Dec
21
Inclusion
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This is the time of the year when inclusion and exclusion can hurt or heal. Many blended families will be getting together and, by circumstance not choice, some people will feel excluded. Born out of wedlock, divorces, adoptions, strained relationships. These are all worldly situations. Here’s the deal: a sincere effort to include someone is [...]
Dec
20
Let the Truth Do the Work
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If you’ve been walking with Christ for any length of time, you’ve been asked questions about your faith. Or, at least, you’ve had comments from others that make it clear they don’t understand what it means to follow Jesus. The truth is that being saved means being different and people will notice. “Dear friends, I [...]
Dec
19
Manufactured Oppression
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I believe that to get the highest level geek clearance, it is required that you be able to quote three Monty Python sketches and two movies. I’ve always been a fan of the Cheese Shop sketch, the Dead Parrot sketch, the Spam sketch, and the Bruces sketch. But, my specialty is scenes from “Monty Python [...]
Dec
18
You’re Special
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The fact that Christians are special is sometimes too much for some people to swallow. But, what is worse is that sometimes it isn’t enough to satisfy some Christians! Given that the Christian is destined to have eternal life with a loving God with a perfect body in infinite and perfect surrounds, I cannot understand [...]
Dec
17
Confidence
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Maybe it doesn’t count. Maybe there is no correlation between my behavior and answer to prayer. Maybe God will not reveal my sin. We all have wondered if our sin nature has derailed our relationship to God. “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;” 1 John 3:21 Do you [...]
Dec
16
I’ll Pray For You
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“I feel for you” is a phrase that slips off the tongue easily because it does not require us to do anything. Many Christians will interchange the phrase, “I’ll pray for you,” with the same results. Praying takes time and memory. In other words, it’s a commitment. When I ask for prayer, I am not [...]
Dec
15
Truth is Stubborn
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We suffer form many social ills, to be sure. Some are obvious and some are subtle. The entanglement of man’s reasoning versus the truth of Scripture has lead to a calcification of the pipeline to the truth of a subject. It works like this: If I read or hear something I do not like, I [...]
Dec
14
Real Change
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There’s change and then there’s CHANGE. (No, I’m not referring to politics) I’m talking about the difference between superficial change and real change. When you make the New Year’s resolution to go on a diet, do you simply start ordering your lattes with nonfat milk? Or, do you actually do a top to bottom change [...]
Dec
13
Don’t Roll Over
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I’ve watched my favorite basketball team lose two heartbreakers on back-to-back nights. They were on the road, short-handed, and fought tooth and nail. The second game went to double overtime and had some of the guys playing over 50 minutes. There were moments when it seemed like they had the game in hand. There were [...]
Dec
12
A Gap in the Armor
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There’s a great scene with a dragon and an archer in one of my all-time favorite books, “The Hobbit”. The story goes that a dragon has been living in a nearby mountain doing nothing but guarding his hoard of treasure. When one of his prized possessions is stolen, he leaves his lair to take revenge [...]