Christian-Living
Dead to the World - Part 7: Hidden with Christ in God
Posted on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at 12:00 AM
If someone watched your life this week, what would they say is the thing driving you? Not the official answer. Not the one you would give in a church small group. The real one. The thing that gets you out of bed. The thing that shapes what you do with the hours when no one is watching and nothing is on the line. What is the actual engine of your Tuesday?Dead to the World - Part 6: Seek the Things That Are Above
Posted on Monday, June 15, 2026 at 12:00 AM
If I asked you to tell me where your mind went in the last hour, what would you say? Not where you wanted it to go. Not where you think it should have gone. Where it actually went. Could you even answer? “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.Dead to the World - Part 5: Our Citizenship Is in Heaven
Posted on Sunday, June 14, 2026 at 12:00 AM
If you have ever felt like you do not quite fit, like you are slightly out of step with the people around you, like the things the world celebrates do not move you the way they are supposed to move you — that is not a sign that something is wrong with you. That is a sign that something is right with you. You are homesick for a country you have not yet seen.Dead to the World - Part 4: Not Conformed, Transformed
Posted on Saturday, June 13, 2026 at 12:00 AM
There is a version of the Christian life that sounds like this: “I got saved, and now I try really hard not to do the bad things and do the good things.” And if that is all you have been told, you are going to be exhausted by about Wednesday. The New Testament is clear that something decisive happened at conversion. You were transferred. You died with Christ. You were raised with Him.Dead to the World - Part 3: The Cross Was Not a Reform Movement
Posted on Friday, June 12, 2026 at 12:00 AM
There is a version of Christianity that treats the cross as a rescue mission. You were in trouble, God sent help, you were pulled out. That is not wrong. But it is incomplete. The New Testament picture is more violent than that — and it uses that violence deliberately. Paul does not say you were helped. He says you were crucified. Not metaphorically. Not poetically. With the same word he uses for the actual death of an actual man on an actual cross, he describes what happened to you.Dead to the World - Part 2: The Old Self Was Real
Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2026 at 12:00 AM
There is a version of you that no longer exists. Not the version you wish you still were — the one who had fewer responsibilities, or more freedom, or less awareness of how hard it is to follow Jesus. No, this version is something more fundamental than that. This is the version of you that was oriented entirely around the world you lived in. The version that had not yet been interrupted by grace.Dead to the World - Part 1: You Have Been Transferred
Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2026 at 12:00 AM
If you have been following the Forgiveness series this week, you know that we ended with a simple but challenging idea: you have been graced, therefore you are called to extend grace. That is the Christian life in one sentence. But here is what that series did not fully address — and what this new series will: the question of where you actually belong now. Because if you have been forgiven, something bigger has happened to you than just being pardoned.What God Views as Hospitality and Generosity
Posted on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 12:00 AM
There is a quiet revolution happening in a million living rooms, kitchen tables, and church pews. It does not make headlines. It does not trend. But it is one of the most radical things a Christian can do in a world built on accumulation. It is the practice of hospitality and generosity — not as performance, not as obligation, but as a window into the heart of God. Most of us have complicated feelings around these words.MrBeast and the Beast: A Christian Look at Jimmy Donaldson's Philanthropy
Posted on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 12:00 AM
There is a young man in North Carolina who started making YouTube videos as a teenager, dropped out of community college after two weeks, and now sits at the center of a $5 billion company with over 450 million subscribers. His real name is Jimmy Donaldson. You know him as MrBeast. By every metric we have for measuring cultural influence, he is one of the most successful people alive. He has 95 billion lifetime views.Living in Joy: A Final Reflection
Posted on Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at 6:30 AM
We’ve spent time together exploring what the Bible teaches us about joy. Not the world’s version — fragile, circumstance-dependent, here-today-gone-tomorrow. But the joy Jesus spoke of. The joy that Paul wrote about from a Roman prison. The joy that survives suffering, loss, uncertainty, and still stands. Now the question becomes: What do we do with this? What We Learned Here are the truths we’ve uncovered: Joy is not happiness. Happiness says, “I’m glad because things are good.Joy: Day 2 - The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength
Posted on Thursday, March 19, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Joy: Day 2 - The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength “Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” — Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV) The Context: A People Rebuilding To understand this verse, we need to understand the moment. The Israelites had returned from 70 years of exile in Babylon. They came home to Jerusalem in ruins — walls broken down, gates burned, the temple destroyed. Everything their ancestors had built was gone.Joy: The First Day - A Different Kind of Happy
Posted on Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Joy: The First Day - A Different Kind of Happy “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” — Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) The World’s Joy vs. God’s Joy We live in a world obsessed with happiness. Scroll through social media for five minutes and you’ll see it everywhere: #blessed captions over perfect sunsets, carefully curated vacation photos, milestone celebrations, and the endless pursuit of “living your best life.Gentleness: Strength Under Control
Posted on Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 11:35 AM
Gentleness: Strength Under Control When we think of gentleness today, we might picture someone soft-spoken, timid, or easily pushed around. But biblical gentleness—Greek word prautÄ“s—paints a different picture entirely. Biblical Gentleness: Strength Under Control In the ancient world, prautÄ“s described a wild animal that had been tamed. Think of a powerful horse or fierce lion that had learned to respond to its master’s voice. The power was still there, but it was now purposeful rather than destructive.The Joy of the Lord: Finding Light in the Gathering Dark
Posted on Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 8:45 PM
An Evening Reflection The sun is setting now, isn’t it? Those golden hours slip away so quietly—sometimes we barely notice the light fading until suddenly we’re surrounded by the soft weight of evening. It’s in these moments that something ancient stirs in us. A longing. A reaching. For what, exactly? We can’t always name it. But God can. When the World Goes Quiet There’s a particular kind of silence that only comes after sunset.The Joy of the Lord: A Fruit That Radiates
Posted on Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Galatians 5:22-23 - “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Joy is not happiness. Happiness is circumstantial—it’s tied to what’s happening around us. Joy runs deeper. It’s not dependent on good weather, good news, or good fortune. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, which means it grows in us regardless of what’s going on in our lives. The Source of True Joy