Darkened Glass Reflections

Category: Christian Life

  • No Easy Way—James 1:2–4

    Forgiveness and salvation may be immediate, but spiritual growth takes time. We want instant sanctification, or instant deliverance from sin, bad habits, and addictions, but this does not exist.

  • Feasting Daily on God’s Word

    If we want to please God by loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we need to feast on His Word. Read and reflect on God’s Word with family and faith-filled friends. Ingest it into your heart and soul frequently, throughout the day, every day. Keep it present before you.

  • Freedom in Submission to the Truth

    “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” (Genesis 3:4–5, ESV). “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my…

  • In the Now—Matthew 6:34

    In the Now—Matthew 6:34

    “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34, ESV). I was confronted several times today by the notion of living “in the moment” or “in the now.” Such terms popped up in a tourism commercial for Ireland (a visit…

  • Keeping Christ in Christmas—Colossians 3:17

    The so-called war against Christmas is really just a symptom of a greater cultural war against Christianity and traditional Christian values. Furthermore, the battlefield where this war must be decided is not in store circulars, but rather in the church and in the hearts of people.

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…