Paul’s epistle to the Romans has been called the apostle’s greatest work. Chosen by God to reach the Gentile world with the gospel of salvation, Paul’s task is anything but easy. To begin with, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is a new concept, not only to Gentiles, but to Jews themselves. Secondly, Gentiles have persecuted Jews for millennia. To […]
What does it mean to take the Lord’s Table in an unworthy manner? Have you ever heard those lines from a Church pulpit just before a Holy Communion service? Did you make a quick prayer of repentance to ‘acquire worthiness’ before the bread and juice reached your pew? Have you ever felt so unworthy you altogether skipped the sacrament? By […]
Insecurity rides on public approval. It’s an ego inflater—the juice that fires locomotives of cowards. Talk of flying by the seat of one’s pants! Fantasy builds groundless castles, but no sooner than a little wind blows through, its smokescreen dissipates, and confidence is lost. That’s why the same mobs that attempted to forcefully install the miracle worker as king, only […]
The word ‘reproach’, as used in the New Testament, implies infamy, repulsion, etc. By associating with Christ, a believer often exposes him/herself to ridicule. That’s because much of society views people who take Christian faith literally and personally as weird or dim-witted. There’s nothing new about that attitude. From the dawn of Christian era, faith in God took a radical […]
Hope is a potent virtue. It nudges us forward with a strange expectation of rewarding outcomes, even in the face of ominous circumstances. Let’s use an example from annals of the ancient world. Once upon a time, Benhadad king of Syria besieged Samaria, capital of Israel’s northern kingdom. Consequently, the city was famished for lack of supplies. Famine was so […]
Exhibition of human greatness has few men as tall as Moses. God Himself testified of it. In protesting Israel’s sin, He told Jeremiah, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I would not feel pity for them!” Spiritual greatness derives from someone’s ability to bend omnipotence to human need. Moses’ intercessions altered the course of […]
Humans have incredible capacity to adapt to adversity. Driven by inordinate fortitude, many make-do, and survive, when forced into near impossible situations. It doesn’t even take that much effort. Ironically, invitations for advancement are often greeted with stupefying resistance. For instance, four hundred and thirty years of tyranny didn’t prepare Israel for the liberty they craved. They couldn’t conceptualize its […]
Through Eyes of an Introvert Rejection is one of the most painful human experiences, one from which many of its victims never fully recover. American psychologist Abraham Harold Maslow (1908–1970) is famed for his theory on the hierarchy of needs in people’s quest for self-actualization. The theory posits that human needs are ordered in a prepotent hierarchy. In other words, […]
When computers entered the corporate marketplace, an accompanying idiom became popular among users—garbage in, garbage out! In other words, the newly invented wonder machine didn’t have capacity to convert bad data into good products. Decades of advancement later, that premise remains valid. Input determines output. Humans are wired somewhat similarly. What we put in determines what comes out. Much of […]
Environment is a major driver of social behavior. By environment, we refer to prevailing circumstances around which people react to situations. Let’s use some mental cues. You’ve come to an elevator and found one unknown person waiting. Are you inclined to say “hello” or to ignore the person? What if you found ten strangers waiting; would you act differently? Why? […]
The 2020’s decade commenced with a global plague, COVID-19 pandemic! Ideas on what this implies keep flying around from every shade of human logic. Religious, political, economic, scientific… I don’t mean to add to the mucky pool of speculative theories being pushed from various social platforms. Since the outbreak in late December, subsequent superfluity of opinions have neither aided our […]
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:1-3 ~NLT) […]
