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Obedience Pleases a Holy God
I hate times I feel like I failed at something. Or if I did something half-hearted, not putting my best into it. It’s never quite fulfilling, is it? We know we can do better. Contrast that with the feeling we get when we put all we can into an assignment. Isn’t it rewarding when we know we did something well? Especially when our obedience and best efforts are pleasing to the Lord. Obedience acknowledges a holy God’s direction over every aspect of our lives, from dedicated prayer and Bible study to our interactions with a restaurant server. All we do is to testify to our serving our holy Father. In…
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Test: Pass or Fail?
A new favorite song is Flowers by Samantha Ebert. It’s about a beautiful way to walk through hard seasons. Trials, loss, broken relationships, health issues. Knowing God brings growth (flowers) out of pain adds meaning to those experiences (in the valley). Sometimes, difficulties arise when the Lord tests our faith. In Exodus 20, we see God testing Israel’s obedience. They had already failed one test: the test of physical sustenance. He provided manna in the wilderness and gave explicit instructions for how they were to gather manna each day. Some chose to collect more than they needed. Now the test was one of waiting for Moses to come back down…
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Looking Ahead
Do we intentionally make faith more difficult than it is? Sometimes I wonder? As I’ve thought about 2023 and looked ahead as to how I need to grow and make changes, I’ve been drawn back to the “simplicity”, or rather maybe I should say, the single focus, of our faith that leads us to change and growth. In Exodus and Deuteronomy we find God’s 10 commandments given to Moses and all of Israel. The first command, if we get it right, makes all the others possible. Do not have other gods besides me. Exodus 20:3 Sometimes I think I focus on all the others and forget how foundational this really…
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What Do You Idolize?
One of my current reads is The Reason for God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller. Although not an easy read, this book is powerful to equip believers in this season of spiritual skepticism. It is also a phenomenal book to help us talk to those who do not believe in Jesus, or for them to read to make a decision about what they will do with Him. Tim Keller quotes Soren Keirkegaard about the issue of sin: “Sin is: in despair not wanting to be oneself before God…Faith is: that the self in being itself and wanting to be itself is grounded transparently in God.” Then…
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I Wonder If….
If I am training for a marathon, I will not only prepare my body physically for the race, but I will also learn from others who have run races before me. If I want to run well and make it across the finish line strong and on two feet, I will prepare long and hard ahead of time. Otherwise…well, you know. I will quit early in the race or I will crawl across the finish line, half dead! I actually understand this because I ran a 3 mile race MANY years ago. I trained hard and I still struggled to make it across the line without throwing up! So, in…
