Category: Interior Life

eye

Transformed By Continuously Beholding Jesus

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Do you want your daily words and actions to be more Christlike but you find that you can’t seem to get the right attitude throughout the day? You may want to consider learning to consciously focus your heart on Jesus. We call this “contemplating Jesus” because it is not meditation (i.e., mulling over, reflecting, gaining understanding), which is important for devotional times, but rather we just gaze on, behold, or give attention to Jesus. Contemplation is just a fancy word for these simple activities. The most profound passage on contemplating Jesus is II Corinthians 3:18: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” Notice that it says “beholding” not “having beheld”. In other words, we are to continuously behold the glory of Jesus and the Father. But the fantastic promise is that Continue Reading →

christlike creed

The Christlike Creed

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When the church wanted to clarify its doctrines in the early centuries it developed the Apostle’s Creed. It would also be helpful to have a creed that summarizes the practice of the faith. That is why I wrote the Christlike Creed. It contains 9 stanzas of 3 lines each and summarizes the important attitudes and practices of the Christian life, including identity and destiny. It describes what a Christlike person looks like. In other words, it describes spiritual growth and discipleship. Consider how important it is to have a description of what a disciple of Jesus looks like. How can a church or ministry make disciples if the leaders or the people don’t know what a disciple looks like? Don’t we need to know what we are aiming for? This creed describes what a disciple of Christ looks like so we know what is important and what is less important. Continue Reading →

inordinate affections, harmful desires attchments

Unhealthy Affections – Imitation Of Christ Chapter Six

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Imitation of Christ  Chapter Six – Unhealthy Affections When someone has exorbitant love for something other than God or people it makes them restless. Excessive affections makes someone weak when temptation comes. This carnal person has not died to self and their destructive attachments. Their spirit is weak and they keep looking for worldly pleasure. When they deprive themself of the objects of their affections they become sad and irritable. And when they give in to their unhealthy affections they feel guilty. They also realize they aren’t truly satisfied and didn’t find peace. These attachments or affections keep one from becoming like Christ. Many believers don’t grow because they have so much love for things or their self. Some of these are fine in moderation but their heart is so attached it prevents them from fully loving God. They wonder why they don’t feel closer to God but they ignore Continue Reading →

Spiritual learning, thinking

Spiritual Learning – Imitation Of Christ Chapter Five

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Spiritual Learning – Imitation Of Christ Chapter Five When we read scripture we should focus on the purpose of the passage, not on ideas for irrelevant debates. We should look for truth and edification. Pointless curiosity often blocks us from gaining from scripture. We stop and ruminate over something that doesn’t really matter instead of moving on to something that does matter. We should read books that are simple and godly as well as some that are deep and challenging. God speaks through many kinds of people; it shouldn’t matter if an author is educated or uneducated. We shouldn’t gravitate to an author’s reputation but rather to the truth that they write. We shouldn’t gravitate to an author’s reputation but rather to the truth that they write. Don’t read to build a reputation for yourself, rather read with humility. And when you find someone who is mature ask them many Continue Reading →

truth

Living With The Living Truth – Imitation Of Christ Chapter Three

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Today’s post is an interpretation of the third chapter of the most popular devotional book in the history of Christianity, The Imitation of Christ. It was written by a monk (or possibly several monks) in the 15th century named Thomas a Kempis.You can view the first post in this series here. Chapter Three – Living With The Living Truth What good is it to spend time debating things that haven’t been revealed by God and don’t affect God’s judgment of our lives? How foolish it is to give in to idle curiosity, and neglect what is essential and edifying in scripture. When the Word of God speaks to us we don’t need to ask endless questions. As we come to see that all truth is one in Him this gives us strength and peace. All truth comes from the Living Word and all truth speaks of him. “God, you are the truth, make Continue Reading →