Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from CBT Publications
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Shape Up
Author-pastor-teacher John MacArthur wrote a book in 2002 called Twelve Ordinary Men. This was an in-depth character study of each of Jesus’ 12 closest disciples. MacArthur describes Simon Peter as the disciple with the ‘foot-shaped mouth’. Jesus gave Simon the name ‘Peter’ (meaning Rock) because that is what Jesus wanted him to become, not what he already was. When you read Jesus addressing him as “Simon”, it’s when he was displaying his flesh and failures; when Jesus addressed him as…
Find Your Destination
Anyone take a road trip this year? Spring break, summer vacation, or the holidays? Directions have gotten a little easier with GPS in our cars and Google Maps on our phones. Every summer growing up, we would visit my cousins who lived in northwest Wyoming. It was an all-day drive—depending on which way we went based on the atlas and the fold-up maps in the back seat—but ultimately, we always pulled into their driveway right around dinnertime. In the account…
How to Find Meaning in the Mundane – Part 4
© Jennifer Slattery, JenniferSlatteryLivesOutLoud, printed with permission Read Part 1 here Read Part 2 here Read Part 3 here Our real life, the life which we were created for, the life which will bring us the greatest joy and fulfillment, is hidden in Christ. We discover this life by throwing off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and running with perseverance the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1). Our real life is found not in promotions…
How to Find Meaning in the Mundane – Part 3
© Jennifer Slattery, JenniferSlatteryLivesOutLoud, printed with permission Read Part 1 here Read Part 2 here It’s relatively easy to serve Christ in our safe Christian bubbles or in our planned and church-supported outreach events. It’s another matter entirely to live for Christ in our neighborhoods and at the workplace. Especially if the environment is hostile to us and our faith and shows no signs of improving. But I believe God won’t expand the boundaries of our reach until we prove faithful…
How to Find Meaning in the Mundane – Part 2
© Jennifer Slattery, JenniferSlatteryLivesOutLoud, printed with permission Read Part 1 here Pause to consider the successful individuals you know. Look past their actions to their character. Perhaps some rode on family wealth or landed a lucky break, but most inched forward because of hard work, perseverance, patience, and dependability. In fact, I’ve heard coaches say they prefer a hard worker over a natural star any day because ability has a limit. They’ve learned success without struggle is momentary, faltering the moment…
How to Find Meaning in the Mundane – Part 1
© Jennifer Slattery, JenniferSlatteryLivesOutLoud, printed with permission Do you ever feel like your days run endlessly together? Wake up, go to work, come home to innumerable chores, go to bed, repeat. Where is the abundant life God promised? Are you missing it? Is it possible to find purpose in the predictable and meaning in the mundane? If we are followers of Christ, the answer is yes, for nothing done in surrendered obedience is ever wasted. At each moment, God uses…
Seeing Irony in God’s Perfect Plan
© 2001-08, By Tom Brown Sometimes life’s wake-up calls are the equivalent of being hit by a two-by-four. In my case, a long prison sentence has served this purpose. It’s the ultimate irony that I had to lose everything to find out what real wealth is, and I had to come to prison to learn how to be free. Life’s cycles with its twists and turns often make it seem like we’re living many lifetimes within this one. Each step…
The Blame Game
I read an article earlier this year about how we are living in an increasingly blame-oriented society. And when shopping for a birthday gift for a friend recently, I saw a sign that said, “I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you!” A recent project placed me right in the middle of this very issue. The project was several weeks behind, nothing seemed to be going in the right direction, and to make matters worse,…
Flesh or Spirit
A question we should ask ourselves every day is: “Am I living in the flesh, or am I living in the Spirit?” Chinese church leader and Christian teacher Watchman Nee explained it this way: the flesh is linked with Adam; the Spirit is linked with Christ. To live in the flesh is to do something “out from” myself as in Adam. It is to derive strength from the old natural source of life that we inherited from him, so that…