The English language can be a lot of fun, especially when we use words and phrases figuratively to convey an idea that would make no sense in any other culture. We use these idioms most naturally because we’ve grown up around them, but for those who haven’t been soaked in their not-literal sense, figurative languageContinueContinue reading “Pursue Holiness: Gentleness and Self-Control”
Tag Archives: Fruit of the Spirit
Pursue Holiness: Kindness and Goodness
I am fascinated at the way the Bible is woven together by common themes and imagery throughout its pages. For instance, from the beginning, we are given concrete examples of what God deems ‘good’. At the end of each day of Creation, God looks upon what He has spoken into existence and calls it tov,ContinueContinue reading “Pursue Holiness: Kindness and Goodness”
Pursue Holiness: Patience and Faithfulness
Seeds die, falling from the fruit into the hand of the farmer who sows them back into the soil. Nourished in the hidden place, seeds awaken and shoot roots out into the soil. From there, stalks grow upward, out of the darkness and into the actual sunlight where they strengthen and mature. And bear fruit. ContinueContinue reading “Pursue Holiness: Patience and Faithfulness”
Pursue Holiness: Love, Joy, Peace
The vast majority of us have not grown up in an agricultural community. Unlike our Hebrew ancestors, we don’t have much experience walking through orchards full of fruit-laden branches, much less working long harvest days. But for Jesus and His first century audience, the regular rhythms of sowing and reaping would have been shared experiences.ContinueContinue reading “Pursue Holiness: Love, Joy, Peace”
Pursue Holiness: Remaining on the Vine
It feels a bit risky, word-lover that I am, to say that of all the words in the Bible ‘abide’ is my favorite. Yet, I find that the longer I dig into Scripture and seek more of the Spirit, the more I long for the abiding life! I want, as the Apostle John describes, toContinueContinue reading “Pursue Holiness: Remaining on the Vine”
Holy Spirit: Our Sanctifier
We have covered so much ground in studying our ‘word of the year,’ holy, that I sometimes forget where we started. So I went back and looked. After giving holy some meaning, some biblical context and definition, we spent the weeks of Lent looking at all that it means for something or someone to beContinueContinue reading “Holy Spirit: Our Sanctifier”