Indagatio Veri

Boasting is the act of 'showing off'.  It is the desire for attention.  Boasting occurs when an individual wants recognition. It stems from pride; which is the mentality that I have accomplished something that deserves recognition.  It is gaining fulfillment and feeling self-actualized because of personal performance and/or talent.  Pride comes when an individual defines their worth by their own ability. Boasting often looks like confidence, but in fact it is only a manifestation of deep insecurity. When someone boasts, they are revealing that they feel the need to be validated for their achievements.   Pride is about building up personal image, it is rooted in the fear of man, and therefore is driven by the opinions and expectations of others. Pride only exists in the realm of comparison, where someone feels gratified by being 'better' or 'different' than other people. The world lifts up self actualization.  There are hundreds of articles written about...

"For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7)." Power (dunamis) is the miraculous ability of God that can transform, heal, and set free. Love (agapos) is good will and benevolence towards others. A sound mind (sophronismos) is the ability to do what 'fits' a situation. Love without power does not have the ability to bring transformation, it can only empathize. Love with power not only cares for the individual but has the capacity to set them free. Add wisdom that knows what to do when, and you have someone that can change the world. A powerless person is subject to circumstance. They say they are victims to their own circumstances, pushed to and fro by ideas, struggles, and unhealthy expectations. Powerlessness either manifests in passivity, where the individual makes excuses for their behavior and situation; or it results in control and manipulation, where the individual seeks to manipulate people and cir...

When asked what the greatest commandment of the law was, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37).” Very often this scripture is held as the Christian standard; and we are silly enough to think that although we can't fulfill the law, we are most certainly able to love God with everything we have. Notice Jesus said this was the greatest commandment of the 'law'. A law that Jesus spent his whole ministry trying to convince people of their inability to fulfill. Jesus equates lust with adultery, and anger with murder, then he goes so far as to say that all of the commandments can be fulfilled if you can somehow manage to love God, others, and yourself. This is the law on steroids! It is one thing to try to manage your outward behavior, but another thing entirely to change the way we think, feel, and function on the inside. Here again, J...

As we grow in our comprehension and experience of God's love, our lifestyle is inundated by that love. God's love for us changes the way we interact in the world. As we talk about the practical expression that comes from knowing God's love, do not mistake it for a legalistic call to try and will power your way to look a certain way. If you try to relate in circumstances the way you think love should be expressed, but don't actually have love, you will fall on your face.  Love flows from you as an effortless response to being loved yourself (1 John 4:19). This is an unveiling of a lifestyle that is merely a byproduct of being influenced by the love of God. Love is expressed in normal life circumstances in such a way that it neither seems normal nor reasonable from a strictly 'human' perspective.  Love is a heavenly perspective, and religious practice can neither understand nor replicate it's deep reality. So allow yourself to be loved by God, ask Him to revea...

Love, Agape, means to have good will, to be benevolent.  This love is pure and holy, it isn't about wanting simplistic happiness, it is desiring and willing everything that is good; that which is whole. Agape love finds its definition in the heart of Father God.  His love for us is complete, He has created us to walk in freedom and wholeness, and His love fiercely and tenderly defines who we are. "If I speak with the  tongues of men and of  angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a  clanging cymbal.     If I have  the gift of   prophecy, and know all  mysteries and all  knowledge; and if I have  all faith, so as to  remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.   And if I  give all my possessions to feed  the poor , and if I  surrender my body  [ a ] to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)." Spiritual performance can exist...