The justice of God’s kingdom should inspire us to influence public policies and legislation that create a just society. By identifying social structures that allow oppression and inequality to persist, we can rectify existing broken systems. While some actively perpetuate abuse, others may unknowingly receive privileges from unfair social structures. We have to ask ourselves sincerely, do we actively or passively commit injustice?
We live in a world where skin colour, language, and religion have been used as a basis for systematic discrimination and brutality. Eliminating racial prejudices in ourselves and our society is not easy and demands introspection and effort. We need to reject any racial tendencies as well as engage and educate those who propagate racial insensitivity and bigotry. God hates racial prejudice. Every human being is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). We diminish God and question his creation when we elevate one group of people above another. Racism is a serious sin because it produces hatred and conflict which can lead to oppression, violence and murder. It is also an attempt to thwart God’s ultimate purpose of reconciling the world to himself (2 Cor. 5:17). The Christian vocation is to serve the world as God’s representatives (image-bearers), reflecting his love to all humanity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a lot of uncertainty, and it feels like we are living in unprecedented times and in uncharted territory. We’ve had to cope with restrictions and are forced to adapt to new ways of doing things. We have no idea when life will return to normal, if at all. We long for the day to dine at a restaurant, attend a sporting event, visit friends, or participate in a church service. But we also know that these things that we did in the past will look different in the future. How or when, is anyone’s guess.
From the beginning of time, uncertainty has been part of the human experience and development. How we handle uncertainty will determine how well we do in life.
While uncertainty is usually viewed as a negative thing, I would like to highlight the necessity of uncertainty. We all desire to live with certainty and have an assurance that tomorrow will be a better day. But we also need uncertainty in order to grow and mature.
The Covid-19 pandemic has not only spread a virus throughout the world, it has also spread fear and uncertainty. Infection and death rates are exponentially increasing. The stock market has seen some of the largest declines in history. Economists fear that we are possibly on the verge of a Great Depression. Professional sporting events, conferences, concerts are canceled, and schools have shifted their teaching online. Travel bans and social distancing have become a part of life. Grocery stores are filled with people panic-buying. Hospitals don’t have sufficient protective gear and medical equipment to manage the influx of patients. And healthcare workers are facing exhaustion as they risk their lives to treat the sick. Over a million people and counting worldwide have been infected with the virus and tens of thousands have died.
It appears that things are getting out of control. There are a lot of questions and fewer answers. In these unprecedented times navigating through a pandemic like this is difficult for elected officials, community leaders, and parents. So, what do we do? What can we do?
The disciples ask Jesus if the man’s blindness is the result of his or his parents’ sins (John 9:2). Jesus replies, neither, because his blindness is designed to display the works of God. One may wonder, is God the author of sickness? Can all physical deformities or defects at birth be used for God’s glory? Why are some people healed and others not? Jesus’ response does not focus on the origin of the blindness but points to what it will lead towards.
As Christians, there is a need for acceptance by our peers, families, and, most importantly, God. In an effort to feel loved and recognized, we often rely on our own efforts to please others by our good works and acts of kindness. Christians may struggle with many doubts, such as, “Does God love me? Will I go to heaven? Am I really saved?” These doubts can propel us to seek inner peace and acceptance by God through what we do rather than allowing us to appreciate who we are in Christ. Centuries ago, a group of Christians in the Middle East sought to find a state of perfection, purity, and oneness with God. They believed that by renouncing their possessions, families, and careers (and by living a simple life in isolation), they would please God and reach a state of perfection.
In today’s society a lot of emphasis is placed on maintaining physical health. Although this focus is important, practicing Spiritual Exercises may have greater incentives for our earthly and eternal lives. Apostle Paul wrote to the young pastor Timothy and admonished him by saying, “Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1Tim 4:8). Exercising our spiritual senses is vital to discerning good and evil, so that we can navigate in a world where evil is called good and good is called evil.
The award-winning movie, Hacksaw Ridge, portrays the true story of the World War II US Army medic with the 307th Regiment, 77th Infantry Division, Desmond T. Doss, who without firing a single bullet received the Medal of Honour. Doss was a brave, modest and strong-willed character that upheld an authentic belief in Christ. The theological anthropology revealed in this movie is evident through the convictions and perceptions of Desmond Doss. Even in the wake of the Fall, wherein people are disfigured, distorted, self-abused, or self-contradicted, they are still gloriously loved by God.
Should everyone be expected to relate to God through the same spiritual pathway? At times we assume that because another Christian does not worship or connect to God in the same way as us, there must be something wrong with their faith. Unfortunately, we as Christians tend to question or criticize the legitimacy of any experience unfamiliar to us. God wants us to connect to him spiritually in worship and devotion according to the way he has made us. Understanding our spiritual temperaments allows us to discover how we best relate to God so that we can develop new ways of drawing close to him.
February is Black History Month. It is a month we celebrate and acknowledge the transformative work that black communities have had and continue to have in our society. I encourage you to read the profound impact our black brothers and sisters have had as inventors, creators, leaders, and influencers. While we celebrate the incredible and indelible impact that they have had, we also need to humbly acknowledge the harm we as a society have inflicted on them. In this past year, we as a society have experienced tragic events of racial injustice and tension, and our collective society needs to support the black community who has experienced centuries of oppression and discrimination. As we educate ourselves in their history and understand their present challenges, we will be equipped with compassion and wisdom to stand with them for a better world.
On February 7, the sports world will turn its attention to one of the most viewed sporting events in the world, the Super Bowl. Over 100 million viewers will watch a football game, while many will probably be looking for the half-time show and commercials.
When I think about Tom Brady’s accomplishments and legacy, I am reminded about my own. So here is a question, what will your legacy be? Most of us will never reach the fame, magnitude, and influence of a player like Tom Brady, and that is not the goal either. Legacy is not about fame or popularity. A legacy can be measured in two ways: 1) accomplishments 2) and impact
Accomplishments are an easy and tangible way to measure legacy, but often they are forgotten within a few decades. However, impact can last a lifetime. How we influence, touch, and change others by the way we love and give of our time, talent and treasure will outlast us.
Today is Inauguration Day in the United States. Joe Biden will be sworn in as the new president. This peaceful transition of power has been marred in the last few weeks with the events that occurred on January 6 when protestors stormed the US capital building. I was grieved to see what happened, especially because of my personal connection to the country and the people after living and pastoring in the US for 10 years. That day caused people around the world to mourn, reflect and pause. One of the hallmarks of a democratic nation is the peaceful transition of power. There are many people in the world who do not enjoy the privilege and comfort of living in a free country. As we mark this day of transition, we must reflect on our own transitions in life. We all experience transitions. There are good ones and bad ones. There are those that are engineered by our own choices and others forced upon ourselves. There are transitions that take us forward and others backward. There are transitions that are enjoyable and others that are painful. The bottom line is that at some point in our lives we will all experience multiple transitions.
Regret can be both productive or unproductive. Regret becomes unproductive if we let it consume us by causing stress that hinders growth and maturity. Productive regret can catapult us to a bright future when we learn from our mistakes and change. Is the regret you may be struggling with productive or damaging? Regret can serve a purpose if we utilize our memory to motivate us and to learn from past mistakes.
Are we able to discern God’s voice from our own or the enemy’s? Jesus said in John 10 that My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me. For they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. –John 10:4,5,27 In part one we explore the distance that we create that hinders us from hearing God’s voice. In part 2 we looked at how distractions take our attention and focus away from God’s voice to other things. In this devotional, I would like to look at discernment. How do we recognize the voice of God? So how does God speak to us?
Is God the loudest voice in your life? Or Are there other voices in your life, including your own-self talk distracting you? There are three things that hinder us from hearing God’s voice: they are distance, distraction, and discernment. In part one of the series, we explored how distance separates us from God’s voice. I would like to focus on distraction. Distraction is something that captures our desires more than something else... what distracts us, has our attention. So what are you distracted by? If you are a parent you know the experience of calling your child who is fixated with their laptop, video game, phone or tv show that when you call them for dinner, they don’t respond. Most often they are not intentionally ignoring you. They are just so consumed with their screen that your voice is peripheral noise. At times we do that with God too… we are so focused on what we desire to do, that God’s voice becomes secondary, peripheral noise that goes unnoticed.
At times in life, it may appear that God is absent, distant, or unresponsive. We struggle to find God, hear from God, or even feel his presence. We may assume that God is angry with us because of some failure in our life and that he does not want to interact with us. Psalm 13 is an honest prayer from David describing his struggle to find God. He asks God, “Will you forget me forever?”, “How long will you hide your face from me?”, and urgently requests God to respond to him. Have you ever felt abandon by God? Has his silence made you question his existence or love for you? Do you ever feel like your prayers are a waste of time? Today you may be feeling frustrated, angry, disillusioned, confused, wondering, questioning, or lonely because you feel distant from God, unable to receive even a word from him. In Psalm 13:3 – David asks God to look upon him and answer him. We may wonder at times: Does God still speak today?
Whether we like it or not, politics has created a lot of divisions within families, marriages, churches, companies, and nations. So, how are we to react? How are we to respond to such divisive times? Regardless of who the winner of the 2020 presidential election is, I would like to propose to us three important responses for us as followers of Jesus. The way forward regardless of the winner will be turbulent and will test the strength and resilience of our collective society to forge ahead instead of dissolving into chaos, cultural wars, and God-forbid, violence. So, whatever the outcome of the elections, Pray for our leaders, the nation, and its peoples. Respect and love each other regardless of their individual beliefs or political affiliations and finally, place your hope and trust in God’s promises and faithfulness.
The cross embodied a supreme moment of isolation and public humiliation. The ultimate isolation was the moment when Jesus was separated from his Father. Followers of Jesus are called to this place of paradox. It is a place of difficult questions that often go unanswered and where our trust in the one who comes to us as a loving Father.
We all live with labels. Some of our labels are self-created and others are given by others. Labels are powerful because they can lock you into a wrong belief about yourself and lock opportunity and change out. Labels will affect the way you see yourself, God and the world. The longer you carry a label, the less it describes your past and the more it determines your future. So how has the right to label you? The one who made you and purchased you! God!
We have come to a point in Joseph’s story when he meets his brothers for the first time after being abandoned and sold away into slavery. This encounter highlights two struggles we all face that require liberation: first is deception and the second is self-deception. Joseph's part in this meeting reflects a life living in deception, as he was intentionally pretending not to know his brothers; thereby, instigating a plot to test them. His brothers, on the other hand, reveal a life living in self-deception. They had abandoned and sold their brother Joseph, lied about it to their father, and buried their sin deep in their minds to be forgotten. They carried on with life like Joseph never existed until—as we will see—the truth is revealed and exposes the deception and self-deception of both parties. I would like to explore the important question: “do you want to be set free?”; a freedom from deception and self-deception.
At the age of 17, Joseph didn’t know what his future would be and what he would accomplish in life. Actually, most people struggle with three basic issues in life. The first is identity: “Who am I?” The second is importance: “Do I matter?” And the third is impact: “What is my purpose in life?” It’s unfortunate that so many people go through life having no idea why they are here or what God has purposed for them. We were born by His purpose and for His purpose. The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years. That’s because we typically begin at the wrong starting point—ourselves.
The star of Bethlehem shone when Christ was born. In the darkest nights, Christ’s love still shines the brightest. Have you ever wondered who the Wise Men were who followed this star? How many were there? Were they really kings? Did they really ride camels? Why did they come to Bethlehem? Most of our ideas about this fascinating group come from our Christmas cards. God did not reveal Himself to the kings, priests, and religious or political figures in Israel. Instead, He reached beyond the borders of His covenanted people to pagan people. It is the wonder of God’s guidance that He reached and directed this priestly tribe to the king. Through their journey to Bethlehem, we learn seven important lessons that can help us as we venture into 2021 depending on God’s guidance.
We all idealize prayer. We know that it should be a huge part of our relationship with God. We know that prayer is the way we communicate with God, but why do we struggle so much with actually praying? If prayer is as essential to our relationship with God as communication is to our personal relationships, why don’t we do more of it? Prayer is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, disciplines of the Christian life. I want to explore the question, “When do I pray?” There are three conditions that precipitate a need to pray and they are: circumstantially, consistently, and constantly. In our communication and conversation with God, we have the ability to talk to Him anywhere and anytime about anything. We have a loving God eagerly waiting for us to call out to Him.
We are going to explore Jesus’ command to love God with all our minds through the lens of our knowledge, imagination, memory, and reason. These four components of our mind, if devoted to God and utilized appropriately will help us to “go all-in” with our minds. What does it mean to love God with all your mind? I think everything begins in our minds. What starts in our minds translates into our attitude and actions. What is in our minds controls what we do, how we do things, and the direction of our lives. When it comes to God let’s consider this: Everything begins in the mind. What is in the mind captures the heart. What captures the heart results in worship. What results in worship results in mission.
As we approach a new year and a new decade, it may be with excitement or trepidation. What will happen in 2020? Will things get better or worse? What is in store for my future?
Through Jesus, God has promised all those who trust in Him that they will ultimately experience the greatest future. We will explore "3 don'ts" and "3 dos" for a prosperous future.
God is our Way Maker, Promise Keeper and Light in the midst of darkness.
Have you ever made a promise only to break it? Were you ever promised anything by a loved one only to be disappointed? Our society functions on the basis of promises exchanged between people and institutions.
The Christmas story is actually part of God’s greatest promise that He has made towards humanity. It is important to connect the dots to understand how the birth of Jesus is the fulfillment of a promise God made to deal with humanity’s greatest threat. Join us as we explore God’s Word and find comfort and confidence in God’s promises to deal with the challenges we face.
What is the purpose of the church? What is the church to do and be?
According to one survey, when asked “Why does the church exist?”, 89% of church-goers said, “The church’s purpose is to take care of my family’s and my needs.” Is this a healthy view of the church’s purpose? We must ask ourselves, "why do I attend church?"
There are three questions to consider when understanding the role of the church: Who is the church? How should the church function? What should the church do?
The answers to these questions are found in three vital words: identity, community and cause.
At times in our lives, it may appear that God is absent, distant or unresponsive. We struggle to find God, hear from God, or feel his presence. Initially, we may assume that God is angry with us because of some failure in our life and that he does not want to interact with us.
Psalm 13 is an honest prayer from David describing his struggle to find God. He asks God, “Will you forget me forever?” “How long will you hide your face from me?”, and urgently requests God to respond to him.
Have you felt abandon by God? Has his silence made you question his existence or love for you? Do you ever feel like your prayers are a waste of time?
We will explore the critical topic of unanswered prayer.
Have you ever wondered why bad things happen to good people or why good things happen to bad people? We may ask questions like, “Why is life unfair?” or “Is God unfair?”.
Psalm 73 was written by a man named Asaph who struggled with his faith in God when he saw the prosperity of the wicked. More people have stepped away from God because of their inability to reconcile a good and loving God with pain, suffering, and injustice.
Our Psalm series is intended to provide us with hope, rest, and peace, but it is hard to experience them if inside we are burning with anger, resentment, and vengeance for some wrong that was done to us by someone.
We explore Asaph’s struggle with injustice and bewilderment as to why good things happen to bad people.
When God Seems To Fail Us
When someone says something contrary to current cultural preferences, they are deemed worthy of being silenced. The practice of boycotting a person or business because of a contrary opinion is a popular tactic to win an argument or establish a viewpoint. Instead of engaging an idea and debating it with facts, shaming a person out of the public square is, unfortunately, the preferred method. It is easier to shame a person into silence and obscurity than to converse and debate ideological differences.