Christian Living

Five pillars of reformation era theology influenced our forefathers. 1) sola scriptura (Scripture alone), 2) sola fide (faith alone), 3) sola gratia (grace alone), 4) solus Christus (Christ alone), and 5) sola Deo Gloria (glory to God alone).

Because gas is cheap and we are rich, we are able to pursue many possibilities in life. These possibilities open the gates for hobbies, special interests or just plain indulgence of legitimate functions such as work.

But not all of us are content to only pursue a closed-in world of a hobby like model shipbuilding or reading poetry. We look for something that is broader; something that involves other people. We want to socialize with our spare time.

Tools are such an integral part of life that we would be incapacitated without them. How would you brush your teeth without a toothbrush? (use a twig, huh?) A mechanic can’t loosen a tight nut with bare hands. It would be impossible to write without a pen or pencil or feather...or something.

We read in the Bible, “No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

What can that mean? Does this even have an application? I am not a murderer; I’m not even tempted to be one. No one I know carries sinister thoughts of killing. We cringe at the thought of taking the life of an animal. Murder my brother? Surely the Bible missed it this time!

But wait, is there something more practical here the Book is speaking to in my life?

Psalm 23 may well be the best-known Psalm today and yet it may hold many deeper concepts that are missed by people who have not been a shepherd or never owned sheep. I first came to recognize the deeper meaning in Psalm 23 when asked to give a topic on this Psalm. The topic time length was to be about 45 minutes and I wondered what I would be sharing for 45 minutes that was not the same as we have always heard. Well I came across a book entitled A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, by Philip Keller. I want to give him credit for many things that I learned about sheep and shepherding.

All of us are faced with the challenge of living out the Christian life. Probably all of us have seen at some point people whose lives did not match up with how they talked. And likely all of us have come to a realization that in our own lives, we have not always been consistent in how our lives match our talk. The Bible has much to say about how we should walk. For an interesting study, look up the word walk and notice what God has to say about how we should live our lives.

I just returned from my first trip to visit the Honduras mission. It was a short but sweet journey of five days. I had been to El Progresso and Barracoa in 1999 to help build houses after Hurricane Mitch, but never to Siguatepeque or El Naranjo.

In many ways, I found the country to be much the same as before. In El Progresso, I even spotted the street of CAM's compound. I saw the rooftop on which we used to walk on in the early morning sun at the beginning of the day.

"I am not worthy..." What a humiliating thought! This little phrase is degrading to self-esteem, the element so necessary for success to the natural man. Move on, self urges, you don't need that to stifle your potential.

Peter had a friend named Simon who lived in the city of Samaria. Simon was quite wealthy but Peter was poor—that is by tangible criterion. Peter didn't mind.

"And He (Christ) is the head of the body, the Church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things, He might have the preeminence" (Col 1:18). So what is meant by preeminence? Strong's Greek dictionary says the Greek word for preeminence means "to be first (in rank or influence)." We as Christians certainly would agree that Christ needs to be first and foremost in our lives. Since Christ "is the head of the body, The church," He has perfect right to that place of honor. Is Christ first in our lives?