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God wants to be with us and His kingdom comes. He literally dwelled with us in Eden. He spoke intimately with the prophets of old. He gave us His Word so we could hear His voice. One day we will dwell with Him. I can’t wait. The verse that
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The Father knows best. That’s a huge concept to take in. How many billions of people have lived on this planet, and God knew what is best for all of them. Consider that God knows what is best because He knew all those billion people better than they knew
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No mistake on our part can diminish God’s desire to draw us close to Him. We say some crazy things, think some crazy thoughts, and act in crazy ways. We go down wrong paths. Yet, God still calls us back. He wants us to be with Him. While Peter’
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Genuine relationships can always bear truth no matter how difficult. Sometimes we have difficult things to say to one another. In one case we might have to confess something difficult about ourselves. In another case we might need to disclose something about someone that they don’t want to hear.
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There is always more to learn with God. I’ve seen dissertations written about a single verse. I know the feeling of gaining new understanding from a familiar verse after forty years of study! We are never done in our quest to understand God; neither is He ever done in
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Jesus doesn’t need our complete understanding; He wants a willing heart instead. We don’t always know where God is leading us; what we need to do is follow. He has the plan. He has the answers. Jesus closes in on the heart of the issue with His disciples
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To follow Jesus implies we have our fingers on the pulse of the crowd. For an introvert, this is hard to say. I don’t always relish crowds. Crowds stress me out. It is much easier to study God’s Word and relate to people who think like I do.
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There are always layers to understanding God’s action. When I was six, understanding God was about being amazed at God’s power in the story. As I got older, I started understanding deeper lessons based on the greater historical context. As an adult, I have the opportunity to apply
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God loves us deeply and wants us to grow in His truth. Sometimes growth is exciting and fun. Sometimes growth comes with failure and critique. While Jesus is patient with His disciples on the boat, He is also critical of them. Jesus doesn’t pull punches with His critique in
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God is far more patient and understanding than we generally deserve. It’s simple, but true. I’ve lived on this earth for several decades and am still learning lessons and not getting everything right. The bad news is I’ll still be learning and still making mistakes even after
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Jesus doesn’t have to win the argument. All along Jesus’ ministry, he has been happy to converse with anyone, but we’ve seen Him frequently turn aside and leave. He’s left crowds to head into the wilderness. He’s left arguments with Pharisees to head into Gentile land.
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God’s ways are always deeper than we can fathom. I have lost count of the times I think I’ve figured out God’s lesson only to be surprised. I’ve lost count of how often I read the Bible and see something I’ve never noticed before. God’