christianity

To be specific, the self-sins are these: self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host of others like them.

“Who am I?” “Never mind who you are. You’re right; you’re a nobody. But you are called. I will be with you. And the sign of your success will not be a gold watch and a plaque and a place in Superduper Church Magazine’s 100 Most Awesomest Churches and Pastors with Mad Leadership Skills, but worship of me.”

Would you be godly? Then practice the Spiritual Disciplines in light of eternity. I read of a man who would pray: “Oh, God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs!” Imagine how differently we would spend our time and make choices in life if we saw everything from the perspective of eternity. So much that seems critical would suddenly become trivial. And

Truth without grace is harsh and ugly. Grace without truth is sentimental and cowardly.

We might look at our unholiness and think: “I’m no good at this. I will only fail and fail and fail. Therefore, holiness doesn’t matter.” But the gospel teaches us to think: “I’m no good at this. I do fail and fail and fail. Therefore, the promise of Christ is what matters. He will make me holy as he is holy, for his own glory.

Without pen in hand or fingers on the keyboard, I can get so distracted in meditation that I begin tacking one unrelated thought to another until I’m shingling off into the fog of daydreams instead of thinking in the light of Scripture. The discipline of writing down my meditations in my journal helps me concentrate. Sitting with pen and paper or

All this may seem too simple. But we have no apology to make. To those who would seek to climb into heaven after help or descend into hell God says, “The word is nigh thee, even the word of faith.” The word induces us to lift up our eyes unto the Lord and the blessed work of faith begins.

2. Learn to Hope Again Cynicism kills hope. The world of the cynic is fixed and immovable; the cynic believes we are swept along by forces greater than we are. Dreaming feels like so much foolishness. Risk becomes intolerable. Prayer feels pointless, as if we are talking to the wind. Why set ourselves and God up for failure?

What I love about the story is not only the miracle but the relationship Ananias has with Jesus—notice his comfort level in arguing with Jesus about the plan(!). You get the impression Ananias and Jesus are friends, comrades, partners in this young revolution called Christianity.