Jesus' Life, Your Life Made New

How would you like a makeover? A whole new life? You have one in Christ. Paul says, in 2 Cor. 5, that we have new bodies waiting for us at Jesus' return; and the older I get, the more I'm wanting one of those! He goes on to tell us in v. 17 that we are, already, a new creation! But I have to tell you,

Compassion and Miracles

Jesus was the Son of God. He performed many miracles during his ministry, healing people and driving out demons, even raising the dead on several occasions. Some analyze these stories to discover the kind of faith that was needed, or how well people knew who he was. The detail that strikes me about all of Jesus' miracles is

Thomas Got a Bad Rap

In John 20, Jesus comes to his disciples after his resurrection and shows them he is alive (more alive, in fact, than he's ever been; and alive like we will be, like the Father always meant us to be; but that's

Why Mary Magdalene?

Reading and meditating on the gospel accounts of Jesus' resurrection, one striking detail comes clear:  in all four stories, it is the women who see Jesus first! (Yes, they went to the tomb first, but their testimony is pivotal, contrary to the culture of the day, and is a sign of the acceptance of women in the church.) But in all four accounts, Mary Magdalene

Why Did Jesus Die? A Meditation for Holy Saturday

Some very helpful thoughts from Dr. C. Baxter Kruger on why Jesus died (these are a few excerpts from a longer article, linked below):
"If we are to understand why Jesus Christ died, we must begin with who God is, and therefore we begin with the Holy Trinity and with the abounding and glorious and rich and overflowing fellowship of the Father, Son and Spirit. For this Triune God is the Creator, and this divine life of togetherness and communion is the womb of creation, and this divine fellowship of unbounded joy is the rhyme and reason behind the existence of the human race and of every person within it....
If we must speak in terms of law, then we must say that the law of this universe is the primal decision of the Father, Son and Spirit to give humanity a place in the Trinitarian life through Jesus Christ....
For how do you get from the Fall of Adam to the right hand of God the Father almighty? The only way is through death. The Fall must be undone. Adam must be thoroughly converted to God. Human existence, broken and estranged and perverted, must be radically circumcised and systematically recreated, utterly and thoroughly transformed, and bent back into right relationship with the Father.
...And Jesus died because the only way to get from the Fall of Adam to the right hand of the Father was through the crucifixion of Adamic existence...."
http://baxterkruger.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-death-of-jesus.html

He Took the Blows for Me

In about 30 A.D., more or less (scholars disagree, but the exact year or day doesn't matter) Jesus met his fate. He knew about it long before, but he didn't run away from it. The Son of God already was sent to the world to save humanity, before time began. Jesus, the Son of God in flesh, willingly

The Leader Who Served

Jesus did something the night before his crucifixion that wrecked the disciples. He had told them over and over about serving others, and had served many, many times in their three years together, but they still didn't get it. One last time, he showed them what love is, and

He Did it Because He Loves You

We love stories of someone who gives up his or her life for others. A soldier falls on a grenade for his buddies; a mother dies giving birth; the hero holds off the monster all alone so others can escape. We consider them courageous, and so we should! Yet the sacrifice

Was Jesus a Victim?

Here's a wonderful explanation in detail that contracts Jesus and his personal sacrifice for you with the ancient mythological gods. Well worth reading! It's by my friend Gary Deddo.

http://update.gci.org/2014/04/dont-cry-for-jesus/

What do you think of it?

Lay those Burdens Down!

I read today yet another story of a person finally finding freedom from his past. As a child, he was victimized by more powerful people, abused in terrible ways. He carried the secret for decades, feeling shame for what had been done to him, feeling