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He Chose Us

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  He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth. When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly.   1 Peter 2: 22-23 Over and over again as His time of suffering approached, Jesus warned those around Him. He told them what was coming, but no one seemed to understand. I wonder if Jesus spoke of deep things so often that the disciples were used to not understanding Him sometimes, because there is no mention of anyone even questioning Him about it. Jesus knew without a doubt what was ahead of Him. He knew how awful it would be and we can’t say He wasn’t disturbed by it because in the Garden of Gethsemane He sweat drops of blood over it and asked that it be taken away if it was God’s will. At so many other times in His life and ministry Jesus either had just the right words for people that were trying to trap Him with their questions or He managed to disappear into the crowd and walk
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Don't Choose the Poop!

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  Years ago we had the most amazing parakeet named Bella. She was so smart and so friendly. We would open her cage and let her fly about the house with us. She loved to hang out with us at the table, sampling the food on the edges of our plates and sipping from our coffee. Her favorite treat though was paper. Oh how she loved to chew the edges of a piece of paper! Many times my kids had to turn in their homework with a smirk and admit that their bird had eaten it. She also loved digital devices, and she quickly learned that the warmth of her nose would trigger things on the screen. I had her send more than a few strange texts and emails!   But her time out of the cage was limited. We couldn’t, for her safety, leave her out all the time. Every once in a while, the strangest thing would happen. We’d open her cage door for her to come out and, instead, she’d hang out on the bottom of the cage, with her poop. Just bopping around, hanging out, missing out on all the fun outside. I feel li
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Changed Lives Change Lives

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  We can stand on the street corner and preach the evils of the flesh or the value of heaven, but it will not win souls to Christ. People need to see changed lives and the fruit of the Spirit at work in us. The world is watching, what do they see in us? Thankfully, it is not up to us alone to be holy and fruitful, but it does take our cooperation. In John 15:5 Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” So we are responsible for remaining in Jesus, for abiding in Him. If we do this, then we will bear fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control (Gal 5:22-23). When non-Christians see these fruits in our lives, they are drawn to desire their giver, Jesus. We have the opportunity to point people to God and give Him glory. Sadly, as I said, this does take our cooperation. We can choose instead to live a worldly life and gratify the flesh ra
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Marvelous Light

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You might think that white is the absence of color and black is all the colors mashed together. Not so my friend! In fact, it’s the opposite. White is actually a combination of all the colors. If you take white light and refract it through a prism, out pops red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. All the colors of the rainbow! So it is with Christ’s marvelous light. When it shows up in us, we see bits and pieces of Christ’s beautiful character. In one person we might see abundant love. In another, joy could be flowing like a river! A third might evidence peace that passes understanding. Each of us has traits that point back to the light within us. But bring us all together in unity and we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own. When all those colors, all those bits of light come together you can see the incredible spectrum that is His marvelous light. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, s
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Purging and Yearning

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  Most of us have a favorite shirt. Let’s say you’re wearing that favorite shirt as you’re packing for vacation. You’ve got your bags all packed and you throw a load of laundry in the morning before you leave, including your favorite shirt so you can wear it when you get back, but you forget to switch it to the dryer in your haste to get out the door to the airport. You have a fabulous time on vacation and you actually get to do quite a bit of shopping and purchase what could be future favorite shirts! But when you get home you are horrified to find that your favorite shirt is sitting in the washer, covered in mildew. Nothing you do can get it all out, but you get it much better and you think, “Surely it’ll be fine. It’s just a few spots that you can hardly see.” But that’s not how mildew works. You carefully fold your favorite shirt, along with all your new ones, into your drawers and go about your life. That mildew is insidious though. While you’re not looking, it is infecting AL
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Investing in Love

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  My husband and I often discuss how we should invest our money for the best security and return. We want to be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us. But here’s the catch, in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter if we invest in stocks or CDs or gold or we stick it under the mattress, it’s all going to disappear. For all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of the grass; the grass withers and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.   1 Peter 1: 24-25 What will endure? Love and God’s Word. Our greatest investment, financially or otherwise, is in each other. It’s in sharing God’s love with our neighbors both close and far away. All of our material possessions, all of our physical attributes, our flesh, will wither and fade away like the grass of the field. No matter how hard we try to secure an empire it is doomed to fall. But the word of the Lord endures forever. When we were
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He Did it Anyways

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  A lush garden with the call of tropical birds in the distance. A hand reaches for exotic, forbidden fruit. Two men stand on a hill dividing up the land before them. The younger chooses first and takes the lush plain with the exciting cities. In them he finds around every corner, forbidden fruit. A king stands looking out the window of his palace and sees a bathing beauty. He lusts after her, forbidden fruit. He’s followed the master along with the other 11 for three years, but more and more he finds himself disgruntled. Surely he’s justified in seeking the religious rulers who offer, forbidden fruit. I try, and I fail. I climb, and I fall. I can’t do it on my own. The call is just too strong for that, forbidden fruit. God knew we wouldn’t be able to resist it on our own. He knew that our eyes would be drawn to the shiny and irresistible. He knew that our mouth would water for the promised sweetness. He also knew that the sweetness would turn to sour and it would turn our st
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