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How Do You Respond to Other’s Blessings and Advantages?
A few months ago, I had some extended time with the Lord that integrated my mind and heart concerning a habitual sin that I have dealt with on and off for years. It is a sin that doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it is always devastating. It is listed in the seven deadly sins and rightly so. Maybe you struggle with the same sin—envy. It is not a sin that I am preoccupied with and it only happens with a few people, but one person is one too many when it comes to being holy before the Lord. “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter…
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It’s Not Easy, Being Green
A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; but jealousy is like cancer in the bones (Proverbs 14:30, NLT) We can thank William Shakespeare for giving us the term “green eyed monster” when describing the destructiveness of jealousy. In the story of Othello, Shakespeare demonstrates the devastating results of it—and why it truly is a “monster.” As it was in biblical days and Shakespeare’s day, so it is in our day. Jealousy and her offspring (resentment, anger, hatred, deceit, etc.) have been a root cause of sin in the church and in the world, and we would be wise to take a more serious look at it. It is so…
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The Outrageous Nature of God’s Grace
The contemporary cultural climate in the global north (as well throughout the majority world) has called for a long-overdue, renewed interest in the notion of "equity." After all, there is a legitimate concern for promoting fairness and justice, along with integrity and respect, among all people, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status (a point made recently by Professors Darrell Bock and Ramesh Richard in an opinion piece at the Washington Post religion blog). On the one hand, it is important to champion the cause of people being treated unfairly. On the other hand, we can quickly find ourselves consumed with comparing our lives to others. In turn, Satan…
