Spiritual Christian Living

  Biblical Encouragement for: Wholesome Language    It is quite common in our society to hear a wide variety of words that seem very harsh and inappropriate.   Sometimes the language is often accompanied by a high sense of emotion.   Sometimes the language is clear evidence of impatience and anger of the speaker.    When we become Christians, the Lord begins to change us from the inside, little by little.   One of the things that He often begins with, is our language.   Does the Bible say anything about our use of language?   Does it matter what comes out of our mouth?   That is the subject of this paper.        Let’s look at a few verses in the Bible that talk about our use of language. Matthew 12:34 “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth    speaks.”      Your speech can say a lot about what is in your heart.   Maybe your language is an indication that...

  How’s that Working for You?         My older sister uses this phrase quite often when talking about the actions of other people.   I think that it is a great idea to stop and look at your life objectively and ask yourself “How is what I am doing working for me?”   That choice that I made a few months ago, “How is that working for me?”   We have a lot of ideas about life and eternity.   We sometimes think that we have it all figured out, but I think from time to time, we would benefit from stopping and saying to ourselves and others “How is that working for me?”   “How are my ideas, my beliefs, my thoughts, … how are they working for me?”   Mike Tyson is quoted as saying “Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth.”   We make a lot of plans, but we need to stop every once in a while and take an objective look.      I think that this can be an important principle in spiritual areas also. ...

  Winning Like a Pentathlete      The Modern pentathlon is actually a variation of late 19th-century military training.   It involves 5 events: fencing, pistol shooting, swimming, cross country running, and horse riding.   The idea was to test an athlete in a number of areas to see if they were able to go beyond their physical skills and resources and tap into their moral qualities.   As believers in Jesus Christ, it is important to remember that we must grow in multiple areas.   We need to grow in our personal relationship with the Lord, which is the most important, but we also need to grow in other areas of life.   That is the message of this paper.    The Bible compares our Christian life to an athlete.   Read the message in 1 st Corinthians 9:24-27 from God’s Word translation.        “ Don't you realize that everyone who runs in a race runs to win, but only one runner gets the prize? Run ...

  All Relationships Must Grow    It is not only important to start a relationship with Jesus, but like any other relationship on earth, that relationship must continually grow in order to remain healthy and flourishing.   The relationship that we have with our parents naturally changes and grows over time.   The friendships that we have with a few close people in our life can become extremely helpful as they grow over time.   The relationship that we may establish with the opposite sex will either grow in one direction or the other.   It may develop as friends or, over a period, it may develop toward a marriage.   Even married couples need to develop and grow as a couple as time passes.   Our relationship at work with our supervisor, employees, or co-workers also grows over time.   Just about every relationship we have grows over time.   If for some reason, a relationship becomes stagnant and does not grow, then it will more tha...