Lost in the demands to “keep Christ in Christmas” and the requests to “remember the reason for the season” is a broader purpose: hope for a messed up world. You see, the Old Testament ends with a prophesy through Malachi. He was one of several prophets who tried...
You’re fooling yourself again… when you think just one cookie won’t break your diet. Or that you must purchase batteries and Chapstick simply because they’re in the checkout line. It’s so convenient. While you’re at it, go ahead and buy a little bottle of soda for a...
One of the worst fates is going through life and not ever knowing how to live. I mean genuinely knowing how to live fully with freedom to be you and pursue your purpose. The Audioslave song, Show Me How To Live is one that always gets me pondering that premise. Some...
There’s no easy way to say this, so here it is; we’re going to die. And when that time approaches for each of us, we want to be able to look back on our lives and say we have no regrets, right? That’s the idealistic scenario, at least. Is it realistic? Maybe. Of...
The idea of life transformation isn’t new. Although, it’s usually mentioned in the context of self-help or motivational speaking, those quests are overwhelmingly fruitless. In fact, there is no shortage of books, videos, blogs, conferences, pyramid scams and the like...
It’s safe to presume Jonathan Edwards was devoted to self-examination. Perhaps that’s one of the things that has made this the perfect topic for the year of listening up. That’s because, though 1Glories is ever-evolving, one element is pretty constant; “refining life,...
The inquiry into why we sin has to be one of the most asked questions of all time. And that is probably true of both believers and non-believers. Though the latter may not ask specifically why we sin, they probably wonder why we do bad things. Jonathan Edwards...
The idea of a Christian Walk is bandied about in many ways. It most often alludes to how a person is maturing – how they are growing and developing – as a Christian. When people speak of the “Christian Walk,” they usually follow it with a church word like...
In modeling the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to seek “Your Kingdom Come.” This is probably viewed by most as a bringing of Heaven to earth. In other words, it’s something we long for in a future tense. What is forgotten or ignored, though, is the present perspective...
Holy Communion is sort of my personal New Year or rebirth. That may sound ironically selfish, but stick with me. You see, when I have the opportunity to join with fellow believers in Holy Communion, I view it as a cleaning of the slate. A moment when I come into the...
For Jonathan Edwards, resolutions were instructions for living. It’s well chronicled that he wrote 70 resolutions and read them daily throughout life. He followed them and relied upon them for sustaining strength with the ultimate intention being the development of a...
Many folks report having spirit promptings – a compulsion or feeling of obligation seemingly from God. For instance, I once did mission work with someone who was convinced she was supposed to give her shoes to a resident of the area we were working in. Looking...