Matthew 5-7 I don’t have any answers today…only questions. Is the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus talks about in these chapters the same thing as eternal life?  Or is it different? Apparently there is a distinction; in John 3:16, we know that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but shall have eternal life.” Then, in Matthew 7, Jesus teaches: 21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in … Continue reading Life of the Party

Matthew 12:1-21, Mark 3, Luke 6 One of the common events told throughout each of these books is about one of the miracles Jesus performed on Sabbath.   A man with a withered hand sat among those listening to Jesus, and Jesus called him up to the front of the room. These were people who viciously followed the law even to the point of cruelty.  They didn’t want Jesus to heal the man’s crippled hand because the day happened to be the Sabbath.  In their eyes, healing constituted forbidden work. Yet Jesus exposed their hypocrisy by asking questions: which of … Continue reading Heart Healer

John 5 Jesus asked the man who had been a paralyzed invalid for 38 years if he wanted to be well. What’s interesting is the man avoided Jesus’ question and instead blamed his inability to be healed on the fact that nobody else would let him get into the pol. Jesus healed him despite his evasive answer. I think sometimes people with chronic illness or conditions such as anxiety tend to form a self identity based on that ailment rather than on focusing their self identity on who they are in Christ, on who He created them to be. I … Continue reading Identity