Walk by Faith

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Colossians 2:6 The dictionary states that faith is “belief, trust, fidelity, or loyalty to a creed or religion.” If true Christianity is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, belief, trust and loyalty are certainly involved but not to a creed…

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Hard Isn’t Bad, or Is It?

How often do we use the argument “hard isn’t bad!” when facing a challenging situation? Our children struggle with their schoolwork, or chores, or an intense sports game, and we encourage them by saying that this challenge will help them improve. Our friends face a hard decision in life, and we remind them that it’s…

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What the Bible Says about Premarital Sex

This post is my brief summary of “A Biblical Argument Against Premarital Sex” by Mark Snoeberger in Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 20 (2015), pages 45–63. If you have time, I would encourage you to read the entire article. At the least, a quick consideration of the passages below is helpful as we seek to live…

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A Family On Mission

Our kids loved spy movies when they were growing up. No, not Mission Impossible or 007, but more on the lines of Spy Kids and The Spy Next Door. These types of spy movies would eventually involve the whole family going on some type of mission. I love this idea. How awesome would it be…

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Sudden Storm: Survival Guide

Matthew 14:22-33 The Sea of Galilee is known for its sudden life-threatening storms. In the time of Christ, those who labored on Galilee were experienced businessmen; those fishermen knew everything they needed to know to make a living on this large, fresh-water lake. As Jesus had pointed out, many of the ordinary weather changes in…

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Living with the Unanswered “Why?”

“The question was not ‘why’ but ‘what?’ God, what would You have me to do?” writes Ellen Vaughn in her excellent biography, Becoming Elisabeth Elliot. “For Betty, whether God told her to go confront Pharaoh or go to live among the Waodani, she determined to do it, regardless of the results.”1 Vaughn’s recent biography of…

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Dress for Success

There was a time when there were different clothes for different occasions.  I say there ‘was a time’ because today casual is accepted as the norm almost anywhere you go.  I’ve been in restaurants where the waiter was dressed very formally, but most patrons were quite informal.  We live in a casual culture. But even…

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Oh My Go…

I don’t think anyone will have trouble filling in the remaining letters of the title. We hear it all the time, and seemingly for any reason, shock, surprise, excitement, anger, frustration, annoyance. Taking the Lord’s name in vain has never before been so in vogue. But that is actually not what my title was going…

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Sustaining Grace: My Thorn in the Flesh

One morning several years ago I noticed that my right foot was slapping the pavement as I walked. As time went on I noticed that I was tripping myself and walking with a limp. These symptoms gradually got worse. After medication, tests, and visits to several doctors, the condition had a name but not a…

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