live2bless

The Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV) Notice that the Apostle’s...

The Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV) Yesterday we considered th...

In my last podcast I proposed that what we read in Ephesians 3:19 could serve as an answer to the question, what is the supreme purpose of humanity. The answer? To “be filled with all the fullness of God.” Notice that leading up to that the Apostle Paul writes that he’s praying that the Ephesian believers be rooted and established in love. Ephesians 3:17 (NIV) For the sake of clarity, let’s use wh...

I have done a great deal of questioning and thinking regarding just what is the primary purpose for humanity. I came back to a passage in Ephesians that I think could serve as an answer, but before I read it, let’s consider how some long-standing Christian traditions have answered that question. First consider the widely held Westminster Shorter Catechism. It teaches that the supreme purpose of ma...

What does it mean to be growing spiritually?  I suggest that it boils down to this: it is to always be outgrowing misconceptions of who we think God is.   The reason I say this is so important is because literally every aspect of our lives mirrors what we actually believe God is like.  Consequently, the more our thoughts of God line up with the truth of who he actually is, the greater our freedom...

In Roman’s 5:2, we read what strikes me as a peculiar statement, “and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.” In seeking to understand this, let’s first consider the word, “hope”. Biblical hope is hardly what we think of when we hear that word. When we say, “I hope so,” we generally mean that we would like such-n-such to happen but it might not. Biblical hope is having a confident expectation in s...

I don’t know that there is a verse in the Bible more searching in terms of how we see ourselves than this: Romans 2:1 (NET) “You are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.” By way of clarification, the Apostle Paul is referring to the kind of judging that looks do...

In yesterday’s podcast I suggested that responsiveness to the work of Jesus is at the heart of spiritual maturity. Why? Because Jesus lived like that in relationship to his Father. Consider the following: In John 5:19-20 (NET) Jesus said, 19 “…I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son doe...

I want to offer yet another definition of what I think spiritual maturity is all about. It could be defined by how responsive a person is to the work of Jesus by his Spirit as evidenced by how much of a person’s inner and outer life is devoted to God’s friendship and to coworking with him in 24/7 helpfulness. Notice that one of the key words in that statement is the word, “responsive.” Lord willin...

I’d like to set before you a paraphrase of that well known chapter on love found in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. I’m calling it a paraphrase, but actually I’m just replacing the word translated “love” with a word or concept that supplies what I take that biblical word love to mean. As best as I can tell, when we read that “God is love” or read about loving one another, something emotional is not what’s...

Jesus said, “I am the life…” What did he mean by that? For sure he was referring to something far bigger than physical life. It seems to me that the concepts of life and purpose are inseparable. I would go so far as to say that life is purposeful living. If that is so then let’s take it another step and say that purposeful living could be defined by how much of a person’s life expresses spiritual...

What is a spiritually mature life? I suggest that it is a life of 24/7 helpfulness. I say helpfulness because I can’t think of a better synonym for indicating what the word “love” means in the Bible. Here’s a corresponding question: what is the cutting edge of how that helpfulness manifests? I suggest it is to be so inwardly peaceful, joyful, and free of “here’s what I think!” or thoughts of “what...

Now and again I bump up against someone who likes to define the Christian life and interpret the Bible in terms of systems. For that matter a great deal of Christian writing focuses one’s attention on developing a system by which one relates to God. What am I referring to? I’m referring to the habit of organizing ideas in the Bible into certain categories. A theological system gathers verses toget...

The words of Jesus in Matthew 12:30 read, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” To safeguard one person’s value to God is to safeguard everyone’s. To violate one person’s value is to violate everyone’s. How so? Perhaps it is because Jesus is at work, the world over, every moment in the depths of every human heart. He is constantly seeking to open eve...

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NET) “…Even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” Are you trying to dodge, a...

Romans 1:16-17 (NET) 16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.” Regarding the “righteousness of God” mentioned, one scholar points out that that the phrase a right...

Romans 1:1-7 (NET) 1 “From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. 2 This gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3 concerning his Son who was a descendant of David with reference to the flesh, 4 who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power according to the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ o...

I’ve been doing some studying about belonging to Jesus Christ and have been trying to think through just what that means. In the course of it I stumbled across this gem that dates back to the year 1563. I’m referring to the opening question and answer in a catechism drafted in Heidelberg Germany. It seems to me it could easily pass for something every believer would do well to memorize. The questi...

This week I’ve been reflecting on a quote I read recently by philosopher Martin Buber. “When I meet a man, I am not concerned about his opinions. I am concerned about the man." ~ Martin Buber That sounds to me a lot like how it is that God looks at us. It’s not our opinions that matter to him, it’s us. It’s who we are. We all walked away from God, and may even be his bitter enemies as far as...

I just read a remarkable article. A “Kentucky mother of two went to the hospital last month to receive what she figured would be a routine treatment for a kidney stone. Lucinda Mullins, 41, ultimately ended up losing both legs and both arms from the elbows down.” The cause was sepsis. The article goes on to say that “Mullins apparently took the bad news in stride, leaning into her faith and family...

I stumbled across an interesting remark by a greek scholar on the phrase in John 1:4 where we read —with reference to Jesus — that “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” The scholar pointed out that “the article with both ‘life’ and ‘light’ makes them interchangeable.” In other words, both the following statements are true: that life was the light of all mankind and that li...

Luke 19:10 — “The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” Psalm 23:3b — “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.” What are the “paths of righteousness”? I suggest that, over all, it is not only to constantly act in a manner that — as much as possible — reveres another person’s value to God, but it’s to be always seeking to discern why God is uniquely inte...

In a recent podcast I listed 4 of what I consider to be essential human needs. I’ve since added a 5th. Then I looked at each one in the light of what it means to belong to Jesus Christ. In fact, I’ve been wondering if in just belonging to Jesus we would discover that all these critical needs are completely addressed. You make the call. 1. SIGNIFICANCE: our need to know we matter in life If you bel...

Here’s a textbook definition of Deductive reasoning it is “the mental process of drawing deductive inferences. An inference is deductively valid if its conclusion follows logically from its premises, i.e. it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false.” And this is what a syllogism is “a three-part logical argument, based on deductive reasoning, in which two premises a...

Why don’t answers come when it seems we most need them? Why does a problem seem to go unaddressed or unresolved? God could take care of it instantly or at least in a way that reassures us the answer is on its way, but he doesn’t. Why? Because he wants to know what we really think: he’s checking out the depth of our trust in him, our commitment to him. This has always been God’s way. In Deuteronomy...