Many years ago, when I married Troy, I did not know he had told people that he would kill himself. While we were dating, I felt uncomfortable in my relationship with Troy. When I tried to tell him that we needed to “cool it,” he became upset. Each time he cried and said, “I don’t […]

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I find myself struggling with the concept of perfection on a daily basis. I feel the need to be as close to flawless as possible in everything I do. This is called perfectionism. It appears in my school work, my art, and my music. It is hard for me to acknowledge that I cannot achieve […]

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Suffering, loss, grief, and death are all part of this fallen world. No one is immune; believers and non-believers alike endure them. If we’re honest, Bible verses about suffering and trials are not the ones we want to embrace. It is human nature to avoid pain or discomfort, or even the mention of it. But […]

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In the English language we get by with a single word for life, but the ancient Greeks realized that the concept can include very different things. As a result, the New Testament uses not one but three words for life, each with a distinct meaning. An awareness of the varied “meanings of life” can help […]

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He was not just a good man who happened to do miracles. Jesus broke with all conventions, doing the unexpected, associating with the downtrodden, ignored, and forgotten outcasts of the earth. Reaching down, lifting up, He did not fill the role assigned Him by the Jews. They figured a proper Messiah would behave far differently […]

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Throughout his epistles Paul gives us glimpses of the nature of his calling — his job description. He opens most of his letters by identifying himself as an apostle or servant of Jesus Christ, but these are primarily job titles rather than job descriptions. Similarly, in his letter to Philemon, Paul introduces himself as the […]

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Jesus taught us that, to be like our Father in heaven, we should love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and forgive those who sin against us seventy times seven. Elsewhere, the Son and His Father speak of horrific punishment reserved for their enemies in the final […]

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