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In: Bible and Theology, Faith, Fatherhood, God's love, Grace, Prayer and Devotions

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:10) Sometimes we feel like we shouldn’t bother God so much, that he expects us to have gotten it by now and be able to handle it ourselves. This lie of course tricks us into doing things in our strength rather than God’s and failing to get the victory over our sin. Paul reminds us, in his letter to the Romans, that Christ laid down his life for us while we were hisRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Faith, Grace, Legalism, Prayer and Devotions

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) Is this true of us? Have we crucified the desires of our sinful flesh and nailed them up along with our failures and mistakes? Are we also then living by faith in Christ’s finished work rather than our own righteousness? Is our good deeds also Christ living and working in us or the efforts of the flesh? OneRead More →

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In: Abuse, Bible and Theology, God's love, Prayer and Devotions

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” (1 John 3:16) What is love? John tells we learn what love is at the cross. Jesus and Paul both tell us that to love god and to love others fulfills all the laws and regulations handed down to us in the scriptures.  We love, John tells us elsewhere, because Christ first loved us. To love is to sacrifice and put others needs (not their wants) before our own. Scripture places the greatest burden here upon the leaders in our communities:Read More →

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In: Bible and Theology, God's love, Prayer and Devotions

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) The immediate context is Paul’s statement to the basic effect of, “Guys, if I’m out of my mind, it’s for God. If I’m acting sane, it’s for your sake.” Christ’s love motivates us to live for something greater than ourselves and consider others’ needs, remembering Christ died for them, too. But we live ultimately forRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Forgiveness, Grace, Prayer and Devotions

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,” (Ephesians 1:7) In the “take your own devotions seriously” category, the day after my devotions reminded us, among other things, to pray about everything and always ask God for direction and his opinion, I let my husband talk me into going out to some marketing class on Saturday morning when I’d wanted to spend a relaxing day at home.  In a classic, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death” moment, we ran off the way that seemedRead More →