We’re told that sometime next month the earth’s population will reach 8 billion. And it’s estimated that close to one-third of the people in the world today are Christians. So here’s a thought, shared by our church’s minister in a recent sermon: What if every Christian brought just one other person to Christ? Even better, … [Read more…]
When I was growing up, my mom would from time to time offer me a “t.l.” or “trade last.” She’d explain, “Somebody said something nice about you to me, and I’ll tell you what it was, but first you have to tell me something nice someone said about me.” I never heard anyone else use … [Read more…]
The top two commandments are to love God and to love others. See Matthew 22:37-40: “Jesus said unto him [i.e., a Pharisee — and a lawyer, to boot — asking Him what was “the great commandment in the law”], Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy … [Read more…]
My regular, as opposed to spontaneous, prayers each day include grace at each meal as well as the Lord’s Prayer and one prayer devoted to each of the four classic categories, spelling A-C-T-S: one for adoration, one for confession, one for thanksgiving, and one for supplication. I’m not bragging, by the way — far from … [Read more…]
I was drawing a timeline of human history for my grandson, and was struck by a pleasing symmetry: The Patriarchs lived around 2000 B.C., and of course we live around A.D. 2000, and right in the middle we have the birth of Jesus. I’m not submitting this as proof of anything, and of course one … [Read more…]
Most of my (non-family) attention is divided between politics and religion, and I’ve been thinking about the similarities and, especially, the differences between the evangelism in each. For Christians, of course, evangelism is an important and serious business, mandated by God Himself in His “Great Commission.” Political types also seek to make converts, but not … [Read more…]
Following up on the preceding blogpost (“God Showing Off”), if you want to see more of God showing off, then go to the zoo. Our granddaughter’s recent two-year birthday party was at a city-run quasi-farm, geared to kids and with lots of cows, donkeys, goats, pigs, turkeys, and chickens that you could see up close. … [Read more…]
My wife and I drove last weekend from one end of Virginia to the other on non-interstate highways, and the weather was beautiful and the scenery breathtaking. And it occurred to me that perhaps those works of God that trigger not only thanks but deep adoration — love, natural beauty, complexity, music, laughter — are … [Read more…]
The difference between immorality and immortality is the +.
With a nod to St. Paul (Romans 7:15), we can divide our sins into four categories: bad acts and bad thoughts, and failure to do good acts and failure to think good thoughts. Regarding that last category, Jesus told us that the two great commandments are to love God and to love our neighbors as … [Read more…]