Do you remember my sharing with you more than a year ago about someone I care deeply about? To refresh your memory or if you didn’t see the post I will explain. I hadn’t seen this person in a few months. He had looked fairly healthy and clean. Then the end of July I saw him again and knew he was back on drugs. He looked underweight, hollowed-eyed, and jittery. It shook me to the core. Later that evening as…
Are we religious reformers? Trying to make ourselves better. The Bible says we must be kind loving, forgiving, etc. So we determine to get it right. Grabbing our emotions with a concentrated effort we attempt to remake ourselves. Martin Luther knew salvation was by faith and not be anything we could do. And spiritual growth was by faith not by natural efforts. Promises are followed by a slip-up. We tell ourselves it wasn’t too terrible, and we’ll do better tomorrow….
Water baptism is something many churchgoers know about. However, do we really know what it signifies? Let’s look at the Bible to see what it has to tell us about this event. Let’s start with Jesus. He was baptized by John the Baptist. When John protested to Jesus saying that he needed to baptized by him, Jesus insisted on John baptizing him. We can read about that in Matthew chapter 3, Mark chapter 1, Luke chapter 3, and John chapter…
In this dismal valley shrouded by a dark cloud, I walk. What happened to my glorious walk in light and joy? I understand there will be dark, trying times. The refining process. It is there where I must totally lean on you, O Lord, and even let you carry me for it is too dark for me to see. I know that mentally, but… It is one of those times now. The way is unknown to me. I’ve not been…
