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Month: December 2017

I’m Only a Jerk Because I’m a Christian

Titus 3:9 Avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.   I must admit, that I have engaged in bitter, angry arguments over things like the age of the earth. In my perceived defense of God’s truth, I have been condescending and rude to those with whom…
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What is Self-Control and How Do I Get It? Part Two

Titus 2:6 . . . To be self-controlled.   The irony of an addict, writing on self-control, is not lost on me. If you want to know how to lose weight though, you will not likely learn from someone who has never known the struggle. My drug addiction may be foreign to you, but we…
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What is Self-Control and How Do I Get It? Part One

Titus 2:4-6 Train the young women . . . to be self-controlled . . . Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.   God, give me self-control! I was 14 or 15 years old, praying this desperate prayer repeatedly, wondering why God did not answer. My testosterone-soaked mind was frustrated by impulsive thoughts that…
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Guess Who Relapsed . . .

Be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.  Titus 2:3 If I confessed that I once went to church under the influence of chemicals, it may not surprise you, but it might offend you. If I told you that I did it last Sunday, you should probably be more alarmed. If though,…
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The Next Right Choice

Titus 2:2 Be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Some days, I find myself despairing over the discrepancy between what I am and what I want to be. I read a list like this and sigh, That does not sound like me at all. When will I get there? I…
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My First Lie

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.  Titus 1:16 Several years ago, we added dormers to our roof as an architectural feature. Though I liked the way they looked, I felt they were inherently dishonest as we did not have an upstairs. Like a comb-over, the dormers were false advertising,…
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Magical Thinking

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.   This verse always takes me back 30 years to a hot summer day of mowing our church’s cemetery. As I mowed, I would read the inscriptions on the tombstones. Out of hundreds, I remember only…
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Life Lessons from the Dog

2 Timothy 4:5 Always be sober-minded . . . Today, I must give some credit to my dog, as he has provided significant inspiration for my faith and writing. So it was, yesterday, as I was out for a run (dog on leash), pondering today’s passage. We were doing fine, running along, until he saw…
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I Still Need a Sponsor

1 Timothy 4:2,3 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season . . . For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. I used to think this passage meant that Christians must always…
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God is Always Speaking

2 Timothy 3:16,17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. I have always looked on those who claim that God talks to them, with significant skepticism. Hmm . .…
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