Questions Archives - Page 5 of 7

May 10, 2021August 16, 2021

How is Your Spirit? Spiritual Plant Care 101

spiritual plant care, how is your spirit, faith, plant

From the title you can guess that this article will liken caring for our lives of faith to caring for a plant. But honestly–physical gardening? Hate it. No joke, it’s #2 on my list of things I hate to do. For those of you who, like me, can think of ten more exciting things to do than to watch grass grow, you might be flooded with images of pulling up never-ending weeds in the hot summer sun. Or lugging around a heavy bottle to give the plants water. Mom nagging you to cover them with a bucket at night.

May 6, 2021May 6, 2021

What Are You Sacrificing for Your Life of Faith?

sacrificing for your life of faith, sacrifice, jesus, disciples, abraham, faith

How much would you say you’re sacrificing for your life of faith on a day-to-day basis?

This probably isn’t a typical discussion question with friends or family, because for many, it’s not a very comfortable conversation. Growing up, I used to think that being a Christian required a lot of sacrifice. As someone who’s definitely not a morning person, getting up early every Sunday morning for church required tons of effort. That was a sacrifice, right? Plus, I spent lots of time at countless volunteering activities and outreaches.

May 3, 2021April 29, 2021

Is the Book of Revelation Literal or Figurative?

revelation, literal or figurative, God's will, prophecy

The book of Revelation is usually in Bible reading plans. Maybe it’s a part of your “Read the whole Bible in a year” plan or something similar. But Revelation usually isn’t the first book most people choose to read. That’s because it often seems scary, or difficult to understand. Countless pastors and theologians have written their own thoughts and interpretations on what Revelation actually means. Some of the questions that come up are things like, ‘Are the events described in Revelation literal or figurative? When do they happen? Will we be alive to see them take place?’ and countless other points of discussion and speculation.

April 29, 2021July 29, 2021

Why Can’t I See God? How to Believe in the One You Can’t See

see, believe, why can't i see God, God's Word, promise

At one point or another, most people have spent time considering the existence of God. It comes up in good times and bad, while we’re surrounded by other people in conversation or alone with our own thoughts. This thought, in some shape or form, has probably crossed everyone’s mind: Why can’t I see God? It would be so much easier to believe if He just came down and let me see Him.

I’ve lied awake waiting for that spiritual experience, a sign–anything. But I never saw God. They say that “seeing is believing” but perhaps that phrase needs some revision.

April 26, 2021October 10, 2021

Why Did God Create Satan…Or Did He?

did god create satan, lucifer, God's will, Bible

Have you ever created something?

It could’ve been a sculpture, a table, a painting, or another invention of some kind. How did you feel once it was completed? Maybe you were happy, proud even, to see your finished product. Now imagine that your creation, the thing you spent endless hours of work on, pouring all of your effort into, was then damaged, or destroyed by someone…on purpose. All of that hard work and dedication to make this beautiful creation…ruined. What kinds of feelings or thoughts would go through your mind?

In the Bible, we see that all of God’s creations that were originally made to be precious and good have become damaged, corrupted. This was all because of a deep betrayal. Who betrayed God and damaged His creation? Satan.

April 22, 2021May 29, 2021

What is the Covenant and Are You Keeping It?

covenant, new covenant, God, promise, Bible

Most of us make countless promises throughout our lives.

Whether it was a ‘serious’ pinky-swear during elementary school or a legal business contract, there are many forms promises can take. However, the purpose is always the same. It is an agreement between two or more groups that is meant to be kept by everyone involved.

April 6, 2021April 6, 2021

Is God Able to Trust Everyone?

Trust. What does this word mean to you? Do you give your trust easily? Or does it take a lot of time and effort for you to even start thinking about trusting someone new? When we think about the ones we trust the most, think about what has led you to give it. Usually it has something to do with time. You’ve known them since childhood or their friendship has weathered the test of time. Or maybe they’ve proven that they are reliable again and again and will be there when we need them. For those that do have our trust, we could probably all agree that these people are the ones we would be okay sharing our important information or vulnerable feelings with. We trust these people to safeguard our secrets and the things we hold closest to the heart.

April 1, 2021April 3, 2021

Are You Living Up to God’s Standards?

God's standards, God, relationship, faith, knowledge

If we think about relationships, do you think it’s possible to have a successful relationship without having any standards? Maybe in a romantic relationship, you want to be with someone who lives a certain lifestyle that matches yours. Maybe in a friendship, you make an effort to keep friends who are positive and encouraging instead of gossipy or cynical.

Even if we don’t want to admit it, we all have standards and expectations for our relationships. And we should. Having standards is a way of ensuring you can trust the other person while also protecting your own heart. But let’s also think about when you have clear or set standards in a relationship, but the other party constantly breaks or ignores them. How would you react? Even when you sincerely love a person, you set standards that you hold them to and usually they do the same for us. For any of us who say we’re in a relationship with God, should we expect God to be any different?

March 29, 2021April 1, 2021

What is Sin? Sin and the Purpose of God’s Law

“Sin” brings up all kinds of different ideas and images to different people. Everyone has their own questions and ideas about what sin is and what it isn’t. “Is this a sin?”, “Is that a sin?”, I’m sure we could go on and on about this to no end. When we get bogged down and only focus on determining what counts as a sin, or even which sins are greater than others, we lose sight of the bigger picture. In order to get a clear answer to this question, we should always look to God’s Word for the answer instead of relying on our own thoughts and understanding since God is the one who originally defined sin in the first place.

March 25, 2021April 1, 2021

Which Parts of the Bible Apply to Me?

Have you ever picked up the Bible and wondered, “Where do I even begin? Which parts of the Bible apply to me?” I was once told that the New Testament was all that us Christians need to read. They even went as far as saying that the Old Testament was just history. Just references and laws of the past that have nothing to do with our future. The instruction was to start reading from the Gospels to Jude, neglecting the Old Testament and Revelation. Have you ever heard anything similar? It seemed odd that I was only being told to read parts of the Bible, with the assumption that the Old Testament didn’t apply to me.