Our God is an All-Consuming-Fire. Everything but Him is of Him, through Him, and for Him. While we wait through the fire of threats of rejection, accusation, loss, fear, hard work, abandonment, and every other evil the world can empower against us, we are waiting for the fire that can empower us against the evil. When the followers of Jesus […]
Kindness should be no more thought about and weighed out in terms of how we interact with others (especially the difficult ones) than faith or love should be. It is the kindness of our God that leads us to having changed minds and hearts (Romans 2:4). His kindness through us can bring the dead to Life.
There is a beggar who asks me for money every few days. He frequently starts the conversation by thanking me for the help I have given him. Then, he makes small talk about weather or music or his family or neighbors. Then always comes the “by the way…” He is not my friend, though he wants his conversation to make […]
We don’t usually know when we wake up what Responsibility waits for us in the day. We know the routine – whether we are going to our job or some other typical activity. The R in the Responsibility I am pointing at implies the big stuff – the things that affect generations behind me. On the day Elisha was approached […]
What are we free to demand of others? Respect? Love? Kindness? Generosity? When are others free to demand those or other things of us? When we are in a good mood? When we have enough to pay our bills? When it’s christmas? Every day is an opportunity to encounter Jesus. One of the most astonishing things in the Book for […]
Matthew was a traitor to his nation. He worked for the government that empowered Herods to rule over them, providing the Herods with resources extracted from the victims of the imposed government. Jesus invited him to follow Him. He threw away the lucrative job and powerful position and followed Him. He shared his life with us through His writings, offering […]
You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. This is what I command you: love one another. But now God has placed the parts, each one of them, […]
The more our desire is to serve with love and humility, the more we will be called by the Spirit to lead with authority and power. When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His robe, He reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? You call Me Teacher and Lord. This […]
Jesus has been counted worthy to judge humans because He was willing to die for us. We have been ordained to judge, too: humans and angels. What qualifies us to begin the work? An ekklesia was sometimes called together in Greece or Rome to make a judgment in a matter. James 1 of England wanted to rule over Jesus’ people […]
We have the power and the responsibility to influence other people’s behaviors for the better. We also have the power to influence them and make them worse. I had a coworker once in the position of supervisor, who started all her interactions with tone of voice and choice of words that implied that the hearer was late, contentious, lazy, and […]