Monthly Archives: October 2011

Self esteem: not as the world gives

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Why are there so many books, magazine articles, TV programs, seminars and what not about boosting self esteem? Lack of self-esteem seems rampant nowadays. Everyone rushes to this year’s new book or program. Why? Didn’t last year’s do any good? Maybe we need to take a closer look at the problem. Maybe God will have something to say to us that the various leaders in the self-esteem movement don’t.

I took physics my senior year of high school, and the teacher assigned pairs of students to be lab partners. Mine promptly announced that he didn’t want to work with me and went off to work with someone else.… Read the rest

Rejoice? Always!

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A popular praise chorus goes, “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” That’s Scripture, actually: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Is it really practical in this day and age? Or is it the case, as Jean Kerr observed, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it’s just possible you haven’t grasped the situation.”

 

The troubles we’ve seen

For the last couple of years, our economy has been rocked by very tough conditions: high unemployment, long term unemployment, lots of foreclosures on peoples’  houses.… Read the rest

Luke’s introduction to his gospel: why should we trust him?

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Is the Bible a reliable historical document? Can we trust it? How can we know the truth of the Bible? A careful examination of the introduction to Luke’s gospel gives us a lot to think about, because he wrote it to someone asking exactly the same questions.

Many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed them down to us. It also seemed good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed.

… Read the rest

Are you plugged in to spiritual power?

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I’m sitting at a computer tonight. Since it’s night, I have the light on. If that seems too commonplace to mention, try it some stormy night when a falling tree branch has severed the overhead cable that supplies your electricity. Leaving battery operated gadgets aside for a while, all of our electrical stuff must be plugged in before we can use it. The fuse or circuit breaker must allow current to flow. Our home is connected to power lines, transformers, and other equipment that can be traced all the way back to the electrical generating plant. That’s the source of all the electrical power we use.… Read the rest