Slave to Sin or Righteousness When the Spirit gave you new birth, your lineage ceased to be through Adam–the lineage of the flesh, the natural human lineage. When you were reborn, you were re-created in the lineage of God Himself—the lineage of the Spirit, the spiritual lineage of God. Natural humans live according to what…
Sin Death and Conduct Romans 8:13 (NASB 2020)“for if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” No one with the Spirit living within them will live a life characterized by fleshly…
Let Your Light Shine “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16, NIV) I used to read this verse and tremble. I trembled because I was nobody’s example of godly living. I trembled because talking to others about…
He has given you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) because He has given you Himself (John 15:26) and He is life, (John 1:4) and He is God (John 10:30 & 20:28). He drives out fear, because He is perfect love, and that’s what perfect love does (1 John 4:18). You…
Christ-one,Are you living like this? You feel like God is dissatisfied with you.Your spiritual life is a Rollercoaster.You keep trying to do better.Each time, you think this is the one that will work.Soon you’re right back where you were.Or worse? Get off that treadmill!Stop chasing spiritual fulfillment.There is no program of behaviors that will take…
The Greek word translated “hidden” is krypto. You might recognize the sound of that. We have crypto-currency, cryptography, encryption, etc.
It was the Law of God. But its purpose was not to produce righteous people. It was to make it clear that no amount of effort could possibly make them righteous and acceptable to God.
Life can be bios, our physical temporal mortal life, or zoe’, immortal, eternal, spiritual Life, God’s Life in us.
Everything about this place is regulated by the rule of law. Here, people get what they pay for. Here they expect to get what they deserve. Here they only have what they earn. Here laws must be obeyed or else. Life is chasing a carrot while being threatened with a stick.
In these few sentences, the Holy Spirit reminds us of who we are in Christ. Through Paul, He sets before us Life and death and encourages us to choose Life, just as He did through Moses in Deuteronomy 30:19
In tiny ways as we go about our daily lives, we naturally spread the Love of God. People see more than we realize and seeds that have the potential to change the landscape of people’s lives are planted.
If the dough rises, however, you can be sure there is living yeast in it. Risen dough is evidence that there is life in the yeast. James said something similar; “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24, NASB 2020)
Suicide is very difficult to understand. People have a very difficult time reconciling it with their theology. This is especially true when a believer has made this heartbreaking choice. Poor teaching complicates this for many. Passages in 1 Corinthians and 1 John are often presented as evidence that suicide is unforgivable, raising questions about eternal life. Let’s take a closer look at this.
Reading these passages in context, we find Jesus stating that He did not come to bring peace, but a sword. This is very curious since He is called the Prince of Peace.
It can be easy to say all this, but our human brains are trained from birth to look for the how-to of everything. The short answer is an old cliché. Let go and let God. “Let” is a verb that means: “not prevent or forbid”; “allow.”
Earlier we read that the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through Love. We also saw that the Love being referred to here is self-giving agape’ Love. We humans find that challenging. Truth be told, we find it impossible.
If it’s from Father, it will not produce fear, doubt, guilt, or shame. Every good and perfect gift is from Him. (James 1:17) What He says will always be consistent with scripture and it will always be consistent with His character.
Clearly there are things we are designed to do. Apparently, these things are to characterize our lives. That’s what walking in them means. Our lives are to be characterized by good works.
One way is through worship. To worship is to glorify God. We glorify God when we make Him known in a relatable and understandable way. When we “manifest” Him, or make Him tangible to others.
What is eternal has no beginning and no end, and therefore eternal Life is the kind of Life only God has. This is the Life in which we find ourselves living and moving and existing, as Acts 17:28 points out.
The news that Christ is in us is great. However, just as some TV ads from a few decades ago exclaimed, “but wait, there’s more!” Not only is Christ in us, but we are also in Christ. We are baptized into Him. We are immersed in Christ.
When Christ resides in a person, that person has eternal Life. In John 4:13–14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (NIV)
Over the long term, we cannot live our lives in a way inconsistent with who we believe ourselves to be. If we believe we are at war with ourselves, we will act like it. We will find ourselves in a constant battle to have better attitudes and actions. All our focus will be on fixing ourselves.
How We Live to God Romans 6:11 “So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (NASB 2020) Galatians 2:19 “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live for God. (NASB 2020)” Before we were saved, we lived to sin. Sinfulness,…
How to Walk by Faith It’s a life of dependance. Sometimes I like to think of it like I’m a little kid living with my parents. As a kid, I never even thought about whether my home was safe and would still be there when I came back from school, whether I was welcome to…
