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Category: Faith in the Struggle

Is Anxiety a Sin?

Do not be anxious about your life . . . Matthew 6:25 I’ve heard well-meaning Christians use this verse to teach that anxiety is a sin. Jesus said not to be anxious, so experiencing anxiety is sinful. This is absurd but that doesn’t stop some Christians from saying it. When the angels appeared to the shepherds…
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Another Life Lesson from the Dog

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Matthew 6:24 Once, when my family got home from several days away, we greeted our dog by each attempting to call him. The idea was, whomever he…
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Screen Time

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. Matthew 6:22-23 If I care to know, I can easily check my phone’s battery usage to see how much time…
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Running is Stupid

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:29 I have an unfortunate habit of expressing my displeasure with any difficult workout at the gym by pronouncing that it’s stupid. I do the workout anyway, even though it’s at times miserable, because I have goals. I desire to see those goals realized more…
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Jesus Take the Wheel?

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:20 As I was on a long drive recently, I contemplated the idea of wanting God to take control of my life. In my addiction, I begged God to just run things.…
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We Need Our Hunger

When you fast . . . Matthew 6:17 I don’t like fasting. I’m always hungry anyway, and when I skip a meal, I’m more than doubly hungry. Because this passage was coming up today though, I did try to fast yesterday, making it until only about mid-afternoon before I fell apart. During that brief fast I…
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Save Me from Myself

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Matthew 6:13 It wasn’t easy to attain several years of sobriety, but after several years, it’s easy to become overconfident in my recovery. As I was recently speaking in a local treatment facility, I realized sadly, that most of the addicts there would return to a…
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We Desperately Need to Forgive and to Be Forgiven

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12 It doesn’t take much honesty to admit that I’ve required a lot of forgiveness in my life. Through destructive, selfish behavior, I’ve indebted myself to both God and man, consuming more than my share of grace and mercy. The first thing I do…
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How Much Bread Do I Need in a Day?

Give us this day our daily bread . . . Matthew 6:11 Like most who are attempting to eat healthy these days, I’ve read much on the evils of sugar and refined carbohydrates. White flour bread is out, and donuts – with sugar, fat, and flour – are from the devil himself. Unfortunately, I crave simple carbohydrates…
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The End of Me and the Beginning of Change

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 Over a cup of coffee, a friend and I recently recounted our stories of recovery. The details of our addiction were different, until it came to that point where we both realized we were going a new direction. For both…
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