Category Archives: Salvation: A New You

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November 10, 2025

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Bible Stories, Church & Worship, Faith & Hope, Salvation: A New You, Sharing Our Faith, Wisdom & Guidance

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. [1 Corinthians 15:1-5 (NIV)]

I came across an article questioning whether we have to believe certain things to be a Christian or is it enough just to trust God. The author believed that Christians don’t have to “assent intellectually” to the facts of traditional Christian teaching or agree with the Christian creeds. “Faith” to the author is simply placing one’s confidence in “Spirit” (not the Holy Spirit) and following Jesus’ teaching is more important than believing certain things about Him. Having nothing to do with dogma or creeds, Christianity was seen as a wisdom tradition and way of life rather than a belief. Claiming they were “man-made” and date from the 4th century and Emperor Constantine, the author believed Christianity’s creeds should be disregarded.

A creed (or confession of faith) is simply a statement of what we believe; every time we share what we believe with others, we are confessing a creed. The first creed predates Constantine by at least 1,600 years and was given to us by God. The Hebrew Shema, found in Deuteronomy, declares the fundamental belief of Judaism: “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” [6:4] To be recited every morning and night, this declaration of belief remains the cornerstone of the Jewish faith. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, we find worshippers recalling the Lord’s faithfulness with confessions of faith like that in 1 Kings 18:39 that, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!” The belief that, “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone,” is a cornerstone of Christianity, as well!

In the New Testament, we also find confessions of faith or creeds. Christianity’s fundamental belief was confessed by Peter when he stated that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” [Mat 16:16] and again when Nathaneal acknowledged Jesus as “the Son of God…the King of Israel!” [John 1:49] When other followers deserted Jesus, the Lord asked the twelve if they would leave. Peter responded, “You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” [John 7:68-69] Although short, these confessions of faith were creeds.

The earliest creeds of the church can be found in the epistles of Paul. His words in today’s verse from 1 Corinthians 15 appear to be an early creed. That he “received it,” means Paul wasn’t the original author and, since he’s reminding them, it predates Paul’s first trip to Corinth (49-50 AD)! In his first letter to Timothy, Paul emphasized the importance of preserving and proclaiming the truth and includes what historians believe to be an early hymn summarizing the theology of the incarnation.[3:16] In Philippians 2:5-11, we find another early hymn explaining the dual nature of Jesus. It’s believed that Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all,” were an early creed that was recited by new converts when they were baptized. If we believe Scripture is God-breathed, those words of belief aren’t man’s—they’re God’s!

The article’s author contends that belief and faith are two different things and that belief is not essential for faith. I think the Apostle Paul would disagree. Belief is intellectual acceptance that something is true and faith is trusting in the promise of that belief and they seem to be two sides of the same coin. If I believe the boat is sea-worthy, it’s my faith in it that gets me to sail it out to sea. On the other hand, if I don’t believe it’s sea-worthy, I wouldn’t have faith enough to take it sailing. Faith involves trust, commitment, and action and, without knowing and believing the promises of God, how will we have faith enough to trust them? Our creeds are the foundation of Christianity and help us know exactly what it is in which we have faith! It’s that knowledge that keeps us from falling for the false “feel-good-anything-goes” theology we find in the world today!

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. [Timothy 3:16  (ESV)]

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November 3, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, God's Word: The Bible, Obedience, Salvation: A New You, Temptation & Sin

THE TIME HAS COME

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. [2 Timothy 4:3-4 (ESV)]

red-chouldered hawkBecause the literacy rate in the 1st century was around 10 to 15%, only a few people could read the Hebrew Scriptures or Apostolic letters. By necessity, the new faith came about through public reading and preaching. In his letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul warned of a time when sound doctrine would no longer be tolerated. Rather than reproof, rebuke, exhortation, and instruction, people would want to have their itching ears knéthó (meaning tickled or scratched). Rather than knowledge and doctrine, they’d be more interested in myths, sensationalism, and viewpoints suiting their desires. I fear that time has come!

We no longer need to consult our Bibles because we have AI Bible apps and video channels. I recently watched a 10-minute AI video claiming to be the “full story of Job’s faith;” it isn’t. Beginning with God and Satan making a wager as to whether Job will curse God, more than half the video is from the first chapter of the book. After plenty of impressive AI visuals, the next 40 chapters are summarized with one sentence not found in Scripture. While we see people speaking to Job, we never hear what’s said nor do we hear God’s words that cause Job to recognize and submit to God’s sovereignty and power. The video’s sole take-away seems to be that you’ll be rewarded richly in this world if you don’t curse God when bad things happen.

Although the Nephilim warrant a brief mention only twice in Scripture with no clear explanation of their identity, these fantastic creatures are extremely popular in AI. Relying heavily on the apocryphal book of Enoch, one video blamed the flood on these evil giants who ruled the world. It called the flood a “cosmic reset against chaos induced by fallen angels” and an “act of defense for the souls of men.” Usually portrayed the size of King Kong, other Nephilim videos are even more bizarre and far-fetched. Let’s remember that it is subscribers (not necessarily believers) these sites want. Unfortunately, content faithful to Scripture that is historically accurate and theologically correct doesn’t necessarily make a video attention-grabbing or exciting to a viewer. Unless one is Bible literate, there’s no way to know where fact and truth end and fiction and fantasy begin. Nevertheless, like baby food, videos like these are easy to digest!

AI has even moved into the prayer business. When we want to “chat with God,” artificial intelligence can step in and answer for the Lord Almighty. On one site, we can get the god of our choice by choosing our religious affiliation such as Agnostic, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, or Mormon along with the topic to discuss. We can tell God whether we desire inspiration, comfort, or something else but correction or reproof are not an option. On another site, we can “embark on a spiritual journey and engage in enlightening conversations” by texting with Jesus, the Apostles, or “a multitude of other revered figures from the Bible.” The premium option even allows us to text with Satan! In theory, the responses from these chatbots or “godbots” are said to be “in line with the teachings of the Bible.” But, since AI is putting words in their mouths, are they? If we’re not Bible literate, how will we know when they aren’t?

One New York Post writer posited that AI might be “a beacon lighting the way for a new kind of spiritual exploration” and, perhaps it can be. Nevertheless, there is no substitute for the Bible! We can’t test what we see and hear on our screens against the Word of God if we don’t know what God’s word says! We must never forget that Satan will do anything to lead us astray. He has been perverting God’s words since speaking with Eve and his false teachers and prophets have attacked the church since it began. Jesus warned us: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” [Mat 7:15] I suspect they may come to us dressed as AI, as well. Let us beware.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. [Colossians 2:8-9 (ESV)]

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October 30, 2025

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Church & Worship, Family, Friends & Fellowship, Holidays & Holy Days, Prayer, Salvation: A New You, Thanks & Praise

FOR ALL THE SAINTS

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…. [1 Corinthians 1:2a (ESV)]

blue-eyed-grassThe early Christians often marked anniversaries of the martyrdom of Christ’s followers. By the fourth century, however, there’d been so many martyrs that there weren’t enough days to honor them all and the idea of one feast day honoring all the martyrs began. In 609, Pope Boniface IV established an All Saints’ Day in May. After Christianity came to Ireland, however, the Roman church attached the Feast of All Saints to the pagan holiday of Samhain (a celebration of the end of the harvest and precursor to Halloween). In 847, Pope Gregory IV formally rebranded this pagan Celtic festival as All Saints Day. Saturday, November 1, is All Saints’ Day and, regardless of your denomination, it remains a day to commemorate all of the saints, not as determined by any Pope, but as defined in the Bible.

Biblically speaking, what is a saint? The word “saint” comes from the Greek word hagios meaning “consecrated to God, holy, sacred, pious.” Sainthood isn’t conferred by people; it is granted by God to all who trust in Christ. When Paul addressed his letter to the Corinthians, it was to “those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints….” Even though they were struggling with issues like immorality, jealousy, and divisiveness, those early Christians were saints because they’d been made holy when they united with Jesus.

Sainthood wasn’t reserved for the Corinthians; Paul also referred to the believers in Rome, Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, and Thessalonica as saints. Simply put, saints were and still are the entire Christian church—the body of Christ. All Christians (as flawed as we are) are called to be saints—not just in heaven but right here on earth. No martyrdom, miracles, heroic virtue, or canonization is required. Simply by being followers of Christ, you and I—everyday garden-variety believers—are saints! As His saints, like the Corinthians, we are called to grow more and more like Christ every day. Scripture, however, never tells us to revere, worship or pray to saints. Rather, it tells us that the saints (meaning us) are to revere, worship, and pray to God alone.

For Roman Catholics, the focus of All Saints’ Day tends to be on the “official” saints (those people canonized by the Pope). Nevertheless, whether Roman Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox, November 1st is a day for all of the living saints (that’s us) to remember the saints who went before us. We have never been alone in our journey of faith; along with the Holy Spirit, we encountered believers (saints) who demonstrated their faith, pointed the way, urged us on, answered our questions, and corrected us when we strayed.

If we were to make a list of those who influenced our Christian walk, there might be some champion saints like the Gospels’ writers and Paul, the Wesleys, Martin Luther, Augustine, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, C.S. Lewis, Corrie ten Boom, or Billy Graham. There are, however, many ordinary run-of-the-mill Christians who guided us on our journey—saints like our pastors, parents, grandparents, neighbors, school mates, teachers, friends, co-workers, college roommates, or even strangers—people whose faithfulness encouraged us on our journey. Saturday, in honor of all the saints of God, let’s remember the life and witness of those people, both known and unknown, who were a part of our personal salvation stories—the people who strengthened our faith by their words and actions and led us to where we are today.

Who are the heroes in your individual Christian history? Who would you acknowledge in your spiritual memoir? Let their examples of faith spur you onward.

Saint: one separated from the world and consecrated to God; one holy by profession and by covenant; a believer in Christ. [Easton’s Bible Dictionary]

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. [Ephesians 2:17-22 (ESV)]

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October 9, 2025

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God's Grace & Love, Love & Works, Obedience, Prayer, Salvation: A New You, Temptation & Sin, Today: Make it Count

JUSTIFIED

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [Romans 3:23-25 (ESV)]

“Chocolate comes from cacao beans. Beans are vegetables. Salads are made of vegetables. Therefore, chocolate is a salad!” said the sign in the bakery. “I like their logic!” I thought. If you’ve ever tried to lose weight you probably know the loopholes used by dieters. Broken cookies have no calories because they fell out when the cookies broke, anything eaten with a diet soda is calorie-free, and food eaten off someone else’s plate doesn’t count because the original calories belong to them! Technically, anything licked off a spoon while preparing food isn’t eating; it’s cooking! Furthermore, if you’re eating with someone else, you’ve kept to your diet if the other person consumes more than you! As a once struggling dieter, I know all the excuses to justify over indulging. The worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves and, unfortunately, most of them aren’t as silly as these.

When I first learned that Christians were justified, I thought about the kinds of excuses we make to justify, validate, or defend our less than stellar behavior. Like Adam (who justified his sin by blaming Eve), we continue to justify or excuse our sins. We rationalize that it wasn’t our fault, it was harmless flirtation, we were only joking, everybody else did it, nobody was hurt by it, it really wasn’t gossip because it was true, no one warned us, or my children’s all-time favorite—the other guy started it! Since we often justify our bad behavior to avoid condemning it, the Christian term justification can be puzzling. Today, outside of the Christian church, the words “justify” and “justification” are used to excuse, defend, support, prove correct, or to vindicate one’s actions in the eyes of man or the law. While a legally justified man would be an innocent man in a court of law, justification means something else theologically.

Simply put, Christian justification is the removal and forgiveness of our sins and requires nothing more than faith in Jesus Christ. When the Apostle Paul said Christ-followers are justified, he was saying that we have been made righteous by the Lord; we’ve been cleared of all charges and any punishment related to our sins. Jesus’ cleansing us of our sins, however, is a whole lot different than our excusing or rationalizing them. When we justify, defend, rationalize, or excuse our sinful behavior, we claim to be innocent and continue to sin. On the other hand, when we are justified by Christ, there is no question of our guilt. We are acquitted, not because we are innocent, but because Jesus paid our penalty and took our punishment!

Justification, however, is not a “get out of jail free” card in the here and now. Sin’s consequences don’t disappear with God’s forgiveness and our salvation. Our justification before God does not mean that we won’t have to deal with the aftermath of our foolishness and disobedience. While we won’t face eternal consequences, we should expect to face temporal ones!

Jesus did the work regarding our justification but the rest is up to us. Justification means that we have the responsibility to live as God wants us to live. When we received forgiveness through faith, we also were sanctified and received Jesus’ righteousness. With the power of His Holy Spirit, we are to grow more and more like Christ which, among other things, means that we can no longer justify or defend our sins. We can never separate the faith needed for justification from obedience; true faith entails obedience and true obedience needs faith. We may be able to lie to ourselves (especially when in a bakery) but we better remember that we never can lie to God!

Through the death of Christ on the cross making atonement for sin, we get a perfect standing before God. That is justification, and it puts us, in God’s sight, back in Eden before sin entered. God looks upon us and treats us as if we had never sinned. [A.C. Dixon]

But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. [1 Corinthians 6:11 (ESV)]

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October 2, 2025

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Challenges & Difficulty, Church & Worship, God's Plan, Love & Works, Money & Wealth, Obedience, Salvation: A New You

COUNTING THE COST

But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, “There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!”… So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. [Luke 14:28-30,33 (NLT)]

No sacrifice should be too great for Him who gave Himself for us. [Harry Ironside]

rose

Intrigued by the “starting from” price in the ads for a new community, some curious friends toured one of their model homes. Seeming to have every feature they wanted, the house appeared to be in their price range. It was only after sitting down with the salesman to go over the purchase details that they discovered the true cost. The granite countertops, energy-efficient stainless appliances, and pull-out pantry seen in the model home were not included in the base price, nor were the paddle fans, bar sink, under cabinet lighting, pool, pool cage, rheostats, recessed lighting, crown molding, or tray ceiling in the dining room. After adding their desired upgrades to the “starting from” price, the couple realized the “ending up” cost was too great for them.

When Jesus said “count the cost,” He wasn’t giving us a list of options with a matching pricelist. Although God’s grace is free, we must agree to certain terms if we’re going to accept His salvation. Counting the cost for following Jesus is like giving the builder unlimited access to our bank and investment accounts and then allowing him to determine the size, design, location, materials, amenities, and décor of our new house! Knowing the cost would be greater than the amount we were prepared to spend, that’s not a deal we’d make with any builder.

While we wouldn’t do that for a house, what is the price of a soul? Being a disciple of Jesus is giving Him unlimited access to our lives and assets. As the One who determines the finished product, He takes our old selves and rebuilds us as the people we’re meant to be (which may not be what we thought we wanted to be). Having given God carte blanche, we don’t have an option or upgrades list. We can’t say, “I’ll take the love and forgiveness along with church attendance and Bible study but I’ll skip the self-denial and obedience” or “I’ll keep my independence and pride and take a pass on sacrifice, generosity, and evangelism.”

Consecrating our lives to the Lord is not a decision to be made carelessly or thoughtlessly. Nevertheless, as costly as it may be, choosing to follow Jesus is an excellent value and the best investment we could ever make. Instead of a luxurious new house on earth, we get one in heaven along with a new identity, heart, mind, family, future, and purpose.

For God no cost is too high. Anything can be sacrificed if only we may please Him. Let us daily learn to be obedient children. [Watchman Nee]

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” [Mark 8:34-37 (NLT)]

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September 25, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, Forgiveness, Obedience, Patience & Perseverance, Salvation: A New You

THE SAMARITANS

Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. [Luke 10:33 (NLT)]

deptford pinkThe hatred between Jews and Samaritans began in 930 BC when Solomon’s son Rehoboam was king and the united kingdom of Israel divided. Ten tribes rebelled and made Jeroboam king of the northern kingdom of Israel whose capital was Samaria. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin along with the Levitical priesthood remained in the southern kingdom of Judah. Fearing a change of alliance if people returned to Jerusalem to worship, Jeroboam set up his own worship centers in the north.

After Israel was conquered by Assyria in 772 BC, some of the northern kingdom’s Jews were taken into captivity but many of the poor and uneducated Jews remained. Assyria repopulated the land with Gentiles who brought their pagan gods and beliefs with them. Wanting to appease the god of the land after a series of lion attacks on the new settlers, Assyria’s king sent back an exiled priest to teach them about Israel’s Jehovah. As a result, Samaritan Judaism became an odd mix of paganism and Judaism. Only the five books of Moses were recognized as Scripture, many Jewish traditions were rejected, and idols were worshipped along with the God of Israel.

When the southern kingdom’s Jews began returning after their Babylonian exile, the Samaritans interfered with the rebuilding of Jerusalem and tried to undermine Judah’s relationship with their Persian rulers. Since the Samaritans were not welcome to worship in the Jerusalem Temple, they erected their own temple on Mt. Gerizim. Adding more fuel to the fire, they aligned themselves with the Seleucids during the Maccabean wars. Around 113 BC, Judah’s Jews destroyed the Samaritan temple and around 9 AD, some Samaritans snuck into Jerusalem on Passover and defiled the Temple with human remains.

Samaritans were a continual source of difficulty for the Jews of the south. Controlling the land between Galilee and Jerusalem, they regularly harassed pilgrims on their way to worship in Jerusalem. Because of the intermarriage between the Jews and Gentiles of Samaria, Samaritans were considered “half-breeds” by Jews. Considering them racially and theologically contaminated, Judeans had a proverb: “A piece of bread given by a Samaritan is more unclean than swine’s flesh.”

Bitter, intolerant, and hostile toward one another, the relationship between Samaritans and Judeans was like that between Protestants and Catholics during the troubles in Northern Ireland or Israelis and Palestinians today. This is the world in which we find Jesus telling the parable of the Good Samaritan with the unlikely hero being a Samaritan (the very people known to harass travelers).

We know this parable was in response to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” but let’s back up one chapter to see what preceded it. Jesus and the disciples were on their way to Jerusalem. Rather than taking the longer walk around Samaria, they were walking right through it. When Jesus sent messengers into a Samaritan village to make sleeping and eating arrangements, they were not welcomed. Although Jesus previously told the disciples to simply shake the dust from their feet if a town refused to welcome them, John and James suggested calling down fire from heaven to destroy the village. Luke says Jesus rebuked them but we don’t know what He said.

Part of their rebuke may be found in the story of the Good Samaritan. The parable could have been as much for His disciples (especially James and John) as it was for the legal expert who asked the identity of his neighbor. Jesus easily could have made his point with a Roman soldier as the story’s unlikely hero, but He didn’t. Although the Samaritans had been unneighborly in snubbing Him, Jesus deliberately chose a Samaritan to teach a lesson about neighbors! That parable told the disciples that, even when our neighbor is inhospitable and slights us, he still is our neighbor. Whether or not someone helps us, we are to help them and, when someone offends us, we’re not to take offense. We do unto others as we would like them to do to us and not as they’ve done to us!

Although there are about 800 Samaritans still living in Israel, the word “Samaritan” for most of us refers to someone who helps other people, especially strangers, when they have trouble. How ironic that the despised “pagan half-Jews of the Old Testament” (as one writer called them) took a place of honor in the New!

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But the good Samaritan reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” [Martin Luther King, Jr.]

Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you. If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! [Luke 6:30-31 (NLT)]

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