Building on the Foundation

Multiple commandments just seem to get overlooked, and I think that’s a real tragedy. Most of these commands are little commands, the smallest of commands, even, but they are still direct instructions from our Father in Heaven, which means we should take them seriously.  Faithfulness in the little things demonstrates our readiness to handle the big things and the things we consider to be important. We should take the little things a bit more seriously than we do, and instead of trying to moralize everything, as Christianity has been trying to do for generations, we should be absolutely obedient.  Most of these commands aren’t that difficult to follow either, and following them teaches us something important, both in diligence and in the actual command itself. God didn’t tell us to do things arbitrarily, and this knowledge of His nature gives us the ability to trust that His instructions are for our good.  One of these often overlooked commands is found in the instructions...

  From his own day to ours, the apostle Paul has been a lightning rod of controversy. Many folks wrongly claim that Paul taught against God’s law. Even some of those who rightfully uphold God’s law accept this foolish notion and declare that Paul was a false teacher whose writings shouldn’t be in the Bible. Even during his own lifetime, some falsely accused Paul of breaking God’s law and teaching others to do likewise (Acts 21:20-24). Peter defended Paul from such accusations, observing that some of Paul’s writings are “hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures” (2 Pet. 3:16). He then condemned “the error of unprincipled men” (2 Pet. 3:17; NASB). “Unprincipled” is Strong’s #G113, athesmos , which means “lawless.” Thayer’s Greek Lexicon adds that it describes “one who breaks through the restraints of law and gratifies his lusts.” So it wasn’t Paul who rejected God’s law, but rather those who twi...

What started as an interesting thought project for my own amusement has grown and developed into something quite substantial that I'd like to share with you. For you long-time readers, you may remember an article with a similar title that was posted quite a while ago, but regardless of the similarity in title, they cover two completely different topics.  As followers of God, we refer to our walk with God as, “Christianity” and we say “Christianity” is our “religion;” one of many religions worldwide, and even one of many sects within Christianity. A problem has developed with the idea of religion and even with the idea of Christianity, and they have come to carry the idea and weight that they are a thing that exists alongside our lives. We have our life and then we have our career and our religion, and these two things exist in parallel with our life.  Religion is found in the New Testament, so there is nothing wrong with the word itself, but the idea behind the word, and the c...