You Are Dangerous, Part I
I’ve been dwelling heavily on the concept of temptation this week. Temptation is nothing new to us. It was there from the very beginning when Adam and Eve first laid eyes on the fruit that was sitting amid the leaves of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. I find it interesting that the Tree was right smack dab in the middle of the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3:2) and that it was not until the serpent showed up that Eve began to even think about eating the fruit. → Read more...
When All of a Sudden…
If you’ve been keeping up with the news, you know about the tragic story of Air France 447 that was enroute to Paris from Rio de Janeiro. It is now acknowledged as Air France’s worst plane crash and the world’s worst commercial air accident since 2001. Two hundred and twenty-eight people perished last Sunday night. Today, the crews began picking up some of the debris out of the Atlantic Ocean as Air France began notifying family members of those who were onboard that there was no chance of survivors as the airplane disintegrated either in the air or when it hit the ocean. → Read more...
You Need to Be Rich to Be Poor
Sometimes when the Holy Spirit tugs, you need to listen, you know? This week it brought an article in The Washington Post to my attention. The first line of the article, in which I have paraphrased as this week’s title, hooked me in. It’s quite a lengthy read for the internet, but well, well worth your time. Here’s the link. The article goes into detail the problems that people who are in poverty face and into the harsh irony that living in the middle class or upper class is actually cheaper than living below the poverty line. → Read more...
My Hypocritical Oath
My heart is heavy this week. I’ve come to realize I am a hypocrite. The definition of hypocrite is someone who “professes beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess.” You may ask what has sparked such a revelation. The truth is, there wasn’t a revelation. It was something I innately knew for a while; I was just confronted with it recently and couldn’t avoid it. I am a hypocrite because I profess to love Christ, but I don’t always love others. → Read more...
What is Truth?
“What is truth?” Pilate asked. –John 18:38 Has there ever been a question that hasn’t haunted mankind for centuries? For as long as we’ve walked the earth, the concept of truth has been like a thorn in our side. What is truth? Is there such a thing as an universal truth? Are we able to know if anything in life is genuinely truthful? And what do we do if we come across it? “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.” → Read more...
A Leap of Faith
One of my favorite scenes in all of the cinema I’ve seen in my life is in 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In it, Indy, played by Harrison Ford, is on the quest for the Holy Grail. In order to get to the room that houses the grail, Indy has to pass three separate tests. The first two he passes just fine, but on the third, he pauses. The third test is called “The Leap of Faith” where he has to cross a chasm that has no apparent bridge. → Read more...
Easter is For Those He Came to Save
Today marks the beginning of the holy weekend with Maundy Thursday and Passover taking place. If you’ve noticed, I put our Easter weekend schedule above. Prayerfully consider bringing a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, or someone you know who doesn’t know the Lord. I’ve begun to dwell lately on the concept of eternity and the eternal ramifications of our choices on earth. The very idea of Hell, a place where you are forsaken, robbed of God’s presence for all eternity frightens me. → Read more...
Things Never Stay Buried
We like burying things. Feelings, emotions, debt, addictions, sin, problems, mistakes, and things that we’d rather forget rather than deal with it, we bury those things, sometime shallowly, sometimes deeply. But, like zombies, those things never stay buried. I, myself, was reminded once again of this principle this week: that the things that you thought you left behind a long time ago tend to claw out of the place you buried it and haunt you when you least expect it to. → Read more...
You Are Dangerous, Part II
June 18, 2009
Calvary
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Matt
Why are we tempted? Last week, I said it was because Satan wants to ensnare us and keep us down because he knows our fullest potential and doesn’t want us to ever meet it. We are dangerous people and he knows it. Instead of attacking us head on, what does he do? He launches a campaign of propaganda in order to get us to undermine ourselves and fall on our own swords or cut down our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. → Read more...
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