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Hide and Seek
“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” –Genesis 3:8-10 Do you hide from your Heavenly Father when you know you’ve done something wrong? How about when you are thinking about or feeling angry enough to do something wrong? Maybe you mask hiding from God with excuses, like, “I’m too busy to read the bible and pray,” or, “I just…
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Are Christianity and Karma Mutually Exclusive?
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” –Luke 6: 37-38 I don’t know about you, but I try my darndest to live by the Golden Rule, to “do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31). My non-spiritual side wants to do to others AS they have done to me, to return like for…
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I Love You to the Moon and Back
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” –Psalm 103:11-12 On the way to church this morning, my husband mentioned during our small talk that the odometer had just turned over to 66,555 miles. “Just think,” he said. “We’ve driven a little over a quarter of the way to the moon!” Although I knew the moon hadn’t been our destination these past ten-odd years of driving, I had to laugh at his delightful way of mapping our progress. It started me thinking about…
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Are Your Spiritual Knickers in a Knot?
All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” –1 Peter 5:5-7 When you get dressed in the morning, do you remember to put on humility? Here Peter says to “clothe” ourselves with it. The Greek word used is enkomboomai, which means “to put on a garment that is tied.” In the first century, the garment worn with a belt of some sort was the tunic. It was the undergarment worn next to the…
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The Camel and the Needle
But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is [for those who trust in riches] to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” –Mark 10:24-26 What? Is Jesus saying that he can’t save rich people, or that wealth is bad? Wretched out of context, you might think so. A more careful reading reveals so many things jam-packed into this relatively short conversation in Mark chapter 10! First, there seems to be a contradiction here…
