Darkened Glass Reflections

Category: Bible meditations

  • Keeping the Trolls Under the Bridge

    Internet trolling has no place in the Kingdom of God. In his pastoral epistles, Paul warned Timothy and Titus to avoid arguments and controversies.

  • Remaining Alert—Luke 21:34–36

    Remaining Alert—Luke 21:34–36

    Conjecture about the future distracts believers from the here-and-now. We can be overly concerned about living through the Great Tribulation, but first we need to survive the temptations of today. If we cannot overcome sin and Satan in today’s small conflicts, how can we overcome if full-blown persecution comes to our country?

  • Imitating the Father

    Imitating the Father

    God the Father gave us His best self-portrait when He sent His Son to show us who He is and what He is like.

  • A Few Thoughts About the Trinity

    A Few Thoughts About the Trinity

    This is part of walking by faith: We trust God and believe Him to be Who He says He is, even when we do not fully understand it. When I was a small child, I had faith that my mother and father were my parents, long before I learned what that meant or how we…

  • A Valiant Warrior Misses the Mark

    While we need to recognize our identity in Christ, we need to remember that entire phrase: It is our identity in Christ. Sometimes, we win spiritual battles through God’s power and the work of the Holy Spirit, and suddenly forget that He is in control. The apostle Paul asked, “Having begun by the Spirit, are…

  • The Faith of the Centurion—Luke 17:2–10

    Many overlook how the centurion’s claim of unworthiness contrasts with the elders’ claim that he was worthy. We can learn a lot about faith from the centurion in this context.

  • Valiant Warrior?—Judges 6:11–14

    Gideon can be an encouragement to all of us. God called him to step out in faith with strength he did not know he had, to accomplish a mission for which he seemed ill-equipped. Most of the heroes of the Book of Judges are like us. They have flaws. Their human frailties rise to the…

  • Ministry and Motives—John 12:1–8

    Motives matter. Why we do things is usually more important than what we do. If our motives are consistent with the will of God and are pure, even if our efforts are headed in the wrong direction, we can be guided onto the correct path. If our motives are selfish and impure, even good efforts…

  • Looking Beyond the Hilltop—John 14:1–7

    Jesus’ promises are most completely fulfilled not in this world, but in heaven. Yes, we receive a foretaste of those blessings now, but our eyes need to grab the bigger picture.

  • The Christian’s True Identity

    How am I known in heaven? Who do I say I am? Who does God say I am? Such questions about identity guide our lives. A person with a distorted, diminished, or deficient understanding of who they are will act on that sense of self-identity. A person who views himself or herself as a “loser”…