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

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) Christianity is more than a mere list of dos and don’ts. God does have boundaries, and we do reap the consequences of our actions here on earth. But when we become wrathful, angry, bitter, and slanderous in how we respond to the mote in our brother’s eye, we need to get the beam out of our own, because those are the works of the flesh and as poisonous to us as what we are attempting to correct in others–in some cases, more so even. Let our kindness andRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Faith, Forgiveness, Gospel, Poetry, Suffering

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” –Rev 21:4 I slipped into my grandpa’s room, Eyes swollen from crying, Fear gripping my heart, Expecting to see a shriveled-up skeleton With sunken eyes filled with despair. Imagine to my surprise, I found Just my grandpa, looking small in the bed, Shriveled up yes, but my, there’s that same sparkle In his eyes, and smile on his lips! “Grandpa,” cried I, “What’s this joy I see? How can youRead More →

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In: abuse, Bible and Theology, Forgiveness, God's Character, God's love, Gospel, Grace, Post-Modernism, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

Brothers and sisters in Christ, forgiveness is plentiful and free. Grace and mercy are equally extended from the Lord to all. All we must do to receive it is humbly acknowledge we need it. As God’s children, we all know this well. So why do we ever pridefully insist God is wrong and any number of pet sins are right actions for us? Look at the machines we have made. What computer program would dare say to its coder, “You have coded me wrong. I will ignore your instructions and do what is right in my own eyes”? Today’s machines have no ability to disobeyRead More →

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

The most dangerous anger I’ve witnessed lately is righteous indignation. The reason it is dangerous is humans aren’t righteous. We are most prone to do ugly things to each other when we’re angry and either it is justified or we believe we are justified. [tweetthis remove_twitter_handles=”true” remove_hidden_hashtags=”true” remove_hidden_urls=”true”]Most dangerous anger: righteous indignation. We’re most prone to do ugly things when justifiably angry.[/tweetthis] It saddens me that so many grown adults behave as if they honestly believe “I am angry, and you were wrong, therefore you are no longer worthy of my respect, kindness, or being treated fairly, and I have every right to lash outRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Forgiveness, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18) Love is a physical feeling or emotional sentiment to much of the world, and an empty action or, worse, words about action to too many in the church. Feeling and sentiment alone do no one any good. Words and promises alone do no one any good, but likewise neither does loving actions and a smile on the face while bitterness and anger linger in the heart. One of the chief reasons we struggle to consistently love is because we’ve relegated love to mere behavior. If weRead More →

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