One aspect to emotions that makes them tricky is that the emotions we feel and express as a result of what we value, desire, and believe are instinctual. When life happens, we feel emotions in the blink of an eye. Emotions are generated from within in response to life in fractions of a second. Emotions are…
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Emotions reveal desires. Fear says, “There’s something I want, but might not get.” One fear we struggle with is people. We fear people’s criticism or rejection. We perceive they have power to give us something. To put it differently, we think people can bless us. A word of praise someone offers you is a blessing….
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Younger generations tend to be more suspicious of “institutional church.” Perhaps they’ve been burned by them or just turned off by people who are a part of them, but show no fruit of the faith they profess. This attitude is represented in a somewhat recent book entitled, How to be a Christian Without Going to Church, by Kelly Bean. She maintains it’s possible…
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A biblical handling of the emotions is foundational for spiritual maturity. One of the anchors we need to deploy daily to keep us stabilized emotionally is God’s providence. God’s providence is his ruling over the details of all activity, human and inhuman, so as to bring about his good purposes. The providence of God is…
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The church has often been labeled “out of touch” when it takes a position on an issue contrary to the cultural majority. You might hear someone say, “Almost everyone agrees on this. Why are you refusing to come around?” In almost every conversation like this one, my goal isn’t to convince the other person to see things the way I see it….
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I care deeply about human behavior. For one, behavior shapes a society. If a significant portion of the population doesn’t see anything wrong with stealing, then that community will be quickly devastated by thievery. So I am all for putting place measures with teeth that discourage behavior that is detrimental to a society. However, there…
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Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 is key to understanding the entire book. In this text, the professor shows us how to find appropriate enjoyment in this life and how to find some semblance of the good life. In order to do so, we need to: embrace the prodding of Scripture; fear and obey God; and prepare for the…
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Have you ever stopped to listen and ponder just how noisy our world is? From the time our alarm clocks obnoxiously awaken us, we are inundated with noise. Conversations, vehicle noise, music with volume pumped up over the noise of the car, machines at work, screens everywhere spitting images caked with sounds at our faces. Our world is noisy. Imagine no cell…
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The book of Ecclesiastes is occupied with the question: is there a thing in the universe that can satisfy the human heart? Up to this point, the professor has tried things like pleasure, laughter, advancement, and education, but has declared these things to fall short of providing the good life. In chapter 5, he turns…
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So what do I do with my kids for family devotions or one on one discipleship of them? (Please note: if your children are grown, keep reading). I’ve had that question a fair amount and my answer is simple and the same every time: buy and read Sally Lloyd-Jones’ The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. I’ve read five or six children’s…
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