Living out the life of forgiveness causes us to recognize that every sin we ever commit in our life has been erased by God. This is a great blessing to the sinner because we will commit an enormous amount of sin in our lifetime. Forgiveness is an act of God’s will; it is a deliberate act of love; it is a decision not to hold our sin against us no matter what we have done…
Read MoreJesus and His disciples were radical in their willingness to associate with the outcasts of society; yet they did so through the very ordinary means of eating and drinking with them. In contrast, the Pharisees grumbled about this, seeing Jesus’ association with tax collectors as repugnant…
Read MoreThe best and easiest way to show this love and care is to ignore any weird pressures around hospitality and simply be yourself in front of the people who find themselves in your space. This is hard to do if you aren’t accustomed to it. It takes a willingness to get over some things, namely yourself and your means. But if you are willing to practice, you can overcome the tension you feel when people show up at the door, which will leave you free to relax and enjoy people…
Read MoreThat evening, I made this my prayer and asked the Lord to wake me at 5am. The next morning, my eyes opened exactly at that time. I was so amazed that I immediately praised the Lord, but not a minute later did I fall back asleep only to wake up at my usual 6am. I realized that I had only asked the Lord to wake me, not to give me the energy to actually get out of bed. The next night I asked for both and he granted my prayer…
Read MoreIf the early Christians were to follow all that Peter wrote to them about, they would have no choice but to face the questions from the unbelievers that they interacted with on a daily basis. For Peter does not tell them to prepare clever ways to bring up conversations about God, or to look for ways to insert God’s wisdom into the lives of unbelievers, but rather he tells them to prepare a response for when the inevitable questions come from unbelievers…
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