Yearly Archives: 2013

380 posts

A simple, but often forgotten truth.

Every true believer has experienced the grace of being forgiven on behalf of Christ’s sacrifice. So when they are offended by another, they know where to take it – to the cross. To the unique place where genuine forgiveness and lasting reconciliation can be found. When this happens, it is glorious. from Red Like Blood

Thought for the Lord’s Day

A Christian must not live as though time is all that matters.  As the hymn says, the sands of time are numbered. They are contained in an hourglass crafted by God for his glory. One day the last grain of sand will sink to the bottom of the glass. When this happens God will not turn the hourglass over. When the last grain falls, life on earth will also fall.    Don’t live your life for sinking grains of sand. Live it for the glory of the King.    The Sands of Time are Sinking   The sands of time are sinking, the dawn of Heaven breaks; The summer morn I’ve sighed for—the fair, sweet morn awakes: Dark, dark hath […]

Worry and the Future

Instructing a Child’s Heart talks about the importance of viewing life as a classroom. When we hear someone speak of confidence in God’s care for the future, such as Tim Tebow did this week, it is important to realize this confidence did not come from the thoughts of a good man. These thoughts came from the direction of the Holy Spirit expressed in Scripture. Use this classroom opportunity to repent of your own tendency to  worry and then to show your children the value of taking God at his word. This is how Tim came to trust God in the light of an uncertain future. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or […]

Tim Tebow

Recently, quarterback Tim Tebow was asked about his uncertain future in the NFL. This is what he said:  “I believe everything happens for a reason. I don’t know what my future holds, but I know who holds my future and in that there is a lot of peace and a lot of comfort.” Amen to that! Whatever else you may think of Tim Tebow, he has handled a difficult year with the New York Jets with patience and grace. I appreciate his consistent witness to God’s faithfulness. 

Teaching Christ -an alternative!

In the last post the subject was about how you teach Christ to your teenage son who has come home late and has a fresh dent in the side of the car. If we take a good look at the Holy Spirit’s instruction in Ephesians 4:17-20 and Colossians 2:6-8, we see that we must avoid doing things that the world does. The wording in both passages is strong – don’t be taken captive by the world and don’t live, think, or walk like the world. It is a mistake to read these warnings as general platitudes and hopeful guidelines. Paul writes these words because your spiritual life and the spiritual life of your children (see Ephesians 6:4) depends upon doing […]

But that is not the way you learned Christ!

The Apostle Paul issues a strong reminder to the Ephesians when he contrasts learning Christ with living like the world. In Colossians Paul demands that we not be taken captive by being and thinking like the world. The difference between living like the world and living for God is Christ! So, there is a sense of urgency when Paul proclaims that the Ephesians should be different from the world – they should learn Christ.    As previously noted, this particular language, learning Christ, is the first time in the Greek Bible that there is a directive to learn a person. The clear, but shocking, implication is that if you are not teaching the person of Christ your teaching is just […]

Thought for the Lord’s Day

Are you all in for God?   Proverbs 2 provides a window of understanding for least one reason why we have periods of spiritual apathy. If you ever have a question about why God seems distant at times, here is an explanation. Solomon says to find the knowledge of God, you must be passionately committed to your search, you must be all in.   Suppose I told you that you could find millions of dollars of treasure in your back yard, all you have to do is go find it. Would your response be passive? Would you start your search after you have had a nap or watched your favorite TV program? Would you put your search off until a […]

Are Your Children Learning Christ?

After Paul warns the Ephesians not to think and live like the world around them in verses 17-19 of Ephesians 4, he then reminds his readers that they did not learn Christ the way the world does its learning. Rather Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, penned a phrase that had never been used before in the Greek language. He says:   But that is not the way you learned Christ!  Ephesians 4:20 ESV   Peter O’Brien, in his excellent commentary on Ephesians, points out that in the Greek Bible and as well as the rest of Greek literature this is the first time that the phrase, learning a person, is used. Thus, Paul is saying it is […]