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Humble without the #hashtag

...cause the love of Christ compels you. Don't do it with the motive and purpose of being seen in order to attract praise. This is not the way of Christ.   There's no need to hashtag your life and good deeds if you're doing things with the right motives, since what you do privately, God will see and know and reward you for that (Matt 6:3-4). There's also no need to start campaigns against non issues in the name of Jesus, either.   Do things right, and do things that Jesus actually cared about and wanted to be challenged and changed within society!   James 1:22,27But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves … Religion that...

Why do bad things happen to 'good' people?

...those who love God..." (Rom 8:28). Whatever is happening or has happened, if you love God, then he is actively working to turn all things for good. Later in the Gospels we find that there were others who had a similar question for Jesus too in Luke 13:1-5, as they also wonder how can God let such bad things happen to righteous and good people (and possibly to try and trap Jesus with a tricky question): At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?...

Lent: Day 8 - Ignatius to the Romans

...of their love, “lest it should do me an injury” because it was easy for the Roman church to “accomplish what [they] please” which, in his mind, would make it difficult for him to “attain to God” if they show their love to his flesh and thus cause him to have to run his race once again from the start. This letter is overall different in its tone and I found the things Ignatius said quite a challenge. Ignatius repeatedly says he will “willingly die for God” and to let him “become food for the wild beasts” because he is “the wheat of God”, to be “ground by the teeth of the wild beasts”, so that he “may be found the pure bread of God...

Lent Day 36: Ambrose of Milan: Concerning the Mysteries: 5-9

...those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9), for the invisible things of God cannot be comprehended by the human mind. As “water flowed from the rock” for the people of old (Num 20:11), Ambrose says, now “for you Blood flowed from Christ” – that water only satisfied them for a short time, the now the Blood of Christ satisfies us for all eternity; just as the Body of Christ is now far better than the manna, “for light is better than shadow” which these things prefigured. Ambrose finishes of his lecture with a lengthy explanation about the Eucharist and how it really is the body and blood of Christ, even though it may still look like bread and wine. He goes...

American Gun Violence and the Early Church on War and Violence

...us on the love of Christ again, and not on the weapons of destruction. Even if the rest of society clings to their guns, the Church should be the ones clinging to the Prince of Peace instead, and rejecting anything that could cause another harm. You can't love your neighbour or your enemies if you are willing to kill them (Matthew 22:36-40; Matthew 5:44-45). Matthew 26:52Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. There is no room in the teaching or examples of Jesus, nor in the New Testament epistles, to give those who claim the name of Christ, permission to kill another human being!...

Slavery in the Bible – Does God Condone Slavery?

...it out of love for their master. These servants were not kidnapped and forced into slavery, which God condemns (Deuteronomy 24:7, 1 Timothy 1:9-1:11). These servants were willing bond-slaves. There is even a book (actually a letter) in the Bible (Philemon) that was written by the Apostle Paul to Philemon (a slave master) emphasizing the fact that all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness of their sin should be treated in the same way … with the same love and respect. What about Leviticus 25:44-46? It is true that God specifically made room for forced slavery, as seen in Lev. 25:44-46. However, this passage should not be seen in the same co...