At first sight, this text has nothing to do with undeserved grace or does it? I was astonied by this year’s (B) lectionary reading. Then Peter said in reply, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging…
This week I’ve been noticing how important it is to decide whom or what kind of talk we want to listen to. Because the messages we receive change us. Words have power, much more than we think. Actually, the whole universe was created by the word of God, Jesus. In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. (John 1:1, AMP,*) By faith we understand that the worlds were…
Running around and always doing something is not our purpose in life. Our purpose comes from communing with our Maker. And that is not possible if we constantly are stressed out about things and press on fitting more stuff in our already busy lives. We do need to take a pause and do it regularly. Otherwise, we will burn out. Not only physically and mentally but also spiritually. And that’s the opposite of God’s will for our lives. Yet, sadly,…
How are you doing? And how about the well-being of your soul? We hear the first question quite often even if they are not really wanting to know how we are. The second question is something we rarely get asked which is kind of sad. But maybe it is a question we should ask ourselves. You know, the well-being of your soul is the most important thing. Without the well-being of your soul, you are not only unhappy but also…
How are you doing? Did you know that your well-being correlates with your prayer life? The more you pray, the better you feel. The more you pray, the more divine power you have in your life. When he came back to his disciples, he found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There…
One of the best things about Christianity is that we are not just saved, made right with God but we are also made whole. Wholeness is something everyone in the world wants. We want to feel complete. We want our lives to be wholesome. We want to be happy, whole, and peaceful. The way to wholeness is available for us in Christ. But only in Christ. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore…
Over and over again the Bible proclaims that if we repent, God will forgive us. This grace feels too good to be true. Yet it is true. Love, grace, and forgiveness form together the very essence of God. Because we are not able to become holy on our own, God sent his only son to redeem us. Because Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we can be forgiven by grace through faith in Jesus. But if we confess…
What if instead of people asking ‘how are you doing?’, they asked ‘how is your prayer life?’ That would tell us much more of a person’s well-being, don’t you think? If our prayer life is robust, we are well in Christ. If our prayer life’s been hit by a dry spell, we are not doing that well.
