Weekly Once-Over (3.5.2015)
Three Christian Misconceptions About Muslims: When the average Westerner hears “Muslim,” a number of images come to mind—mostly negative. But most Muslims would be just as horrified as we are at the assumptions entertained about them. Here are some of the most common misconceptions that Westerners have about Muslims:
Seven Ways We Can Guard And Repair Relationships: One of the most beautiful scenes in the Bible is between brothers who had been long alienated: “Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept” (Genesis 33:4). God wants that beauty to reappear in every generation, as needed.
The Dangers Of Pet Sins: Pet sins are those sins we believe we have domesticated. We view them as small and insignificant. We don’t fight against them, we feed them, and in some ways they make us feel good. But there is no such things as domesticated sin. All sin, even our “pet sins” are dangerous.
The Worst Honeymoon Ever: On Friday night, as part of a fundraising dinner for our youth group’s mission trip, Shona and I won the “Most Interesting Honeymoon” award. “Interesting” is quite the euphemism; “worst” would be more fitting. Because there can’t be many honeymoons as disastrous as ours was. But having given everybody a bit of a laugh, I thought, it’s time to share this fiasco with the world and hopefully put a few smiles on some faces. Settle down, this may take a while.
Sundown Thinking In The Church: Christian, there is no room for “sundown town” thinking for those who hail the Sun of Righteousness. His dawning never fades to sunset and His light dwells in prismatic splendor in His many-colored servants. Don’t live a monochromatic life. Dream in kingdom color. It’s better—I promise.
Can We Really Be Free From Excessive Fears?: We all desire to be free of this tyrant. But is this possible? Can we really be free from excessive fears? Jesus’s answer is yes.
The Bigger Thing In Bible Study: It is a beautiful thing to do devotional material and to spend time meditating on one or two verses, but if that is all we ever do, we will tend to focus on very small portions of Scripture, and it can feel satisfying in one regard, but it isn’t necessarily building toward the bigger thing.