If you’ve ever been on LinkedIn, you know that “connections” are ranked in levels. First connections are people you’re directly connected with and know; second connections are people that your connections are connected with but you aren’t, yet; and so on. We often call these “friends of friends” in real life. In John, Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have

Every week brings new issues to our attention, both in our lives and in the media we consume. When something goes wrong, we all look for someone to blame. Unresolved blame leads to bitterness, hardening of hearts, and eventually, hatred. So, you could say, blame is not an action of the Spirit because it does not yield what the Bible tells us is the fruit of the Spirit. The disciples had to be taught this specific lesson by Jesus. The Book of John says, “As he [Jesus] went alo

Faith is powerful but the challenging thing about it is that it entirely depends on us — our own thoughts and beliefs and the conviction with which we hold them. Do we believe or are we absolutely convinced? Can something shake our faith or is it unshakable? Our level of faith in Jesus changes nothing about him — Jesus is the all powerful redeemer and savior whether we are convinced or not. Our level of faith only changes Jesus in our own lives. There is an interesting story

We see stories every day of politicians and people on the media slinging arguments, accusations, and sometimes insults at each other in an effort to persuade others to their positions. It’s easy to line up behind those we agree with and join in. But we are not called by God to thoughtlessly choose sides and act with a tribal mentality. One of the things that separates mature and immature belief is self-scrutiny, or the ability and desire to look inwards, to measure how we, ou