God Centered Life

One of the big things Christians need to learn from Daniel's understanding of this pagan official is love. He entered his world and appreciated his pressures. We call this loving our neighbor.

If you don't have a divine perspective on bad things, you'll grow bitter. If you don't have a divine perspective on good things, you'll get proud and take credit for what God has done. Just like in Daniel's day, we are facing a new pagan culture around us, and we need to think through how to live as a Christian in it.

This is what the whole Jericho story is about. The idea of marching around the city and then shouting is designed to make them look ridiculous. It's not us--it's Jesus. God directs Joshua that it's time for His people to enter the promised land.

The idea of success in this passage in Joshua is about the wise life. If you spend time in the Bible, it shapes your mind and heart, and enables you to have the wisdom to live your life as it was designed to be lived. You'll be living life along the Designer's instructions as you soak yourself in God's Word.

Eleanor Roosevelt said, "He who loses money loses much. He who loses a friend loses much more. He who loses faith loses all." We could add, "He who makes an idol of money will lose life." An idol is anything or anyone you put in the place of God in your heart and mind. Idols reflect what you want God and your life to be like.

Because our culture assumes that religion is a matter of private devotion and that what we can know about God is precious little because he's a mysterious being, people tend to default to the view that God is a matter of opinion.

Christians so often think of themselves as marginalized from the great events of the day. But according to John, the people who overcome the world are those born of Godthey are the world shakers!

Once we have the right definition in our minds and we have the power of God (having been born of God) then let us love one another like this. John is defining love. How do you know when someone really loves you? Ultimately, it's because someone forgives you.

We want to be tolerant, but there are so many things we should not tolerate. If someone is practicing self-harm, it is not loving to ignore that; it's loving to confront that. The line between love and truth can become blurred, but the Bible has a healthy way of looking at these two things.

We're not perfect, but if we're not purifying ourselves and if our lifestyles are not on the path toward righteousness, then we cannot hide behind a profession of faith. A profession of faith without a practice of faith is in fact a characteristic of children of the devil.