A Faithful Steward

       "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." [1] This is the first verse of what is perhaps the most well-known Psalm; Psalm 23. Like many believers, I read at least one Psalm every day along with my other Bible reading. As I studied this Psalm a few days ago, a few connections were made in my mind that I had never thought of before.        "The Lord is my shepherd..." This implies that the writer of the Psalm was a sheep. This seems a bit unusual, doesn't it? For a human being to call himself a sheep? Another familiar verse, Isaiah 53:6, says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way. . ." The natural question which this verse produces is, in what ways are we like sheep?        I have spent some time observing sheep on a friend's farm, and it is pretty easy to see why the Lord would compare us to sheep. Though I will not claim to know much about sheep, I have noticed that they ar...

       For awhile now, I have considered sharing some of my recipes on my blog. I really enjoy cooking (and sometimes baking) without a recipe, and come up with some fancy dishes at times. I usually keep my recipes top-secret, and hardly ever even let my family in on all the ingredients I use. But I thought that some of my readers might enjoy trying my favorite recipes, so here you go! Top-secret (or, not so top-secret) recipe #1: Chicken salad.  *Disclaimer: the lighting in my kitchen is not at all wonderful, so the pictures are not going to be the most professional you have ever seen.        Start with 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast. (Any boneless chicken will do, but chicken breast meat is my personal favorite).  Cut the chicken up into 1-2" pieces, transfer it to a frying pan, and put the frying pan on the stove. Turn the heat to medium-high. Drizzle 1 Ts. olive oil over the chicken; add 1/4 tsp. each of thyme,...

       So far in this discipleship series, I have discussed the topics of what discipleship is, and how Jesus demonstrated discipleship while He was on Earth. Today's topic is the consideration of what is required to disciple others. As always, if any of my readers disagree with any of my points, or have anything to add, please let me know!        The foundational necessity in discipleship is having a personal relationship with the Lord. We can not disciple or counsel others without wisdom, and without an understanding of God's Word.        No one can have true wisdom unless he knows the Lord. Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (NKJV)        Likewise, no one can understand the Word of God unless he has believed in Christ, and as a result, has received the Holy Spirit. We are told in I Corinthians 2:14, "But the natural...

       Last week, I introduced my Discipleship series by answering the question, "What is discipleship?" This week I will be looking at an overview of Jesus's discipleship. This will definitely not be exhaustive, so I would encourage you all to take the time to study it for yourselves!        There are several things that first come to mind when I think of Jesus' discipling. First, He taught by word and by action; second, He taught at all times of the day and in many different situations; and third, He mainly focused on teaching a small group, "the twelve".        The account of Jesus washing His disciple's feet is a perfect example of teaching by word and by action. As strange as it may seem in a culture such as ours, feet-washing was something that a good host would do for his guests. It was a dirty, demeaning job, and the host would assign a Gentile servant to perform the task. It was a sign of unfriendliness if a host did...

       Discipleship is something that has been stressed a lot in my life during the past year or so. During my senior year in Bible School, I was an RA, and I was leading a one-on-one Bible Study on I John for counseling class. The responsibility of those two things, coupled with the enthusiasm my counseling teacher had for discipleship, instilled in me a passion for discipling others, and a desire to become a more fervent disciple of Christ.        Close to a year ago, I began a short study on my own to learn more about discipleship. I wanted to find the answer to the questions, "What is discipleship?"; "How did Jesus disciple others while He was on Earth?"; "What is required to disciple others?"; "How can we learn discipleship?"; and, "What methods can be used in discipling others?"        I plan to do a short blog series on discipleship, hopefully giving answers to these questions and giving my readers a desire to learn mo...

        "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ Jesus with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Eph. 1:3); "Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Eph. 5:20) [both ESV]         With Thanksgiving only a week away, I am following the example of many others who have been sharing what they are thankful for. There are so many blessings that I could name, but here are some that come to mind first and foremost.         I am thankful for the love of God which surpasses understanding, and for His grace and mercy that are sufficient to forgive even me! It overwhelms me to remember that He continues to bless me even beyond the greatest gift He could give me, salvation.         I am thankful for a wonderful family; for parents and older siblings who have taught me about the Lord by word and example. I...

       Spiritual gifts have been on my mind a lot recently. Not only what they are as individual gifts, but where they come from and why we have them. It seems as if the Church as a whole does not think or teach much about spiritual gifts, and when they do it is often with a distorted viewpoint. Spiritual gifts are often, in my own experience, taught only in relation to serving the local church. Do not get me wrong, I do think that it is important for each individual to serve in their local church. However, I believe that spiritual gifts are often overlooked in our everyday lives as members of the body of Christ.        The Church seems to be so focused on staying busy with "programs" and "plugging" people into an organized system that they lose sight of the fact that individual believers can serve the body of Christ just as well - indeed, sometimes better - outside of an organized, time-consuming approach. It seems that, partially because they a...