So here are two videos, one by a Christian who hates “religion”, and the second by a Muslim who challenges the Christian view of Jesus.
Each one makes you think, each one provokes a response.
I would love your comments!

This first one is by a Christian…

This next one is by a Muslim…

I got this as an email forward, kind of cute, whether it’s real or not…

This was written by an 8-year-old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista , CA . He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to ‘explain God.’ 

EXPLANATION OF GOD

‘One of God’s main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn’t make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn’t have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.’ Continue reading ‘a little boy’s explanation of God’ »

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. [Isaiah 11:6]
An inspiring moment, yet has anything changed in 20 years?

Apparently God is rebuilding this world one dot at a time.
He could have snapped His fingers and immediately changed the world.
Instead He is “painting” a better world through individuals transformed by His love.
Every person transformed by His love becomes a kingdom dot… their lives a collection of dots.
And taken together, your words and acts of love and mine, become something beautiful for God.
And when it’s all done, the portrait of His new world will be of Jesus.
Whose portrait is your life painting, who is your hero that your life embodies?
Never underestimate the different that one act of mercy and grace can have.

I said a prayer for you today and know God must have heard,
I felt the answer in my heart although He spoke no word.
I didn’t ask for wealth or fame, I knew you wouldn’t mind.
I asked Him to send treasures of a far more lasting kind.
I asked that He’d be near you at the start of each new day.
To grant you health and blessings and friends to share along the way.

The Jesus life is another way of saying the ethic by which Jesus lived.
The character and morality that shaped and directed His daily decisions and actions.
Jesus words in Matthew 5-7 not only describe how we are to live, but how He lived – the Jesus life.
This ethic is described elsewhere in the bible, including 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Galatians 5:22, Colossians 3:12-14, and especially Romans 12:9-21.
The way Jesus lived is an expression of the good news, it is God’s grace in action.
It is through Jesus humility, patience, kindness, generosity, etc. that we are saved (see Philippians 2:1-11).
In addition, the Jesus life is not only HOW we are saved, it is WHAT we are saved for.
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. (1 Peter 2:21)
Obviously this life is too hard for us to follow by ourselves, but with God’s grace (assuring us of forgiveness for our flawed efforts) and with God’s help (assisting us by His Spirit to improve and magnify our flawed efforts), we do our best.
The Lord is not concerned with those who try and fail, but with those who fail to try at all.
From beginning to end, the Jesus life is a gift of grace – He lived it for us, He lives it with us!
Knowing that I am sinful, knowing that I am forgiven and accepted by grace, I strive with all my might and His to live the Jesus life, confident in Him and not in myself.
I do my best to be patient, I make every effort to be more forgiving, I resolve to be more generous or kind… but I do all this fully aware of how flawed my attempts are.
I place my flawed and imperfect attempts into His hands, and trust that He will use them for greater results than I could have done on my own.
This is what Paul is getting at when he says: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
The Jesus life is good news for me, but it can also be good news for others through me.
Will I allow the grace of God which saved me to work through me to others?
Will I strive with His grace and help to live the Jesus life – to be more loving, forgiving, merciful, patient, kind, etc.?

“If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” – Thomas Edison
Not only is this true for all human beings, this is especially true for Jesus followers.
If we all did the things we are capable of doing in Christ, we would literally astound the world.
By myself I am able to do some things, but I can do all things through Christ Who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).
What does this mean practically?
For me it means that I am underachieving, that I’ve set my goals and expectations to low.
As William Carey said, “Attempt great things for God, expect great things from God!”
May my dreams be God-sized this year, and may He do great things through me!
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down, Thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was, Weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place, And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold, I freely give
The living water; thirsty one, Stoop down and drink and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank Of that life-giving stream.
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, And now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “I am this dark world’s Light.
Look unto Me; thy morn shall rise And all thy day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found In Him my Star, my Sun;
And in that Light of Life I’ll walk Till traveling days are done.

Author: Horatius Bonar, 1846
Composer: John B. Dykes, 1868