At the end of a Chinese meal, most of us break open a stale cookie to find supposed words of wisdom written on a sliver of paper. The fortune cookie is a tradition that signals it is time to pay the bill.
A company at the Sweet and Snack Expo in Chicago is marketing a new “Christianized” approach to this tradition. Scripture Candy is a company that produces candy with wrappers or other avenues of writing that include Bible verses or Christian statements.
Do you meditate? Better yet, do you meditate on God’s word?
I am not writing about the kind of meditation that is popular in some segments of the population. That is the kind that is practiced in order to produce a calming effect on the person meditating. This often involves clearing the mind, controlled breathing and visualization techniques.
Recently in my Bible studies, I have been focusing on some of the picturesque language that communicates truth to us. I have been spending a lot of time in the book of Jeremiah. In many ways we do not envy the ministry of this weeping prophet. Seldom did people heed his warnings. His was a lonely venture speaking for God.
***I am currently writing a few guest posts for the website Christians in Context. Last night I received an email from the host of the site asking for me and the other contributors to write a post on Why I Love My Church. This is that post. Feel free to interact with the article here or on the Christians in Context site.***
Jared Totten has a new article titled, The Church: are you a lover or a leaver? A few years ago, I almost became a leaver. In fact, for too long I hovered in between the realms of loving and leaving. Not so any longer.
I enjoy finding grammatical nuances which shape or add emphasis to a writer’s words.
The other day I noticed a use of adjectives by Peter under inspiration of the Holy Spirit that brings emphasis to our inheritance in heaven.
According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
(1 Peter 1:3-4 ESV – Emphasis mine)
We seek to be a Word-saturated, joyfully-Reformed, transformational community to the glory of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This statement is the new vision statement for our church. While I had nothing to do with the crafting of the statement, I love it. Does your church have a vision statement? If so, I would love to see what it is.
Perhaps my perception is awry. But it seems to me that we are experiencing an alarming increase in Christians and Christian organizations taking each other to civil courts and/or threatening to sue each other.
Off the top of my head I can think of lawsuits with plaintiffs who can be classified as Christian, Christian Church, Christian College and Christian Blogger. In these cases the defendants also contained the Christian moniker.
April 9, 2012 in
Christian Life with
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He was raised between the heaven and the earth, as though both rejected Him, despised by men and refused by God.
And as though abuse were not vile enough, they covered Him with spittle.
And as though spittle were not contemptuous enough, they plucked out His beard.
And as though plucking out his beard was not brutal enough, they drove in great nails.
And as though the nails did not pierce deeply enough, He was crowned with thorns.
And as though the thorns were not agonizing enough, He was pierced through with a Roman spear.
It was earth’s saddest hour, and it was humanity’s deepest, darkest day.
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