Please answer the following question- Three areas where injustice and oppression is happening in our country are…?

It’s fairly easy to name areas where injustice and oppression are happening in other parts of the world, such as Syria, Iraq and Nigeria, where brutality and human rights violations run rampant. Can we do the same for our own country?

As Christians, we should be able to it. God expects us to be aware of these areas. Isaiah 1:17 tells us to –

“Learn to do right; seek justice,

encourage the oppressed.

Defend the cause of the fatherless,

plead the case of the widow.”

We have to know where there is injustice if we’re going to seek justice for the victims. We have to be able to recognize oppression if we’re going to free people from it. The truth is most of us can’t identify these situations unless we or someone we know is a victim. Plus, we live in a rural, white area that doesn’t have all of the problems which plaque diverse, urban areas. (more…)

Contentment in life is a wonderful thing. Everyone wants it but many people never find it. We’re usually content when things are going the way we want them to go and when our expectations are being met. We usually aren’t content when things don’t go our way and our expectations are not being met.

Overall, are you a content person? Perhaps at this point, it would helpful to know the definition of “content.” OxfordDictionaries defines it as “a state of satisfaction.” To help see if you are a content person, please prayerfully and thoughtfully answer the following questions. Let’s start off on a positive note. The first question is – The areas in my life where I’m content are….?

So, in what areas of life are you satisfied? They might include your job, marriage, family, health, finances or some other area.

After you’ve taken time to ponder this question, please answer one more. The second question is – The areas in my life where I’m not content are…? (more…)

When I was in first grade music class, our teacher, Miss Fowler, gave us a test one Friday morning. Her final instructions before we started were, “No cheating.” I don’t want to brag on myself but I made an effort all throughout my school years to keep from cheating. Except for that day. During the middle of the test, I whispered to a friend, “What do you call the side of a bass?” “Ribs,” he replied. Within a few seconds, Miss Fowler had taken both of our test papers from us. Not only were we going to get a “0” on the test,  we were embarrassed because the whole class knew what happened.

It’s one thing to face a test in first grade music class, but how should we respond when God tests us? Let’s see how Jesus did it. (more…)

Paul starts his letter to the church in Rome by eloquently showing that every person who ever lived is a sinner in the eyes of God. Sin was unleashed on the world when Adam disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the tree in the Garden of Eden. His disobedience affects every one of us. All we have to do to be a sinner is to be born. Following the Old Testament laws or other rules doesn’t make us righteous. We’re made righteous when, through faith, we follow Jesus Christ.

This brings us to our passage in Romans 6:1-14 – “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (more…)