United With Christ

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united in a resurrection like his.” – Romans 6:3-5 (NRSV)

The Apostle Paul reminds us that as Christ died and was buried and then rose again, we too, being united with Jesus through our Baptisms have gone with Jesus into death and we will go beyond to eternal life with him as well! This is not of our own doing and we can’t do it alone – without Christ. But, we need not try it on our own, for we have the Jesus who pilots us through death and into eternal life.

The Christian Way to Glory, Part Four

“And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us.” Romans 8:23 NLT

Someday, Paul tells us, we will be changed, freed completely from sin. We will live up to our potential as human beings. Physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually we will be whole, complete, mature, fully ourselves, and fully alive. And so we press on in this life, even when it’s painful, even when it’s difficult, knowing that someday we will be the glorious people God created us to be.

The Christian Way to Glory, Part Three

“The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope that the creation itself would be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Romans 8:19-21

The Bible promises us that someday the God, who created this world, will re-create it, free it from its bondage to decay so that it becomes the glorious place God meant it to be in the first place. This world has never lived up to its potential as a home for human beings in community with God, but someday it will. That’s God’s promise, a promise that you can bank on. It’s a promise solid enough to hang your hopes on.

The Christian Way to Glory, Part Two

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” – Romans 8:17

We could spend a long time analyzing the suffering of this world, but that’s not Paul’s purpose in Romans 8. Paul is simply being a realist. Paul had suffered. His readers were suffering. And anyone who attempts to follow Christ in this world will suffer. But Paul was
confident that God’s purposes would prevail, that the process of spiritual transformation would be completed, and that he and we would become all that God intended. We can be confident as well.

The Christian Way to Glory, Part One

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” – Romans 8:18

Have you ever wondered what kind of person you would be if you lived up to your potential in Christ? Have you ever wondered what God had in mind as he shaped you in the womb? If you are a Christian, then the Holy Spirit is living in you and you are in the process of transformation (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Intentional Love

“Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offence. Love keeps no score of wrongs; does not gloat over other people’s sins, but delights in the truth. There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and its endurance. Love will never come to an end.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

If we think of love as an intention, it is easy to see that we can show love toward our partner, our friend, even a stranger. We can send the love we have received from God toward another.

Choosing Love

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there are no laws.” – Galatians 5:22

A wise friend told me to remember that “you will never meet someone Jesus doesn’t love”. Think about that. Take a look around you. Every person you meet, whether they are your best friend or the person who annoys you the most, Jesus loves them with the same incredible love with which he loves you. What does that say then for how we should treat each other?

Love in Action

“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:12-17 (NLT)

Love is a verb. Love that is sustaining – deep love – is more than a feeling. Love is an action. Love doesn’t just “happen.” Love is chosen.

Love Your Neighbor

“Yes indeed, it is good when you truly obey our Lord’s royal command found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” – James 2:8 (NLT)

God’s call is clear to us to “love our neighbors as we love ourselves”. This doesn’t mean we will like everybody, it doesn’t mean we’ll all get along all the time. What it does mean is that as much as you want to matter to other people, they want to matter too.

The Way of Love

“For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other. . . This is how we have come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers: and not just be out for ourselves. If we see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear. My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; lets practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality.” – John 3:12, 16-18 (The Message)