Christian Living on Rules

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Reasons for the Rules

Author

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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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 Deepwater Horizon Crisis and Our Need for a Savior

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Scripture

Romans 3:21-31, 1 John 1:7, Philippians 1:6, Ephesians 2:8-9, Colossians 2:13-14

In 2010, an oil rig named “Deepwater Horizon” suffered a catastrophic failure. Due to improper installation of the cement seal, a malfunctioning blowout preventer, and cost-cutting decisions by corpor...

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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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Author

Galileo Galilei

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 2:3, 2 Timothy 2:15, Matthew 22:37, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, Proverbs 18:15, Romans 12:2, Isaiah 1:18

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.

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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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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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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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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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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 Two House-Hunters from Quadora

Author

Jerry Bridges

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 3:24, Colossians 2:13-14, Isaiah 64:6, Ephesians 2:8-9, Luke 15:11-32, Matthew 20:1-16

Sam and Pam, two friends, both arrived in the United States as immigrants from the country of Quadora. Each one wanted to buy a house, and it so happened they each found one for sale by a certain weal...

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Author

Michael Scott

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:7, Acts 17:23, Deuteronomy 18:10-12, Colossians 2:8, Jeremiah 10:2

“I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.”

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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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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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How we praise and thank You for the

Keywords

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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Learned Ignorance: De Docta Ignorancia

Author

A. J. Swoboda

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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The Governing Center of our Faith

Author

Michael Reeves

Keywords

Christianity

Scripture

Revelation 1:4-5, Ephesians 1:13-14, John 14:26, Colossians 2:9, 2 Corinthians 13:14

That which distinguishes Christianity has not been stolen. For what makes Christianity absolutely distinct is the identity of our God. Which God we worship: that is the article of faith that stands be...

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Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 2:13, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:9-10, 1 John 1:9, Titus 3:5, Romans 5:8

Good people don’t go to heaven, forgiven people do.

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Go as God’s people

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:23, John 15:5, Psalm 1:2-3, Colossians 2:6-7, Ephesians 3:17-19

Go as God’s people Planted firmly in his love Watered by his word And bearing the fruit of faith

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I appeal to you, Lord, God of Abraham,

Author

Irenaeus of Lyon

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4-5, John 17:2-3, Isaiah 45:5-6, Colossians 2:8, 2 Timothy 1:13-14

I appeal to you, Lord, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob and Israel, you the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Infinitely merciful as you are, it is your will that we should learn to know you....

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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 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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Almighty God, in you are hidden all the

Keywords

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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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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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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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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Thomas Jefferson’s Bible

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:18, John 1:1-14, Colossians 2:9, 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, Philippians 2:9-11, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12, 2 Peter 1:20-21

The great American statesman and president Thomas Jefferson was a man of science who did not believe in miracles but really liked Jesus. Unfortunately, right next to Jesus’ ethical teachings are stori...

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The Debt Must Be Paid

Author

Peter Kreeft

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 3:23-26, 1 Peter 2:24, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:13-14, Isaiah 53:5, Hebrews 9:22

Mercy goes beyond justice, it does not undercut it. If I forgive you the hundred dollar debt you owe me, that means I must use one hundred dollars of my own money to pay my creditors. I cannot really ...

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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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