March - 2019

Does God Care What I Wear?

Last week, we learned what it means to “bear our own load” (Gal. 6:5). There are certain individual responsibilities that are absolutely non-transferrable. We have to take ownership of certain aspects of our life, including our own personal holiness. Our God is holy (I Pet. 1:13-16), therefore we must be holy in all that we do, say, act, react and even the way we dress. Does God care what I wear? The world says it’s your body. You can wear what you want. Nobody can tell you w

Burdens vs. Loads

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ … For each one shall bear his own load.” —Galatians 6:2, 5 At first glance, it may appear that those two verses are contradictory. How can we bear someone else’s burdens if we are supposed to carry our own load? The word “burden” in v. 2 means “excess burdens”; something beyond the normal capacity to carry. In v. 5, “load” is what a person is expected to carry. We are expected to carry our own responsibilities — ou

'Like a Tree'

“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” — Psalm 1:3 Everything about the tree is valuable and productive. Trees help clean our air. Trees contribute to our health and provide us with oxygen. Trees help clean our drinking water. Trees provide much-needed cooling. Likewise, the righteous are valuable and productive to God. But trees don’t grow o

'Blessed is the Man'

When we studied the Beatitudes last year, one word that we saw Jesus use repeatedly in Matthew 5:1-12 was “blessed,” which means happy. And we determined that our happiness — true happiness — is not wrapped up in circumstances. Our happiness shouldn’t be dependent on what’s happening around us because we have little control over our circumstances. We can’t control the weather, traffic, health, sports outcomes. If our happiness is totally dependent on the circumstances around