Christian Living

At the start of a new year, we make goals, resolutions, or commitments. And we sincerely want to transform them into reality over the coming months.

God has put the theme of reaching forth in my heart for 2017. He has many blessings in store for us in the new year!

The final days of the year are some of my favorite—they always have been. There are many reasons that this is the case, including Christmas and extra time with family. But, more recently, this time of the year has become one of my favorites because I have found it to be a time of reflection and preparation for the new year.

If planning counts as productivity, the week between Christmas and New Year’s is my most productive! This is my week for setting goals and planning out the “big rocks” in my calendar for the coming year.

When my son, Matthew, was about nine, he started asking for a puppy of his own. Although we already had a dog, it wasn’t “his own,” and Matt really wanted a personal pet.

What is the hardest material in the human body? Although this substance is the toughest, it can begin to break down through constant stress as seen in one grinding his teeth or clenching his stomach from acid indigestion.

The Christmas season is always a time of challenge and wonder in the area of preaching. One of my favorite texts comes from Luke chapter two where Joseph and Mary take Jesus to the temple.

One of the reasons I love the Christmas season is that it is such a great time of year for initiating gospel conversations. Between the special church events and the fact that many people still do want to go to church to celebrate Christmas, this is also the easiest time of year to invite people to church.

You’ve heard it (and maybe shared it): “Keep Christ in Christmas.” It’s a great thought…but do you do it?

In studying James chapter four, I find that there are at least seven ways to miss God’s will for your life. Here is an overview of the seven:

After admonishing every believer as Christian soldiers to put on the whole armor of God and identifying each piece of that armor in Ephesians 6:10–17, Paul commands us to be, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Ephesians 6:18). Prayer must be our attitude and action in our battle with Satan, the flesh, and the world.

Do you have a heart that is overflowing in praise and thankfulness to God? Do you have a praise list that is equal to your prayer list? Are you careful to take inventory all of the good things God is doing for you?

On Thanksgiving Day, when you are sitting around the table sharing your blessings, it’s easy to feel thankful. But we all have to work to maintain a grateful spirit every other day. Perhaps it would help to identify these four attitudes that are enemies of thankfulness:

We can all be grateful to God for His many blessings. One year, just after Thanksgiving, my wife had an interesting Bible class this with the 11th and 12th graders in our academy. She asked the girls to write down all the things they are thankful for—in five minutes.

Red, orange, yellow, purple; the colors of a deciduous autumn cause praise to our Creator.

I have never met a joyful Christian who was not a thankful Christian. Joyfulness and thanksgiving go hand-in-hand. Where there is one, you will find the other.

Sometimes as Christians, we wonder how we can make a difference in a time like this. How do we respond to the vitriol and rhetoric with clear thinking and Christ-like decisions?

James calls it the royal law, but his epistle is not the first place we find it in the Bible. Leviticus chapter nineteen is the first place we find this law. See it here in its original context:

Rats! Another flight delay! Oh well, if you fly much these days you are aware that delayed departures (and arrivals) have become the norm rather than the exception.

Would you like your ministry to be full of grace? Your life? Your relationships?