Author: llongard
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Devotional Reflection: Trying to Hold On To It All
I’m reflecting on a story where Jesus encountered a man with a lot of wealth who asked how to experience eternal life. He had lived a good, religious life but felt something was lacking. Jesus challenged him to lay it all on the line and trust God for daily provision. After the devotional, take some…
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Devotional Reflection: Would You Call Jesus A Snowflake?
Calling people a snowflake these days has been trendy for some people. The term is mainly used to describe offended people or concern about offending others. There is an incident in Jesus’s life when He decides to do something to avoid offending others. It created precedence for early followers of Jesus to consider what is…
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Devotional Reflection: The Danger of Pulling Weeds
For the past couple of weeks, I have been reflecting on a story Jesus told about a man whose garden was sabotaged with weeds planted by an enemy. It seems today that there is a major emphasis in church circles on getting rid of the bad things in our world that we see as weeds.…
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Devotional Reflection: What Is The Narrow Way?
Often when we talk about Jesus’ challenge to enter life through the narrow gate, we tend to focus on a rigid list of behaviors and dogma we need to follow to get to Heaven. Is it possible, though, that Jesus was calling His hearers to something different? As always, if you find these reflections to…
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Devotional Reflection: Did Jesus Endorse Violence?
A few days ago, during my personal reading time, I reflected on a verse that often perplexes me, Matthew 11:12. It’s been perplexing to me because of how I have seen it interpreted and applied in the past by some people as an endorsement for being aggressive in the way we live our faith out…
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Devotional Reflection: Heaven (and Hell?) are Near
Today, I’m reflecting on Jesus’ words as He started His ministry in Galilee. When He said “The Kingdom of Heaven is near” was He just talking about some far-off, distant reality? Or was it something more imminent? As always, if these reflections are encouraging to you and you would like to support the work that…
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Devotional Reflection: Is God a Humanist?
Often we think of humanism and faith as being in contrast to one another. If we think of humanism as being a belief in the potential of humanity, though, it is very compatible with the creation narrative of Genesis. Let’s reflect on that for a couple of minutes. If these reflections are a blessing to…
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Devotional Reflection: Someone Living Out The Mission Of Jesus
I wanted to start this year by highlighting the work of one of my Communitas colleagues in St. Paul Minnesota, Dianna McCartan. Dianna has built an amazing missional faith community that reaches out to some of the people in her city with the greatest need. It is a loving community where everyone feels valued regardless…
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Devotional Reflection: Pondering the Circumstances of Christmas
The circumstance of Jesus’ birth can tell us a lot about how we should seek to live our lives today as we seek to follow Him. In this reflection, I will reference the song “Cry of a Tiny Babe” by Bruce Cockburn. You can watch a video based on the song here. As always, if…
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Devotional Reflection: The Value Of People
The reaction to the release of Brittney Griner from Russia in a prisoner exchange drew immediate questions about the comparative value of the prisoners exchanged and that of another American still being held by Russia. Followers of Jesus are new creations, though, and the love of Christ causes us to see the value of people…
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