mr. right
In an online forum, one woman wrote: “I’m single, over 30, and under pressure from parents, friends, and just about everyone around me to get married. Haven’t met the right guy, but still praying to. I’m really looking for ways to cope with this and would really appreciate sound advice.”
blameless
Many people trust their pharmacists more than their pastors! According to a 2012 Gallup poll, respondents were asked to rate the “honesty and ethical standards” of 22 different professions. Seventy-five percent ranked pharmacists as high/very high. Car salesmen and members of Congress were trusted least. Sadly, church leaders ranked eighth, and only one in two said the ones they know are men of integrity.
real life
Recently, some friends and I read the Gospels out loud during a weekend retreat. The cabin we rented, nestled in a beautiful setting, was owned by a religious community. We took in a few of their services—enduring worship that was lifeless and joyless. Later, when we met with those who had led the services, we realized that the values they espoused conflicted sharply with biblical Christianity. At that point, we realized that more than just the worship was lacking real life.
holy living
“Our Father in heaven,” Jesus taught us to pray, “may Your name be kept holy” (Matthew 6:9). We affirm today that Your name, Yahweh, already is holy because it describes You—pure, perfect, far removed from evil, error, and corruption.
we are family
We often say in the church that we’re a family, and we address each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. But what does that really mean? What implications does the word family hold?
intimidation of the Bible
The Bible can intimidate me sometimes. Certain statements bring on the guilt. Here are just a few of them: “You are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48); “You must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy” (1 Peter 1:15). Psalm 119 elicits enough guilt to last a lifetime: “I have devoted myself to Your commandments” (Psalm 119:45); “I rise at midnight to thank You for Your just regulations” (Psalm 119:62); “I have more insight than my teachers, for I am always thinking of Your laws” (Psalm 119:99); “I have done what is just and right” (Psalm 119:121).
needing God
When Palestinian Tass Saada was just 17 years old, he joined the Fatah movement in the West Bank. Tass hated Jews and engaged in guerilla warfare against them. He became known as “Butcher” due to the many Israeli soldiers he killed as a sniper. But later, Tass surrendered His life to Jesus and now loves God and the Jews. His ministry in the Middle East is called Seeds of Hope. Tass works to provide modern necessities for Palestinians who live in the West Bank, while he also builds relational bridges between them and their Jewish neighbors.
in God’s presence
During Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, military chaplain Cary Cash served with the US military’s 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment as they battled their way to Baghdad. After the regiment secured Saddam Hussein’s Almilyah presidential palace, a young marine—ministered to by Cash—bowed and received Jesus as his Savior. Later, the chaplain baptized the young man in the inner sanctum of the palace. In his book A Table in the Presence, Cash writes: “A place that had been known for the presence of darkness and treachery had become a place of the presence of God—a table in the presence.”
guilt and grace
One of the exciting milestones I witnessed in my daughter’s development was when she first learned to walk at 9 months. She pulled herself up to a standing position while holding onto a coffee table and took her very first step! Learning to bend her knees to sit after standing, and then mastering the standing position, she was soon cruising around the house. She was walking independently at 12 months.
dying for Jesus?
At a missions conference, the director challenged the participants to consider fulltime missionary work—calling for those who were willing to die for Jesus to stand up and to receive prayer. No one did. Discouraged, he complained to the senior pastor. The pastor said, “Don’t fret if no one is willing to die for Jesus. Worry if no one is wanting to live for Jesus!”
no different?
Conned out of a large sum of money by a business partner, who claimed to be deacon in a church, my friend’s anger and disenchantment ran deep. He said, “How can a Christian do this kind of thing? I trusted him. Now I know he’s no different from a non-Christian!”
very superstitious?
Many professional footballers have pre-game rituals that they believe will help them stay focused and bring them luck during their games. A player for a football team had a superstition that literally reeked. The player slept the night before games in a university T-shirt he hadn’t washed in 11 years. When asked about sleeping in the dirty T-shirt, he replied: “It’s got rips and stuff, but I’m not going to change what I do.” While this pre-game ritual and others may seem benign, fun, quirky, and harmless, superstitions can easily morph into a value system that is built on unstable foundations.
April 9, 2012
How can a believer in Jesus practically pursue becoming more holy?
burning strong
Over the past few months, I've encouraged my husband to create a small fire pit in our backyard. As someone who enjoys camping, I love sitting on a cool night in front of a blazing campfire with a mug of hot chocolate in my hands. Tonight as we sat with family near the crackling flames (in the freshly completed fire…
covenant eyes
A study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2006 revealed that children who watch media with high levels of sexual content tend to be more sexually promiscuous. Researchers studied 1,017 adolescents, ages 12 to 14, over a period of 2 years. During that time, the teenagers were tracked as they took in varying amounts of sexual content in…
