Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.
John 15:4, HCSB
God created a home for us, yet He wants to be with us and to have us want to be with Him. Life is only truly found in Him.
On this day 26 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 baptism day or 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 am still helping teach Christian Worldview and Intro to Philosophy courses with 270 students (+46 for a CWV class I am covering for 2 weeks for a friend who had surgery) who were all born after this momentous day in my life. (I am also taking classes with fellow seminarians who also were mostly [not 2 of about 100] born after this date!) It is also in April that I am set to finally graduate with my M.Div.
There is a good probability I will be serving at a new congregation this year, but (as of today) it is still purely in God’s hands.
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 highest order.
God bless you, and remember that Jesus Christ is the reason we live and move and breathe and have meaning and being!
Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.
Hebrews 13:16, HCSB
God created a home for us and called us to love as He loves, so let us find ways to love others well, sacrificially and compassionately, just like Christ.
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God’s glory.
1 Corinthians 10:31, HCSB
God created a home for us with all we need to enjoy Him and be with Him, so may we worship and honor Him in everything we do, thanking Him for all good things and every provision.
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2, HCSB
God created everything for us and to be with us, yet we often want this world more than Him. Let us be changed by the Holy Spirit to want Him and all that is good, to know good from evil and know Him more.
I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking Him in His temple.
Psalm 27:4, HCSB
God created everything to give us all home, and He wants to dwell with us. Our greatest desire is to dwell with our God.
Then He told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.”
Mark 2:27, HCSB
Remember that God created not merely to show His power but to make a home for humanity. The Sabbath is for our good, and we obey God believing He knows what is best for us.
Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16, HCSB
We confess Christ, believing that He died and rose again to bring us forgiveness of sins and new life. While we await His return, we may still suffer in this life and long for eternity, but the new life begins inside our souls, giving us hope and not merely wishful thinking.
“Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:18-19, HCSB
We confess Christ as our Savior, believing that His death and resurrection has washed away our sins, forgetting our shame, and given us hope for eternity with Him.
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!
a simple man of God 