There’s a line in 1 Timothy that really caught my attention: “Train yourself to be godly” (1 Timothy 4:7). Why is this so great? Because of the word “train”. Paul doesn’t say, “suddenly know”, or “don’t work too hard at it”, or “it will come naturally”. No! He says “Train yourself”.
If you’ve ever trained in [...]
Archive for the ‘faith’ Category
training for God
Posted in Bible, God, faith on January 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
working at faith
Posted in God, faith on January 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I am beginning to realize that faith involves a lot of work. I used to think that becoming a Christian was the hard part, that once I worked through my doubts it would be smooth sailing. But it’s not. And in some ways it’s harder.
When I first became a Christian there was the excitement of [...]
the dangers of following God
Posted in Bible, faith, taking action on January 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I often wonder if I would be willing to drop everything and follow God. As I sit in the comfort of my home, surrounded by my things, I think, “of course I would!” But would I? Would I have the guts to follow God?
To be honest I’m afraid of what true surrender looks like. I [...]
hope
Posted in God, faith, hope on December 12, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Life can be tough. I don’t think I’m surprising anyone with that little bit of insight. It can be easy to give up. Some tasks seem so daunting, so overwhelming, that we can’t imagine finishing them, let alone surviving them. “How do we keep moving forward against those odds?” we ask ourselves. I admit, it’s [...]
active praise
Posted in Bible, David, God, choice, faith on December 10, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Some days it’s just hard to be excited about God. We wake up and it’s raining outside, or we’re feeling depressed or overwhelmed, or we’re facing a major tragedy. Or worse yet, our fantasy football team just got crushed for yet another week. In fact there are far too many days that I find it [...]
a sick woman and common sense
Posted in Jesus, faith, hope, radical on December 3, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
“She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be [...]
embarrassing Bible stories
Posted in Bible, Bible reliability, faith on November 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!” (Numbers 16: 34)
God used a specific and unique event (in this case an earthquake) to punish the leaders of an open rebellion against him. But because the people of Israel had lost their trust of God [...]
marrying a dog?
Posted in Jesus, faith, radical, sin on November 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Have you heard about the man in India marrying a dog? Sounds pretty crazy, right? Sounds like something you’d never do, right? That’s what I thought until Thursday morning. (And no, I didn’t find myself asking Lassie to marry me.) You see, that guy believes that his actions can atone for the mistakes he’s made [...]
Sometimes the hardest thing we can do is be obedient to God. I have spent my entire life making decisions out of selfishness and based on what I think would be “best” for me. That all comes very naturally to me. But the more I’ve learned about God, the more I realzie that’s not how [...]
giving or manipulation?
Posted in God, faith, trust on October 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Money, money, money. Some times you just can’t escape it! That’s certainly been the case for me this week. Part of it involves wrestling with how best to use the money God has given me. How do I know what to do with it? (rent or buy?) Who do I give it to? (church or [...]
