P R I D E – it's all about "I"
Out of all the top sins in my life, I don’t think pride would have made my top 3 or even 7. Yet in the six (yea, seven) things God hates, “A proud look” makes the first on His list. (Proverbs 6: 16-17) In the New Testament, pride shows up again as one of three on a list as “the pride of life”. I John 2:16 Ever notice that the Bible also makes some very emphatic and exclusive statements and conclusions about pride? “Only by pride cometh contention: . . . ” Proverbs 13:10 and “Pride goeth before destruction, . . .” Proverbs 16:18 If God takes the issue of pride so seriously, why don’t I? The only answer I could come up with: my pride. As I began to delve into my own research to be able to teach...
Making War
John Piper – Make War When I first came across this video, I was a little uneasy. Being Mr. Nonviolence, I was like, “Say what now?” But when I pushed play, I learned that John Piper here is NOT talking about declaring war on others, but on ourselves. Our addictions. Our hatred toward others. Our apathy towards injustice. Our sinful nature. “My greatest enemy is not Satan,” Piper says. “My greatest enemy is John Piper.” Lately I’ve been thinking about this video and what it means. There’s definitely an battle within me, but mostly I don’t fight back. I just surrender and let the darkness take over. Then the darkness tortures me with guilt and shame. I like to think of myself as a lover, not a...
Satan's LAST victory over the believer
My grandmother died last night and again, I’m faced with tragedy. I am not generally good at sorrow / grief, and I typically respond in somewhat cold, logical manner. Though my grandmother was a Christian and I fully rejoice that she is in the presence of our Savior (Come quickly Jesus!), part of identifying with grief is really seeing death for what it is. Very similar to what I said in my last post, death really is a stark reminder of the consequences of sin. It is a victory for the devil in a lot of ways. I am reminded of the scene in the Passion of the Christ where the Devil figure is walking through the crowd as Jesus is being killed. There is a certain level of triumph in his face, yet he is apprehensive. The death of Christ was the...
An Unchanging God
Normally I am a little worried about throwing up hard to answer questions or questions that might not have an answer here. There are a couple of reasons for this: 1. I don’t want to cause any of my brothers to stumble, 2. I don’t want anyone who doesn’t know Christ to be mislead or confused, 3. It usually doesn’t lead to a heavy response, in fact in usually leads to no response at all. Throwing all that aside though I think this is a good venue for me to ask those questions, but feel free to let me know if you think I am wrong. So as some of you know, lately I have been struggling with understanding the character of God and who He is. The latest piece of character that has come into question in my life is this aspect of him being...
The American Revolution – A Holy War?
Isn’t this country great, how we threw off the shackles of King George III to establish a government with principles inspired by God, securing God’s blessings and approval! Is it? I’ve been wrestling for some time with our revolution from a biblical perspective. Was it justified? Should we have rebelled in the first place? If we look at Romans 13:1-7, maybe not. It begins: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” King George the III was,...
The Real Prayer of Jabez
Any one who knows me knows that I have a huge beef with the Prosperity Gospel. It sickens me to see the Word of God reduced to just another snake-oil self-help scam where you can get anything you want if you just “think positively.” One of the most popular examples of this is The Prayer of Jabez, which misuses a small anecdote found in 1 Chronicles 4:9-11: Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request. Many people interpret this as, “If you ask God to...