Exploring God in a crazy, messed up world.
Practical atheists are people who are Christian in name, but act as if they don't know God. They may act kind, and be nice in public, but deep down they only do it for themselves and other humans. So, what does a Christian life look like? A Christian life is one that is changed because God is there.
Matthew 13:44 -- The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
To disrespect someone is to not show them any love at all, and in fact show the opposite. To disagree is to think that someone is wrong. When we disrespect someone we hurt them, but when we disagree with someone we either respect them and leave it at that, or we try and have a rational argument with someone in order to build them up.
You probably read the title there and immediately thought "well, duh! God!" That is what you should think, but it often isn't how we act. We often act like we are constantly at odds with the devil, which we are, but the thing we don't realize is that our savior already won.
Sometimes we hang out with our friends who are particularly worldly, and we feel like we've been influenced by them. I certainly feel this a lot. When I get done hanging with some of my friends I feel gross, like I just went swimming in the sewer. After I long time with those friends I need time to regenerate, and readjust myself. This time is really important.
our identity does not revolve around who we are, but around who God is.
1 Corinthians 13:13 -- Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Colossians 2:12 - having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Sometimes our prayers feel like the room at the top of this page: empty. I hear about powerful prayer all the time. Prayer causing healing, powerful revelations through prayer, and close encounters with God, but what about when these things don't happen?
1 Timothy 6:20 -- O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge"