When it comes to being good and faithful stewards of this gift of life, we Christians often get it backwards. We focus on Biblical principles first. Not that Biblical principles are unimportant. Wisdom is essential to living, but not as critical as loving the Source and Giver of all wisdom. It’s All About the Relationship Often we’re so busy trying to keep His principles that we neglect the relationship. We become performance-driven rather than love-driven. We conform to a list... Read more
In the previous post, we saw how the word complete in Hebrews 13:20-21 is the Greek word katartizo, which carries the idea that God desires to reconcile us to Himself through a process of reframing, restoring, and repairing in the context of a covenant relationship. Thinking about what it means for God to make us complete led me to take a look at 2 Tim. 3:16-17 which famously employs what appeared to be the same word: All Scripture is given... Read more
May the God of peace… make you complete (katartizo) in every good work to do His will through the blood of the everlasting covenant so you will be well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever. (Heb. 13:20-21) There’s a lot going on in these verses theologically. But the simple version is this. The God of Peace, who has embarked from all eternity on a mission of grace and mercy, reconciling us to Himself, makes... Read more
The decorations are set. The tree is trimmed. Only hours remain for last-minute gift shopping. And there are still a few names on your list! If you are one of the 32 million “power shoppers” who put off purchasing gifts until the closing days before Christmas, maybe you should keep your credit card in your wallet when it comes to that last minute gift and give something far more rare and precious than anything you might find at the 24-hour... Read more
It’s that time again. Christmas. So it’s time to give gifts. Let’s face it. It’s fun to give gifts. I’m looking forward to Christmas morning to see my children open their gifts. I’m thrilled that my heavenly Father shares the opportunity to be a gift-giver with me. We should delight in imitating our heavenly father by giving good gifts to others. We were created to enjoy it. But how do we know what to give? Research from USAID/CIDI says that... Read more
You’ve heard of the infamous Black Friday and the somewhat tamer Cyber Monday – but a new one for me this year was #GivingTuesday. All involve money changing hands to kick off the holiday season. But while the first two are about using money to get stuff, #Giving Tuesday is all about giving to others. As the official mission statement for the event explains, “#GivingTuesday™ is a campaign to create a national day of giving at the start of the... Read more
Christmas is coming! We’re entering the time of the year when generosity is in vogue. The holidays seem to put our focus on giving. We visit soup kitchens on Thanksgiving Day and shower our loved ones with lavish gifts on Christmas morn. Year-end gifts boost the funds of charities. Everyone feels good about their good deeds for the year. But for Christians, shouldn’t this season be different? The Christmas Bandwagon Am I saying we shouldn’t jump on the bandwagon of... Read more
So what is it? What is the secret to pleasing God? When we consider Jesus’ parable of the talents, most of us Christ-followers understand that each of us has been commissioned as a steward. Each of us would likely agree that we want to please God in our role as a steward of the time, talents, and treasure He has given us. When we read about what happened to the unprofitable servant with one talent, we’re sure we don’t want... Read more
We hear a lot about the widening gap between the rich and the poor these days. What we often don’t think about is that in God’s eyes, no one is really rich. We’re all equally poor. We just convince ourselves that His stuff belongs to us. Consider the convicting message Christ delivered to the infamous church at Laodicea: I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are... Read more
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