Soul Sister Time

               In Psalm 34:8 the Psalmist tells us to taste and see that the Lord is good. Knowing the goodness of God intellectually is not enough.  We are encouraged to use our senses to take in the fullness of the goodness of God.  Our finite minds need help to experience the fullness of God.  God’s goodness is far beyond man’s ability to reason.   We will never comprehend God’s goodness without experiencing Him in a similar way that we taste and smell, touch and see.  In the same way that our senses help us experience the realities in this world, so we develop spiritual senses beyond the capacity of our intellect to connect to the goodness of God. I experienced this in a big way during a week I spent ministering to women who live with little exposure to physical beauty.  I was welcomed to their dark homes located near a large dump.  Some homes retained the same overca...

               The gospel is definitely too good to be true, but the reality is that it is! I have been caught up in a scam as I attempted to sell a piano on-line.  The purchaser did not want to bring cash but insisted on sending a check.  He was okay if I would wait until the check cleared my bank to complete the transaction.  I thought it was strange; but when I finally received the check and discovered that it was written for more than double the cost I had asked, I knew something was sketchy.  It was too good to be true that someone was willing to pay so much more than the asking price.  A friend told me to google that scam, and I found out it was a common occurrence. Skepticism is vital in the world we live in.                So what about the too-good-to-be-true Gospel?  This scam depended on my greed to find...

 I just love this truth about true Christianity.  I have no room to boast.  The longer I am a Christian, the more amazing experiences I have with Christ, the more I realize that this fact is absolutely true.                Do you ever look at yourself and wonder: Was that really me?  Did I really think that way?  Did I actually write that?  Did I stop obsessing over that person who wronged me?  Did I love my enemy sincerely and honestly from my heart?  If you can live out the Christian life without being amazed at yourself, then I’m not sure that what you are living is truly the Christian life.                It is definitely not about me and about what I can do.  God seems to call me to experiences far beyond my human limitations.  Every time I am used by Him in this world, I am even more a...

               Lent and Easter are over for this year.  What effect have they had on your life?  How will you become more glorious by Easter next year?  Jesus lived His life focused on gaining the glory of Easter.  He tells us to follow Him and do as He does.                 Romans 2:7 describes our life as Christians: To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life .  The evidence of the glory of Easter will show up in your life by your persistence in doing good.                 How do you know if what you are doing is good?  You can evaluate the deeds you do by whether they bring glory and honor and have eternal significance.  Jesus lived His life focused on glorifying God....

               What a provocative title, especially coming from me.  I really debated whether I should use that title.  It seems like I am saying that the Cross of Christ does not draw me deeper and fuller into the love of the Father.  By claiming that the cross is not enough, I am not saying that the cross is not the power of God to overcome what is so wrong with the whole world.  The cross is indeed my salvation and my hope.  Without the cross my sins could never be atoned, and I would be cut off from God forever.  Silver or gold cannot even compare to the cross as the inestimable value of the cross.  The cross and the cross alone held the only power to defeat not just my own, but mankind’s sin problem. As Isaac Watts concludes in my favorite hymn When I Survey the Wondrous Cross : Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small, love so amazing, so divine...

               Palm Sunday ushers in the commemoration of the most amazing reality that ever occurred on earth—the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is the holiest week each year in the life of a Christian.  Easter Sunday often triples church attendance.  Yet, the next week the crowds don’t return.                How does that happen?  How does the greatest spiritual truth yield so little transformation and devotion?  It happens the same way that it happened during Holy Week.  Not much has changed in the hearts of men.  You will notice on Holy Week the crowds hailed Jesus as the promised Messiah.  They thronged to the Mount of Olives and formed a procession, treating Him like royalty.  This is much like the churches which will be filled to capacity on Easter morning.  Easter d...

               The cross has the answers to all of life’s problems.  Perhaps the lament from the cross is the greatest example for us.  It is absurd to believe that our lives on earth should contain only goodness and joy.  We live in a world created by love and goodness but corrupted by sin.  Our DNA demands love from a fallen world, and we are stunned when it does not provide what we are seeking.                We are looking to the world for the love that is only sustained through a relationship with the Creator. So many of us tear apart our own lives in our efforts to make life work without the love of God.  I find it is impossible to connect with God’s love if I do not learn the healing power of lament.  That momentary darkness that Jesus agonized over from the cross was misunderstood by the crowds.  When ...