God’s forgiveness is complete, but it doesn’t erase every consequence of sin. Exploring the guilt offering in the Book of Leviticus reveals how God’s grace calls us to confess, repent, and take action to restore what our sins have broken.
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Everybody knows the command to honour your father and your mother, and Jesus called us to love our enemies. But what if our enemy is also our abuser? What if the parent we’re called to honour is mistreating or exploiting us? Some say the Christian response is to turn the other cheek. Others follow the recent explosion in articles advocating that you cut off all the toxic people in your life. The biblical tension is somewhere in between.
Maybe starting a Zoom group in the first century wasn’t an option technologically, but there’s value in considering what would have been lost if Jesus had chosen to mentor His disciples online instead of in-person.
We were created for connection, so we all feel a longing for relationships. In a church, there are lots of opportunities to get to know others, but if we don’t understand the difference between friendship and fellowship, we can miss out on what God wants to do in our lives. Consider what happens when we don’t get this right.
As I looked for God’s hand in our often difficult circumstances, I saw more cause for thanksgiving than I would otherwise have noticed. Until I took the time to write, I focused on the negatives and overlooked the positives. And slowing down to write about what I was asking God to do made my needs more clear and my circumstances less overwhelming.
Over the years, I have had many people reveal to me a terrible trial or sickness they’re facing and the sickening feeling they have that God has cursed them or punished them for some unknown sin they have committed. People brought those same kinds of assumptions to Jesus, and He opened their eyes to the many ways that God redeems the trials we face for our good.
Many couples begin their relationships giddy and excited about each other. Love comes easily and romance feels natural. Along the way, many people find that love hard to maintain. What started as a blaze feels more like a flicker. How do you rekindle your love, and what can you do to make sure the flame never dims?
I think we do want someone who will love us just the way that we are. But we also need someone who loves us enough to help us grow and mature as well. So instead of asking, “Will this person fit into my life and not change me?” maybe there are some better questions we need to ask.
Today, couples are cutting ties over poor hygiene, meddling in-laws, and refusing to clean toilets. But obviously, there are far more serious issues at stake also. What are the deal breakers in marriage? How you answer that question depends mostly on how you understand marriage.
While every person’s experience of grief is unique and the process of healing is seldom neat or straightforward, I felt the steps that I had heard that day were ones I wanted to hold onto and seek God for the strength to take when my turn eventually comes.