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One question I ask myself fairly regularly is whether I am using my will too much in order to grow spiritually or whether I am not trying hard enough. In other words, am I doing my part according to scripture? Am I crowding out the Spirit by trying to do too much on my own, or on the other hand, am I not activating my will and thus expecting God to change me without my cooperation? Am I erring on one side or the other: too willful or not willful enough? I have erred on both sides in my life, and I still have to adjust regularly. This is an important question because it can have a dramatic effect on our growth. If I just read a little scripture each day and go to church on Sundays, then I shouldn’t expect to grow much. This is the most common side Continue Reading →

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Mt. 5:5 ESV). God blesses your meekness. A meek person is someone who is gentle and not argumentative or aggressive. They do not respond to aggressive people with aggression. Jesus is our model of meekness. When Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey he described his coming by saying “Your king is coming to you, humble [meek] and mounted on a donkey” (Mt. 21:5 ESV). Paul also ascribed to Jesus “meekness and gentleness” (2 Cor. 10:1, ESV). The irony is that the one is not warlike is the one who will inherit leadership over the earth. In other words, ultimate political victory will not come by the strategies that humans usually use. By nature, human political leaders prefer to use force to accomplish their goals. But God will usher in a new age when his followers, the ones who do not Continue Reading →

After turning away from the more obvious sins in our lives, we may begin to think that we are fairly godly. But now we face the real battle against sin. Sinful thoughts and attitudes remained buried deep within our hearts and control us in ways we don’t realize. If we saw all our sin at once, it would overwhelm us and drive some of us mad…which is a warning against over-examining ourselves. Yet we still desire to grow in godliness. We want to share God’s nature and reflect it to others, and to do that we must continually give him permission to uncover deeper areas of our lives. Better yet, we should eagerly ask him to do so. Then our hearts will have an attitude of continual openness to his promptings. We will be more willing to open the door when we begin to hear the faint knocking of his Continue Reading →

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., we present a quote from Tod Bolsinger’s book Tempered Resilience which includes King’s ten commandments for his nonviolent movement, which are very much in accord with the teachings of Jesus. Maybe every member of our congregations should agree to these guidelines for every part of their lives? “For Martin Luther King Jr. the demands of a nonviolent public protest movement for racial equality and reconciliation led to the development of a commitment or rule of life that was very specific for furthering those ends. Every volunteer was required to sign a commitment card that read: I HEREBY PLEDGE MYSELF—MY PERSON AND BODY—TO THE NONVIOLENT MOVEMENT. THEREFORE I WILL KEEP THE FOLLOWING TEN COMMANDMENTS: 1. MEDITATE daily on the teachings and life of Jesus. 2. REMEMBER always that the nonviolent movement in Birmingham seeks justice and reconciliation—not victory. 3. WALK and TALK in the Continue Reading →

After inaugurating the kingdom with Jesus’ first coming he would allow sufficient time for us to spread the good news of the kingdom throughout the earth (Acts 1:8). If Jesus had returned in the first century, then his message would not have reached the whole earth. Therefore, God would guide history according to his hidden plan until the time when the Son would come to earth a second time to complete the establishment of God’s kingdom. We describe our present time as the time when the kingdom is already here but not yet fulfilled. We are in the “already/not yet”. Since it is here, we seek the kingdom of God first in all things. Even though the kingdom is not yet fulfilled, we do not wait passively for Jesus’ return. He promoted and equipped his people to spread the lifestyle of the kingdom of God. We can do this because Continue Reading →