Christine's Blog (2,530)

Paul’s message has been quite clear:  you are set free from religious law; for it is through God’s grace that you are made right with him.

Now, before I proceed, I wonder how many of us are bound up by ‘the law’…  Oh I am not talking about 613 points of Jewish Law to which Paul was referring, but rather some other construct to which you subject yourself—perhaps unwittingly even. 

The other evening I was getting a pedicure, (not because I needed one, but because the heated…

January was a good month.  I’ve been doing regular quiet times.  I’ve been meeting for breakfast with a good friend I trust.  I finished the first two versions of my next book.  I took my kids on dates and made more time for my wife.  I lost 10 pounds and have been eating healthier.

I was mentally reviewing that list in my head the other night walking out of the office when I bumped into a tragic lie I was unaware I still believed.

As I left work, I thought to myself, “God must…

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,

    Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!

        Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,

            There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.1

Paul writes, ‘For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.  The law was brought in so that the trespass might…

How many times have I heard, ‘I believe in God, sure, but that is as far as I can take it; I just can’t really trust a God who allows such suffering in the world—especially for those who don’t deserve it, like innocent children.’ 

One certainly cannot deny the presence of suffering in the world; pick up any newspaper, visit the neonatal floor of the hospital, morph into the funeral of a young Marine, whose widow is weeping …

Here’s our problem—to whom do we credit the…

My mother was 45 years old when she had me, (yes, I was the caboose)!  To say I was born to ‘old school’ parents would be a major understatement … so, when at a young age I asked how I got here, my mom would say, ‘We found you under the rocks…’  Now that I think about it, that wasn’t the most auspicious of beginnings, was it??  ‘But I loved you the moment I saw you,’ she assured me.  As I grew older, I knew my mother loved and adored me from the moment she knew she was ‘expecting’.  (we…

I know nothing, except what everyone knows —if there when Grace dances, I should dance.   W. H. Auden

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Aye, that is grace dancing.  God reaching down…

         For we are God’s workmanship [his masterpiece!] created in Christ…

Said my ‘good byes’ in Long Beach—tough, of course, but right.  By bro, Tex, put his arm around me, looked at me, and said, ‘Paaaster, don’t look back…’  Funny thing is, I did look back after I drove away from the Sanctuary—I looked back to when I had first been asked to lead a weekly prayer meeting for the homeless, and I remember thinking, ‘Well, Lord, I have the ability to do it, but God, really--me?  Long Beach is an hour away from my home!  I am already tapped out; my ministry plate is…

Before I get back to our text in Romans, I wish to continue one more day on how God directs his children when they are looking to him for his leading.  Since James tells us we can ask God for wisdom and he will give it to us … how do we receive it?  Well, first—what is wisdom, anyway?

Wisdom may be broken down into six areas:   understanding, discretion, prudence, discernment, knowledge, and action.    I believe it is critical to comprehend these, and to desire them…

Truly, most of us desire to hear the voice of God.  If God really does still speak to his people, we want to make sure he speaks to us!  And we want to make sure we know it when he speaks.  So, how can we know that the thing we heard, and think is from God, is really from him? 

-It will be consistent with his Word

-Other believers will affirm it

-It will not be a mean, condemning voice, but a guiding one

-Does it express his mind, his character, or his…

The psalmist said, “The unfolding of your words gives light.” Psalm 119.30

“In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your path.” Proverbs 3.6

We read, study, and even memorize these words, but how does…

God spoke to me this week.  Where? How?  W h e n did G o d speak to me?  Through his powerful Word—yet again.  Right where we find ourselves in Romans 5.  See, in his next breath, (after establishing that our eternal hope is through Christ, in that he alone makes us right with God), Paul passionately implores the Roman Christians to stand strong—no matter what they were facing.  Check it out:

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we…

It seems like a very long time ago since we stepped away from Paul, leaving him in the letter that he was writing to the church at Rome . . . we segued for good reason, to prepare our hearts for the celebration of the birth of the King, and then to consider the right thoughts we might choose to start the New Year, including the notion that right thinking must include the personal priority of studying and taking a hold of the Word of God.

I would submit to you that we cannot simply…

When something in your world goes haywire, to what do you default?  Sure, your computer has default settings, but do you?  In the last several days, I have been involved in relational settings—

--in which a beloved father passed away

--a much-loved younger brother was killed suddenly in a motorcycle accident,

--when the news about ‘just how much cancer’ was not so good,

--a dad came into town to visit his adult children, but showed up for each of two visits…

Have you ever been on the defense for your faith?  Anyone ever said anything like this to you-- ‘You Christians—you’re so arrogant, believing that Jesus is the only way to God…’?  I know what Jesus said to such a statement—and so we can reply with, ‘Well, actually, I didn’t say it, Jesus did—“I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father except through me.”1   I didn’t say it; Jesus’ words are recorded in Scripture, and I guess that’s good enough for me.’  A…

Why all this talk about Scripture? There’s the historical scope of Scripture, the inspirational and instructional value of God’s Word, and brief insight into the various translations that abound .  .  . now what?  Is that it?  Actually, no.

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.   Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”1  God’s Word tells us how we got here, who we are, who we are purposed to be, how to live life, and even how to…

So, we’ve looked at changing our thinking, noting that just to say, ‘Okay, I’m not going to think about THAT anymore’ really doesn’t work too well; instead, we must replace our thoughts with more positive thoughts—like those from the Bible.  We’ve also looked at elevating our thoughts by standing on the promises of God.  But just to consider Scripture inspirational is not enough to know about the written Word of God.

What exactly is contained in the Bible?  Sixty-six books—39 in the…

My canned goods are stored in a pantry; when my boys turn up their noses at the evening’s dinner offering, they know they can look on the lefthand shelf, thigh-high, and opt for some variety of soup.  In “Campbell’s Soup Thinking,” I proposed that you and I can take control of our thinking by removing an errant thought, (just like a can of soup) and putting it on a shelf, and then choosing a…

Campbell’s Soup Truth.

I was sitting across the office from him, and inquired how he was doing . . . truthfully, I could have guessed, because his brows were furrowed.  He hesitated, choosing his words with care—“Freedom.  I need freedom.”  “What do you mean?” I quietly…