Living in light of eternity

  The Ten Commandments starts with a strong warning… Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God , visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Exodus 20:1-6) Technically speaking, idolatry refers to the worship or excessive admiration of an idol or an object as if it were a god or possessed divine powers. It involves attributing supernatural or divine qualities to something or someone that is not inherently divine. In biblical times, people believed that idols repr...

  So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. (Php 2:12-16)   When we think of grumbling and complaining, Joseph comes to mind.   He had several serious trials in him life, but there is no evidence of him complaining to God.   We remember that he was his father's favorite son and Jacob made a beautiful multi-colored coat especially for Joseph.   In many ways the many facets of Joseph's life...

The Scripture is quite clear on matters of morality and conduct.  There are many things that we are to DO.  Likewise, there are many things that we are NOT TO DO. But there are some things that are questionable.  We usually call these things DOUBTFUL THINGS.  In these areas, well-meaning and sincere Christians sometimes disagree.   Now I'm not primarily talking about doctrinal disagreements, but rather lifestyle issues.  Paul addresses this problem in two famous passages, Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8. In 1 Cor 8 Paul addresses one doubtful thing- eating food offered to idols. In Romans 14 he addresses this as well as the observance of special days.  In both cases there were well-meaning Christians at the time who felt strongly that you should not eat food that had been previously used in idol worship.  They felt defiled when they would partake.  They also would be concerned when they saw others eating this so-called contaminated food....

  1 John 3:1–3 (NET): 3:1 (See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children—and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him. 3:2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. 3:3 And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure).    How incredible. The infinite creator calls us His children. And not only calls us such, but we  actually are  His children. He has made us so. Not by creating us, but by recreating us in Christ. It’s more than a title, but an absolute reality.  He literally “fathered us”. And we have His seed within us (1 Jn 3:9). I assume this refers to the indwell Holy Spirit. How could we have a more special relationship than that? And this privileged...

  There is a phrase that the Apostle Paul uses repeatedly to pinpoint a particular attitude, "selfish ambition".  In our secular world the person who is ambitious is often considered a leader, and the one who is selfishly ambitious is usually the norm.  But what about in Christian work?  Well, that is another story. Among those who truly know Christ and are led by His Spirit, we would not expect to see this sin raising its ugly head.  But look again. In the book of Philippians, Paul makes a curious observation: Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some al...

  I’m on the last day of a short mission trip. We were in Chicago for several days before  Memorial Day.  I joined with 65 international students from around the world. It was a great week to visit because of all the vacationers coming to this beautiful city. In the mornings, we had training sessions, encouragement, worship, and motivation. Every afternoon we went out around the city to parks, lakes, college campuses, and other locations where we could easily meet people and engage in spiritual conversations. I think everybody was a bit nervous as we went out, but that nervousness  didn’t last for long. In the parks and locations were people just sitting around with nothing to do. They were very agreeable to talk about philosophical questions, the nature of life, where do you find purpose, and other topics that easily lead into the gospel.    What was surprising to me about this week was how deeply satisfying it was. When I was falling asleep...