In the novel No Blade of Grass, a destructive virus attacks the grasses of the world. Not just the grass in lawns but all grasses, including wheat, barley, rye, oats, and rice. In a matter of months, the world is plundged into famine and its brutal companion, violence. People begin by fighting, then killing, for food.
The novel depicts a scene that has been lived out in the real world in recent famines and is terrifying when seen on TV news networks. Yet I can only imagine what it's like.
The prophet Amos spoke of a different kind of famine. He called it a famine of "hearing the words of the LORD". While a lack of food can lead to disease and death, a famine of the Word can produce eternal consequences. Without access to God's Word, we lack wisdon for life and the message of eternal life in Christ. As Christians, we need "the pure milk of the Word, what we may grow thereby' (I Peter 2:2). We can identify with the prophet when he said, "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart".
The world is starving for the knowledge of the God who can satisfy the needs of the human heart. Let's help fill their hearts by sharing His Word.
On the front of my husband's T-shirt is a cartoon of a sheep walking on two legs and addressing wolf who is barring the sheep's passage through a gate.
Standing by the sheep is a familiar looking man. He has a beard, compassionate eyes, and a look of authority. The sheep speaks to the wolf as he gestures toward the man and says, "I'm with Him". The sheep's trust in his Shepherd gives him great confidence.
On the day Jesus died, three corsses were raised. Jesus jung on the center one between two criminals. One of the men mocked Jesus, but the other said to Him. "Remember me when You come into your kingdom." And Jesus answered, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:42-43).
Imagine the man's thoughts as he took his last breath. He had paid a horrible penalty for his crimes. But now, because he put his faith in Jesus, he was welcomed into heaven as a child of God. Perhaps he said with confidence, "I know I don't deserve to be here, but I'm with Him!" gesturing toward Jesus. And Jesus would have confirmed it: "He's with Me."
Like the thief on the cross, we all face a choice. Have you made the decision to trust Jesus? Can you say with confidence, "I'm with Him"?
We are with Him and He with us, Great confidence this gives. To face life's trials and even death. Because our Savior lives.
If you had to guess what the number one reason for Christians that attend secular universities to leave their faith what would you guess?
I’m sure that some might guess that it would be liberal teaching. Others would guess that they get into the wrong crowds. And I suppose some could argue that these college students may never have been saved in the first place.
Now, I know that some secularists and atheists would be glad for this– the problem is that evolution is not an inarguable fact. Millions of years, go-to-you-via-the-zoo– all this stuff attacks the foundation of a Christian’s faith and the fact is that they are willing to do whatever it takes to state that evolution is incontrovertible, and that if you believe anything else you’re insane.
To them, evolution is their founding story, it justifies their “faith” that there is absolutely no God. The problem is that Christians are not as adamant in their beliefs– they’re willing to accommodate, consider, and even accept evolution and in doing so they tear the roots of Christianity right out from under it.
You see, Christianity rests on Christ coming to die for sinners– to be our sin for us. And the Creation story tells us how man became sinners in the first place and is the first recorded place where there’s a prophecy about the One that would come to save. Without Creation, we don’t know why He came or why we’re sinners. Without Creation, we don’t know what “history” in the Bible we can trust and what we should just consider tall tales.
Creation is foundational to a Christian’s belief– and if that is taken away, it loses a lot of its meaning to many people.
This is a neat year for Christmas Shopping. It’ll be our first year of shopping without having any debt.
Ever since this summer when we paid off the last of our credit debt we have been saving money to both get our emergency fund back up and have money for Christmas– we wouldn’t want to go back into debt, now would we?
This past weekend we decided that we have to sit down and start to get everything together to start buying gifts. We like to get our shopping done early.
Have you started buying gifts yet? I know that some people actually exchange gifts at Thanksgiving, and that means that you probably have a lot of it done already. They have traditional coupons and discounts listed, and will have special sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday! I know of a lot of ladies around me that try to get the best deals on Black Friday, but unless it’s compelling I’d rather avoid the rush.
When I joined the church that I’m now a member of I was asked to give a verse that was important to me, a verse that talked about my understanding of the truths of God’s Word and that testified to my belief in Christ. I chose Acts 4:12:
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
There are two key parts to this verse. The first is that salvation can only be found in Christ. The second is that we must be saved by belief in that name.
