Roses of Grace

Happy Valentine's Day! Everyone lives in community. And so, relationships are something that everyone deals with—except for hermits and astronauts, and I sincerely doubt you're one of those. So everyone deals with the ups and downs of being in community.  And American culture places a heavy focus on romantic relationships in particular. According to one article from Forbes , Americans typically spend over $20 billion in total for Valentine's Day. That's a lot!  Even for those of us who don't date, relationships can take the top priority. Friendships give us the pleasant feeling of being admired, and we love connecting with like-minded people.  And that's great. But sometimes I wonder if we take it too far. There's nothing inherently wrong with these relationships. They can be a blessing. But it's also easy to let them become too important in your life. It's easy to let them become an idol. What defines you? Is it your earthly relationships with your...

  There are a lot of popular sayings floating around—phrases that people reach for when they're searching for something encouraging to say. I'm sure you know what I mean. Phrases like "you are loved," "you are unique," "you are powerful." "You can do anything." "You are strong."  Those phrases tend to bug me. Part of me rebels against them: they're oversimplifications! That's not how life works! You can't just say the magic words to make everything better! The thing is, they're not all wrong. But I think it's our responsibility as Christians—Christians who are told to "rightly handle the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15)—to be careful with our words. And part of caring about truth means looking beyond the surface-level meaning of our words, and seeking to understand, Biblically, what is true.  So, here are four popular sayings, and the Biblical perspective about them!    #1: You are perfect the way th...

One day in ancient Israel, two men went to the temple. These men were very different—one of them was a Pharisee, a renowned teacher of the law, and one of them was a tax collector, a job infamous for its corruption and uncleanness.  If you grew up in the church, you probably know this story. In case you don't know it, I'll quote the rest from Luke 18:11–14:  'The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”' What if, instead of a Pharisee, it was a clean-cut church kid who's been ...

What do you do when you've been hurt by someone you love?  I don't mean when you've been hurt a little by someone you love, like when someone's having a bad day and they snap at you.  What do you do when someone you know consistently hurts you? When your friendship with them is doing you more harm than good?  The world's answer, of course, is to cut them out of your life completely. Friends who hurt you are hastily labeled as "toxic," and you're encouraged to get rid of them ASAP. They aren't worth you. And in extreme cases, that might be right. Sometimes you need to get away from someone for your own safety.  But is that loving? Is that the Christian way to live?  What does the Bible say about loving people who hurt you?  Note: This is something of a sensitive topic, and I've tried to base my thoughts entirely on the Bible to make sure they're as sound as possible, as I usually try to do. However, I want to make it absolutely clear that...