Kingdom Ready Blog

What does the phrase, “I’m only human,” mean? We use these words when someone has just made a foolish mistake. For example, a husband who has forgotten to leave the toilet seat down is awakened in the middle of the night by a rather indignant wife in a fury over such an inconsideration. He replies groggily, “I’m sorry; I forgot; I’m only human.” The phrase is used to express something we feel deeply about humanity in its present condition. We are flawed creatures who often forget, make mistakes, and act selfishly. “I’m only human” means others should not expect too much from me since I am limited and “prone to wander” as the hymn put it. This sentiment is reinforced by the narrative in Genesis 3 about our fall. Through an act of rebellious disobedience, our first parents fell short of the glory of God and in so doing contaminated our species. By noting how the lifespans in Scripture show a decidedly downward trend, we gain the impression that over time humankind has continued its descent as it continues to degenerate from generation to generation. We are sons of Adam and daughters of Eve who tend towards selfishness and rebellion. Holiness and self-sacrificial love are not “natural” for us; we have to work hard to resist our “flesh.” Even with maximal effort, we are complete failures without external help from God through His spirit. Ungodliness, however, comes without effort as if intertwined in our very DNA. When we think of being human, we think of our current fallen state.

To understand this term, one must also seek to understand other closely related phrases, like sons of men and children of men. Firstly, all of these terms are applied to mankind in general. These terms indicate the difference between God and the human race. The phrase son of man is the strongest way to distinguish between deity and humanity!

Psalm 115:16 (usage – children of men)
Consider the contrast between God and mankind: God dwells in heaven; man dwells on the earth.

Psalm 145:10 – 13 (usage – sons of men)
Here’s another contrast between God and mankind: God is big, strong, powerful and eternal; man is small, weak and temporal.

I have been counting my blessings this month of November, and one blessing that I thank God for is my short term memory loss  ~ just as Dory has, in the above video clip from the movie, “Finding Nemo,” she almost instantly forgets things.  As I grow older, the need to write things down before I forget them, becomes more of a necessity than just an organizational tool for my daily planner.  I like to think it’s because my brain is nearing its full capacity, because I am storing so much data, and am running out of room!

Introduction

Every so often, I have the opportunity to spend time with my six year old granddaughter, Kailee. During those times, I try to talk to Kailee about God a little bit – to try to give her at least some basic information about our Heavenly Father, His beloved Son, and His kingdom.

One of the primary reasons why I do this is because Scripture encourages us to speak to children about God:

Proverbs 22:6 (ESV):

⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Well, it’s been quite awhile since I’ve posted an article here.  Far too long in fact.  I apologize for my hiatus. No real good excuses, just the usual things in life that pull us in all directions – job, kids, family commitments, home projects, watching too much football (yes I really do enjoy watching college and professional football – maybe too much), etc..  And probably the worst and certainly dumbest thing is just getting out of the habit.  Of course it seems that may be the case with a lot of my fellow KR contributors.  But let’s see if I can start a trend of coming back to the well here.  Let’s see if I can start off easy and work back into pushing out some fresh content for those have kept coming here and visiting the site.

Saw this the other day, a great self-examination quote from John Piper for all of us to consider:

The essence of lukewarmness is the statement, “I need nothing.” The lukewarm are spiritually self-satisfied. To find out whether you are among that number, don’t look into your head to see if you think that you are needy; rather, look at your prayer life. It doesn’t matter what we think in our head, the test of whether we are in bondage to spiritual self-satisfaction is how earnest and frequent and extended our prayers for change are.

Introduction

One of the  most fundamental questions about nature is: “How did we get here”? In other words, how did we humans – as well as the plants and animals around us – come into existence?

In Western countries, there are two main systems that are used, to explain how, exactly, plants, animals and humans began their existence. Those two systems are called “creationism” and “evolution”.

Creationism states that God explicitly created each and every form of life on the earth. In other words, every plant or animal that exists today was created by God in the past – in exactly the form that it has today.

This is my new favorite band: Fireflight. I recently purchased their CD “For Those Who Wait,” and love absolutely all their songs, but I chose to post this particular one, because the lyrics speak to me and I hope they will speak to you, as well.

To what or to whom are you addicted? Do you struggle with something that you wish would go away? Your weight? Your alcohol problem? Your need for the next high? Your addiction to overspending? Smoking? Gambling? Sex? Porn? Lying? Work? Exercise? Bingeing? Purging? Do you feel a need to hide your habit? It was fun when you first started, but now you wish you could stop, but you realize you can’t? It has you in its grip and you are now enslaved, imprisoned, and you no longer see your way out?

Introduction

There are a number of specific verses in Scripture, which have enormous theological significance. In other words, those particular verses exert an outsized influence, on our understanding about spiritual matters.

Some examples of these “theologically profound” verses are: Genesis 2:7, Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 26:19, Ezekiel 18:4, Matthew 5:5, Matthew 7:21,  Mark 10:18, Luke 1:35, John 14:6, and – of course – the famous John 1:1.

Another verse which certainly qualifies as being “theologically profound” is Romans 8:28. In fact, not only does that verse have great theological implications, but it also has the potential to affect people’s entire “worldview”.

I think the title says it all. The world as we know it is battling with hopelessness. Everything in our society these days has become uncertain. Nothing is guaranteed. Hence many are living in fear and misery. All they see is a pitiful life with no end in sight. Sometimes they wish death would take them and be rid of this little existence. How about when this begins to creep into the church? Today, I want to speak on the subject of hope and its importance in our life. Hope is an integral part of Christianity and each of us must learn about it and live it out.