Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

Sometimes it feels like there just isn't time to pray! I used to think things like "I'll pray when I get time, when it gets less busy." I know now that this sort of thinking is a sign that my priorities are not right. I need to be praying in the midst of everything. I don't mean we should all drop everything for days and do nothing but pray. What I'm saying is that we should still talk with God at some point(s) every day, no matter how busy we are. Why? For several reasons, but the foremost one is that God wants a relationship with us. We don't tell our spouse "Hey, I'm busy right now, but I'll talk with you again about a month from now when it gets less hectic." How ridiculous would that be?! We shouldn't be doing  that to God either. Furthermore, God doesn't do that us. He doesn't remove himself for months at a time because he's busy attending to other things. Yes life can feel like that to us at times, but he isn'...

When reading the parable of the lost son, I am always grateful that the younger son returned to his father (Luke 15: 11-32). But sometimes can't help but feel sympathetic to the older son's point of view. The older son had not strayed, and yet no-one celebrated his faithfulness. When he pointed this out to his father when they were celebrating the return of his brother, the father said: “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Luke 15: 31-32 The first words of the father resonated with me: "You are always with me, and everything I have is yours." Wow! That's God speaking to us! This made me feel so much less jealous of others. I realized that God values us equally, whether we stray or not. Sure, the younger brother had a big celebration made for the occasion of his return, but honestly...

Whenever there are times that I don't have the best attitude about life (e.g Monday mornings), I remind myself of the following. Any that have links refer to an experience that you can explore in more detail: I'm alive! I'm on the planet! I'm human, which means I'm one of God's chosen people . Jesus paid the price for my sins already. It's already been paid up. My chains are broken, and I've been set free . Evil has no long-term power over me unless I choose to let it. My chains are broken! I have nothing to lose (except for earthly things which are anyway ephemeral) and I have everything to gain. I need to live accordingly! By the time I've gotten through this checklist of reminders, WOW, I feel like a whole new person all over again. If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog: Straying Blindly Does Reading the Bible and Praying Have Results? Are We Today Those to Whom Much Has Been Given...

I have written a previous post about how our Earth and universe is actually a relatively small, ephemeral setup that is part of a much larger Universe that God made. In the previous post, I mention the film "The Matrix" (1999) as the analogy . But now in 2016, there is a whole generation growing up that have never seen that movie and won't understand the analogy. Minecraft is a similar analogy.  I'd like to use it to illustrate that our Earth which seems so real and permanent, is not as real or as permanent as Heaven. Note: Minecraft not quite as good of an analogy as "The Matrix", because in The Matrix certain characters come to realize that there is a bigger world out there - which doesn't occur in Minecraft. No-one has yet broken the 4th wall in Minecraft, right?! Still, Minecraft will work fine for our purposes. In Minecraft, you have a character who can dig, build, take care of animals, and so on. Your character may interact with other chara...

I used to be jealous that I wasn't "chosen" by God for things. I used to be jealous of Adam and Eve , of Jesus' disciples and apostles , and of the Jews (God's chosen people). Since I was none of these people, I used to feel like I wasn't chosen by God for anything. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. As members of the human race, all of us are chosen by God to be his people. He even sent his only Son to die for our sins on the cross! His love and his grace and mercy have been given out to us, to humans. It doesn't matter if we do not play a role that is written in Christian history. And frankly, I know that I wouldn't have always been willing to choose to follow God in those roles even if I had had the opportunity to experience them.  So instead of being jealous of how many things I wasn't chosen for, I now am so joyful to be a member of the human race. I'm part of God's chosen people: we all are. He wants a re...

Note: This may be a controversial topic for some. I am not telling everyone else how they should do anything - we are each responsible for our own parenting decisions. I am merely explaining my own thoughts on the matter. Regardless, if this topic does seem a contentious issue, we should keep it in perspective that this should not be a big deal so long as each person follows their own beliefs. If this does seem like a big deal, bear in mind this is a "first world problem". Why this Christmas I'm finally not worried about spoiling it for other kids if my 5 and 7-year olds accidentally blurt out the truth about Santa: I chose to tell the truth to my kids right away about Santa, from when they were really little. I never let them think that Santa was real. I was brought up that same way too, and I can assure you I never felt that I missed out. I definitely find the story of Santa to be fun, for sure! But it is just that: a story, a fairytale. So I tell my kids the st...

In my second time of reading the Bible, I was struck by the readiness of Jesus' first disciples to follow him.   As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.   “Come, follow me,”  Jesus said,  “and I will send you out to fish for people.”   At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.   Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. Mark 1:16-20 Fishing was the livelihood of these men. They were obviously already actively working for the day when Jesus approached them. How did these men have the discernment to realize that what Jesus was offering was more important than what they were currently doing?  I translated the situation into modern terms and mentally put myself ...