Tag: faith

Romance and the Bible

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

Those words aren’t paired together too often. Yet whether you know it or not, the Bible is filled with romantic tales. And some of those tales are downright steamy.

We’ve got…

Adam and Eve
God created Eve for Adam. If that isn’t the definition of soul mates, I don’t know what is.

Rebecca and Isaac
A beautiful story of love at first sight.

Jacob, Leah, Rachel
One of history’s oldest recorded love triangles. With a twist. Instead of a woman choosing between two men, we have a man torn between two women.

Samson and Delilah
A story of deception and betrayal.

David and Bathsheba
The epitome of forbidden lust. With devastating consequences.

Ruth and Boaz
Ruth would get along well in our modern-day world. Because in this story, she’s the one who does the pursuing. And guess what? God blesses her boldness.

Esther and King Ahasuerus
Think Prince William and Kate’s story, only on steroids. A commoner marries royalty, but instead of happily ever after, she must use the king’s favor to rescue her people from death.

Hosea and Gomer
The Biblical version of Pretty Woman. A story of a man burdened with love for a fallen woman. The prophet and the prostitute.

Joseph and Mary
They fall in love. Get engaged. Mary gets pregnant. Only it’s not Joseph’s child. Then an angel appears and the story goes all paranormal.

Song of Songs
An entire book of the Bible written between two lovers. It drips with passion. In fact, anyone who thinks Christianity is a prude religion must have skipped this book.

How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how charming! And our bed is verdant.
Song of Songs 1:16

Brief vocabulary lesson. Verdant means green. Green symbolizes life. You make the inference.

Jesus and His Bride
Battered. Bruised. Broken. Marred with scars. Covered in filth. Yet Jesus looks upon her with so much love, so much yearning, so much passion, He lays down His life to rescue her.

Let’s Talk: Do you think of the Bible as romantic? Why or why not? Did I leave out some stories that should be included in the list?removetweetmeme

The Joy Thief

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

He plays with light and dark, casting shadows of enormity, disguising himself as a towering monster. When really, behind the trick, lies something silly and small and inconsequential.

I call him the Joy Thief.

More popularly known as Worry or Inconvenience.

He likes to watch us, like some warped version of Santa Claus, waiting for that perfect moment. The moment we let our guards down so he can creep into our soul and feed. Feasting on our busyness. Our distraction. Our tiredness and irritability. Until he grows so big and bloated there’s no room for joy.

The Joy Thief is a monster we invite into our bellies. A monster that gives us wrinkles and ulcers and chest pains and quick tempers. A monster that doesn’t add a single day to our lives.

Our time on this earth is so fleeting. Like grass, we are here today and gone tomorrow. So why in the world do we let these silly, small, inconsequential things grow bigger than they are and steal our joy?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Luke 12:25

Let’s Talk: Do you know the Joy Thief? How does he disguise himself in your life?removetweetmeme

Giving it All

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

There’s this scene in the Bible where thousands of people are gathered to hear Jesus teach. Only it’s getting late. People are hungry. And the only food around is in the possession of a young boy. He has five loaves of bread and two fish. Nowhere near enough to feed the crowd.

When I read this story, I can’t help but wonder….

Did that boy worry over the smallness of his offering? Did he think about breaking the loaves into teeny-tiny pieces? Was he tempted to keep the food to himself?

Any of these would be normal reactions. Human reactions. Because the task before him was 100% impossible.  

Until he gave the food to Jesus. And somehow, those five loaves and those two fish fed five thousand. 
How silly would it have been if the boy had taken credit? He didn’t feed those people. He didn’t perform the miracle. He didn’t multiply the food.

But he did give his all.

Dan Walsh, author of The Unfinished Gift, talked about this story in one of the workshops I attended at the ACFW conference last weekend.

And it hit me with so much power. So much truth.

There are people who try to break up the bread and do impossible things on their own.

There are people who don’t even try, because they see the impossibility before them.

And there are people like that boy. A kid who gave everything, knowing it was nowhere near enough. But he gave it anyway and trusted Jesus with the rest.

Man.

I want to be like that kid. I want to put forth my best effort. I want to give God my all. But at the end of the day, I want to remember that my all will never be enough. So if or when God chooses to multiply the work of my hands, I won’t ever question who deserves the credit.

Let’s Talk: Are you more tempted to try to do it all on your own, or are you more tempted to not try at all?  

removetweetmeme