Simplified Christianity

"Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." (1 Corinthians 10:12) Isn't it interesting that this quote comes at the end of a section about how the children of Israel serve as our example of how NOT to be wholly committed to God? What do you really think was their issue? Was it bitterness, was it anger, was it disappointment, or was it their pride and their believing that they were more important than they actually were? As I read another popular passage of Scripture, James 4:10 - "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.", I see that it is also at the end of a section concerning how NOT to behave. In the case of the passage in James, we have our eyes opened to the fact that all of our problems stem from a loss of focus. Instead of seeing God as our all-knowing, all-powerful Creator, we treat Him as just another voice in the crowd. Humility is not beating yourself up constantly so that everyone can visibly witness yo...

Read 1 Peter 3:18-22 "18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.​" The ESV uses the term "suffered" where other translations use the more blunt term of "died". I believe the ESV to be more impactful here because when you consider what Jesus went through to offer us s...

Silence… It can be the most uncomfortable of moments and yet can provide you with the greatest opportunity for growth Silence… It can create the most awkward of situations and yet can provide you with the truest sense of peace you will ever know Silence… It can destroy a relationship and yet can open the door for God to heal the brokenness Silence… It can give a sense of rejection and yet can also create a sense of belonging Habakkuk 2:18-20 “What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.” Silence… before the Lord Almighty… Silence… in honor of His power and might… Silence in awe of His glory… But what do w...