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Putting Things Right
The central assumption of Christianity is that something is wrong with the world, and it needs to be put right. For Christians, the “something wrong” is human sin, a violation of the right order God created at the beginning. Putting things right we call “reconciliation,” and according to Paul it is a ministry belonging to…
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Why God Gives Us Power
The first chapter of Colossians includes Paul’s prayer for his readers. In it he prays that God will grant them wisdom and knowledge and enable them to bear good fruit and do good works. Then he adds, “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that….” I stopped there. What was it…
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Forward Motion, or the Snail in the Well
There is an old riddle about a snail crawling up the side of a well. It starts 20 feet down and crawls 5 feet up by day but slides back down 4 feet by night. How long does it take the snail to climb out of the well? The riddle reveals the danger of abstract…