Tag: Christianity

Should Catholics and Protestants be Friends?

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I know that a lot of people don’t like the idea of Catholics and Protestants hanging out with each other. Apparently, there’s supposed to be a huge fight between us. But the rift doesn’t end there. Even between different denominations there is a battle raging. Baptists don’t like Methodist; Methodist don’t like Anglicans and so on, and so on.

But what does the Bible say about all this?

Ephesians 4:1-6 says:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

When it all comes down to it: here is the question we must ask each other: Do you believe that Yeshua is the Christ? Do you serve God? Is the Holy Spirit living in you?

It’s easy to get caught up in different interpretations, but we don’t have time for dissension. There isn’t time for strife. There’s an African proverb that states: “Two men in a burning hut don’t have time to argue.” Church: THE HUT IS ON FIRE! And when I refer to the hut, I’m speaking metaphorically of the world. The world is dying. People are dying around us.

Christians don’t have time to argue about whether a passage means this or that. When we allow disunity in the body through scriptural confusion, we are allowing the enemy in – God is not the author of confusion or chaos.

I understand that the word ‘ecumenical’ raises red flags because sometimes this means that non-Christian doctrines are in a “Christian” church. I understand. I care about sound doctrine – and I think that every believer should often pray, “God if there is any doctrine in my life that is NOT sound, expose and remove it.” If you ask, God will remove false teaching from your life.

With that said, let’s not spend precious time fighting brothers and sisters in the faith. Let’s walk in love and focus more effort on reaching the lost.

Christians… without the Holy Spirit?

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The general belief (among Christians) is that the Holy Spirit comes and remains in the Christian at the moment of belief. However, as I’ve read more about the Holy Spirit’s presence and work throughout the Bible, I’ve found that it’s more complex than that.

Acts 5:32 adds to the layer of complexity involved in the Holy Spirit’s work and presence in the life of a Christian. It reads: We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.

In Acts, we find that there is a contingency. God gives the Holy Spirit – but He gives to a specific group of people – those who obey Him.

Just by logic, we can conclude that people who are disobedient to God do not have the Holy Spirit. And what is obedience? It’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s listening to and following Him. It’s keeping His commandments and honoring Him.

We have to keep in mind that the Holy Spirit, is well, HOLY! The Holy Spirit isn’t going to dwell and live in just anyone or anywhere. Conditions must be met, and one of those conditions is obedience to God.

David was a man after God’s own heart, and yet in his disobedience, he prayed something so profound, he says “God, please do not take your Holy Spirit from me.”

David was no stranger to the power of the Holy Spirit, and he was also not a stranger to the absence of the Holy Spirit either, He had watched Saul fall into complete disarray – tormented by an evil spirit when God’s Holy Spirit was removed. Saul hadn’t always been that way. Before being crowned king of Israel, the Holy Spirit fell on him with such power that people asked the question, “Is Saul among the prophets?” But Saul wasn’t obedient to the commands of God and as a result suffered the consequences.

Let us not take the Holy Spirit for granted. Let us not assume that the presence of God will remain with us despite how we live, think, or speak. Let us not grieve His Spirit and resist Him through disobedience, but instead, let us run our race with endurance, trusting God, loving Him, obeying Him, and honoring (with reverence) the privilege of the Holy Spirit’s presence.

Exodus 16 – Three Solutions to Chronic Complaining

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In Exodus 16, Israel was delivered from Egypt and crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. Israel was on the other side of the Red Sea, but there was a problem – the people were hungry, angry and discontent – they started to murmur and complain and ventured into dangerous territory.

Today, complaining has become a part of ‘normal’ daily conversation. Many people see complaining as a natural thing that we are just supposed to do. It would seem that if you aren’t complaining then you’re considered an anomaly. Being complaint-free is almost considered a virtue because it’s so rare to encounter people who never complain.

However, we learn in Exodus 16 and other places throughout scripture (Philippians 2:14, Ephesians 4:29, James 5:9, Numbers 11, 1 Corinthians 10:10) that complaining is evil. And the reasons are obvious.

When we complain, we are ungrateful. There is a lack of graciousness or thankfulness that we are simply alive. Second, complaining is not from the Lord; complaining is from Satan. Satan tempts us to complain, but let’s not fall for the temptation and open the door to the devil. Complaining and being discontent is simply bait.

The second thing that’s worth mentioning is that complaining and pride are linked. People who complain have a pride problem. Pride is dangerous – and complaining is simply a byproduct of pride.

If you have the habit of complaining I suggest three things:

First, go to God and ask for forgiveness. Repent if you’re a complainer and close any demonic spiritual doors that you’ve opened as a result of complaining.

Second, thank Him for all that you have. Be grateful. The opposite of complaining is gratitude. Creating a gratitude list is a powerful way to keep a complaint-free life. It’s difficult to complain when you’re examining the blessings in your life. Everyone I know (including myself) that’s created a gratitude list has been immensely blessed by it.

The third thing that I’ll suggest is to get a complaint bracelet. Sometimes it’s easier to conquer an undesirable habit by becoming aware of it. Some people simply aren’t aware of how much they actually complain. The complaint bracelet should be somewhat difficult to remove – wear it on your arm, and switch arms every time you complain. You’ll become more mindful of your thought life. I’ve done this before in the past, and it works.

Lessons in the Water

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I see parables everywhere.  While picking fruit in a grocery store, I may think about how each fruit represents a certain personality type and then laugh when I view the lemons.  As I’m driving home, I may envision how the road symbolically applies to my journey of life, and then sigh when I realize I have to make a U-Turn.  Or when I drive by the many gorgeous lakes in the beautiful, Pacific Northwest, I see lessons in the water. Below are a few lessons I couldn’t help but notice in the water.

We will never see the ocean if we refuse to lose sight of the shore:

There are so many possibilities that are beyond our minds but within our reach.  All we have to do is step out of our comfort zones.  The shore is the place where we feel comfortable and secure in our life, and we anchor ourselves there for security.  There is more to life than the shore, but we will never know what is out there if we are too afraid to leave our comfort zones.  If you want to see the ocean then we have to have enough faith to leave the shore.

If the water gets choppy, “fear not.”

In the biblical account of Mark, chapter four, the disciples of Jesus were afraid for their lives when a storm approached the boat.  They thought that they would perish, and Jesus told them very simply “Fear Not.”  Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind died down, and it was completely calm.

Storms will come, and if we are consumed by fear and worry we won’t be proactive when they come, we will only be reactive. When storms come, have faith and allow Yeshua to take control.

Even when you feel like you’re drifting, there is a still a destination planned for you.

Nature takes its course with the waves.  It directs messages in bottles, pieces of driftwood, and old FedEx packages to land eventually.  Even when we feel like we aren’t doing anything at all, our life is still going somewhere.  Drifting takes us to a destination… but… if we want to take control of our destination, we must direct the sails.

When a boat runs ashore, the sea has spoken.

Everyone on the water gets sanded on the beach every once in a while.  The secret to success is to get back into the water with your faith, without fear, adjust your sails, and raise your anchor.  The sea may speak, but it doesn’t have to have the last word.

How Joy, Authenticity and Happiness Work Together

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Being happy and being authentic are not synonymous. However, happiness and authenticity work symbiotically. When you are living your authentic self, you are naturally going to have more moments of happiness.

Living authentically produces something even stronger than happiness. Living authentically produces joy. Joy is spiritual, it’s deep, it’s philosophical, and it doesn’t change with the seasons or the environment. Joy is steady. It’s calmer and more reliable than happiness. So what we really want, crave and need is joy because when you have joy you have something that is coming from the inside out, rather than happiness which is often produced from the outside in.

When you are authentic, you naturally have more joy in your life. Joy is a byproduct of living the life that God wants you to live and being who He created you to be. Living authentically produces joy and happiness.

Eccentrics are an excellent example of how joy, happiness, and authenticity merge. Scientific studies and researchers who’ve investigated the lives of eccentrics have discovered that eccentrics are happier than other people. Famed psychologist David Weeks spent years studying eccentrics and found that eccentrics live more freely and fearlessly. They have more excitement in their lives, are more mindful, but most importantly they are themselves – these traits make them happier than the average person.

When you live a life of authenticity and embrace who you are and not care what anybody else thinks, you live a happier and more joyful life.

Of course, there is a downside to living a more authentic life – you may upset the people around you by not living how they want you to live. You might disrupt their peace, but you’ll have peace within, and inner peace is priceless.

There is nothing more disturbing than a restless, chaotic spirit. Confusion is a natural enemy of man. When people are confused, they make bad choices; they get depressed, they stagnate internally and sometimes they just stand paralyzed in their confusion.

One of the ways that you keep confusion out is to stay true to who you are. If you pretend to be someone else, an inner battle begins to rage, and a byproduct of that battle is confusion. Many people are deprived of their peace because they’re confused. And a lot of people are confused because they are not living authentically.

Joyful people aren’t confused. Joyful people live in clarity. They don’t live in a fog with their vision blurred by the past or future. They live in the present. One of my digital mentors taught me that joy is the reward for discerning the divine gift camouflaged in the immediate moment. I would also argue that joy and happiness are the divine gifts camouflaged in living authentically.

Tikkun Olam and Heart Renewal

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There is an interesting concept in Judaism called Tikkun Olam, which is synonymous with social action and the pursuit of justice. Tikkun Olam means ‘World Repair’ and it’s the idea that your actions, the things that you do have the capacity to repair the world – a world that’s been broken by sin.

However, what we need more than world repair is Heart Repair.

You can’t have world repair without heart repair. It’s out of the abundance of the heart that evil comes. Yeshua said For out of the heart come evil thoughts–murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

King David understood the reality of heart repair and asked God in the Psalms to create in him a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit in him. David understood that if he was going to live a life that pleased God he needed a new heart. I believe that God gave David what he requested and answered his prayer, which is why we also read that David was a man after God’s own heart, because when your heart is clean, you seek His heart.

Thankfully, God is not just a God of repair, but He is a God of renewal because the world needs more than just repair – it needs to be renewed. Repairing the world simply won’t work because we ultimately need a new world altogether. In the New Testament, the disciple John records the future and says this:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.

The earth is so defiled and degraded; it’s beyond repair. This is not to say that God can’t repair the earth, because He is God, after all, He can repair anything. However, in the future, God is going to create something new.

It’s encouraging to know that we serve a God of renewal. Until our new world comes, we need heart renewal, and in the meanwhile, as we ask God to renew our hearts we can hold on to the promise of Yeshua, who said “Behold, I am making all things new.”

3 Simple Ways to Become a Better Christian

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God loves you where you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay there. He doesn’t want you to stand still, stuck in time – He wants you to be better, know better, and choose better. God wants us to become more and more like Him. Below are just three things we need to do if we want to look more like Christ, and less like ourselves.

  1. Pray – Christians without prayer are like fish without water. Prayer isn’t an option on the Christian journey – it’s a necessity. Prayer brings us closer to God and His Will for our lives.
  2. Trust – This sounds so simple, and yet it’s so hard, and it’s so necessary. Peace comes when we remove trust in others, ourselves, and the things around us, and trust in Him. God has asked us repeatedly throughout scripture to trust Him.
  3. CHOOSE to be faithful, Godly, and filled with love – Life is full of choices. We can choose blessings or cursings, and God wants us to choose blessings! Make the right choice, daily.

How to “Put on” Christ

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People usually make a snap judgment about you based on the clothes that you wear. Have you ever wondered what your clothing says about you?

Quite a few scientific studies have researched how clothing influences our perception. In one study, researchers asked 300 people to look at a man in a made-to-measure suit and then in a less expensive suit. Of course, people judged the man in the bespoke suit more favorably. Our impressions of others doesn’t stop with men in fancy suits. Even teachers make assumptions about a child’s academic ability based on their clothing.

Clothes don’t just shape what other people think about us; they even shape what we think about ourselves. A team of scientists discovered that when people dress to impress, they enhance their cognitive abilities. Dressing in fancy clothing makes a person think differently. It makes a person feel powerful, which changes their mental processes.

Romans 13:14 doesn’t tell us to dress up in formalwear, but it does tell us to wear Christ.

We talk a lot about walking with Christ, communing with Christ, loving Christ, following Christ, but we rarely discuss “Putting ON Christ.” What does it mean to wear Christ?

The Greek word used for ‘put on’ or ‘wear’ is the word endyō, which means to sink into something, and put it on as one wears clothes. According to Strong’s definition, this word can be literal or figurative. Gill’s exposition explains that we are to put on Christ as a person puts on clothes in the morning. The righteousness of Christ is compared to a garment, which covers our sins and imperfections.

Putting on Christ means placing our faith and hope in Him, trusting Him, submitting to Him, staying under His covering and living in His Presence. Choosing to think like Christ as we go about the day clothes us in His Grace. Choosing to meditate on Christ and His sacrifice clothes us in His Mercy as we go about our day.

We are to be completely clothed with Christ. He is to cover every inch of who we are. Any part that’s uncovered is exposed. The exposed parts are susceptible to the outside influences of the world. How do we stay completely covered? In the figurative sense, it is a submission of every area of our lives to Him. It means submitting habits, work, relationships, speech, thoughts, burdens, fears, and desires. When every area of our life is submitted to Him, we are clothed with His love, and we are wearing Christ.