Christian Living on Learning

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Learned Ignorance: De Docta Ignorancia

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 1:5, Jeremiah 9:23-24, Matthew 11:25, James 1:21, Colossians 2:3, Matthew 18:3

Becoming a teachable person has two prerequisites: There must be a teacher and a person willing to be taught. Increasingly, Western culture has become an environment that celebrates and platforms the ...

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How we praise and thank You for the

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Scripture

Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:25, Luke 24:13-32, Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 119:18, John 16:13, Colossians 2:3

How we praise and thank You for the holy Scriptures which You have caused to be written for our learning. Thank You for Your written Word, which reveals to us the living Word of God, in the Person of ...

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Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 3:28, John 8:32, 1 Peter 3:15, Deuteronomy 6:6-7, Acts 17:11, Colossians 2:8, Proverbs 22:6

It is always crucial to remember that our beliefs are formed not only through reason and argument but also through social conditioning.

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Author

L. Frank Baum

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 1:9, Isaiah 33:6, James 1:5, Proverbs 18:15, Colossians 2:2-3

“No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge*, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.” (*or Faith)

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Oaks of Righteousness

Author

Alan Fadling

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 61:3, Jeremiah 17:7-8, Psalm 1:3, John 15:5, Galatians 5:22-23, Colossians 2:6-7, Hebrews 6:12

In his excellent book, An Unhurried Life, Alan Fadling contrasts our overly busy lives with a vision of the kingdom from Isaiah chapter 61: Isaiah envisioned a kingdom in which those people in need ...

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Getting to the Roots

Author

Barry L. Rowan

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 17:7-8, Colossians 2:6-7, Psalm 1:3, Ephesians 3:16-19, Matthew 13:3-8, Mark 4:1-9

The word radical comes from the same root as the word radish and literally means “root.” It’s truly a root word! But apart from the painful pun, it has something to teach us. So often, when we think o...

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Spiritual Food Belongs in the Heart

Author

Dane C. Ortlund

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 23:25-26, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Colossians 2:6-7, Jeremiah 31:33

Spiritual nourishment cannot be seen purely in our outward behavior. The process of sanctification is a deeply internal process. Outside growth is merely a symptom, and acting better does not mean our...

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The Treasure of a Lifetime

Author

Randy Alcorn

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:44, Hebrews 14:26, Colossians 2:2-3, Philippians 3:8, Luke 12:33-34

A first-century Hebrew walks alone on a hot afternoon, staff in hand. His shoulders are stooped, his tunic stained with sweat. But he doesn’t stop to rest. He has pressing business in the city. He vee...

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The Greatest Imaginable Number of Readings

Author

David Hare

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 22:21, Isaiah 5:8-9, John 6:63, Matthew 22:15-22, John 8:1-11, Colossians 2:2-3, 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Jesus Christ was prone to making comments which seem to support an almost infinite variety of exegesis. A remark like ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and ‘unto God the things that are ...

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Almighty God, in you are hidden all the

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Scripture

Colossians 2:2-3, Psalm 119:18, Proverbs 4:7, Matthew 11:15, Luke 24:31, Isaiah 11:2

Almighty God, in you are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Open our eyes that we may see the wonders of your Word; and give us grace that we may clearly understand and freely choose th...

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Hardships Force our Roots to Go Deep

Author

Our Daily Bread

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 2:6-7, 2 Corinthians 4:16-17, Ephesians 3:17-18, Isaiah 58:11, Romans 5:3-5

A. Parnell Bailey visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour ...

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Living up to the Name "Christian"

Author

Scott Bowerman

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 6:8, 1 Peter 2:2, James 1:4, Galatians 5:22-23, Colossians 2:6-7, Romans 12:2

Some years back, on the Today Show, Maya Angelou was asked, with all that she had accomplished, could there be any more objectives, unfulfilled wishes, for her to pursue? Angelou said, “Oh, my, yes. I...

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"The Batman Effect" The Power of Identity

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Scripture

Romans 13:14, Colossians 3:9-10, Ephesians 4:22-24, Hebrews 12:2, Colossians 2:6

A group of researchers sought to study the nuances of self-control. They conducted a study with a few dozen kindergarten students and gave them a painfully boring, repetitive task designed to test how...

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Consider the Egg

Author

Robert Farrar Capon

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 2:3, 1 Timothy 4:4, Romans 11:36, Matthew 6:26, Psalm 104:27-28, Job 12:7-10, Genesis 1:24-25

In this short excerpt, the author and priest Robert Farrar Capon describes just how intricate and beautiful one single part of God’s creation is, the chicken egg: Forget for the moment the fantastic...

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Blessed Are the Merciful?

Author

Bill Gaultiere

Keywords

The Beatitudes

Scripture

Matthew 5:7, Matthew 5:9, Colossians 2:8, Mark 10:15

Following Dallas Willard’s line of thinking in The Divine Conspiracy , we don’t believe Jesus is saying, “Be merciful and you will be blessed.” Rather, his idea is, “As a tender-hearted person you ge...

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Adapted from Colossians 2:3; Revelation 5:12

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 2:3, Revelation 5:12

The Lord Jesus who calls us to worship him today is the same Jesus who refused the temptation to worship the evil one. Rather than receive the glorious kingdoms of this world, he endured the shame of ...

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Author

Luke Norsworthy

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:2, Colossians 2:6-7, Philippians 3:12-14, Ephesians 4:15, Galatians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Romans 12:2

For some, faith begins with a hard shell, a rigid set of answers and platitudes that keep them safe but eventually prevent them from growing into who they could be. The system that was initially prote...

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The Lost Art of Thankfulness

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Scripture

1 Thessalonians 5:18, Ephesians 5:20, 2 Corinthians 9:11, Colossians 2:6-7

Thankfulness seems to be a lost art today. Warren Wiersby illustrated this problem in his commentary on Colossians. He told about a ministerial student in Evanston, Illinois, who was part of a life-sa...

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Christian Character Defined: John Stott

Author

Mark Labberton

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:16, Isaiah 58:10-11, Colossians 2:9-10, Romans 8:38-39, Psalm 16:11, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Philippians 4:11-12

As a study assistant to the Anglican pastor and writer John Stott during my early years as a believer, I witnessed John’s faithfulness in public and private, as a highly visible speaker and as a nearl...

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Author

G. K. Chesterton

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 11:1-6, Isaiah 1:18, 1 Peter 3:15, John 1:1, James 1:5, Colossians 2:8, Romans 12:2

Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all.

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Reasons for the Rules

Author

Darren Pollock

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 2:27, Isaiah 29:13, Matthew 15:2-6, Mark 7:3-13, Colossians 2:8, Galatians 1:14

Season 3, episode 21 of Bluey (an episode called “Tina”) opens with Bandit telling his daughter Bluey to put her plate in the dishwasher. When Bluey pushes back and asks why, Bandit replies, “Be...

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Author

Richard J. Foster

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Colossians 2:20-23, Matthew 11:28-30, Luke 10:41-42

The purpose of the Disciplines is freedom. Our aim is the freedom, not the Discipline. The moment we make the Discipline our central focus, we will turn it into law and lose the corresponding freedom....

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I Am Baptized

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 6:3-4, Ephesians 2:8-9, Colossians 2:11-12, Titus 3:5, Galatians 3:27

If you’ve read or watched any of the biographies of Martin Luther, you will already know that he struggled at times with bouts of anxiety, self-loathing, and perhaps even depression. Shortly after his...

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Using Aslan to Explain the Gospel

Author

Scott McKnight

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 2:15, Acts 2:24, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Isaiah 53:5, John 10:27-28

If I am asked to break the gospel and a gospel culture down into simple statements, I would borrow imagery from the man from Northern Ireland, from Belfast, C. S. Lewis. From The Lion, the Witch and t...

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Author

Athanasius of Alexandria

Keywords

Scripture

John 10:17-18, Philippians 2:8, 1 Corinthians 1:18, Hebrews 12:2, Colossians 2:15, 1 Peter 3:18

He, the Life of all, our Lord and Saviour, did not arrange the manner of his own death lest He should seem to be afraid of some other kind. No. He accepted and bore upon the cross a death inflicted by...

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Electrical Fires and Addressing Sin at the Source

Author

David Peterson

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 7:20-23, Proverbs 4:23, James 1:14-15, Luke 6:43-45, Colossians 2:23

One afternoon, I was playing with my son in our living room when I suddenly smelled something burning. I stood up and walked around, nose high in the air, sniffing furiously. My wife smelled it too, s...

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Author

Austin Fischer

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Timothy 6:20-21, Romans 12:2, Colossians 2:8, James 1:5-6, Hebrews 11:1

By misinterpreting the Enlightenment and the corresponding rise of empiricism as an existential threat to Christian faith, many frightened Christians sequestered themselves into rooms of certitude.

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A Wedding & A Reaffirmation of Covenant Love

Author

Tim Chester

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 22:19-20, Galatians 3:26-27, Colossians 2:11-12, Titus 3:3-7, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

Baptism is like a wedding. It is a covenant act, a relationship-making agreement, in which commitments are made. A couple may love one another. But feelings can go up and down. That is why marriage is...

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The Prime Sacrament

Author

Martin Luther

Keywords

Baptism

Scripture

Romans 6:3-4, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:27, Colossians 2:12

Baptism is the prime sacrament, the foundation of them all…There are two things which baptism signifies, namely, death and resurrection…We call this death and resurrection a new creation, a regenerati...

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The Origin of the Word “Sacrament”

Author

Tim Chester

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 1:27, Colossians 2:2, 1 Timothy 3:16

The word “sacrament” comes from the Latin word sacramentum. It was used in two ways at the time. First, it described the oath taken by soldiers in the Roman army. It was a sacred pledge of allegiance....

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