My Crazy Faith

 There are some verses in the Bible that will always be confusing and cause disagreement.  And the "many are called/invited, few are chosen" verse is one of them. Matthew 22:1-14:   "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.  He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.... So his servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.  'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.  Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 'For many are invited, but few are chosen.'" Some people th...

Such a great sermon, one we can all learn a lot from and be encouraged by: "Encountering God's Process"   by Tony Evans (And here's a great 10-minute video from his daughter, Priscilla Shirer:  "We're Desensitized to our Blessings."   It just seemed to speak so well to the crazy world we're living in right now, maybe because now seems like the perfect time to dig through all the distractions around us to find Jesus.)  And it's funny because just the other day, I was updating and typing up a "Bible Study/workbook" thing I wrote years ago, called  "Through the Refining Fire: Your 'Sweetly Broken' Journey,"  and the stuff Dr. Evans was saying in the beginning was almost exactly the stuff I had just typed up, about how God usually has to break us to rebuild us, how it's part of the process of spiritual growth.   I am sending this "Through the Refining Fire" workbook to my relative  who's in jail  because ...

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”    ( Ephesians 2:8-9 ) For the past 30+ years of being a Christian, I have always understood this verse to mean that faith is the gift God gives us.  That faith has to be given to us by God, in order for us to believe in Him.  Of course, I believed this meant that it was a gift He offered to all, but that we had to decide to accept or reject it.  And that is a fine interpretation, in my mind.  Because it's a graceful, reasonable way to mesh God's sovereignty with mankind's free-will. However, Calvinists use this verse to say that God has to be the One to give people faith, and He only gives it to the elect, and if He doesn't give it to you the you were not predestined to heaven and have no chance to believe in Him.  In their theology, faith is a "gift" that is shoved into the elected person, causin...

(For full version of this Bible study lesson, click here .)             No study on the “less clear” things of Scripture would be complete without a look into the End Times.   There are many different ideas about how the world will end.   Of course, most Christians believe that it will end when Christ returns and God makes all things new.   But what isn’t clear is the timing of everything.   And the biggest “unclear” thing: Will there be a rapture?   Will it come before, during, or after the tribulation?             I have studied this really intensely at different times over the years.   Reading every book on the topic that I could find, studying the Bible, checking the original Greek meaning of the words, etc.    To me, it is a huge, complex, wonderfully-frustrating puzzle.   And I could never really understand it . . . until this last time that I studied it.   And I was fi...

(This is a super long post, as it is in the original Bible study lesson , except for some questions I cut in this one.)             In this lesson, I combined parts of several posts from https://myimpressionisticlife.blogspot.com .   This lesson is not really an academic “study” of atheism and world religions, but it’s a very personal account of why I could never give up my faith in Jesus, why those other options are not for me, and how I would explain salvation and faith in Jesus to a non-believer.  

            (For full version of this Bible study "lesson," click here .  But I couldn't really shorten this one much anyway, except for the questions.)             “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Matthew 12:7             “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”   Matthew 5:20             There’s an older couple in our area.   They are a nice enough couple, but the wife is the kind of person who likes to comment on everyone else’s business.   On which plants you should get out of your yard, on how you should keep your outside lights on for safety, on which neighbors voted and which didn’t, and on how you shouldn’t be up that high on a ladder.               But her ...

(For full version of this Bible study "lesson," click here .)             Philippians 4:12 :   “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.   I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”               1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 :   “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”             Contentment and Joy.   Aren’t these two things that we are always looking for?   Actually, what I should say is that we are usually looking for happiness when we should be looking for joy.   And we are not usually content with the way life is because we have too many expectations about what it should be.   Isn’t this more like it for most of us?   ...

(For the full version of this Bible study "lesson" - the really, really long version - click here .)             Originally, I didn’t have this one in the Bible study.   But over the past few years (and more), I have really struggled with depression.   And on-line and in real life, I have found a lot of other people who are struggling with it, too, even Christians.               And the sad thing is, not only do they already feel guilty and alone . . . but then other Christians make them feel like “bad Christians” and like they should be ashamed of themselves for having depression or taking medication.   They condemn and judge the hurting person, instead of extending compassion and grace and help.   And that gets me mad!   Freakin’ boiling mad!!!   (Oh, it gets me so mad!)             And so I decided to add this topic to the Bible study.  (It might soun...

(For full version of this Bible study "lesson," click here .)             Matthew 6:33 :   “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”             We all know that we are supposed to be seeking righteousness and God’s Kingdom.   But are we actually doing it?   And do we really even know what that means?               The reason I ask is because our country is getting so lukewarm and relativistic about spiritual things.   Whole denominations are drifting away from biblical Christianity and becoming social clubs where the speakers tickle the ears of the congregation and make them feel warm and cozy and comfortable.               But that is so not what Jesus did and what the Bible is about!  

            (For full version of this Bible study "lesson," click here .)             I don’t expect anyone to believe me, but I’m going to share my story.   It’s my story about how I came to fully trust in Jesus’s name and to passionately cling to Him, to never be able to doubt the existence of a spirit world, to place such a high priority on prayer and God’s Word, and to always remember my need for spiritual armor.   And once again, you don’t have to believe me.   (But don’t say I never warned you.   And if you are a skeptic and get nothing from this whole section, just remember this: “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave.”   In case you ever need it.)             My first real experience with the unseen world was when I was a pre-teen.   My younger half-brother, his step-sister, and I decided to play “Light as a feather, stiff as a board.”...