Love
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What Wild Animals Come Rushing at You?
The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it . . . the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in… Continue reading
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A Nagging Question that Prevents Us from Fully Giving Our Hearts to God
Even those of us who have firmly decided to follow Jesus often don’t trust him unconditionally because of one big problem–pain and suffering. We can only trust someone to the extent we believe they are good and therefore have our best interests at heart. We will hold back from fully giving our hearts to God… Continue reading
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Why is There so Much Suffering if God is in Absolute Control, or is He?
“While everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.” Recently, in the middle of the night, Lee Strobel’s interview of Charles Templeton came to mind. Templeton was a Canadian journalist in the 60’s and 70’s, well known for his atheism. He had been a preacher, at one time the pulpit partner… Continue reading
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Loving the Person We See: Part 2
When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He gave them only one restriction which concerned the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And there was only one restriction concerning it. They were free to enjoy its beauty, to sit under its shade, play on it or whatever they liked.… Continue reading
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Loving the Person We See: Part 1
Could there be a more daunting declaration in the bible than 1 John 4:20? In Works of Love Soren Kierkegaard holds this verse up before our eyes until I feel like a puppy having its nose shoved into what it did on the floor. He dissects John’s statement from every possible angle while continually… Continue reading
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The Good Thing About Being Infatuated
“The ecstatic power of love makes beings go out of themselves.” So says one of the old spiritual writers. Love draws us out from self-preoccupation to give our full attention to someone else. We see that even in the shallow love of infatuation. The teenage boy focuses completely on the girl with whom he’s infatuated;… Continue reading
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Jesus Gets Up Close and Personal with a Prostitute
A close reading of the gospels gives one the distinct impression that Jesus enjoyed rattling people’s cages. He had a habit of eating with losers, outcasts, and traitors to the dismay of the religious leaders. He seemed to go out of his way to heal on the Sabbath because he knew they didn’t like it.… Continue reading
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A Little Lower than God! Part 5: Open the Door, then Close It!
(Previous) In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol we’re introduced to Ebenezer Scrooge, a man “secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.” Individuality becomes pathological when taken to extreme. We’re made for love and love requires a community where we find others to love. Nevertheless, the spiritual life begins alone and requires a regular return… Continue reading