The True Relevance of Scripture for us Today!

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 1st Timothy 1: 5   New American Standard Bible

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    As I sat down to write this, a discussion I had with a seminary graduate was fresh in my mind.  The graduate's position was that knowing and understanding the cultural and historical context of scripture was vitally important to understanding scripture and that without it, we cannot fully grasp the message God wants to teach us. 

    I held to the belief that contextual knowledge was good, but what was most important was the Holy Spirit's revealing of God's Word to us.  The Bible is after all, a book of books that transcends culture and history and language.  It is either a timeless series of books or it is out of date, which many today believe.  It is either cross culturally relevant to us today, or it is completely irrelevant.
    It therefore must be read, studied, and understood not merely by 'knowledge' but by the Holy Spirit as He leads us and teaches us what He wants us to understand.  It is not for us to study it and come up with our own conclusions, but for us to read and study and ask God to reveal His Word to us by the power of His Holy Spirit.  And then once revealed, to work it out in our lives.  It is a living Word, after all! 

    As I sat considering what I was to write, I began reading in Matthew.  But as I read, the Holy Spirit kept directing me to read 1st Timothy.  And that is where the whole of this discussion must be settled once and for all.  Consider well Paul's writing to Timothy: "But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."  Love is the essence of the whole of scripture as God sought to teach and lead His people.  From the very beginning, God wanted His people to love Him and walk in relationship with Him. The 10 Commandments were all about love: love of God and love of others.  If I loved others, I would not steal from them, bear false witness against them, commit adultery or kill them.  I would love them to the point of sacrifice.  Up to the teachings of Jesus and His apostles that the essence of our faith is love.  And the essence of love is Jesus Himself.

    Love cannot be taught by knowledge or by credentialed seminarians.  It is selfless sacrificial love that directed Jesus to the cross to settle once and forever the power of sin over our lives.  Love must be learned and crafted into our lives by God Himself.  We can study and dissect and discuss all we want, but God wants His people to love Him and love others, to be patient and kind, bearing others transgressions and burdens with the same love that Jesus Himself exampled.  It is love that turns the enemy into Christ's friend and makes the stranger in our midst a friend as well.  Love makes anothers interests more important than our own.

    The Bible is a living Word for us today because it speaks to our human hearts and leads us into God's paths of righteousness and love.  Cultural and historical issues are irrelevant to the believer who seeks God's life lived out in theirs.  The message is the same for us today as it was for the Parthians and Medes and Elamites, the residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, of Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, Cretans and Arabs, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes (Acts 2).  Jesus' love for mankind was what sent Him to the cross to cover our sin.

    It is a grand thing when He shows us what love can do.  Love is the only thing that truly lasts.

O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.  Grace be with you.  1st Timothy 6: 20, 21  New American Standard Bible

Truth of God's Word to us!

The 'Reflections on Repentance' I sent out today has been a particularly challenging one to me.  On one hand, God is a God of grace and love.  There can be no denying that.
    But for us to dismiss the need and responsibility our Lord has put on us to be about His kingdom work in our lives, and to the lost of this world is a grave omission on our part.  Far too many of us look past the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 24 and 25 and go on believing that God will save us even if we go about living our lives on our own terms.  Yet, as I look at these teachings, we betray our Lord and ourselves by thinking this way.  For the unfaithful and unprepared, there is a notable end, and it is not one we will be happy with!
    This all seems to come down to the age old question so many wrestle with: Is God a God of grace and love and we are saved only by the finished work of Jesus on the cross, or do we have to work to gain our salvation?  As I read scripture for what God is wanting me to learn and understand, I believe the answer is 'Yes' and 'Yes' to both questions.
    'Yes,' we are saved, completely, irrevocably saved by God's love and grace poured out for us on the cross of Jesus Christ!  Without that finished work, there is no hope for salvation for mankind.  None at all!
    'Yes,' we are created for good works.  All the teachings of Jesus and His apostles clearly support this.
    A few years ago, I wrote of a 1953 Corvette, the only one still around of the first 5 made as prototypes.  The Lord showed me a very important lesson in that car while I stood admiring it.  The owner had restored it meticulously with all original parts.  It is a beautiful car, and a very valuable one.  But it has been made into a museum piece, trailer-ed from one car show to another for people's admiration.   It never gets driven.  And that is what it was designed for.
    Like that '53 Corvette, we too are created and designed to be driven, to be used of our Lord for His kingdom work.  We are to be multipliers and disciplers, always working to add to our Lord's kingdom.  Our Lord Jesus makes it clear that He finds great joy when His people, called by His name, join Him in the work of His kingdom. 
    The works we do, do not save us.  Yet, at the same time, we enter into the joy of our Lord when He finds us doing them.  Trust me, there can be no greater feeling in our lives when we know He is pleased!

Our Lord's Peace!

    Yesterday was frustrating for me.  The details are not important.  But what is important is what happened at one point in the afternoon.
    As I was walking out to the car after one of my appointments, I found myself in prayer.  I often pray as I go about my day, but on this occasion, I had an overwhelming sense of peace in the midst of my frustrations.  I wasn't even praying about anything specific, it was just that I was looking to our Lord and wanting to spend time with Him.  Even in the busyness of my day, I wanted His presence.  Despite my circumstances, I had peace.
    Do you spend time with Him even when you are extremely busy?
    It is one of the reasons the Lord led me back in 1999 to begin publishing the 'Daily Chew' devotions, now titled, 'Reflections on Repentance.'  Initially it was to encourage and put scripture in front of friends and family through another media.  It grew over the years quite a bit.
    But it's overarching mission was to encourage others in their own walk with the Lord, even when sometimes the articles were convicting.
    Enough said!  Now go off and spend time with Him.  Hear Him!  He alone is worthy to be praised!
Soli Deo gloria!
Kevin Haislip

Sunday, I experienced a most memorable evening with a fellow believer. In the early 1980's (33 years ago), my wife and I helped to co-lead the high school group at our church.  It was a great group, and most of the students that attended were themselves strong Christians, daily seeking the Lord and His leading in their lives.  Sunday evening, one of the members of that group from some 32 or 33 years ago flew into Dallas on a job, and he and I got together for dinner and spent quite a long time catching up.  To be fair, we have stayed in touch very loosely through the years by email as I sent out the 'Daily Chews' and they send out Christian and other issue related emails.  But we hadn't seen or talked much for probably at least 20 years.
     We talked about our families and careers.  And we spent most of the evening talking about what the Lord had done in each others lives.  Where two or three are gathered...   well the Lord showed up in a big way.
     Four of the youth in that group 32 years ago coupled together and married.  Kyle and his wife Dawn were two of them, and the stories of what God has done in their lives are rich and a great blessing to any who hear them.
     Which leads me to my point. At different times in my life, I have had the opportunity to visit with someone who goes way back in my past.  But it is a huge blessing to see how God has worked in one's life whom you knew way back when.  Fellowship is centered on the testimonies of our Lord.
     John wrote in Revelations 12:11, "And they overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb [Jesus] and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."
     Lest we ever forget, consider this day the events of your life and what God did in you and taught you.  Tell these testimonies often, for they are the riches of our lives.   KRH

Yesterday, I was speaking with a brother who is also an excellent writer and evangelist.  He expressed something that I too have been feeling the last 2 or 3 years: a weariness of soul.  He finds he does not have the energy and passion he used to have toward reaching out to others, or writing like he did.  Yet he still acknowledges a driven desire to reach those who do not know Jesus.
   Most of us recognize we live in very dark and uncertain times.  The society around us continues to degrade into a self-centered and even violent character and the things that even a few decades ago were considered good and wholesome are now called evil and are hated. 
   Added to that are fear-mongers who prophesy death to our way of life. They admonish us to follow them, to protect our wealth, to lay aside great quantities of food and purchase weapons to protect ourselves against those who will do us harm. The fear they espouse however is contagious and spreads rapidly. It kills our ability to trust God, to walk in joy and peace, and to tell others of His mercies and love.
   We cannot add even a single breath to our lives beyond that which God has already numbered. Yet if we should find ourselves even alone and naked, Jesus will still tell us to 'Fear Not!' and to 'Trust Him!'
   The mere fact that we can trust Him though all about us fails should give us tremendous hope and joy!  For my family and I, and my brother, though we are weary of all that is happening around us, we are also strengthened by the power of His Word and the Joy of our Salvation.
   It will not be our church that saves us.  It will not be our friends and family, or our wealth and stores laid up. Jesus is our salvation and the only one that gives peace and joy.  KRH

The book 'Promises Kept' is now available.  It can be purchased for $14.95.  You will find it online at http://www.haislipcreative.com/GreatCollections/current.php and can pay for it and have it shipped through Paypal with my email address kevin@haisliphotography.com .  I hope to get an excerpt of the book up online today.
    The book is entirely about what the Lord has done in our lives as He led us to adopt so many children and chronicles many of the miracles and lessons.    I wrote once that our testimonies are for ourselves, that as the Lord told Israel to remember His delivering them from Israel, so He reminds us to remember.  The book took several years of researching and writing, and even as I have been pouring through the pages to prep it for printing, I have been greatly blessed to remember all that He led us in and brought us through.  I trust you too will be blessed to read of His great works and how He leads people.

PROSPERITY vs. DENYING YOURSELF
    On another note, I would appreciate any comments and thoughts about an issue I have struggled with a fair amount these past few years and seems to rear it's ugly head often here in Texas.  Please respond via email at kevin@haislipcreative.com and I will post these comments in a Daily Chew.
    The issue revolves around the issue of prosperity in the Christian life.  Many churches and pastors here in Texas proclaim the Christian life as revealing God's love for us through great prosperity, and of course the opposite of that is if one isn't particularly prosperous or not prosperous at all, it shows either that sin is present in a person's life, or great spiritual immaturity.
    I of course do not believe this at all.  While God did bless His people in the Old Testament with prosperity, I see the teachings of the New Testament to be entirely different in this matter.  As I read scripture, I see Christ teaching His disciples to follow Him, and that a disciple tends after living as Christ lived and doing what He did.  Often throughout the New Testament, the call is to deny ourselves, take up our Cross and follow Jesus as the call to the Christian.  Perhaps the best way I can say it is that the disciple of Christ is not at all concerned with what he must eat or what he must wear, what kind of house he must live in or what kind of success he must have, but rather to be entirely about the work of God, taking the gospel into the world and making disciples.  His relationship to God creates a desire and a drive to this expediency.
    Does that mean that we cannot be prosperous, or conversely that if we are not prosperous, we are sinful or immature?  There can be little absolute said except to say that God knows the hearts of saint and sinner alike.  The man/woman who is prosperous stands naked before God just as the poor.  It is their heart and deeds that God will judge, rich or poor.  I have personally met very wealthy 'Christians' who in all their efforts and conversations appeared to be entirely carnal minded.  But I have met poor 'Christians' with the same attitude.  And I have met wealthy 'Christians' who really had a heart for reaching to lost with the Good News that saved them; and the same for poor as well.  The person God blesses with great prosperity and uses it to advance Christ's kingdom to others is a blessing to Christ and His church.  He does not seek attention to himself for this deed, for he knows that Christ alone has blessed him that he can be a blessing to others.
    The issue I believe is denying yourself and taking up your cross and following Jesus.  Like John said before his execution, "He must increase and I must decrease."
    What has the Lord shown you?
   

Our testimonies are for ourselves!

A few years back, I felt led of the Lord to begin writing down the miracles and testimonies that have happened in my life as a gift to my children. In June of this year, I finally completed it and sent it off to my editor for proofing and further refining. The books title is 'Promises Kept' and tells of many of the great things God has done in my life as well as many of the failures and pain. But through it all, God is seen and glorified

As I wrote it, I tried to be as honest and transparent as possible, even to the point at times of being downright critical of my shortcomings and failings. Indeed, all of us, when we stop to look at our lives through an objective lens, will find fault and ill conceived choices we've made.
The editor I chose for this book is a woman who is an accomplished doctor of education and has been a dear friend of ours for as long as we have adopted. She personally knows many of the stories I write of because she helped us work through them. So it was that I asked her to write the Foreward to the book. It was short and to the point. And I have learned a great lesson from it.
As she relates, there are many stories in these pages that tell of 'rubble' in our lives. Adopting as many children as we did is not easy, nor is it advisable for most families because it often brings turmoil. But the lesson she reminded me of is as good a lesson for me as it is for any of our detractors and critics.
Don't judge before it's time. This is a scriptural lesson found in 1st Corinthians 4. God always has the last word on everything. He takes what looks bad or out of control and turns it around for His glory.
There have been many victories and many defeats and failures through the years, but in all of them, God has shown Himself faithful to us at the time and in the years that follow.
It's not about me. It's about Him!
It was good to be reminded of that.
Kevin Haislip

Giving when there is nothing left to give...

I have been less than consistently timely in the last year or more with sending out the Daily Chews. I could point to several things that have contributed to my malaise, but two stand out to me. First is that I am tired. Like all to many of us, we find ourselves struggling, trying to make ends meet, trying to make a difference, trying and getting mocked and ridiculed by others for our sacrifices.
Second is that there are two pastors I know who have left the pulpits and write blogs and books mocking and ridiculing those who follow Christ. And I know of other leaders in the Christian community who are very corrupt, mean spirited and preaching false gospels. All of which doesn't cause me to disbelieve, but rather causes me to grieve, which only adds to my malaise all the more.
William Carrol at Times Square Church recently spoke on the power of giving when we are too weak and exhausted to give anymore. It is not something we can do without the power of Christ and His Holy Spirit. Even as Christ hung on the cross that day exhausted, wracked with pain and struggling for each breath, He continued to bless those around Him.
Probably all of us have considered the depth of love He had to continue loving the very ones who condemned Him to die such a horrific death.
It is a love born entirely of the love of the Father for mankind. It is so supernatural that we cannot comprehend it and can only live it when the Holy Spirit moves through us.
There is great evil in this world. Christ overcame evil on the cross. Though Satan fights ferociously and mens hearts are drawn to his evil, our Father still bids us to walk as Jesus walked: dependant on Him, walking in His love, directed by His Holy Spirit.
In the last few weeks, I have received many emails from brothers and sisters in the Lord that were jokes, misinformed clips, and ridiculous items that I have to trust were sent with sarcastic intent. Our patriotic and political musings help us keep abreast of our nation and world. But the Word of God builds us up and sends us out to do His eternal workings. The Lord has been speaking to me again to pick the Daily Chews up and send them out. So I will try to be more diligent.
His Word is the only thing that is eternal and His salvation is the only thing that keeps us from Hell itself.
Let us all be about encouraging one another in Word and in deed in Christ Jesus.

David Wilkerson tribute - April 27, 2011

There are few people I have met personally that I have had such high regard for as David Wilkerson. Since his death, I have heard many tributes to him that have used words like 'legend' and 'influential,' but I think Nicky Cruz summed it up best, 'David was a teddy bear.' In the few times I worked alongside him and corresponded with him, David was a giant of a teddy bear. His tender love of people was a reflection of his deep and abiding love of Jesus Christ. The Lord raised David Wilkerson up. Though he was a pastor to a church in Times Square, he was also a pastor to people all over the country and world. If anything, David was a pastor to the remnant of the church, people who want more than anything to enter into a close walk with Jesus. David expressed that heart so well in his messages and life. May God comfort and strengthen Gwen and the whole Wilkerson family in the knowledge of his well lived life.

For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me,
And what I dreaded has happened to me.
I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, for trouble comes.”
Job 3: 25, 26 New King James Version

Whether President Franklin Roosevelt spoke from an intimate relationship with God or not, his first inaugural speech sums up what God Himself keeps trying to get through to us: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." And in an remarkable similarity, Job uttered the words in the above passage at a time when like our country, all about had collapsed into economic ruin and left people desperate, penniless and without hope.

From his own mouth comes a confession of Job's lack of faith in God. He lived a good life, with many servants and cattle, and wealth. God twice calls Job "a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” But the very core of Job is about to be tested and found lacking. What he has feared most has happened. All about him lay in ruin, and he is no longer at peace.

Our minds consider things that we should not, and fear takes hold. What if...? How can I be confident when all about me is crumbling? Does God not care that I am suffering and hurting?

We can be assured that He does care? Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4 & 5: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ..." What this means is that when we find ourselves fearful and despairing, we need to take these thoughts and recognize them for what they are: thoughts that are based on a lie that needs to be quickly arrested and dispatched, destroyed, cast down.

President Roosevelt tells us we should not fear anything but fear itself. But Paul tells us to take these thoughts and completely dispel them as we look to the truth of Christ, and our obedience to Him.

As Job was to find out, God had everything under control, if he will wait and look to Him. He says the same thing to us today. He has everything under control, for He made and formed us and all that is about us. He does care.

Our confidence in Him may be tested, but if we look to Him, we will not be found wanting.

We can trust Him completely.

but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
— Hebrews 3:13, New Kings James Version


We used to wake to a Mt Hood sunrise nearly every morning off our front deck as we would look out across the Columbia River in Oregon. The sky was a deep deep purple with a few splashes of clouds on the horizon, and as the sun rose and cast its rays onto the clouds, there was a sense of what it almost could be like when the Lord returns in all His glory. I found this photograph this past week.

This was just one of the thousands of days we witnessed, but it caused me to contemplate the message given by the writer of Hebrews about the importance of "today". Poets write of yesterdays lost, and tomorrow’s hopes and expectations, but here we are faced with today, and the choices we will make. Like the sunrise behind Mt. Hood, will our lives reflect the beauty and love of Jesus to those around us, or will we be drawn to sin in our own lives?

Every day is new to us to do and to will. If there is any lesson that we can take from this passage, it is that today, we can have a determined will to do that which is good and loving and of God's leading.

Can we do no less "today"?

The VIP is the other guy!

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
— Philippians 2:3-4, New American Standard

The VIP is the other guy!

"...if there is any encouragement in Christ..." Paul says so that we can be clear that this is how we are to live. As a Christian, the other person is the 'Very Important Person.'

Paul often goes to great lengths as the Lord directs him in his writings to the issue of compassion and love. If we are in Christ, we are a people fully dedicated, fully given to love and compassion. THAT IS THE MIND OF CHRIST. And the only reason any of us would not act this way is because we are not actively engaged in our Lord's written word, the Bible. We may read it and carefully study it, but if we are not living it out, we are not becoming practically what we are to be in Christ Jesus. Shouldn't we be living the way Jesus has shown us???? Shouldn't we be laying our lives down for one another? Shouldn't we be seeing tremendous fruit in the church and in our lives as we see Christ lived out in us as we go about doing the 'good works' he commands of us?

Too many of us in the Christian Church have an attitude of 'me first.' It is an attitude seen in the lack of compassion for people in desperate need; in the judgments and condemnations toward those struggling and those found in sin; and in the unwillingness to touch those who are outcast or diseased. Instead, our calling is to be walking humbly of mind before the Lord, walking as our Lord walked.

If these words produce guilt and accusation, then let it lead to repentance and a deeper love for Christ by following in His footsteps. One thing we Christians can always count on is our Lord's mercies. They are new for us every morning. Let guilt be for the one who knows what good he should do and doesn't do it.

In Matthew 21, Jesus tells the story of a father who had 2 sons. And he called them to himself and asked them to go work in the vineyard. And one son said, "No, I will not go." But he felt regret and then went and did as his father asked. The second son said, "Yes, I will go." But then he did not do as his father asked of him. And Jesus asked the Chief Priests and elders, "Which of the 2 sons did the will of his father?" And they answered Jesus, "The first."

Today, you and I have a choice to make with our lives. Either we can go on as we see fit, doing the things we want to do; or we can do as our Father has asked of us:

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."

The mind of Christ is for others first and always. His love reaches out to all and His people are to go and do likelwise.

What do you have in your hand?

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
Colossians 1: 9-12

What do you have in your hand?

I first learned this lesson from the Lord when I was stranded in Bolivia in 1985. My plane tickets said I had to return to the United States in 2 days with my adopted daughter, but the courts would not give me the necessary documents for us to leave. When I called the airlines to see about rescheduling the tickets, they informed me I would be required to pay an additional $1800 to $2000 to reticket the itinerary for the both of us. When I called my church to ask about a loan till I could get back stateside, they refused. My extended stay was going to significantly add to my expenses, not to mention the new airfare charges and I was all out of money. I was in a panic.

In prayer, I asked the Lord for His help, and all He told my wife and I was, 'What do you have in your hand?' All I had in my hand were the return plane tickets scheduled for the fast approaching weekend.

When our backs are against the wall, when we find ourselves between the proverbial rock and a hard place, our choices narrow. Do we take the easy way, or do we walk in a manner worthy of the Lord? Little did I realize at the time that the Lord was about to use this situation to show me something about Himself I would have to live by many many many more times as we adopted more children. The essence of the lesson: Paul's prayer for the Colossians was not to ask for what they didn't have, but pray that they would be filled with everything that they did have: God Himself and the inheritance He gives us. I knew I had the calling and direction from the Lord to do what I was there to do. I knew the Lord wanted me to walk forward asking Him for whatever I needed. And I knew I had two plane tickets I could not use. Yet!

This is not a lesson solely about the Lord's provision. To be sure many people do not embrace the Lord's direction and work because they feel they do not have in hand what they think they will need. In Luke 10, Jesus sends the seventy out to prepare the way for Him instructing them not to take any provision for the journey. And they return rejoicing at the wondrous things that happened and the authority He had given them to act in His name.

But in my situation, things didn't get better. More than a week after I was supposed to have returned home we were still battling with the child protective agency and the courts to gain their approvals. They were continuing to ignore me or give me the necessary documents. Finally in near complete exasperation I returned to my room one afternoon and shouted at God in anger. Why had you [God] sent me on this mission of futility? Why had you [God] lead me to adopt this child and then now not give us the needed help in our time of trouble? Why Lord?!!? As I cried in anger and desperation in my room that afternoon, the Lord came to me and He comforted me. And He told me that it wasn't my work, but His work. He would take care of all that concerned me in His time.

True Christian growth comes by living in the reality of what I do have! I had become intent on finishing this adoption successfully so I could return home triumphantly. But I had completely forgotten that it WAS the Lord's work. And I was the Lords! It didn't matter that my plans were frustrated. It only mattered that I walk in Him, pleasing to Him, joyously giving thanks to Him. That afternoon changed everything. For the first time in my life, I knew I was HIS - though I had been a Christian for more than 2 decades at that point. I left my room that afternoon knowing that God loved me!

What did I have in my hand? Christ had given me an inheritance that filled me with 'spiritual wisdom and understanding' so that I could walk in a manner worthy of my Lord.

And my situation changed as well. That very afternoon when I returned to the courts, they gave me instructions to come back the next day (after ignoring me for over 2 weeks) and they would give me the necessary documents. A week later, after seeing many more miracles and obtaining all other agency documents, my daughter and I arrived at the airport. The check-in agent commented that our tickets were for two weeks prior, so she called her supervisor over who gave her the approval for us to use the tickets that day.

What do we have in our hands? If we are the Lords, we have Him! He is our portion! He is our inheritance! And lest we ever forget, He loves you and me and shows us that in our darkest hour.

When we "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects," we walk in true freedom to give all that we have because in Christ Jesus we already have everything we need!

The important things of life...

The internet has become both a great boon to us and a great peril. We can talk and communicate with loved ones half a world away in seconds, listen to faith messages and sermons, do research on matters that concern us and shop for things we want or need. But it is also easy access to all kinds of unspeakable evil. Pornography is big business, ethics and integrity are thrown out the window as anonymity prevails in business and transactions and rather than having real friends who are there for you and you for them, we have social networks with friends who often choose lies over loyalty and love.

This blog is set up only to discuss matters concerning the Daily Chews that are sent out by email. The Daily Chews are Bible scriptural passages, often accompanied with commentary. The Bible is a rich tapestry for us to look at and enjoy, for it tells us of God's great love for us and His Son Jesus Christ. It is a place where anyone can come, enjoy and be encouraged in the Word of God.

While the truth of various passages remains unchangable, God often uses the same passage to speak differently into each of our lives.

And that is what this blog is all about. To give us all free expression to the Bible and how God has used it to show us something about Himself. In the free give and take of a community forum, there will be disagreements and great differences. Let us approach each post with an attitude of humility and love as Jesus demonstrated.

In the end, it is ALL ABOUT JESUS! As John the Baptist said, 'He must increase, and I must decrease.' May our lives be open to His moving.

Kevin Haislip