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Learning to Love Ourselves So We Can Love Others |
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This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. (1 John 3:11-12) Cain's ego was threatened by Abel's righteousness. He was jealous of his brother and this in turn filled his heart with hatred and insecurity. ... | | No comments for this item |
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The Land of the Beautiful People |
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It is impossible, even for the most physically attractive women, to achieve physical perfection. Therefore, for those of us obsessively believing that weight-loss will be a cure-all, we have unknowingly placed a standard of Photoshop perfection upon ourselves that can never be obtained. We are so focused on our physical flaws that we can't see any of our attributes.
The truth is, even if we do manage to strip away some or all of the extra weight we carry, all these other listed physical "flaws" are still going to remain. ... | | No comments for this item |
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Porcelain Skin, Fashion and Vanity |
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Whether you have a clear complexion or not, we all know that a single zit has the power to ruin an entire day. One big zit on your forehead, nose or chin and you're miserable. You try to hide it with coverup and powder, and even if this works to some degree, you still check your reflection every hour to make sure the makeup hasn't worn off. And if the zit is big enough, makeup will only hide the redness, not the size.
In short, there's nothing much that can be done for a big zit except to wait it out. Nevertheless, it's tough to resist the urge to envy women who seem to have a naturally porcelain skin. (Uh, remember air-brushing, foundation, concealer, and bronzer? Most women don't have perfect complexions.) ... | | No comments for this item |
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Worshipping the Salon gods |
There was once a time when I changed my hairstyle on an almost monthly basis because I could never find the "right" style. No matter what "look" I tried, I never measured up to my confident, perfect-looking peers. So, I would try yet another look - only to fail time and time again. I was in complete bondage to my hair. ... | | No comments for this item |
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 Two of the most detrimental things a Christian can do is either, 1) develop a why-bother attitude about prayer, thinking God will just do whatever He wants anyway, or 2) treat God as some kind of Genie in a bottle to be approached only when we want something from Him. Now it is true that for whatever the exact reason may be, (His ways are not our ways!) God has decided from before the creation of the world that the course history was going to take was going to be a direct result of our prayers. That's the truth of the matter. God considers each and every request we make and decides yes or no based on our ultimate good and the ultimate good of others. There's an old quote that goes, "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." So, we must never cease to pray, for if we do, God will cease to work in our lives. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to be in such a precarious position of floating adrift. But when we pray, we must do so with reverence, examining our hearts for selfish motives and unrepentant sin. James 4:2b-3 says, "You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." ... | | No comments for this item |
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Though He Slay Me, Yet Will I Trust Him |
As the final blog in my faith series, I'd like to take a look at what it means to remain faithful to God despite what we're going through in life. And I'd like to do so by touching upon the life of Hannah Whittal Smith, a woman whose lifelong fidelity to Christ was the very definition of true faith.
Hannah Whitall Smith was a famous Christian author and evangelist at the turn of the century (author of "A Christian’s Secret to a Happy Life"). She lived a life of terrible suffering like Job’s (Old Testament), but unlike Job, she went to the grave without renewed health and blessings, and without seeing any her prayers answered the way she wanted them to be. Despite all her suffering, Hannah loved God unwaveringly, trusted Him inexplicably and remained faithful to Him to the very end. ... | | No comments for this item |
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Faith as Small as a Mustard Seed |
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"When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 'Lord, have mercy on my son,' he said. 'He has seizures and is suffering greatly ... I brought him to your disciples but they could not heal him.' ... Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.
"Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, 'Why couldn’t we drive it out?' He replied, 'Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.' ” (Matthew 17:14-16, 18-21) Why is it that the disciples couldn't cast out this demon when Jesus had so clearly given them the power to heal every sickness and to exorcize demons (see Matthew 10:1,8)? | | No comments for this item |
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Romans 14:1-2 says: "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables." At first glance, this Scripture seems to indicate that some people have weak faith while others have strong faith. But if you take the time to read the context of both the chapter and the book of Romans, you'll realize this wasn’t Paul’s intended meaning. | | No comments for this item |
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Every once in a while, a Christian is born with the gift of prophecy and visions; very similar to being psychic but led by the Holy Spirit rather than the god of this world (whom we know to be Satan - 2 Corinthians 4:4). These Christians are able to lay hands on a sick person and pray with confidence for healing . . . and that person is miraculously healed. This is not because they possess greater faith than you and I, but because the Holy Spirit told them that they could pray for that particular person and they'd be healed. This is called the gift of healing. ... | | No comments for this item |
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I've been reading "The Problem of Pain" by C.S. Lewis. A great book! He talks about how we sometimes object to God's discipline, wondering why He continually pokes and prods at us, trying to improve us instead of just letting us alone. If He loves us just as we are now, why does He insist that we change?
It's easier to understand this when you think of a puppy: The puppy comes into the family with lots of unpleasant aspects which when you think about it, are simply "natural." The puppy will do his business on the floor, he won't keep his fur clean (he smells) and he'll bite and bark inappropriately. It's his animal nature, after all. He can't help it. ... | | No comments for this item |
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Save a Fortune by Buying in Bulk |
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There are three main requirements for buying everything in bulk:
1) A car or taxi 2) Space in your house to store large packages of dry and canned goods, such as a pantry. (No room for a pantry? Be creative - use the space under your bed or behind the couch, for example.) 3) Shop at a wholesale grocery store and a bulk foods-type store, such as Bulk Barn. No Frills, for example, has great prices, but they don’t offer much by way of bulk baking items. Here's how it's done: | | No comments for this item |
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8 Cheap and Healthy Ways to Cook from Scratch |
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Cooking the majority of your foods from scratch... Yes, that means using a recipe. ;) But does this mean you'll have to spend twice as much time in the kitchen? Consider this: by cooking from scratch and buying your staples in bulk: instead of having to make a trip to the grocery store once or twice a week, you'll be able to reduce your shopping to as little as two trips a month.
Not only will you be saving money on gas, you'll also be avoiding untold numbers of "impulse purchases." So, yes, you’ll inevitably spend more time in the kitchen, but you’ll also spend less time wandering the grocery store aisles week after week. ...
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When Self-Esteem is Rooted in Christ |
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Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)
Though I've written extensively on some of the specific aspects of self-esteem in other blog topics, I've decided to compile those writings into one single blog that focuses on the central structures of self-esteem; what the Bible teaches about identity; and how we ought to treat others. ... | | No comments for this item |
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The “100th Steak Concept.” |
Ever noticed how that first juicy steak, after a long time without, tasted mouth-watering good, and you enjoyed every last bite? Now imagine you had to eat steak every night for one hundred days. I’m sure the first couple of steaks will taste mighty good but by the time the 100th steak rolls around, you might as well be eating cardboard. The novelty wears off. The tastes diminishes and dulls. You no longer receive anywhere near the same level of satisfaction in eating that steak as you did the first night. ... | | No comments for this item |
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How My Cat Taught Me Grace |
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I know it sounds silly, but it's true: My cat taught me the true meaning of grace. He also taught me how to love unconditionally, and how to forgive seventy-times seven.
Here's what happened.... | | This item includes 1 comment |
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Abortion and Right-to-Life - My Rebuttal |
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In an attempt to refute my article "Cutting Through Prochoice Rhetoric ," a young woman nicknamed "Aizenald" from Alabama, has written an article called "Abortion and Right-to-Life." I would like to comment on some of her arguments here.
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