Solomon tells us that “a happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing” (Proverbs 17:22, AMP). God undoubtedly has a sense of humor; we need only look at some of the animals He created (it’s hard not to smile at the sight of a hippo, a monkey, or a puppy). Or think of some of the married couples you know: don’t you think God was smiling at the wedding as He looked ahead to the interaction of the wildly different personalities that will be living together?posts tagged faith
risk everything
In today’s reading from By Faith Alone, Martin Luther writes about the mistaken idea that we must somehow be worthy to pray, taking the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee as his text. Luther says that if we trust in our own worthiness, we’ll never be able to pray. Instead, “We become worthy to pray when we risk everything on God’s faithfulness alone.” I love Luther’s choice of words: risk everything. It occurs to me that this is why legalism becomes such an attractive approach to Christianity….
speaking with confidence
One of the things I love about the Psalms is that David and the other writers speak freely; when troubled, they say so. Discouraged? They state what’s bothering them, and sometimes they even sound like they are complaining. Psalm 3 is a good example; David writes,…
“you gotta believe it”
And She Spoke to the Waters: this story on CBN.com tells of the miracle Lois Ryder received when she spoke to rising flood waters on the Columbia River. Ryder sums up the believer’s part in receiving a miracle: “I believe that it is really necessary to have faith. You don’t have to talk a lot; you don’t have to do a lot, but you gotta mean what you say and you gotta believe in it.”
are you blind?
My father was telling me recently of a friend, a godly man, who had been very sick; after receiving prayer, he had what could only be termed a miraculous recovery. Though the man was happy to be well, he had a crisis of sorts because his theology didn’t allow for God to heal in that way. He turned to Scripture to study healing and concluded that he was a fluke. He was blind to the truth — -or even to the possibility of another perspective…
Easter: all things new
On this holy day…a new people is born with whom God has sealed an eternal covenant in the blood of the Word made flesh, crucified and risen. (Pope John Paul II)
Through the cross, we have “newness of life” (Romans 6:4), an awesome fact that I often forget. Consider:
- Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)…
more from Ratzinger
I’ve finished reading the first sermon in Ratzinger’s God Is Near Us, and it’s filled with powerful ideas and statements. This sermon is titled “God with Us and God among Us,” and for it Ratzinger takes as his starting point this sentence from the Nicene Creed:
By the power of the Holy Spirit…
“my faith has found a resting place”
My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device or creed;
I trust the ever living One,
His wounds for me shall plead…
Reflections on a Christ-centered, grace-filled life. Writer and teacher Dan Butcher's blog takes an eclectic approach to faith.
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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