Living Unfiltered for God

We often hear the expression, “Be a light!” If you are a Christian, we are taught that we are to shine Christ’s light – to emanate His Light that lives within us to the world around us. Have you ever really thought about what that means, though? Or how to practice this on a day to day basis? He said to them, “ Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open . ( Mark 4:21-22 NIV )   Several weeks ago, I was reading through a devotional with some others that posed a question I had never thought of before. In the “For Reflection” area, it stated the following: “There are different kinds of lights (traffic lights, flashlights, spotlights, florescent lights, candle lights, lighthouse, torches, lamps) - which one best describes you? Why?” This really got me thinking. Like anything else when it comes t...

If I were to ask you what percentage of Americans believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, what would you say? Would you be optimistic and say nearly 100%? Or would you be pessimistic and say something like, less than half, or 50%? What number would make you feel "good" about our country?  The actual number, or at least the one determined by a new Pew Research study , is 73%. Roughly three out four individuals believe this part of the Christmas story. Does that surprise you? Does that number encourage you or discourage you? Or does it motivate you? When I first saw this yesterday I thought, " Wow, that's great! That's a lot higher than I thought it would be! " But then I thought about it for a minute... We live in arguably the most Christian nation in the world and there are still one in four folks that don't believe in a core, foundational belief of the Christian faith. When you dig into the numbers (which, of course I did given that's what...