The headline of the religion section of one Danish newspaper last month read, “Gud elsker de middelmådige.” It means “God loves the mediocre.” The article went on to describe the visit of some Danish clergymen to the United States. In essence, the article said that the churches visited by the clergy were amazingly mediocre. What’s ironic is that the Danish church isn’t any better. But that’s really the point: We are only concerned with fitting in with those around us. At the most, we want to appear a little more devout than those surrounding us.
Is being mediocre in our faith acceptable? I would say not. While such exertion is difficult, the Christian walk is one of constantly pushing forward.
Uphill
You’re on roller-skates (or some other vehicle with wheels) on a hill. It’s very steep, and the top seems to never get closer. You can see it, …
Music is almost essential to life as a human being. God created us to enjoy music, for it to lift our spirits, to comfort us, and to provide a means of praising Him from the heart.
But when it comes to Christians, the music can often be a stumbling block to us. Usually we either allow any type of it into our ears, or we try to listen to a select genre that we feel comfortable with. Sometimes we don’t really know what we’re allowed to listen to as Christians, so we simply listen to nothing. All of these approaches have their benefits and dangers, and I’m not here to push my own view on anyone, but I believe that there are three major questions you should ask before listening to any type of music.
Does it glorify God?
The Bible has a lot to say about music. …
As a young kid, I always used to play superheroes. I would get a little blanket, tie it around my neck like a cape, and “fly” across the yard vanquishing any foe that stood in my way. This may seem a bit childish to you, but I’m sure that many of us, deep down inside, would love to have a superpower. We imagine what it would be like to fly, turn invisible, or pick up whole buildings, but then we come back to reality and think how impossible these things are. And they are impossible.
However, most of us don’t realize that God has given each and every one of us an amazing superpower. It is so powerful that it can break down the barriers that Satan and his demons set up in front of you and other people. It melts the ice that holds hearts …
Your prayer life is one of the most important aspects of your relationship with God. Imagine if you have a friend, and you claim you know him well, but you never talk with him! The same goes with God. If you think you know God, but you never talk with Him, then you are only fooling yourself.
When you pray, you get to know the Creator of the universe, a thought that staggers the imagination. Unfortunately, most people don’t seem to understand this, and never take time to draw closer to Him. In my article titled “1000 Miles”, I wrote about how we should strive to draw closer to God in this life. One of the best ways to do this is with your prayer life.
Maybe your prayer life isn’t as good as you’d like, or you just can’t seem to make a habit out of …
There is a great song by Mark Shultz named “1,000 Miles” that I have been listening to recently. It talks about how he would walk 1,000 miles, a gruelling trip, just to be with God. It has a really profound message - he wants to be with God so much that he would go through something really hard just to be with him. It is one of my favorite songs for that reason.
But if you think about it, wouldn’t each one of us, if presented with the chance, walk 1,000 if we knew that God was waiting at the end of the road? I’m sure that the motivation of being close to our Creator would carry us past the temporary troubles of sore feet and tired legs, and help us to put our heads down and strive toward the finish.
If we got off the straight path that was laid out for us to travel, do you think that we would intentionally wander even farther off, until we didn’t even know where the original path was? No! As soon as we found ourselves off the right track, we would do everything within our power to get back on it, no matter how scratched and bruised we got in the process. Nothing would get in the way of our reaching the final goal.