thoughts on life and faith
5 The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. (Proverbs 20:5) You have deep purpose. Your quality of life is equal to the extent in which you believe this. And while every being on earth has a purpose, Christ - followers have extra motivation to discover … Continue reading The Compass of Your Life
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7) Is there any more bold a claim than this one from Jesus? Recently a few … Continue reading The Bold Claims of Jesus and My GPS
14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity (absurd) and a striving after wind. (Ecclesiastes 1:14) 24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, (Ecclesiastes 2:24) Take it … Continue reading Today Is All You Have
“I have prayed for years for one good humiliation a day, and then, I must watch my reaction to it. I have no other way of spotting both my denied shadow self and my idealized persona.” - Richard Rohr Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:10) I have been … Continue reading Why I Now Pray For Humiliation
The week leading up to Easter is always huge at our church. As a staff, we plan for weeks on how to creatively engage the culture around us through the message of the Passion. This week was especially impactful as we saw the culmination of preparation meet the expectancy and it factor of Jesus. Western Reserve has … Continue reading Easter Week Wrap Up
Romans 6:1-14 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:13-14) What are you … Continue reading Day 6: A Easter Week Devotional
Romans 6:1-14 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.(Romans 6:11-12) There is a difference between being alive and living. The distance between a heartbeat and a purpose is a mile wide. It is one … Continue reading Day 5: A Easter Week Devotional
Romans 6:1-14 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. (Romans 6:9-10) So we now live post-resurrection. Our old selves have been slain with our savior, … Continue reading Day 4: A Easter Week Devotional
Romans 6:1-14 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Romans 6:7-8) Many religions hold many differing views of life after death. To some, it means release. At the end of life, or many lives, you simply end extinguished with little fanfare. … Continue reading Day 3: Easter Week Devotional
Romans 6:1-14 The next few days we will be examining Holy Week through Romans 6 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6) The practice of history urges us to look back in … Continue reading Day 2: A Easter Week Devotional
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