Category: Level: Intermediate

union of love, spiritual marriage

Your Union Of Love With God

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When you think or talk about your faith do you focus on your union of love with God or do you focus on lesser matters? How do you speak to yourself about what your faith is about? Do you understand that God is the author of ultimate relationship or do you focus on the right doctrine? I believe our union of love with God in Christ is the grand unifying theme of biblical theology and spirituality. Every element of the gospel is best understood in the context of His desire to be in a strong and loving relationship with us and His desire for us to live in a community of love with fellow believers. He wants to be our Father, our teacher, our lover, and our friend. Jesus summed this up in Matthew 22:37 by saying that the greatest commandment was to love God with all your heart, soul, Continue Reading →

reach communitiies

How Do We Engage Our Communities For Jesus’ Sake?

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As Christians, how should we seek to engage our communities for Jesus? What is the highest priority? Many believers are disturbed by the decline in their country of interest in Christianity or even in living healthy constructive lives. People seem to be less able to form healthy relationships and don’t seem to seriously seek a transcendent life. This situation is not too different from what the Christians faced in the first three centuries of the Church. The early Christians did not take an adversarial approach to their society. Sometimes Christian writers would point out the sinfulness of their culture but they did not focus on this. Instead, they focused on living the Christian life. In other words, they had a different model of social engagement. Perhaps one could refer to their approach as “magnetic engagement”: the Church focused on drawing people by living attractive lives. A few believers were evangelists, Continue Reading →

responsible for others' happiness

Are You Responsible For Others’ Happiness?

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I know it’s popular for Christian and secular counselors to say that others aren’t responsible for our happiness. But the fact is, they are. Not completely, but partly. That’s why Jesus and His apostles taught us to live in community. We are all partly responsible for others’ happiness. Much, if not most, of the teachings on relationships in the New Testament begin with the assumption that we affect others’ happiness. Scripture instructs us to “encourage each other” (Heb. 10:25). 2 Corinthians 1:4 teaches: “Who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” We are responsible to bring comfort and encouragement to others, which are elements of happiness. Many other passages could be cited to support this. That is why the popular teaching about happiness is dangerously mistaken. Continue Reading →

transformation image of Christ

The Restoration of His Image

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After Jesus returns and we see him God will complete the restoration of his image in us; we will be completed New Adams! 1 Corinthians 15:49 states: “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (ESV). Our complete Christformation will make our previous life seem like a long war. We spent many years pursuing God and his holiness. We slowly learned how to walk in the Spirit and abide in Christ. We gradually purged selfishness and hedonism and unbelief. We did not set our hearts on things on this earth (Col. 3:1) and we did not make it a priority to accumulate wealth (Matt. 6:19) or fame. We looked to him to satisfy our deepest desires, which he began to do. We crucified our corruption, accepted rejection and learned to love our enemies. After Jesus Continue Reading →

two friends shapening

One Person Sharpens Another

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In a godly friendship we incorporate biblical fellowship and edifying words into our interactions with another. We go beyond encouraging and affirming one another in Christ which has a limited impact on our maturity. Since our top priority is pleasing God, we go further and consciously help each other to become like Christ. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Prov. 27:17, NIV). Scripture instructs us to “Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives” (Col. 3:16, NLT). A “soul friend” is an advanced godly relationship in which two people are highly committed to being open to the influence and direction of each other in order to become like Christ. They practice quality biblical fellowship and develop interdependence; they are spiritual counselors for each other. Since we are secure in the friendship, we are free to direct each other to die to self. We gently Continue Reading →