purity

Understanding Wisdom: Pure and Peace-Loving

MARIA CURREY|CONTRIBUTOR Understanding wisdom is a lifelong journey, a walk that requires well placed steps and a steady gaze on Jesus as the perfect guide. Sometimes a verse captivates our minds and gives greater purpose to our steps in pivotal ways. James 3:17 is such a verse for me. Born out of a challenging time, one fraught with self-doubt and dire challenges, these words captured my mind nearly twenty-six years ago, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” The place was Washington DC where our family was young, busy, growing, and moving frequently. My ambitions to love, serve, and lead for our Lord were strong, bold, and highly motivated—until large walls of challenge slammed into my heart. I remember praying, crying, and wondering how I would navigate one particular situation. Then James 3:17 came into view. Having read it many times before, it was as if I was encountering it for the first time. Each word sounded with significance echoing in the chambers of my soul...

The Sins We Love to Hate

A few weeks ago, I read an article about the recently released movie Rocketman, which chronicles the life of openly gay and quite flamboyant British rock star, Elton John. The article exposed that the Russian government had removed all of the homosexual love scenes from the movie since Russian law interprets these as “lewd acts” and considers them lawbreaking. Although I’m not sure that outlawing sin is the best way for believers to suppress our own sinful desires, let alone mandate that non-believers do the same, I was kind of thankful for this declaration since I believe that the Bible defines homosexual sex as sin. To be clear, however, the Holy Spirit is the one who confronts our sin and moves us to repent of it. He also moves us to believe in the power of the atonement received by the Lord Jesus on behalf of our sin and fights in and through us against sin that remains both in us and around us. But, nonetheless, my response got me wondering and made me think: why am I so on-board with the Russians here? I guess a better question is: why am I not up in arms about other sins that are so prevalent in our culture?...