Galatians 1:6-13 Paul’s transformative encounter with God on the road to Damascus set the trajectory for the remainder of his life. Self-regarded as a once proud man of the religious elite, Paul now knew who he was in light of the redemptive grace of God’s love through Jesus Christ. There was nothing that would alter […]

The post Freedom In Christ first appeared on Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living.

James 3:13-18 James’ description of wisdom sounds a lot to me like the apostle Paul’s description of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Perhaps that is because both are direct evidence of God’s transforming work within us. We cannot will ourselves to produce the fruit of the Spirit. The same is true of acquiring […]

The post Emptying Yourself first appeared on Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living.

James 3:7-12 In James 3, he is asserting that it’s not okay for praise and cursing to come from the same mouth. Taming our tongue is a discipline, and yet our ability to do so stems from a deeper surrender of our hearts to Him who has the power to transform us into His likeness.  […]

The post When To Speak; What To Say first appeared on Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living.

James 3:1-6 I find it interesting that James says, “Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect” (v. 2). James is alluding to how truly powerful our language is. To “never be at fault,” or to “not offend” (KJV), or to “make no mistakes” (NRSV) in what we say, is to […]

The post Words That Reflect God’s Work first appeared on Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living.

1 Timothy 5:16-21 The Church fought the battle against favoritism quite early (Acts 6:1-7). In Jerusalem a number of widows came under the church’s care. Doubtless these were women who had been cut off by their families because of their faith in Jesus. This group was divided between those who spoke Aramaic and those who […]

The post Dealing With Partiality first appeared on Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living.

John 4:19-26 When it came to worship the Samaritans disagreed with the Jews, particularly over the location. Both groups followed the Law of Moses. Both revered the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, as the basis of their faith. Both used the same name for God, claimed descent from Abraham, and observed the […]

The post The Worship Wars first appeared on Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living.

John 4:10-18 Just inside the state line in northern Arkansas is Mammoth Spring State Park. The spring itself is one of the largest in the world, some eight million gallons of fresh water a minute flows into the ten acre lake at its mouth. The spring’s water arrives through porous rock formations underlying a large […]

The post Openness Goes Beyond Culture first appeared on Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living.

John 4:1-9 Our family group was headed into a large museum late one afternoon. We spotted a hot dog cart. Since we would be inside for several hours we decided to fortify ourselves with a snack. My brother-in-law stepped up to order hot dogs and drinks for us. He is African American, the rest of […]

The post Words of Hope first appeared on Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living.

Luke 10:30-37 Sociologists refer to cultural perception. Basically it means how people learn to view their world from within their particular culture. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, a small enclave of Jewish culture. However, Nazareth was located in a region populated by people from a wide variety of ethnic, religious, cultural, and language groups. Jewish […]

The post Culture Shift first appeared on Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living.

James 2:8-13 People have all kinds of favorites: favorite colors, favorite foods, favorite sports, or favorite vacation spots. Mostly this is a harmless personal preference. It is important to remember, however, that all favoritism is judging. What may be trivial when it comes to food, fashion choice, or recreational activity; can become tragic in the […]

The post Favoritism Is Judging first appeared on Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living.