21 August 2022
Two-Minute Features | 28 August 2022 | 14 August 2022

Surrendering & Being Quick to Hear (TMF:1925)

Friday, August 26, 2022
Peace to Live By: Surrendering & Being Quick to Hear (TMF:1925) - Daniel Litton
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       Again, this is how we are firstfruits of all of God’s creation, in that we differentiate between the two. Speaking of this differentiation, James goes on to say in our text today: “Know this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19, 20, ESV). James touches on behaviors here in how they pertain to how we hear, how we speak, and even any anger that is lurking inside of us. Surrender is going to have to occur in our minds if we are going to be known as a person who is “quick to hear.” What is the opposite of being quick to hear? The opposite would be quick to speak. That’s what James mentions in the next part of our phrase here: “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak.” Level Three and Level Four people are already going to be good at this to some degree. Level Two people not so much. It takes a surrendering of one’s own opinions, really pride, in order to practice these behaviors.

Defining Good & Bad Ourselves, How We Want (TMF:1924)

Thursday, August 25, 2022
Peace to Live By: Defining Good & Bad Ourselves, How We Want (TMF:1924) - Daniel Litton
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       So, while we are good in that God valued us inasmuch as he died in our place, the other side is that we are bad because of the mere fact he had to die in the first place. Another part of goodness involves what we see around us in our world, what we see our fellow human beings doing. If we can sin, that invariably means there has to be things which are offensive to the God of the Universe. It would be nice, easy, and perhaps beneficial, to some degree, in the short-term to define what is good and what is bad how I want to see it. We see people, for instance, in relationships who are of the same-sex. We see these people marry sometimes. I have personally known several people who believe in this and practice this, a couple of whom I would call friends. They are kind, upright people. It would be easy to agree that their love-interests are good too. However, God the Creator doesn’t see it that way, and so I have to decide who I want to agree with. This is true in all kinds of areas of behavior that we see in us, and in those around us.

The Quality of Goodness Shown Forth (TMF:1923)

Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Peace to Live By: The Quality of Goodness Shown Forth (TMF:1923) - Daniel Litton
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       They want to receive the benefits from God and yet just list the Bible as another great philosophical book (with some good insights) because if one was to accept it as a whole, you have to accept the sin part of it. Is that a good thing, though, to accept the sin part of it? I know for me, personally, speaking for myself, I’m not perfect. I think it’s safe to say that goodness is only true on one side of things. It is true that I am inherently good, at least from my perspective. What I mean is that if I am not inherently good, then why did Jesus come all the way down here to the earth and die for my sins. His death for my sake, for everyone’s sake, goes to show human beings have inherent goodness. It’s also true, though, that the mere fact Jesus had to die for our sins also shows inherent badness on the part of each one of us. A penalty had to be payed. Our sin-debts were separating us from God.

Behind the Belief of an Impersonal God (TMF:1922)

Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Peace to Live By: Behind the Belief of an Impersonal God (TMF:1922) - Daniel Litton
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       I have observed people who seem to be well-rounded characters, who seem to have a lot of good working for them, but who don’t know Jesus Christ. They either don’t believe in him, they believe in another religion, or they believe in God as an impersonal, universal being. I have seen this last one a lot recently. It’s almost as if deism is having a comeback. You will see it a lot in New Age teachings. They believe in God, but you really can’t personally know him. I know this is kind of cliche, but it’s true. It’s true that I think really behind it is the fact that people don’t want to be accountable for sin. The idea is that they want the benefits from God (by the way, which many of them they can receive by living here on the earth in God’s creation; God’s universal principles are available to all; love is available to all) and yet they just list the Bible as another great philosophical book (with some good insights) because if one was to accept it as a whole, you have to accept the sin part of it.

We Have the Best of Both Worlds (TMF:1921)

Monday, August 22, 2022
Peace to Live By: We Have the Best of Both Worlds (TMF:1921) - Daniel Litton
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       Those who aren’t in personal relationship with God, who haven’t yet accepted the gift, they have the ‘created in the image of God’ side. We have that side too, but we also have the ‘new creation’ side that the Apostle Paul talked about, and of which I believe James is alluding to here. We have the best of both worlds. That’s the great thing. We see all kinds of people doing what seems to be good, people of all kinds of religions and beliefs. It’s not that only Christians can do good in our eyes. Anyone can love a spouse, love children, help a friend, contribute to a greater cause, give money, or anything else. When we do these things—we know, that because we are in relationship with the Creator of the Universe, he is going to give us back for what we do. For a person who doesn’t know God, how can they get back from him in the future? It would be like a man who is secretly in love with a woman. If we gives flowers to her, but she doesn’t ever know from where the flowers came, by who they came, then what’s the ultimate point? How could she ever love him back?