Grace for New Life

When repairing something, it is really important to know how it works, because you (usually) can’t repair something without first understanding it. It is the same with human life. We need to understand it so that we are better able to enter into a process of renovating human life, a process that Jesus does in, through and for us. (Based on Mark 12:28-34.)

The personal challenges we face & a quick survey of world news tells us that human beings need a renovation of their hearts. But how? Jesus offers hope through the spiritual transformation that only he can give. As we receive his love into the depths of our being, we grow in becoming more like him. (Based on Proverbs 4:18:27.)

Jesus’ earthly mission is all about the coming kingdom of God. As we read in Mark 1:16-34, it begins in Galilee with a series of dramatic words and deeds. He calls his first disciples, he casts out demons, and he heals the sick. Who is this person and what is he doing? Well, Jesus is doing a dramatic new thing to rescue and renew a needy world. And this “new thing” involves a new order, covenant c...

It is easy for us to get distracted in life, but being distracted while under stress usually leads to poor decisions. However, Jesus came to give us a better way to live. As we live with genuine faith in a personal relationship with him, Jesus will carry us through to the joyful fulfillment he will bring about for us and all things. (Based on Hebrews 12:1-13.)

With all the pressures of starting a new school year & new activities in September, it is easy for us to get overwhelmed and off-track. Thankfully, Jesus has given us the gift of eternal life with him. As we train ourselves in living eternal life with Jesus, we are able to better live out our eternal life in the stresses of everyday life in this world. (Based on 1 Cor. 9:19-27.)

When tough times happen, it is natural for us to consider an easy way out. But sometimes the easy way is not the way of faith. When that is the case, we remember that Jesus has already paid the full cost for a great ending for all creation. Confident in his saving love, we welcome trials because they help us persevere toward the amazing ending Jesus has for us and all creation. (Based on James 1:1...

Rae-Anna Hedlin shares a report from the Church in Japan. "We have been worshipping together daily, being changed by God's Word, and sharing meals and life together. People are being freed from shame, being freed to thrive in unhindered fellowship with God and other believers." (Based on Hebrews 10:19-25)

When the wind blows from the opposite direction you’re going in, do you have anxiety or trust? If your tendency is toward anxiety, how do you handle it? Let’s explore what the Lord Jesus tells us about how to handle the anxiety that we experience. (Based on Matthew 6:25-34; 7:7-11).)

When we are overwhelmed by great challenges in life, we often don't even know what to do and our usual sources of information cannot help us. Jesus is inviting us to live in a new way, where we fully trust in God's wise and loving action in this world to make all things work out for good in the end. (Based on Proverbs 3:1-14.)

All of us need salvation of our souls, but our human efforts to save our own soul will never work. Thankfully, by going to the cross, dying and rising again, Jesus has opened the door for our soul to be saved. We walk through that door by dying to the things of this world and transferring our trust to Jesus. It is through losing our life for Jesus that we find our true life with him. (Based on Mat...

It is easy for us humans to think that we are all on our own in this world and we need to control everything we can to make all things work out well. But doing so is a hopeless quest because, as the finite and broken creatures that we are, our efforts to control don't work and, worse yet, we hurt ourselves & others in the process. Like a shepherd that lovingly cares for their sheep, Jesus...

​​We sometimes think of faith as a magic power that enables us to do things we could not otherwise do or make things work out in a way that we desire. With such thinking, doubt is seen as a weakness that diminishes faith and makes it less likely to reach our goals. But Jesus paints for us a much more hopeful, life-giving understanding of faith and doubt. Faith is resting our entire life—including...

All of us, at various points throughout our lives, will make plans and those plans may or may not work out as we hoped. But what do we do when our plans fail, and life seems to spiral out of control? We remember that God has a plan that is far greater than ours and his plan is to give us a hope and a future that is far better than anything we could ever imagine. (Based on Jeremiah 29:1-14.)

As much as we want to ignore it, death is a future reality for all of us. How can we face our own mortality and have a settled peace about it? By knowing who God is and who we are in relation to him. For God is not only our Creator, he is also our Redeemer and Savior. God the Son, Jesus Christ, came into this world and paid the cost to bring us into life with him. With him carrying us in his lovin...

We can find many things online which help us in life. But who will show us how to live an abundant life? Freed from condemnation by Jesus, the Holy Spirit helps us to live life in a new way. As we meet with Jesus in our everyday challenges, the Holy Spirit transforms us by flooding our heart and mind with the thoughts and feelings of Jesus. Guided by the Spirit, we intentionally form new habits an...

One of the main tasks of being a human being is to discover who we are. We usually build our sense of self upon the things of this world: our work, our relationships, our possessions, or our looks. But what happens when we lose those things? We don’t know who we really are anymore. But the Holy Spirit helps us to see who we really are in Christ: beloved, forgiven children of God and heirs of the f...

Sometimes it is hard for us to face up to the fact that we are all sinners. We wish we could do better and would like to fix our sin problem with a DIY solution. But that never works. God’s solution for our sin problem is to trust in him and his goodness instead of our own. It was God’s goodness that propelled Jesus into this world to pay the full cost of forgiveness for all our sins. And it is th...

We can become fearful when our life goals are frustrated or threatened. Our life can even be shattered when things don’t work out the way we want. That shattering can be a gift if we bring our broken life to Jesus. That’s when the Holy Spirit quenches our soul's thirst for shalom peace in Jesus. (Based on John 14:23-31.)

Sometimes things beyond our control happen which threaten to diminish or remove our possessions, and that can be scary for us. But Jesus took all of our guilt and brokenness upon himself to open the door for us to a new and much better life with him. With him as our greatest treasure, we have everything we need. (Based on Matthew 6:25-34.)

It is disheartening when we are not able to accomplish what we desire. But the solution is not to try harder. Instead, God calls us to look at our desires. Often they are misaligned and being only one degree off course means that we never arrive at our intended destination. By resting in Jesus and letting him transform our affections, we focus our efforts in a new direction as we seek to help God’...

One of the hardest things to deal with is a relationship breakdown within a family. Ideally, these are the closest relationships we should have, so it is especially painful when those relationships are fractured. In our grief and sorrow, we turn to Jesus, and through the relationship we have with him, we have a perfect Parent, an ideal Brother, and a faithful Encourager who keeps reminding us of w...

Because all of us are broken humans living in a broken world, we will all face health challenges at some point in our lives. Preventing such things from happening is beyond our control. But we do control how we respond when health declines. So we look to Jesus. Because he took up our infirmities on the cross and nullified their power to destroy us, we know that the physical healing we long for wil...

In moments when our life quickly takes a dramatic downward turn, it feels like that is the most important thing. But there is something deeper going on. Without Jesus, we are already spiritually dead in all our relationships with God, our self & others. Jesus gives us new life in all those areas of life, but we often need resurrection friends to help us to grow in that new life. (Based on John...

We often think of resurrection as something that happens in the far off future after we die with little or no relevance for our life in this world. But the resurrection of Jesus changes everything for us now and forever. As we live in the present with a deeply held awareness of resurrection and what it means for us, Jesus will change our lives to be more like his. (Based on Mt. 28:1-10.)

Jesus’ resurrection may sound like good news that only matters when we die. But the Bible and history show us that Jesus’ resurrection has the power to transform lives so that people are more fully alive and loving than they otherwise ever could be. By being attentive to Jesus’ presence with us in our meals, he can help us to live his resurrection in our everyday life. (Based on Luke 24:13-35.)