The Beatitudes are an amazing picture of the kingdom of God that needs another look. Let me list the picture. Blessed are: The poor in spirit Those who mourn The meek Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness The merciful The pure in heart The peacemakers Those who are persecuted If you gave a portrait artist 8 aspects of what someone looked like, they could give you a pretty good picture of that person. Here Jesus gives us 8 invisible …
People join great vision but leave poor leadership. I got this quote on LinkedIn. I feel we as Christians drop the ball here. Jesus coming to earth is the single greatest event on this earth. Now, admittedly, his coming to die for our sins is the main thing, but part of the package is he gave us the vision to carry on. Take a look at his famous words in Matthew 28:18-20. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority …
Jesus taught for 3 years, but I suggest a lot he would have smiled at is not in the Bible. Let me unpack this idea. Jesus told a story of a man who owed a big debt, and the master forgave the debt. The owner thus requires the debtor to forgive others. Important story and give us a lot of perspective on faith. In Ephesus, Paul says, Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in …
May God bless the police and the poor and the oppressed. A culture gap exists that I believe we Christians need to see better. First, is God a racist? Did racism appear in the Bible? Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. In Numbers 12. Moses marries a black woman after Zipporah dies. Miriam says Moses is therefore not worthy to lead Israel. God turns Miriam leprous white. End discussion. …
Is America special in being God’s chosen city on a hill? When I first moved to China in 1991, I felt China was a mess as had no Christian heritage. Gradually, I realized that is a fallacy. China has child labor, fake medicines, violates patents and trademarks, takes land from little countries, is bad to its minorities, and is dirty and polluted. In the period 1870-1900, the US, while in a similar stage of economic development, did everyone of these, …
