There are times when memories seem as a curse. The pain is strong enough that you bless the minutes, the hours, the days when those memories are absent. Then there are the good memories, the ones you want never to forget. These good ones are etched in your mind. They bring joy. God made you this way, he made you to remember. Why? He made you to remember him. He commands you to remember who he is and what he has accomplished for you. It is the memory of God that keeps all of your other memories in perspective. The Lord will make right and wipe away the tears from all that is painful and destructive. His great goodness reminds […]
Sanctification
159 posts
Life is full of drama and upset. Relationships may be filled with tensions and disappointments. The cultural landscape and the world’s political climate are unsettling at best. The noise of life is everywhere. Sometimes hope appears out of sight, other times the relentless drama of life can make it seem as if your mind is about to explode. Where is peace? The Holy Spirit speaks comfort into your life. He uses evocative images to speak to you. In Psalm 46 he says: So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. That’s challenging! Earthquakes and mountain crumbling into the sea are drama personified. Earthquakes, even with all of our sophisticated scientific advances, are not […]
Author of Counseling One Another Interview by Fred Zaspel of Books at Glance Part 2 (read part 1 here) Books At a Glance (Fred Zaspel): How might churches foster this kind of “counseling one another” atmosphere? Tautges: Pastors need to teach their people that making disciples of Jesus is the primary task of the church, and is a work that necessitates the involvement of every believer. Disciple-making is not only for church leaders; it is for every Christian to one extent or another. Congregations need to understand what it means to live as a community of the faith, which involves the exercise of biblical love in “one-anothering” relationships. Believers also need to understand what biblical sanctification looks like, that is, […]
Author of Counseling One Another Interview by Fred Zaspel of Books at Glance Part 1 Books At a Glance (Fred Zaspel): The first thing that struck me when I opened the book is that in your title – Counseling One Another – you intend something more than we may catch at first glance. Explain your title for us. What is your book all about? Tautges: This book is about biblical discipleship. It’s that simple. The ministry of counseling has too often been relegated to the professional outside the church because we don’t understand what discipleship entails. This is not to say there is no need or place for the professional counselor; however, the lion’s share of this personal ministry can […]
Following rules will not make you a better person. Rules will not build your character. Rules will not produce spiritual maturity. What rules may do is keep you safe and keep you from breaking laws. The question to ask is this: Is there more to life than being safe and legal? Relying primarily on a set of rules to govern your family can be toxic. Paul warns you about being taken captive by human traditions and spiritual forces of this world. Here is his exact warning found in Colossians 2:8. “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on […]
Adam left you a legacy of hurt. There is joy because the second Adam, Jesus, has rescued you from Adam’s dark web. But while you remain on earth the tentacles of Adam’s choice cling to your flesh. Hardship and pain are punctuated by pangs of failure, betrayal, guilt and jaded visions of what might have been. But here we meet the power of the gospel! God never abandons you, even in times of deep sadness. The Apostle Paul writes eloquently of this mixture of Adam’s legacy and Christ’s redeeming power. His words are printed for you below. Paul knew a mixture of hope and discouragement, joy and sadness, life and death. Jesus has gone before you and he now walks […]
From God’s perspective, to love is to identify with Christ. In I John 3 we learn what love really means: to love is to follow Christ’s example and lay down our lives for others. Thus to love like Jesus did means at least these things: True love is selfless love. True love means a commitment to die to yourself. True love takes great personal courage. True love is dangerous. It is dangerous to follow Christ in love. Yet, it is even more dangerous to attempt to love without knowing and loving Christ. When you love someone, you become vulnerable to that person. The person you love is in a position to hurt you. The only way to truly love is to […]
Just to be clear, taking care of your health is a vital obligation you have before God. Having said that, here is a question to consider: Do you care more about being healthy or holy? Let’s think this through. Being as healthy as you can is important! However, problems with your health can take nothing from you that will damage your relationship with God. Sin, on the other hand, will do this and much more. Being sick or injured cannot keep you from God, but sin certainly will. Maintaining good health is something most people take seriously. Sin – not so much. For example, spending time and money to find the right diagnosis for a health issue is done without […]
Sin entangles in despair and hopelessness. Repentance brings freedom. Here is how it happens. Sin is breaking the law of God. Repentance is seeing the rejection of the his law in relational terms and seeking obedience as a response to his goodness So, you don’t just acknowledge that you were angry, but you also repent of the lack of love that produced the anger. Sin is hating what is good and loving what is evil. Repentance is examining the root of the things you are passionate about. What are sometimes known as besetting sins, sins like anger or lust or self-pity that you cling to, are in reality a love of evil and a hatred for what honors God. Repentance […]
A husband says to his wife that he is sorry for being insensitive. He says he has been under a lot of pressure lately. A mom says tells her kids she shouldn’t have yelled at them, but she is just very tired. These “little” sins are justified because of some extenuating circumstance or unfair treatment by someone else. After a while these sins aren’t even seen as sins. They are conveniently placed in the category of being human. Well, that is true as far as it goes. Being human means many things: A person who is made in the image of God. A person who has great value because he is an image-bearer of God. A person who, with Adam, […]