forgiven

Our Hidden Self

“For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.” – Mark 4:22 Every person has aspects of themselves that they do not naturally reveal to others. We all have layers, and we choose how, where, and with whom we peel them away. This is a normal element of life and relating, and it’s not a terrible thing in general. Clients see the completely covered version of us, our friends see a little more, and our family — usually those we live with and who know us best — see the truly hidden version of ourselves. And then there’s God… There are elements of our soul and parts of ourselves that no one knows about and that we sometimes can’t describe, whether we understand them or not. These are the innermost secrets that only God can see. They

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Jesus for the Defense

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” – 1 Timothy 2:5 I think one of the best ways to envision how Jesus, our advocate and mediator, intervenes in our lives is to imagine a courtroom in Heaven. Packed full of people and ripe with anticipation, everyone looks intently at the judge. The defendant is on trial for a multitude of criminal offenses, and the prosecutor is the mangy old devil. He snarls as each new witness takes the stand, and he determinedly accuses and builds a case against the suspect. In his closing argument, he passionately declares, “Your Honor, the accused is addicted to pain pills, she’s really jealous of the lady at her job, she’s mean to her kids, and she just said a horrible thing to her sister.” On hearing him, the room goes totally silent, and it’s clear

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The Harm in Hypocrisy

“The Lord answered him, ‘You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?’” – Luke  13:15,16 Something we should be careful of whenever we hold someone else to a rigid standard is a lurking evil called hypocrisy. Unfortunately, the church is no stranger to this contradiction of word and deed, and it’s been prevalent in religion since the beginning of time. However, Christ had authority to call it out, because He alone could read the thoughts and intentions of human hearts. In fact, He had no qualms about speaking boldly to the Pharisees when they made a villain out of Him for healing a demon-possessed

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