You might be a legalist if: You’re trying to be a good spouse, parent, child, sibling, etc. Appearances are everything. You’re afraid of making mistakes. You might be a legalist if: A person is made unclean by what goes into them (Mark 7:18-23). You’re afraid to make decisions when the Holy Spirit gives no…
Tag: grace
What the Lord Said…
This what the Lord said to me last night: “If you never sinned you still wouldn’t be righteous.” “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). “Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I…
Give Me Your Worst
Sketch by Patrick Murphy “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). “Grace” is the Life which can suffer and die yet be raised again. Christ in us is grace. He can go through weaknesses, difficulties, persecutions, and the like (2 Cor. 12:10). Not only do these not…
Me and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
I woke up this morning in a grumpy funk. As I tried to finish waking in the shower, my head filled with visions of the whole family going out for muffins and coffee. Post-shower, I told my wife. She said she planned to work out. Could we do it mid-morning after the workout? Well, that…
Change or Die: A Post-Christmas Wrap-up
Image from A Christmas Carol (2009, directed by Robert Zemeckis) This year, I introduced my daughter to Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. We read the book then watched a couple film versions. The 2009 animated version (with Jim Carrey playing Scrooge) is her favorite. It’s my new favorite as well. While adding flourishes here and there, it follows…
Another Scary Verse from Hebrews
http://vimeo.com/9654814 “For if we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries” (Heb. 10:26-27). This is one of those passages that most of us would like to wish away. Until…
What the Lord Said Today
Picture by Darrell Creswell Something the Lord said to me today: “You have been discouraged about who you are. Be encouraged by who I am.” ” Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the…
Fallen Away (Part 2)
Image from My Safety Sign “For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, became companions with the Holy spirit, tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away, because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of…
I Need Thee Every Hour
My mother-in-law posted an arrangement of this hymn on my Facebook page. I had never heard it before. Besides being a gorgeous arrangement, it struck a nerve (no pun intended) because I have been recovering from ankle surgery. The Holy Spirit reduced me to tears as I listened. That is saying something because I’m definitely…
Wonderful Things in Your Law
In this post, I’d like to feature one of my booklets, “Wonderful Things in Your Law.” This booklet began with questions: How did Jesus fulfill the law? What does it mean for the law to be fulfilled? These were things I grasped with my heart but had never reasoned out. The need to reason them…
The Voice of One 