If Christianity is real, then it should work. Christianity is not just some philosophy or abstract set of ideas; it is a relationship with the living God. It is real and it works. But we must define what we mean when we say ‘it works’. Do we mean it will make you popular and beautiful and everything will go your way? Do we mean that it will connect you with God so that you have all your prayers an...  Read More

Connection occurs when the life of Christ in me touches the life of Christ in you.The basis for a connected life is the atonement. Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we can be connected to God and to each other. The basis for this connection through the atonement is forgiveness. Larry Crabb says,"Christians believe that without the atonement there is no forgiveness, without forgiveness there i...  Read More

Hebrews 3:18-19 says, “And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.”        The children of Israel were unable to enter into God’s rest because of their unbelief; but what was it they were unable to believe? Oswald Chambers said, “The roo...  Read More

If Christianity is real, then it should work. Christianity is not just some philosophy or abstract set of ideas; it is a relationship with the living God. It is real and it works. But we must define what we mean when we say ‘it works’. Do we mean it will make you popular and beautiful and everything will go your way? Do we mean that it will connect you with God so that you have all your prayers an...  Read More

The first thing that goes when we are hurt in a relationship is trust. But if it takes time to build trust, it takes even more time to rebuild trust. I Corinthians 13:7 says, “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” It never gives up. In verse 4, it says, “love is patient”. So if you want to give up, and if you can’t be patient, maybe your problem is a lack of love. ...  Read More

“If I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15 (NIV)         The Apostle Paul is here telling Timothy the reason for his letter—to instruct God’s people how to be the church. The church is literally Christ’s body on this earth, and as such, we are called to liv...  Read More

“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator,” Colossians 3:9,10 The first part of building trust is being honest with each other. Lies are told in the absence of trust—if we think the truth will not be beneficial then we may begin to lie.        In the Garden of Ed...  Read More

Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."        In the Old Testament, God continually threatens punishment for those who don’t follow His commands and incredible blessing for those who do. Within the scope of God’s holiness and justice, He sometimes decrees ...  Read More

A part of building trust in relationships is respecting the needs of others. I Peter 2:17 says, “Show proper respect to everyone.” It is when you get really close that you have to work at respect. Remember the adage, “familiarity breeds contempt”? God reinforces this idea in Eph. 5:33 when He has Paul write, “A wife must respect her husband.” God knows that contempt is easy to get in a close relat...  Read More

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10 (NIV)          The atoning sacrifice means "mercy seat". It is the same word as the Old Testament word atonement, which means "to cover."Maybe you remember a movie called “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. The story was about the Israelite Ark of the Covenant. On top of that ark the...  Read More

1 John 5:19 says, “We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.”        Perhaps you’ve seen the movie “The Matrix”. In that movie the main character ‘Neo’ finds out that the life he thought he was living was only a dream. A whole city of people had been enslaved by machines and was living a lie.        Neo is awakened out of his sleep and h...  Read More

Jesus says, in John 13:34, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”  Living in community with other believers is difficult to do. The idea that the church is a building or even just a meeting is foreign to the New Testament. The church is the people of God and we are called to live in relationship with each other; we are cal...  Read More