Darkened Glass Reflections

Category: Bible meditations

  • Advent: A Season of Waiting and Preparation

    I would like to challenge the secular mindset about Christmas and “the holiday season” by urging my brothers and sisters in Christ to use the traditional church calendar as a guide. Instead of allowing mass-marketing to guide your life, allow the timeless truths of the Christian faith to shape your paths. By refusing to allow…

  • At Jesus’ Right Hand

    Jesus, however, never endorsed the world’s leadership style. He would not award special status for the same reasons many rulers would. His approach opposes the world’s system, mainly because the world itself has been in rebellion against His kingdom since the first humans bit into the forbidden fruit.

  • Called to Be Saints—1 Corinthians 1:2

    When we think of the great saints of church history (such as Saint Patrick, Saint Francis of Assisi, etc.), let us remember our place in the body of Christ. We should not merely honor and commemorate the great saints of church history; we are challenged to imitate them, because we also are called to be…

  • Obeying God—1 Samuel 15:22–23

    To obey God is better than sacrifice—or evangelism, or serving in the church, or worship, or prayer, or reading the Bible, or tithing, or fasting, or anything else we say we are doing for God. To wilfully disobey God defiles the sacrifice or ministry. To do your own thing and ask God to bless it…

  • The Prodigal Son—Luke 15:11–32

    God is more concerned with who we are than with what we can accomplish. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, both sons made the same mistake. They had a perspective on their relationship with their father that completely contradicted the father’s perspective. As a result, they missed out on much of what their father…

  • A New Heart, A New Life—Ezekiel 36:25–27

    Part of growing in a relationship with Christ is recognizing what He has done for and in us and trusting Him to do His perfect work in us. At the same time, we have to recognize when the “old me” is popping up again. The old me can take many forms. It can be outright…

  • The War Within—Galatians 5:16–18

    There is no easy formula for walking in the Spirit. It can best be summarized like this: You have been born again as a child of God; now live like a child of God. Remember who you are, and Who lives with you and in you. Most importantly, when you have strayed from God’s best…

  • Godly Sorrow—2 Corinthians 7:10

    St. Paul contrasted two kinds of sorrow in 2 Corinthians 7. The King James Version refers to one of them as “godly sorrow” (or, as the NASB puts it, “sorrow according to the will of God”) which produces a true repentance leading unto salvation. “The sorrow of the world,” on the other hand, leads to…

  • The Two Sides of Discipleship—Luke 10:38–42

    When a Mary rises from the feet of Jesus and brings His presence into the world by serving others like Martha would, discipleship is complete.

  • Cheap Grace or Transforming Grace?

    “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)