Common sense can cure some depression but folks who renege at receiving God’s grace may be the source of their own problem. Common sense often requires no spiritual insight, and unchristian men and women may handle their depression by simple coping. They understand things like “no sense crying over spilled milk.” Here are some more common sense sayings: “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” Edmund Burke blrainyquote.com “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.” brainyquote.com How could these men know these things? Martyn Lloyd Jones said this, “Christianity is common sense and much more, but it includes common sense.” He goes on: “Let us then lay this down as a principle…We must never for a second worry about anything that cannot be affected or changed by us…It is a waste of energy…if you can…
Healing at the Cross Posts
The Book of Job teaches us some interesting phenomena about the ways of men. “The tendency to conflate, (blend), poverty with other social issues such as unemployment, welfare receipt or substance abuse, or to uncritically cite these conditions as explanations of poverty, is tied up with the tendency to portray poverty as a problem created by those experiencing it. .” From jrf.org.uk “… those who deviate are seen as the source of trouble. The obvious question observers ask is, why do these people deviate from norms? Because most people view themselves as law abiding, they feel those who deviate do so because of some kind of unusual circumstances: accidents, illness, personal defect, character flaw, or maladjustment… In other words, the deviant is the cause of his or her own problem.” Borrowed from “the sociological approach to social problems—Russ Long” I guess we must talk of this phenomena. If a person falls to chance or…
A friendship features a level of security, and many factors determine this. I can list the first 400 of these determiners but lets skip to the real good ones. People who are thankful, truly thankful, have a good chance at longevity. Why? — because they have a very mature outlook on life. The Bible teaches “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5 What makes a person thankful? Our Greek word for “thanks” is (eucharisteō, eu plus charis) equals “well graced”? Aha, the thankful man or woman consists of the well-graced. This one has graduated from all other inferior precepts for life and has found a grace one. Noah was such a man. he found grace in the sight of Adonai and it made him mature? He was just, had integrity, and walked with God. But the earth…
“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” 1 Thessalonians 5:2 “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.”Matthew 24:43 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10 The “chronos,” or times and seasons hardly involve the believer in Christ, because its high time for us. We watch and wait every day. For the thief? No, thieves…
Job maintained his own sense of honor. Repulsed by the deadly trio, he stood totally aloof of their accusations. However, as Peter Kreeft repeats, Job’s friends “do not listen to Job because they are too busy talking to him, and, Job does not listen to God because he is too busy talking to Him.” In other words, Job’s heart did not condemn him, but, “God is greater than the heart.” 1 John 3:20 Later on “…God shows up as Questioner, not as Ánswerer.” “God cannot be an object of our concepts.” “Faith comes from the deep eternal center of the person, the I, the will, not from feelings…” Kreeft from his book, “3 Philosophies of Life.” In a trial of our faith, God appeals to our sense of responsibility — what’s in there? God wishes for us to see, in its utter rawness, what, where, or what manner abides our…
“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” Philippians 4:11-12 I’m good at abounding but not so much with abasement. Why does God allow abasement? It means “to humble,” which conjures up thoughts of pain, so this is why most folks don’t get content with it. Yes, pain we cringe at, but humility itself brings something special. Paul became content since humility brings self-satisfying; it brings us closer to God . “The perfect meekness that comes from self-humbling brings with it an all-embracing concentration on the goodness and love of God.” “None of the acts of God, whether in…
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4 Why does God allow us to comprehend the fact of being chosen? Isn’t it confusing? — answer: to bless us with a sense of destiny — To bless us with the sense of our special calling — To give us a sense of value — and, because it is true. We are: Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. 1 Peter 1:2 Aha, I was in God’s foreknowledge. He knew me before I was born, He knew about my choice, when I was 25 years old, for Him . Can we say that God chose me based on His prior knowledge of my choice? Yes! …Through sanctification of the Spirit. God’s election was carried out as He snatched me out of this world, and separated me unto Himself, once for all. Hebrews…
Culture: The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. eg.‘20th century popular culture ’The ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society. eg. ‘Afro-Caribbean culture’ The attitudes and behavior characteristic of a particular social group. eg. ‘the emerging drug culture’ 2 Corinthians 6:14 teaches us: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with the culture: for what fellowship hath righteousness with the culture? and what communion hath light with the culture?” my paraphrase I make a broad interpretation here since culture also has many advantageous aspects for all. Nevertheless, I refuse to allow the culture to be my sole guide. Lets talk about for-instances: And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Am I preoccupied with enhancing my food intake? what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? Do you esteem the world’s norms and standards above God’s? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Do you worship mammon, cars, and houses and social status? “Wherefore…
Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. Luke_7:39 What kind of prophet? An ethics policeman? Greg Boyd makes an insightful observation in His article on “The Point of the Book of Job.” “Most of us do not like ambiguity. Life is generally easier if we convince ourselves that everything is clear and simple. This, I believe, is part of our legacy of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:1-7). In our fallen delusion, we feel it our rightphet, and within our capacity, to declare unambiguously who and what is “good” and who and what is “evil.” We are not omniscient, but having eaten from the forbidden tree, we have a fallen misguided…
“For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. … And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…” Hebrews 9:26=28 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth Romans 10:4 “But the end of all things is at hand.” 1 Peter 4:7 Have you ever thought about life this way: it ended before I was born? It ended 2000 years ago when a man shouldered it to ultimate oblivion. That man was Jesus Christ. What ended? — the cursed life, sin’s nature, death’s reign, the shadowy perspective, the religious searching for God. These all ended at the judgment, the one…