The narrow gate is one man wide. This is about my relationship with God. If I focus intently on Jesus, I will find the narrow gate. If I look at anything else, I will miss it. I cannot find guidance from popular culture, my social group, family, or even my church. I must decide to reach out to God on …
Salt and Righteousness, Devotional Matthew 5:13-20
Salt and righteousness, seek that which is real instead of the appearance of it. If something loses the essence of what it is and only the appearance remains, it is useless. In Jesus’ day, salt had many impurities, and when the salt washed away, the impurities remained. Then as now, many people like the Pharisees are concerned about the outward …
View of Others? Changing It Requires Raising the Dead
In thinking about how to change my view of others or forgiving, I find it appropriate and divinely serendipitous that today’s writing in Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest coincides with my reading of Mark 9 and occurs the week before Easter. During Easter I think more about miracles. This relates greatly to what I think and believe about people. …
We Might Be Pharisees If…
The Jews knew the Pharisees as the strictly religious people of Jesus’s day. Consequently, readers of the Bible interchange Pharisee with self-righteous. To think as a Pharisee generally requires a social group to reinforce self-righteous beliefs. As a recovering legalist, I know how easy it is to slide into self-righteous attitudes. Without an on-going relationship with God, I slide into a self-righteous …
Consecrated Life or Distracted Life: Did Jesus Lie to Us?
Today’s reading in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers combined with my daily readings in II Chronicles, Matthew, Psalms, and Proverbs convicted me deeply. To live the consecrated life instead of the distracted life, I must reflect upon Matthew 6:33-34, daily if necessary. Chambers writes for January 26: ‘Did Jesus Christ lie to us? Are we experiencing the “much …
The Try-Hard Life vs. ‘My Yoke is Easy’
I drove down Providence Road this morning after taking my daughter to school while listening to New Life 91.9. Emily Freeman spoke about her new book Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life. I thought, ‘what an awesome title.’ The term try-hard life seems destined to become a sermon and group discussion topic. As the Naaman …