A relationship with a selfish person is an illusion. It can only happen on his terms. By definition, relationship should be reciprocal. The selfish person takes, but does not return … unless he knows that he will get some kind of benefit from his giving. We all start out with God having selfish motives. The first steps of our relationship with Him are shallow. Those first steps may be intense in feeling. They may produce a seemingly high level of commitment, but for mos

A song comes on. I hear a common phrase for modern Christianity. “You make all things work together for my good.” Somehow what is Scriptural truth suddenly feels wrong. We have become a culture where everything is about “me.” Is God truly about “me”? Colossians 1:16b says, that we were created “through Him and for Him.” “For Him.” Today in devotions I read that “David knew” that God had “exalted His kingdom for the sake of His people Israel” (2 Sam. 5:12). There is a

Because God is always at work to restore, because God has called me to partner with Him in the work of restoration, because my words and my actions make a difference in the final outcome of things, I choose to rejoice and give thanks in all things. I do not rejoice for all things because that would mean that I rejoice in sin. I rejoice in all things because I know the One who is always at work in the midst of all things. As a child of God, I choose the path of faith. No mat

Wow! The instant media world we live in brings an intensity and even a trauma level to our lives. The sensational sells. The grotesque is trumpeted. Everything is screamed at a high pitch. We don’t have to live that way. Two of the spiritual disciplines that are seldom even mentioned anymore are solitude and silence. How many people have told me I need time away from my cell phone? The medical world tells us that continuous exposure to electronic gadgets may be harmful

Most of us are fixers. At least when it comes to our own problems we are fixers. There is an internal instinct that resurfaces the two year old behavior of “No. Me do it!” That childish tendency is actually a form of confidence in self. It seldom looks like confidence. It actually looks like and is insecurity. But it is truly confidence in self because we resist the efforts of God and others to intervene. Instead, we depend on our own ability to muddle through. More of