 Why did John say that to Jesus? Did he assume that, because Jesus had chosen him, other people weren’t chosen? Did he think that he had a …
“Return home and tell the story of what God has done for you.” — Luke 8:39 This is what Jesus told the man he had just healed from insanity. He had been a violent, crazy person who now calmly sat at Jesus’ feet, “fully dressed and completely sane,” listening to him. As Christ was about …
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 …
Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, “Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days.” – John 11:39 Martha, the sister of her dead brother Lazarus, was saying what others were thinking. Jesus had commanded the stone in front of Lazarus’ tomb, in which the body had …
I faced these dangers with hard work and heavy labor, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, and in the cold without enough clothes…Who is weak without me being weak? – 2 Corinthians 11:27, 29a There are times in following Christ that you have to stop and ask, “Is it worth it?” When …
Part company with every brother who bucks out of the harness. – 2 Thessalonians 3:6a (Cotton Patch Version of the New Testament) Way before tractors/trucks were horses/mules/oxen and plows/wagons. It was a popular image in Jesus’ day (Matthew 11:28-30; Luke 9:62). The sense is that if you follow Jesus, you have to be directed by …
“Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I’m about to spit you out of my mouth.” – Revelation 3:16 A young pitcher was facing the Cardinals’ Stan Musial, the hottest hitter in baseball, for the first time. He shook off all the signs from his catcher. Mystified, the catcher asked for time and …
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that somebody hid in a field, which someone else found and covered up. Full of joy, the finder sold everything and bought that field.” – Matthew 13:44 This one-verse parable stresses that the new way of living offered by Jesus is worth more than anything else in …
Luke 5:1-11 This is what Peter said to Jesus out of sheer terror. The fisherman had been instructed by Jesus to do something counter-intuitive. He told Peter to fish a certain way and Peter, the experienced fisherman, knew 100% that it wouldn’t work. But it did, and that’s where the problem lay. Jesus, then and …