Prayer is one of the great tenets of Christian life, but don’t let the importance of it become restrictive.
Praying is difficult.
A life verse can help us move on from our old stories of failure and defeat by replacing the lies we’ve believed about ourselves with God’s truth.
From the manger to the tomb, God has embraced the brokenness of humanity, giving new meaning to His name, Emmanuel: God with us.
“In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
When we choose to give, it is life-giving to us and those we are generous toward. It propels hope and connects humanity in a way that nothing else can.
Often it seems like Christmas is about what is under the tree rather than who was born in a manger. It can be a little overwhelming.
The early church passed on the names of the martyrs and spoke them out loud as part of the Cloud. The world needs to hear these names, famous or not. They deserve it. We deserve it.
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
The hope promised in Scripture can seem not only distant but also irrelevant for our daily lives.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.
It’s not a matter of talking about salt and light nearly as much as actually being salt and light. It’s a lifestyle that forgoes condemning and criticizing the world and chooses to bless it instead.
