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May 22 2007
ASCENSION DAY: What it contributes to a full Christian Understanding
Not so easy to dismiss is the notion that Christ's Ascension into Heaven is akin to some form of ascending skywards, as in a hot-air-balloon. Partly responsible for this misconception has been the tendency of Christian art to portray his ascension as entrance to some celestial canopy both sumptuous and palatial. It is as though Ascension Day celebrates Christ's safe return from the harsh reality of this world back into the safe seclusion of heaven.
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May 22 2007
THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE
Henry Drummond was born in Stirling, Scotland on August 17, 1851. When he died, aged 45 in 1897, his life was described by his friends and admirers, as the most Christian life they ever knew. His biographer, the noted biblical scholar, George Adam Smith, wrote that he "was one of the purest, most unselfish, most reverent souls you ever knew; but you would not have called him saint.
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May 14 2007
LOVE NEVER FAILS
This love is eternal. This is what William Penn (1644-1718) meant when he prayed: "Life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is only an horizon, and an horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. Lift us up, strong Son of God, that we may see further, cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly, and draw us closer to yourself that we may know ourselves to be nearer to our loved ones who are with you."
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May 05 2007
LOVE ALWAYS PERSEVERES
Love is not just grimly putting up with a difficult relationship or situation, enduring it, persevering with it because you think it is the right thing to do; it is approaching the relationship or situation as a mission to be accomplished, an objective to be reached, a challenge to be conquered. Perseverance has the backbone of courage. Love enables us to have the courage to endure and succeed in the face of all that is painful.
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April 23 2007
LOVE ALWAYS HOPES
* "When we are trapped in a tunnel of misery, hope points to the light at the end.
* When we are overworked and exhausted, hope gives us fresh energy.
* When we are discouraged, hope lifts our spirits.
* When we are tempted to quit, hope keeps us going.
* When we lose our way and confusion blurs our destination, hope dulls the edge of panic.
* When we struggle with a crippling disease or a lingering illness, hope helps us persevere beyond the pain.
April 13 2007
LOVE ALWAYS TRUSTS
Thomas, after the death of Jesus, assumed that the worst was true. (John 20:24,25) He missed out on Jesus' post-resurrection appearance to the other disciples. When his friends told him that they had seen the Lord, risen from the dead, he did not believe them. Why? These were trusted friends with whom he had spent the past three years. They were telling him about what they had experienced but he wasn't buying it. He mistrusted them, and in so doing he did them an injustice.
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April 07 2007
THE CENTRAL FACT
Paul makes a bold claim here in tying the truth of Christianity to the truth of a particular historical event. Disprove it, says Paul, and Christianity is doomed. What sort of historical evidence is there to support the resurrection of Jesus?
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April 05 2007
An Easter Devotional: His Unfamiliar Face
Sunday Afternoon
Later that afternoon, Jesus joined two disciples on the Emmaus Road, and for seven miles He gives them an Old Testament Bible study.3
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March 30 2007
LOVE DOES NOT ENVY
To want to be like God, to be independent, unlimited, liberated from moral constraints, from feeling the need to share, to care for others, to give; to have the unlimited possibilities of God, is the beginning of envy and the opposite of love.
To want to be like God is to want to be able to control results, to influence others, to guarantee success - a fearsome power that God denies even himself.
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March 22 2007
LOVE ALWAYS PROTECTS
The word for 'making atonement' in the Hebrew: kaphar, means 'to cover.' The atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross was the fulfillment of the purpose of the Day of Atonement celebrated each year in the Temple, when the sins of the people were covered by the blood of the offering in the Holy of Holies. Jesus was both the High Priest and the Sacrifice to take away our sins by covering them, 'making atonement', and protecting us from condemnation.
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