A GREATER PASSION

It's easy to point out and mock the insane decisions other people make and to lambast away at how horrible their actions were and the consequences they deserve. Then we piously rant about the right thing they should have done. In our minds, it's all well deserved. But inevitably, the Spirit begins to work in our own hearts and we can't help but look at ourselves, remembering the times when we also did something really stupid. So stupid that the regrets continue to haunt us, even at the most inappropriate random moments. Decisions that seemed so far out of the character from what we've esteemed for ourselves; leaving us shaking our heads and murmuring in disappointment to ourselves, "I'm such an idiot! How can I blow it like that?" If only we could have that moment back again in order to make the right decision.   So, what do we do when we've done something we regret? When we have just plain blown it? We have a variety of choices to make after...

" ... in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. " Ephesians 2:7 What does it mean to be kind? It is the opposite of being rude, mean, or selfish. To be kind is to be thoughtful, as opposed to being thoughtless towards another. It is “other centered”. It is gentle in nature. Kindness has no other motive than to bless another. This is the kindness of God. Kindness is a display of His favor towards us, demonstrated in actions done with gentleness. The kindness of God is also the heart and actions of His intimacy towards us. As with many of His attributes, God's kindness is a combination of all that He is. In regard to His kindness, it is both His grace and His mercy. His kindness and demonstrated by not only what He gives us but also by what He withholds. In a world full of selfishness and rudeness it is a deep comfort to realize that we have and all powerful, all-kno...

“Can you discover the essence of God? Can you find out the perfection of the Almighty?" Job 11:7 To be perfect means that God is of the highest excellence. He is completely ideal beyond practical or theoretical improvement. Entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings. God is complete within Himself. Any of His attributes cannot be to a greater degree. What is amazing is that He cannot be improved upon. The Lord cannot evolve or become any better in any way that He already is. His love is perfect, therefore His love cannot be exceeded in any way. The same applies to His goodness, beauty, power, wisdom, righteousness, etc...  All that God is, is the best. The best possible. God is the ultimate in everything that He is.  He thus becomes the standard by which we compare and measure all these. He is perfection, the ideal and supreme model of all moral, physical and philosophical attributes. One can attempt to compare Him with other things however He is un...

I’m Rich! God of Grace In order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Eph 2:7 (NIV) “God helps those who help themselves.” When I was growing up it was the most quoted, if not the only supposed bible verse in my home. Well, at least we thought it was in the bible somewhere, perhaps in the book of Second Hesitations. I had never seen the bible so I just took their word for it. In fact, besides the occasionally cursings and the threat, “God, help you if you ever do that again”, it was the only mention of God in our home. What I learned and thus lived out for many years was that if I was going to get anywhere in life it was up to me and me alone. I had been taught that nothing in life was truly free. You had to earn it. From money, to grades, to respect, to social status, and even to love.   My belief was that if there was a god, it was only there to test you and make things a lit...

“ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 There are those precious moments in life when we stop to reflect upon all that is around us and we are left amazed at the vastness, the intricateness and the sheer beauty of it all. And to think that all of God’s creation has come about simply by His Word. He merely speaks and all that is is because He has willed it to be so. It all displays that He is indeed …  • the most creative artist.  • the most ingenious engineer.  • the most brilliant physicist.  • the master designer and architect. God has made the smallest and most intricate to the largest and most vast. He designs, creates and sustains, from the smallest of particles we have observed, the Proton at 1x 10 ^-15 meters (15 zeros after the decimal point), to the largest of observable objects, the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall. This object takes light 10 billion years to traverse. Consider that light travels at 671...

Greater minds and greater hearts have described the Lord in greater ways. For this particular attribute of God, I concede that others do better in painting a mental picture for us. At the end of this human explanation we will allow the Lord to describe Himself through His Words. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology explains the wrath of God as the following:  " WRATH . The permanent attitude of the holy and just God when confronted by sin and evil is designated his ‘wrath’. It is inadequate to regard this term merely as a description of ‘the inevitable process of cause and effect in a moral universe’ or as another way of speaking of the results of sin. It is rather a personal quality, without which God would cease to be fully righteous and his love would degenerate into sentimentality. His wrath, however, even though like his love it has to be described in human language, is not wayward, fitful or spasmodic, as human anger always is. It is as perm...