Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
Let all of these praise the Lord’s name because only God’s name is high over all. Only God’s majesty is over earth and heaven. — Psalm 148:13 I look forward to those seasons when cicadas make their mysterious presence known. For 13 to 17 years, they live underground. The larvae look like white, ghostly caterpillars, feeding …
We love because God first loved us. — 1 John 4:19 Churches should have an identity/mission statement. It should be something that reminds members of who they are as a congregation and what they should be focusing on. Here’s one: “Love Christ deeply, worship Christ passionately, serve Christ boldly.” But perhaps, for individual Christians, the simpler the better. Like …
If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don’t have love, I’m a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. — 1 Corinthians 13:1 The heart of the famous “love chapter” of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, starts at verse 4, with “Love is patient, love is kind…” and if you’ve …
So stop judging each other. Instead, this is what you should decide: never put a stumbling block or obstacle in the way of your brother or sister. — Romans 14:13 Paul wrote these words to a church where people disagreed with each other over what was correct or not regarding food. There were some who …
When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I didn’t come preaching God’s secrets to you like I was an expert in speech or wisdom. I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified. — 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 Recently I …
Let those who want me dead be humiliated and put to shame. Let those who intend to hurt me be thoroughly frustrated and disgraced. Let them be like dust on the wind–and let the Lord’s messenger be the one who does the blowing! — Psalm 35:4-6 Probably if we were honest, the above words from …
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 …
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. — 1 Corinthians 13:4 There’s a reason that 1 Corinthians 13 is the passage-of-choice for many couples when they get married. It contains a concrete, practical description of how love is expressed. Paul wrote it to give guidance for …
When they finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” — John 21:15 There was a competition underlying the relationship between Peter and the unnamed “beloved disciple” in John’s Gospel. Peter envied his …
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabbouni.” (John 20:16) The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” (John 21:7) John’s Gospel is dotted with weird, mysterious details. Here’s one that we see in the Resurrection. Mary Magdalene lingers at the empty tomb on Easter morning, …