Sharing Life and Christ

I had a conversation with a good friend on Friday about how easy it can be for my focus to be on the wrong things. I can get so caught up in things at work, the sinus cold that makes my head hurt, or the desire to be married that I fail to look beyond my own life to acknowledge who's life I should be focused on. My pride gets in the way all too often of experiencing the greatest treasure imaginable, Jesus Christ. It is during these times that I am reminded to return to the fundamental ideas of what a Christ-centered life looks like. Who is my treasure? Where should my focus be? Who is the one actually doing the work and providing the ability to endure? Christ is the only true answer for these questions. Sometimes I forget that He is the treasure because I am focused on learning about Christ or singing a song about Him. Really what I should be doing is continually focusing on Christ as I learn about Him or sing to Him. What might our lives look like if we get our attention o...

One of the best things about being in the Navy is getting to meet and work with all different types of people. I have met and worked with many unique and diverse people in my short 18 months. On the contrary, the diversity of the Navy can be a difficult challenge and requires a lot of patience and maturity to handle appropriately. I thank and praise God that He has been growing a gentle spirit in me and has blessed me with opportunities to exhibit Christ-like love to my coworkers. My study of Scripture has filled me with valuable wisdom that has allowed me to become a better witness at work and respond to differences with love. God put it on my heart to prepare a study for the believers at work on what it looks like to be God's salt and light in the workspace. The following headings are what we will be talking about tomorrow as we are in transit back to Yokosuka. I thought they might provide some encouragement and insight to others in the same way the Truth of God's Word has bl...

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. James 2:26 I was amazed by the great significance of this verse as I read it again and again today. James summarized so much truth in one sentence that I was in awe. God has been speaking to me a lot lately about what it means to be dead. Whether it is in my own study of Scripture, a sermon I heard, or interactions with other people, I see more and more just how dead dead really is in God's Word. A dead man cannot think, speak, walk, see, or hear. What makes us so quick to think that we humans are capable of discerning the things of God? James says that the body apart from the spirit is dead. The life-giving spirit was severed in the garden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Sin made us dead! There is one hope and one hope only: that Christ resurrect our spirits and give us newness of life. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says "the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit o...

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." 1 John 3:18 As I have been reading the gospel of John and now John's letters, I see a continuous theme of love. I read the above verse today and it really spoke to me. Of course, it's easy to reckon that God wants us to show love through our actions. James says that faith without works is dead. In the same way, love without works isn't real love. Jesus continually spoke of love saying things like "if you love me you will keep my commandments" and "love your neighbor as yourself." John echoes Christ's words on love throughout his writing. As I study Scripture, I continue to see God explaining the proper expressions of love whether it be in regards to marriage, friendship, family, or authority. True love expresses itself through actions. Jesus called us His friends and then became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. That is the greatest e...

"For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God." 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 I find this truth amazing . When I think about the men Jesus chose to be the first church leaders, this truth rings true. Who were Jesus' twelve? Ordinary men who made their livings by fishing or even collecting taxes. They were not extraordinarily smart or wealthy, yet they became incredibly wise and confident by the power of God. The power of the Holy Spirit working through them caused the early church to explode in thousands of passionate Christians. How great is the confidence that we are in Christ not bec...