even there your hand will lead me; your right hand will hold on to me.
Psalm 139:10, CSB
No matter what life brings, God is in control. It is best to trust Him and live by His leading as found in the Bible, by the Holy Spirit, and with help from the Church.
Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love; break up your unplowed ground. It is time to seek the Lord until he comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain.
Hosea 10:12, CSB
God calls us to rest, and this call includes showing others the rest we have in Christ. Thus, we call others to the eternal rest in Christ, doing the hard work of the gospel now that we may enjoy eternity together with Him.
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”
Matthew 18:20, CSB
We are saved in Christ alone, and we come together to call out sin to lead each other to repentance in the power of the Holy Spirit and with the direction of His Word.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58, CSB
We are saved in Chriat alone, and He calls us and empowers us to walk in that salvation to glorify His name in our actions and leading others to saving faith.
On this day 25 years ago, at 6:46 PM CST, I bent my knee to Jesus as Lord and Savior. (If you do a search on this site for “birthday”, you will see the various explanations.)
I like to call it my Re-Birthday, as we call faith in Christ being born again. This comes from John 3 and 1 Peter 1. I encourage everyone to remember their own re-birthday (and if you aren’t sure/can’t remember, just claim your birthday.)
I also like to bake some sort of cake and then serve it to others as a way to teach self-sacrifice and becoming a servant to all as our shared salvation is celebrated.
Sometimes it’s messy, or we’re still a little crisp on the sides, but we have a sweet salvation.
This year, I get to start Christian Worldview and Intro to Philosophy courses (as one of the instructors) with 245 students who were all born after this momentous day in my life. Tomorrow I am with fellow seminarians who also were mostly born after this date! (2 are about my age and from Africa. We actually have about 30 students from Malawi [majority from here], Kenya [Gama is the one who invited me to his home and is about my age], Ghana [the other person about my age], and Sierra Leone.)
It is a little weird to think that I have been a Christian so long, especially having come to Christ as a teenager and now working with teens (and 20-somethings) as a youth pastor and college instructor.
God is so good.
Also, it is my mother-in-law’s birthday, so join me in wishing her a happy and blessed day! If not for her, I would not have my wife!
Also also, it is my friend Fletcher’s birthday. We met in seminary. He’s a TheoBro of the hughest order.
God bless you, and remember that Jesus Christ is the reason we live and move and breathe and have meaning and being!
“But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
John 3:21, CSB
We are saved in Christ alone, and this salvation is surely the work of God. We join in His work, but He saves by His truth and grace when our faith meets His love.
Do we truly love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths? Maybe I can help with the mind part, at least! This is Daniel M. Klem, apparent poet, reluctant yet passionate Disciple (Peter?), and foolish man attempting to understand theology!