Reflections on God … Man … Life
What are the general truths that should guide our thinking in all areas of life? Here are some possibilities.
Why do I take time to write this daily commentary? As I contemplate the reasons, two come to the forefront: to show that God and our relationship to Him and His truth is paramount; to reveal, as much as possible, how, even though we ultimately live for another and better existence after this life, we nevertheless need to put His principles into practice in this one. C. S. Lewis said much the same thing in a 1939 essay, “Learning in… Read more »
Many people, I fear, have a false sense of security when it comes to their relationship with God. They convince themselves that they are in good standing, yet they’ve never confronted their sins, made a complete repentance, and had a change of heart and life. Charles Finney often comments in his autobiography about such persons. Here’s one particular narrative that’s rather striking: My attention was called to a sick woman in the community, who had been a member of a… Read more »
Some people have a concept of God that is so vague as to be meaningless. They conceive of Him as an omnipresence of some kind, but not as a real Person. C. S. Lewis, in his Miracles, tackles this misconception: If anything is to exist at all, then the Original Thing must be, not a principle nor a generality, much less an “ideal” or a “value,” but an utterly concrete fact. We must beware . . . of paying God… Read more »
There’s just no getting around the existence of God. The apostle Paul says people have to actively suppress the truth of His presence, and they do so to avoid the idea they are accountable for their actions. One of the psalms says a person has to be a fool to believe there is no God. C. S. Lewis has his own unique way of expressing these Biblical truths. In his book Miracles he declares, God is basic Fact or Actuality,… Read more »
In one of my posts last week, I chronicled the various threats to religious liberty—more specifically, threats to the public expression of Christian faith—that have cropped up recently. One of those in my list was a bakery in Gresham, Oregon, run by a Christian couple that was being sued for not making a cake for a lesbian wedding. Since I posted that, the bakery, Sweet Cakes by Melissa, has closed. The reason for the closure was the intimidation brought by… Read more »
God always goes beyond our actions to see what’s in our hearts. The intent of the heart is a key to God’s judgment of our actions. Charles Finney has an excellent commentary on that in his Systematic Theology: It is a saying as common as men are, and as true as common, that men are to be judged by their motives, that is, by their designs, intentions. It is impossible for us not to assent to this truth. If a… Read more »
God is not the Force of the Star Wars saga. Neither is He some vague “idea” floating around out there. He’s not Ralph Waldo Emerson’s transcendentalist Oversoul. He is a Person; in fact, more of a person than either you or I. In one of his essays, “On Obstinacy in Belief,” C. S. Lewis shows how we need to come face to face with that reality: To believe that God—at least this God—exists is to believe that you as a… Read more »