Doses of Faith

     Christians are not promised a life of wealth, good health, and perfection.   We are promised peace with God and access by faith through the Holy Spirit, but there is no promise of a life free of being broken.  In life, there are good times and bad times.  There are highs and lows.  We all have times where we grieve and times we rejoice.  It is called life.  Christians have this life, and they have both good and bad with the hope of God's promises.      "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."  (Romans 5:1,2)      The words which stand out in these two verses are faith, peace, access, grace, and hope.   We are justified by our faith, and because we believe and know God is with us, we can have this everlasting peace within us.  No...

"We conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law."  Romans 3:28      At times, we have to examine ourselves.  Where is my faith?  How can I write about faith without understanding my own faith?  I tell myself, "It doesn't matter because God knows."  However, in the hustle of my busy days, do I rush through a prayer instead of taking time to talk to God?  Am I trying to measure my faith instead of living my faith?      The Bible holds life stories of many men and women.  Each one had flaws and weaknesses.  Even with those weaknesses, God found them to be righteous because of their faith.  Paul uses the life story of Abraham to show justification by faith.  Abraham's story starts in Genesis 12 where God said to him, "Leave your country and your father's house to go to a land that I will show you.  And, I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your nam...

     You find yourself in a tight situation and you want to help your associate make a sound decision.  In your mind, the only way to influence the associate is a little white lie.  It will not hurt and the associate will never realize the good decision was based on a lie.  Or, your friend is excited about a dinner date.  You don't like the date, so you make up a false accusation to change your friend's mind.  They will never know the accusation is false, and it is for their own good.  These lies are justified with the thought that it is for the best.  The best for who?  Do you lie to change a situation to your desires or to make you look good?  Can you justify that lie?     As Christians some say, "This lie is for the good and God will forgive me."   Should you sin considering that you will be forgiven?  Oh!  We humans are such a self-centered bunch!  We think we can commit an evil, but judge oth...

     After Christ returned to heaven and His disciples began their mission, they found it difficult ministering to the Gentiles.  The culture of the Jews lead them to avoid Gentiles since Gentiles were considered unclean.  Evidently, the Christian Jews in Rome thought of themselves as better than the Gentile Christians.  Paul asked the church in Rome, "What then, are we better than they?" (Romans 3:9)      Does church members think this way today?  Are there church members who place themselves above others because of membership, church office, leadership role, or family?  Yes, I listed family because some are only there because of family tradition or charter membership.  I don't know of any church that offers "charter membership" but some think they have this special membership because their great grandfather helped build the church building.  By now, you may see where this is going.  Does family membership or your...