Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 07:14PM "The number one cause of atheism is Christians. Those who proclaim God with their mouths and deny Him with their lifestyles is what an unbelieving world finds simply unbelievable."
Karl Rahner
Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 04:21PM 2 Corinthians 7:1 is an intense passage:
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
I was reflecting on this yesterday and there was one word that really stood out to me. It actually jumped off the pages when I read it. Any guesses what that word was?
EVERYTHING.
Paul writes, "Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit." This is a statement that sometimes seems unrealistic in the world that we live in. Everything. Really!?
The end goal of this purification process is God's perfection of His holiness in our lives. Our role is to protect ourselves from being contaminated. God then does His work and brings about His holiness.
This is a sobering passage for anyone who sincerely takes God at His word. This passage tells us that we can't be lazy in our lives here on this earth. We have to be diligent in protecting our eyes, our ears, our hearts, our thoughts, our desires, our hurts and our emotions from everything that might contaminate us.
The amazingly cool part is this-the more we protect our lives from contamination, the deeper our experience of Jesus is. This is what the Christian life is all about. We get way more than we give up!
What is God calling you to do in order to purify yourself from everything that contaminates body and spirit?
Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 10:05PM The 24-7 Scripture readings for this week contained one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament--the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. It took place during a time in Israel's history when the majority of the people had turned away from a pure faith in the One True God and were turning to another god named Baal. In an amazing showdown with the prophets of Baal (check out 1 Kings 18), Elijah calls the people of Israel to make a decision. His words in 1 Kings 18:21 are just as relevant for us today as they were for the original readers 2,500 years ago:
Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.
Today most of us don't worship Baal but we do have our gods-money, success, relationships, popularity, happiness, comfort; the list could go on forever! Elijah's challenge is just as relevant today for those of us who call ourselves Christ followers:
How long will you waver between two opinions? If Jesus is God, follow him; but if ___________ is God, follow him. (you fill in the blank)
May we embrace Elijah's challenge so that our response is not silence but rather a life overflowing with Jesus in all that we think, say and do.