unlovable

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

January 28, 2022 No Comments

Sitting Down With Sinners

“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.” – Matthew 9:10 For the past few days, we’ve talked about three types of “untouchables” whom Jesus readily touched — lepers, Samaritans, and Pharisees — and what His actions teach us about extending love to the least deserving in our lives. Today, I want to examine the fourth and final group of outcasts our Savior welcomed, and that is tax collectors and sinners. Perhaps the most shocking of all, these were the gang members, derelicts, and drug addicts of the day — the kind we would be afraid to go near. They were also the robbers and crooks; the type who were known to have no regard for the people who tried to do right by God and their fellow man. In fact, tax collectors were considered the worst

May 24, 2021 No Comments

Love the Least Likely

“When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.” – Matthew 8:1-3 One of the most powerful things Jesus did after He started His earthly ministry was to touch a man with leprosy. In the culture of His day, lepers were outcasts, and everywhere they went, they were required to announce their presence by shouting “unclean” so that others were warned and could scatter. Furthermore, in many regions, those diagnosed as leprous were required to leave their homes and families to be isolated from everyone they knew, lest they spread the illness to them. Banished to a life of separation and obscurity, the disease

April 17, 2021 2 Comments

Measure of love…

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.” -1 Peter 1:22 Did you know that love is the measure for every believer? That we are called to love at all times? We are called to love our noisy neighbors, to love annoying people, to love people that cut in line, to love telemarketers that call us at dinnertime, just to name a few. Recently I tweeted out, “I will vote for any politician that makes it his or her primary goal to get rid of telemarketers.” That’s what I care about, and not if they’re Democrat or Republican. I hope you know I’m kidding. In life we’re called to love all people. And all of us know that, right? If we’re Christians, if we’ve gone to church for any bit of time in our lives,

February 13, 2016 No Comments

Our Hidden Self

Sitting Down With Sinners

Love the Least Likely

Measure of love…

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