There are some people on the sidewalk you don’t even notice, no matter which direction they are going. Then there are those who are stopped (maybe window shopping, out of breath, sprained ankle, lost, bending over tying a shoe) and you run into or over them, giving you the opportunity to account to them and ask for forgiveness, depending upon …
Jolly Beggars Descending to Power
Hello there, fellow contender for the faith. Happy Holidays! I guess “holiday” is a contraction of “holy day,” and that got me thinking that for each of us as Christians, every day is a holy day. I guess that means we can think of every day as a “holiday,” but perhaps we should clarify that before you take it too …
Growth vs. Comfort
Hello there, fellow contender for the faith that has been entrusted to us. What a privilege we have to know, and share, and live such magnificent truth from God’s precious Word. It is a joy and a privilege to be back with you here via the printed page, and I pray that my words will touch your heart. When I …
Growing Up Again
YES-S-S!!! It’s SPRING! Finally. OK, if you live in Florida or California or Arizona, you’re yawning and saying, “Big deal.” But if you have endured a winter like we have here in Indiana where the ground has been white for weeks, the advent of warmer temperatures, green grass, flowers, and leaves is incredibly refreshing. New life, or, at least, rejuvenated …
Getting in Touch with Jesus
Hi there, dear Contender for the faith. It is once again a joy to communicate with you, and I pray that my words will be a blessing to your life. Hey, it’s Summer! This was always my favorite time of the year, in large part because school never much arrested my attention, and I longed for the last day each …
Do What You Can
Well, here we are in 2003! Can you believe it? Actually, yes, because time has an inexorable way of confronting us with reality, no matter how hard we sometimes try to deny it. Think about it: “Y2K” is a distant memory (unless one is still eating up leftover survival cheese), there is now blue Pepsi®, Calvin & Hobbes are gone, …
Care-less and Care-full
God bless your heart, and welcome to the first “On The Edge” column, which will be a regular feature. It is a joy and privilege for me to have this forum to share my heart with you. It’s also good discipline for me to have to produce something remotely coherent every 60 days. And I may even learn more about this …
Why Be Born Again?
The reason each person since the Day of Pentecost must be born again in order to have life in the age to come is because the first time we were born (physically), we each inherited the sin nature of our “father” Adam, and thus were born dead in sin (Eph. 2:1, etc.). Because of this “death” nature in us, our physical …
What Is the New Birth?
Throughout Scripture, there are many analogies between things in the natural realm and corresponding things in the spiritual realm. God uses these to help us human beings, who do understand the natural realm, understand spiritual truth also. One such example is the idea of being “born again.” Think about a normal human birth—you know, “Wa-a-a-h!” There you were, a screaming …
Adopted by God
FAQ: I know that as Christians we are born again of incorruptible seed (1 Pet. 1:23 – KJV). Why then do several places in the Church Epistles speak of our being “adopted” by God? The Greek word translated “adoption” is huiothesia, and it occurs only five times in the New Testament, all in the Church Epistles in the KJV (Rom. 8:15, 23; 9:4; …