Dealing with Deceivers
We struggle with the same conflict John wrote of in his first letter: the battle between truth and error, between orthodoxy and heresy.
What words come to mind when you hear the term theology? Dry…Dreary…Doubtful…DULL? You’re not alone.
Too often we don’t realize that theology—thinking about God—is an intimate part of our everyday lives, rather than something that takes place in ivory towers crowded with bearded men crouched over dusty books. We each engage in theology because we each have a set of beliefs about God. But rather than being content with our ideas about God as they now stand, we should each have a desire to know God better than we do today. If you’ve got that desire, then you’re ready to do theology!
Let these resources point the way to a faith more deeply connected with who God actually says He is.
We struggle with the same conflict John wrote of in his first letter: the battle between truth and error, between orthodoxy and heresy.
Where does this saying come from? Some believers think if God calls you to serve Him somewhere dangerous, you will be protected from harm because He has called you and you are obeying.
A better alternative to the phrase “let go and let God” is “trust God and get going!” Work out a strategy for ensuring you will not fall into sin again, and ask God to bless your plan.
When the bottom drops out from under you, sound theology gives you confidence and strength. Sound theology comes from understanding God’s Word.
Thinking is hard work. Perhaps that’s why so few people engage in it. Precise, perceptive thinking doesn’t come to the lazy; it only comes to those with mental determination and discipline. But in a society that thinks with its feelings, how are we to know what is right and reliable?
Sometimes we’d like to know the future, but God created us to live one moment at a time. And He gives us the light we need for each step we take—it’s when we go ahead of God we flounder.
Both Judaism and Christianity have the same Old Testament. The essential difference is that Christians accept Jesus as the Messiah and their personal Saviour while Jews do not.
While it’s true that physical maturity comes with age that’s not true of spiritual growth. In fact, without intentional effort many older Christians become like a shallow pond a mile wide and an inch deep!
For millennia, average Christians as well as learned theologians have strained more than one brain cell to try to understand the incomprehensible mystery surrounding the conception and birth of our Saviour. We'll not lose ourselves in the unsolvable riddle that is the conception of God the Son. Rather, we'll lose ourselves in the wonder that is God the Holy Spirit's most significant mission.
All of us who follow Christ have sensed God's working, even if we couldn't put our finger on exactly what He was doing. But how do we recognize it? This spiritual sense comes from the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer and who gives believers inner promptings to participate in God's activities in their lives.