Category: Level: Intermediate

Ultimately, truth should not be conceived of as a set of propositions, but rather as the reality of who God is, who Jesus is and what they created. Truth radiates from their nature, but the rays are not the ultimate truth; the nature of their divinity is the truth. Honesty is the virtue of living in God’s reality and his rays of truth. Dishonesty is particularly offensive to God. Colossians 3:9 instructs us: “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self” (ESV). In 1 Timothy 4:2 some will depart from the faith because of the “insincerity of liars” (ESV). In John 8:44 the devil is “the father of lies” (ESV). In Revelation 21:8 liars are “consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur” (NIV). Honesty may seem like a basic virtue that even young Christians should be able to master in a short Continue Reading →

With humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2 (NIV) After years of following Jesus it is easy for spiritual pride to slip in and blind us to seeing our weaknesses. We may have some areas where we think we are mature so we become unteachable in those areas. Those blind spots are where we get sideswiped by the Enemy or circumstances and end up wondering where we went wrong. This is a sign we need to develop humility in our areas of strength. If we want to reach higher levels of wisdom and avoid unwise paths, isn’t it better to maintain a constant awareness of our need for grace and wisdom from God? If we unconsciously assume that we do not have needs in our areas of strength, then how are we going to grow in those areas? Are we forgetting how much higher God’s ways are than ours? Are we forgetting Continue Reading →

Are you facing a difficult situation that is challenging your surrender to God’s will? Is there an area in your life where you are avoiding God’s will? Many believers will only go so far in their surrender to God’s will, for fear of loss of control or possible pain. Higher communion with God only comes if we learn to do deep crucifixion of our will, even if some of our desires are not sinful in themselves. This is a psychologically painful process because we prefer to live in comfort and spiritual sweetness. We forget that nothing could be better for us than God’s will; how could our will ever be better than God’s? Surrendering to God’s will may allow more harm to come to us in this life than if we did not surrender (for example, the lives of Jesus and his Apostles), but is it not better to allow Continue Reading →

Jesus frees us from our shame. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:21, NIV). Hebrews 12:2 states: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (NIV). Even if there had been no physical pain on the Cross, Jesus still had to endure the public shame of being executed naked as a criminal, being rejected by his people the Jews and abandoned by nearly all of his disciples. Yet, he willingly embraced the shame. The rulers judged him a sinner and all the shame of our sins hung on the Cross with Christ. When Christ substituted for our sins he also substituted for our shame for sins. Before we received Christ we bore the shame of our sins. True shame is rooted in our sin or in Continue Reading →