Mission Faithwalk

                 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, (I Peter 3:15) Recently, I saw a comment from someone to the effect of “The only reason you believe what you believe is because your parents taught you to.” It’s not the first time I’ve seen it, and I have to admit that it’s the truth, sometimes. Even if we claim that God has revealed Himself to us or spoken to us, that could just be the way we’ve been taught to interpret it. Of course, those who make this claim (usually atheists) don’t generally have a much better claim for themselves. Either they believe what their parents taught them to believe, or they believe what some teacher (author, scientist, philosopher) told them to believe when they rebelled against what their parent taught. The problem is that the vast majority of w...

                 BibleGateway.com has provided another “before” verse. It specifically says that God gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but earlier in the verse, it connects grace with purpose. I know someone who was taught that if she didn’t perform, God might “shelve” her. This is a variation on what Mordecai said to Esther about what would happen if she didn’t try to help her people, and what God told Ezekiel about what would happen if he didn’t warn his people about their sins. I’m not suggesting that there won’t be consequences if we refuse to do as God tells us. I’m suggesting that God’s plans include grace and are not so fragile that our failure automatically disqualifies us. But more than that. God planned all this before the beginning of time. He had a purpose for you and for me before the universe came to be. He knew that we would fall short, and He chose to work with us anyway. He created us in a way...

                  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (II Corinthians 1:3-4)                 We love because he first loved us. (I John 4:19)                 What do you think of when you think of comfort . Nice, cozy fires, warm blankets, cool breezes, soft clothing that doesn’t squeeze, pinch, or otherwise bother you; a hand on your shoulder, good food… I agree. All those things can and do comfort. But comfort is a con/com- word, meaning “with” and -fort comes from the same root as fortify, fort, and forte, all of which have to do wi...

                 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24) I don’t often remember dreams. More often than not, the ones I remember are about me going back to school/work in a place that isn’t a workplace/school, usually with people who make me uncomfortable. Translation: stress or anxiety. Last night, I woke after dreaming that I had angrily called someone significant in my life an idiot. I have no idea what preceded or followed that declaration or accusation. I felt guilty, as if I had actually said it to the actual victim, and when I checked my Bible platform, the above was the passage of the day. Naturally, I’m looking at them together. To begin, of course, there’s my clearly offensive way: calling someone names. I don’t approve of it in general, and even less from myself, even in a dream. It at least sugge...

                     Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.   (Isaiah 25:1)                 One of the problems evolutionists have is that they can’t believe any being capable of creating all that is, in all its detail, with a few sentences. It’s all too complicated to plan and organize in so short a time. (One. I didn’t say they didn’t have other problems.) After all, it takes months or years to do an oil painting. An engineer takes time designing whatever he’s making and develops drawings and blueprints. He doesn’t do it off the top of his head. Were it possible for an engineer to design and build a living thing, it would probably take him years. Maybe decades..             ...

                 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7) Wednesday night at a prayer meeting, someone shared a concern about our kids. I’ve read Jonathan Haidt’s books describing how fear and anxiety plague our youth, but this time, it was about “our” children and how timid they are. Part of it is because of social media, schools, and the press. But another big part of it is our fault. We have spoken with social media, schools, and the press. We have spoken fear, not faith, and conformation, not courage. These have been spoken to us and over us for decades. Maybe you’re not the same, but I have spoken fear over my life for a long time. I can’t say I’m a conformer, but I have been a coward. Today’s passage follows the Shema that Jesus quoted as part...