What Hell Is Like

The Battle of Midway 1942 - (Told from the Japanese Perspective)

The Founding Document of The Church (Part II)

Have you ever struggled with your self-esteem? I used to be a musician and even though I didn't enjoy the spotlight, I did enjoy the immediate gratification that came from people who enjoyed my music. Today we can search for that need for acceptance and approval in not only relationships but through social media. But that is a double-edged sword that can at the drop of a hat turn turn your social fortunes from worship to hated. And unlike any other time in history, we can't seem to remove ourselves from the misfortune of reading and viewing posts that shape not only our world views but our emotional health.

So how can we reclaim our emotional health? We need to re-calibrate our emotional health by regaining our spiritual balance. Only be viewing ourselves the way God views us can we be the persons He created us to be. And why is that so important? Because each of us is gifted to perform unique tasks for the Kingdom, and without an proper understanding of our role and importance the work will go undone.

The Book of Ephesians provides us with the blueprint for a healthy self-esteem. We just have to understand who we are at our core to achieve the life balance that God wants each of us to possess. God's Word and my obedience to His teaching is the antidote to this world's dependence upon gratification and narcissistic behavior. Okay, so enough talk - let me show you God's solution to this problem.

The Founding Document of The Church (Part I)

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him." (Ephesians 1:3-4)

Before we can unpack the wonderful blessings of the  first chapter of the Book of Ephesians, we need to understand the phrase, "in Christ".  [Side note: one of my favorite songs is by a group called Big Daddy Weave called, "In Christ". I'll wait while you give it a listen.]

That song has some great wisdom including these lyrics, "In Christ I can do all things / In Christ I mount up on eagle's wings / In Christ I wait for a great reward / That I have in store / In Christ I have His righteousness / In Christ I have what I confess / In Christ I don't worry about all the rest / Cause everything I need to be is in Christ."

But what does that mean, to be in Christ?