Author Archives: donna880

As ambassadors, when we truly do our job of reconciliation with everyone whom the Spirit is calling we find it might look differently than we expected. I came across a video of a familiar contemporary song but with a different look and sound from what we might expect.  I believe it is a small glimpse ofContinue reading “A Glimpse of Heaven?”

First you find out your are a billboard, then an ambassador, and now a temple. While some people may feel important due to the money they have, the things they own, or the authority they command, I am guessing that most of us feel rather ordinary or may even feel invisible. Being a billboard or ambassador mayContinue reading “How You Are the Temple of God”

An ambassador speaks for the President, King, or leader of a nation. How he or she conduct himself or herself reflects on the ruler of the country he or she represents. If the person is argumentative or acts condescendingly the recipient would rightly judge the ruler and people represented to be the same and wouldContinue reading “What Kind of Ambassador Are You?”

What do people see when they look at you? I am not talking about height, weight, clothes, or hair color. I am talking about the way you treat people, your gentleness, kindness, patience, faithfulness to Christ, and humility. We have seen that everyone who has been reconciled to God by Christ is a new creation — the old way ofContinue reading “You Are God’s Billboard”

Hoping for a better year in 2016? Maybe you have been looking in the wrong places for your happiness. As I watch the enthusiasm in Times Square and around the world, I ask myself why.  Why do people gather in parties to see out the old and to bring in the new. Why do weContinue reading “A New Year Brings Hope”

At Christmas we sing, “O, Holy Night” and read the Christmas story which tells us that a holy child was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin.  We have heard the words so often that they may have become meaningless like when we greet others with “how are you?”  We really doContinue reading “Holy Is More Than a Word”

The 1960s brought new meaning to “free love” from which our culture has never recovered.  We witnessed hippies, racism, drugs, and general dis-ease among our people.  Instead of keeping religion and the law and dealing with the wrongs being committed, we jettisoned religion and law [at first we tried to change it, but increasingly, courtsContinue reading “The Meaning of Holiness: How the Law Impacts Us Today – Part 2: Political Correctness”

Our culture and many in our churches believe the law takes away our freedom.  Increasingly the law is being replaced by what seems right and feels right according to our perceptions of the facts in the moment without the patience or the wisdom to consider what the facts actually are.  The law is interpreted to reflectContinue reading “The Meaning of Holiness: How the Law Impacts Us Today – Part 1: Does God Change?”

In an attempt to define holiness, we will look at a reformer, a few confessions, and writers from each century since the Reformation.  I will put the century in which they wrote in parentheses and the work in brackets.  Unless it is a commentary, their works will be cited in Further Reading. Many begin withContinue reading “The Meaning of Holiness: Some of What the Scholars Have Written”

Welcome back.  Today we delve into the meaning of holiness.  The common definition given is “set apart” because God is definitely set apart or different from creation.  To understand God, we must understand his holiness and what set apart means.  Usually you hear words like pure, righteous, sacred, godly, and consecrated, but what do thoseContinue reading “The Meaning of Holiness: an Introduction”