The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace.
01814 – Valuable and Powerful
read more
01763 – What Does Our Framing Story Tell Us?
If it [our framing story] tells us that the purpose of life is for individuals or nations to accumulate an abundance of possessions and to experience the maximum amount of pleasure during the maximum number of minutes of our short lives, then we will have little...
01200 – Conversion Keeps on Happening
The newly-converted Saul is welcomed, baptized, and shares in the table fellowship of the church. Paul says that he was given "the right hand of fellowship" (Gal. 2:9). The enemy is addressed as "Brother Saul." Conversion is not an individualistic attainment or...
01176 – Is Jesus Really My Lord?
If one is honest about what Jesus says about loving others (including one's enemies) and about sharing one's possessions with others, one has to admit that Jesus wasn't very practical at all. Indeed, he was over-the-top radical. He was far more radical than I like or...
01155 – Gratitude Cures Discontent
We live in a society that breeds discontent by defining success as bigger homes, nicer cars, and fuller closets. Gratitude is the cure.
00999 – Are We Stewards or Owners of What We Possess?
The basic issue for the Christian, it seems to me, is whether we believe we are stewards or owners of what we possess. A good steward receives gratefully anything his Lord gives to him. But he must account for it and use it wisely. We Christians also believe that this...
00997 – Take What You Need; Share the Rest
Find out how much God has given you, and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others. The superfluities of the rich are the necessities of the poor. Those who retain what is superfluous possess the goods of others.
00950 – The Generosity of Believers in Christ
The generosity of a believer is a response to Jesus Christ and never merely a “human” virtue. The gospel is about the generosity of God: God owed us nothing, and yet out of sheer enthusiasm for us and desire of our well-being, God sent Jesus Christ… Through the...
00557 – Holy Spirit: A Gift, Not a Possession
The empowerment of the Spirit is not earned; it is freely given. And so with the early church at Pentecost. It was not their courage or clarity that evoked the blessing of the Spirit, for they were vulnerable and confused. The Spirit is a gift, not a possession. The...
00503 – Spiritual Life/Practical Life Overlap
Most of our conflicts and difficulties come from trying to deal with the spiritual and practical aspects of our life separately instead of realizing them as parts of one whole. If our practical life is centered on our own interests, cluttered up by possessions,...