God made each of us with different personalities and different families to make a fun and useful world as we cooperate. Men and women and emotions is yet another issue of how God made us different. Men can block off their emotions in crisis and be great. Women can keep emotions open and can comfort in ways that men often cannot. In the post modern age, many women are learning to be tough and succeed in a man’s world. Men …
The Bible has 66 books written over 1400 years by mostly Jewish men. It has many genres of literature from history to poetry . It says many many things. Thus, the risks exist that we can make the Bible say what we want. I would like to add that we all do it. It is never good as we are making God instead of finding him and letting him change us. Any time we go to the Bible seeking to …
Romans 1 can feel dark. What starts us one downward path sometimes gets us lost in Romans 1 when the Apostle Paul announces all the bad impulses that come upon people. It is a sad path. Lets avoid the downward path. But all the ugly things Paul notes have one surprising cause. He first says: 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may …
As an American living in China, I keep an eye on what the ambassador to China and the one for the US say? Why do I do this? The ambassador has no real power. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthian 5:18-20 that we are Ambassadors for Christ. See below. What does he mean by this? 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself …
Where are you a citizen is a question that most people answer by saying USA or wherever they have political connections. That is not wrong. However, as Christians we have a much more important citizenship. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, Just before this, the passage says “their minds are set of earthly things.” Are our minds set on earthly things and our earthly citizenship? I live in China and …
God gave us important work. When God decided to make us his children, he did not simply make us cupids with harps. He made us partners in reaching the world for Christ. God loves us. He doesn’t just give us a free pass to heaven as reward for believing him. He gave us meaning in life. We are not left to grow up, marry, have kids, get old and die. We can take part in the most important work in …
More thoughts on the topic of God does not change. Here is a familiar passage. Or is it? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. I took it from Deuteronomy 6:5. The teacher of the law had challenged Jesus to name the most important of the Law’s commands. I think in our hearts we feel Jesus was giving us a great new teaching. What he is actually doing is showing us God’s unchanging heart. Over 1000 years after Moses spoke these words, Jesus emphasizes their …
Love the lost is certainly a command from God, God says to love enemies and shows us some things. Among his disciples, he had zealots who were all about hate and tax collectors who were all about power and money. He welcomed prostitutes and praised non Jews. The only people he condemned were the religious leaders. In the post modern world, a lot of people need love. How hard would life have to be before anyone would face be trans …
From my earliest childhood, I have been interested in the world, and for my 8th birthday, I wanted just one thing, a globe. I memorized that globe. Later, I moved to China. I was enthralled to see that God’s hear agreed with mine. God loves the nations. Why, because he made each one. These famous quotes drives us on. Matthew 28:18-20 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go …
Funny title. What I mean by did Jesus change God is we have a sense that the God of the Old Testament is tough and the God of the New Testament is soft. I think we need to look closer and think more. This is a big topic, but let me take it on. In Levitucus 10, We have the following. The Death of Nadab and Abihu 10 Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they …
