That distance is as small or great as the distance of earth from heaven, and our attitude to it determines how we feel about our communication with God.
Read more"He hurls them into space, as it were, in a spirit of bold defiance. He challenges anybody and everybody, in heaven, earth, or hell, to answer them and to deny the truth which they contain. But there is no answer. For no-one and nothing can harm the people whom God has foreknown, predestined, called, justified and glorified." (John Stott, Romans, 254)
Read moreIt tells us that we should look at suffering in terms of purpose, its end, its healing, its redemption. Philosophers would call it a teleological perspective: Greek, telos = end; the doctrine of final causes, the view that developments are due to the purpose or design that is served by them, e.g. a telescope brings the object in view, the end in view, it gives you a closer perspective on what is far away.
Read morePaul teaches that, when our minds are receptive to the Spirit, we have access to the life in all its fullness that Jesus came to bring, and we experience peace with God, others, and within ourselves. Life in its fullness is to be found in living according to the Holy Spirit, and setting your mind on the things of the Spirit. Each person has a choice in life. We can set our minds on what our lower nature desires, or on what the Spirit of God desires for us.
Read moreThe Bible has a word for this condition: it is one of the words we translate for "sin". The Greek word 'hamartia' means missing the mark, or falling short. It means aiming for something and missing it. It is like lining up your ball on the 18th green. If you sink your putt you will win the match. If you miss it, you lose. You aim, putt ...... and miss! You know the sinking (no pun intended) feeling of failure. It is the word St. Paul uses in Romans 8.
Read moreI am not a doctor so I don't know whether the three days in the tomb would have closed up the wounds, nor whether the week between Jesus' first appearance to His Disciples and His re-appearance to Thomas would have started the healing process. Without the pressure from a beating heart, and the body's natural healing mechanisms, the wounds would likely have crusted over, but that is not what scripture says. These wounds were still open, and yet they were neither bleeding nor suppurating.
Read moreI read a letter by Benjamin Franklin to a friend who had lost a loved one.
Read moreThis is Jesus' ultimate role in the purpose of God - to fashion a righteousness on behalf of those who are consciously and contritely moral failures and into which righteousness we can enter by the portal of faith and receive the favor of the Lord.
Read moreWe live in a culture where the prevailing wisdom is that we are justified in our actions if we believe that God or Nature has made us the way we are. "We are born this way...." This is the justification for many who choose alternative lifestyles, differing sexual identities, and genders. It is also the justification for anti-social behavior and refusal to accept the work requirements necessary for education attainments, occupational training, and healthy family life.
Read moreMalachi "the messenger" through divine inspiration announces the ministries of two future messengers yet to come: "See, I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me.* Then suddenly the Lord* you are seeking will come to his* temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty (Malachi 3:1). * Divinity of Christ.
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