The other day, my grandmother sent me an email. I always read her emails, but I very rarely pass them on. I’m just not the chain-email kind of guy.
This one, though, is too good to stop with me. It had a bunch of text format and smileys, but I erased them. The message is too important to have other things distract from it.
I asked God to take away my habit.
God said, No.
It is not for me to take away,
but for you to give it up.
I asked God …

The historical truth of the bible is used by God to illustrate the larger spiritual principles that flow through it. While most religious books are collections of philosophy, moral principles, and ethical issues, the Bible is something much greater. It packs a greater wallop because God’s superintendence of the included history confirm the spiritual truths that He wished to communicate. In short, God has been operating this world in such a way that He might speak to us with and without words, showing us instead of just telling us.

Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
God is a God of Love and of Grace and yet we are always trying to pay Him for His gifts. Grace is free, friends. If you try to pay for it, you will never receive it at all. Our sacrifices to God are motivated out of our love for Him, not from a need to pay Him back.

You don’t know what you’re asking of someone when you ask them to be a Christian. You are asking them, as Jesus did to his disciples, to leave the safety of their world. You are asking them to drop everything they have, everything they are doing, and join with you as you pursue Christ. Community is inherent in this and every religion. You are taking them from one place, from one way of life, from one social circle, from one mindset, from one reality, and firmly placing them in a …

“There will always be salt in the ocean’s waters. And as many times as the waves crash upon the sand, so does the salt recede again with the tides. But a little bit of salt still seeps into the sand. To many, it remains invisible, hiding itself in the works of sand castles and the bliss of children’s play. Seemingly harmless, but it’s presence is there. However when the glassmith goes to mold a creation, he doesn’t intend to leave the sand in it’s present state of impurity. If Christ …