15 May 2022
Two-Minute Features | 22 May 2022 | 08 May 2022

Biting Our Tongues Many a Times (TMF:1855)

Friday, May 20, 2022
Peace to Live By: Biting Our Tongues Many a Times (TMF:1855) - Daniel Litton
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       We aren’t at church to actually push our own particular convictions onto others within the body. Instead, we are to live in unity as much as possible. This will require some of us to swallow our pride. There are going to be times, there are going to be moments, where you want to confront something, to want to call someone out, to call the person on the carpet for something, but you are going to have to bite your tongue and let whatever it is go. I’ve personally had to do this so many times. And it’s because if the matter is trivial, if it’s open to interpretation, then we really cannot force our viewpoint. At the end of the day, it’s all about Jesus. It’s about becoming more like Jesus. The purpose, the goal of our lives, is to live in Christ—to live in God’s approval. Paul has told us this elsewhere. What else did he say in that verse? To die is what? To die is gain since we get to go to Heaven to be with him, where, in Heaven, there will only be one way of doing things, and that’s the way that will make us most happy, the way the God of the Universe has setup in perfection.

Doing What We Do from the Heart, Part 4 (TMF:1854)

Thursday, May 19, 2022
Peace to Live By: Doing What We Do from the Heart, Part 4 (TMF:1854) - Daniel Litton
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       Everyone rises at the moment that same judge enters the courtroom, and no one questions that. I have always thought that if a judge is so formal as wear a robe, and everyone is so formal as to rise, then why doesn’t this carry over into the church? So, God is less formal than the secular world? But you see, these are my opinions. These are my personal convictions (well, maybe). Just because I would like to see things done this way, that doesn’t mean it should be. Nor does it mean that anyone who doesn’t carry things out this way is in the wrong, and I should not judge anyone (and I don’t) who doesn’t do things these ways. I can prove I don’t judge in this area as I have never told anyone any of this. Continuing on: “For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”

Doing What We Do from the Heart, Part 3 (TMF:1853)

Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Peace to Live By: Doing What We Do from the Heart, Part 3 (TMF:1853) - Daniel Litton
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       And I really don’t care for the modern-day Christian music. Besides that, I find them to be much weaker in the theology that is presented in them. Nevertheless, I still sing the modern-day music, and I don’t judge my fellow brothers and sisters who really like it. Again, life is more than our musical tastes. While we are on this subject, and I am disclosing secrets here, I would also say that I would prefer the ministers to wear robes in conducting church service. Bet no one saw that coming. Yes, it’s true. That’s how I was raised, and that’s how I would like to see services conducted. I would also like for everyone within the congregation to rise when the minister enters the room and goes up to the pulpit. You know, a secular judge wears a robe, and no one thinks ill of that. Everyone rises at the moment that same judge enters the courtroom, and no one questions that. I have always thought that if a judge is so formal as wear a robe, and everyone is so formal as to rise, then why doesn’t this carry over into the church?

Doing What We Do from the Heart, Part 2 (TMF:1852)

Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Peace to Live By: Doing What We Do from the Heart, Part 2 (TMF:1852) - Daniel Litton
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       We are aware that our Lutheran and Catholic brothers and sisters abstain from foods on certain days, and they are allowed to do that. It doesn’t say we have to do that in the Bible, and if a person was to try to tell others they had to abstain from the food on those days, that would be wrong. But, the point is that even if a church is rooted in deep traditions, that’s not wrong for them to do that. As none of you are aware, for this is the first time I have shared it, but one of the churches that a I grew up in was a Methodist Church in Victorian Village, downtown. Really, that was my home church. That was one of two places of worship until I was eleven. And in that church, things were pretty old-school in regard to the order of service. The minister wore a robe, there was organ music only, and we only sang hymns to name the main features. Anyhow, personally, I prefer hymns as a result of my upbringing, and I really don’t care for the modern-day Christian music.

Doing What We Do from the Heart, Part 1 (TMF:1851)

Monday, May 16, 2022
Peace to Live By: Doing What We Do from the Heart, Part 1 (TMF:1851) - Daniel Litton
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       Verse 5: “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.” The idea behind what Paul is saying here is simply, “What is our heart attitude toward whatever we are doing?” If we are doing something or not doing something because we believe we are pleasing God, then that’s fair enough. Our heart is in the right, even if our action is weak. If we observe one day as being holy, a day that we devote to the Lord, then that’s okay—we can do that as long as our heart is right before God. If we don’t eat certain foods since we don’t believe God wants us to, again, that’s okay—our heart is right. Now, that’s not to say we can sin deliberately. Practicing sin is not what we’re talking about here.