I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Following the Way of Jesus
Discipleship is at the center of the Christian life. To be a disciple means to be a learner. It means following after Jesus, and patterning our life after His.
Jesus tells us that the starting point of following Him is to deny ourselves. Denying ourselves means we choose to put Jessus’ desires above our own. This means that we must come to recognize that we do not have all the answers, or know the right way to go through life.
Discipleship is not something we do once or twice. It is a lifestyle that must be lived out each and every day. We will spend our entire lives becoming more like Jesus.
The way of life Jesus modeled was to suffer on the cross. When we deny ourselves, we choose to humbly follow Jesus. And as we become more like Jesus, we will also need to take up our cross. We will also suffer for doing good, and for denying things that seem enticing in the moment, but ultimately keep us from God. But when we bear our suffering, we represent Christ to those around us.
The paradox of following Jesus is that when we give up our life for His sake, we receive eternal life in return. When we hold onto our life and keep it from Jesus, we don’t get to experience the abundant life that He promises.
Take some time today to consider how you’re living a life of discipleship. Take inventory on the ways you are denying yourself and living for Christ, or living selfishly for your own pleasure and gain. Commit to following Jesus no matter how hard the path gets. And pray for strength and endurance as you follow Him.
Let Goodness Prevail
In the beginning, life was good—both physically and spiritually. In fact, God created everything that existed and called it very good.
But that goodness was fractured when an enemy enticed God’s image-bearing people to question His goodness and doubt His trustworthiness. So, when Adam and Eve chose to disregard God’s instructions by eating from the only forbidden tree, their eyes were opened to two opposing forces: good and evil.
The battle between good and evil isn’t just an overarching theme in the Bible, but a theme that permeates every continent, every culture, and every nation. It’s a theme that’s laced throughout books and movies, and one that plays out in real life. And the reason it’s so pervasive is because there's a real battle taking place.
All these years, we’re still sharing this good-yet-fallen world. But, make no mistake, the Kingdom of Darkness is still warring against the Kingdom of Light.
The apostle Paul gave some advice on this topic to the ...
