6 Ways To Be a Better Friend
“Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me, it is the chief happiness of life.” If we want to experience this happiness that Lewis describes, we need to pursue deep friendships…
What Happens to Pastors Who Get Disqualified From Ministry?
Sin is no respecter of persons, parishes, or denominations. It is no respecter of orthodoxy or moral conservatism. We are all prone to it, and our church leaders are no less susceptible. Yet, how different churches handle cases of pastoral sin is often shaped by their theological and traditional convictions…
Blog 5: I am Content with Suffering
The word Paul uses for “content” in this verse is the exact same word that is used in the three gospels when Jesus comes up out of the waters at His baptism and the voice of the Father is heard from heaven saying:
“This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.”
In fact, verse 10 of 2 Corinthians is the only place in the New Testament where this word is translated as “content.”
More than half of the 21 instances where the word is used are translated as being “pleased.”
Paul doesn’t just accept his sufferings, he’s pleased with them. He takes pleasure in them.
Blog 4: Do Not Waste Your Thorn.
Paul imitated Christ. So he boasted in, gloried in, rejoiced in his thorn because he knew that to do anything else would be to lose out on more of Christ and thus would be a waste of his thorn.
So let’s learn from him, brothers and sisters, and let’s not waste our thorns.
Blog 3: Who Gave This Thorn to Paul?
If you read verse 7 carefully, it doesn’t tell us explicitly who gave the thorn to Paul. Paul only explicitly tells us in verse 7 that a thorn was given to him. So one natural question that arises is: who gave the thorn to Paul?
Blog 2: God gives suffering to His people to break us of our pride.
God gives suffering to His people to break us of our pride. So with this context in mind, verses 7-10 show us that God gives suffering to His people to break us of our pride because Jesus only makes His dwelling in broken people. First,…
Blog 1: God’s Goodness in Your Sufferings (2 Cor. 12:7-10)
By nature, every single one of us is averse to suffering. We avoid it like the plague. We do so because we think suffering is primarily about losing something…
But in reality, for the Christian, suffering is primarily about gaining something: Jesus Christ. And it’s only by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that our hearts are changed to see that suffering is primarily about gaining Jesus, not losing something.
Guest Post: 3 Words for the Weary
You may not be physically weary, but is it possible that you are spiritually and emotionally weary, in other words, worn out? Do you feel like you can’t take it anymore? Has your soul been incessantly pounded for so long that you are on the verge of “losing it?”
Take heed to what Jesus says to you in…
A Letter to My Younger Self: Salvation will be the focal point of your life.
Honey, I know you served in the Christian Union (CU) as the prayer secretary, but do not fool yourself that you are born again. I do not blame you, though. You just don’t understand the meaning of salvation, yet!
Guest Post: A Letter To My Younger Self: How to Navigate Your 20’s.
The one ‘problem’ that comes up when a 31-year-old writes a letter to their younger self is an acute awareness that there isn’t much history to write about. The message would most likely only span a decade worth of life. However, that said, a decade is enough time to look back at and have enough to say.
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