NCarolinian

          Unity is so important. "Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, 'Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.' " (Matthew 12:25)          I feel like there are too many designations, divisions and classifications in our society that continually fight against - we the people.  America has definitely moved away from being one nation under God to one nation under many gods and/or distractions. The color of your skin and one's gender have not only distracted us from moving forward and progressing as a leading nation, but set the spirit of confusion over the country as well.            Unfortunately, that same strife infected The Church many years ago, about the time America was being born.  Christians have branches called Denominations (i.e. Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc...) because of disagreemen...

                    In case  you did not know, faith is a struggle, it is a fight! Paul writes to his protégé, Timothy, saying - "Fight the good fight of faith." (1 Tim. 6:12)           However, Paul does not simply stop there, he continues with the admonishment to -  "Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." (1 Tim. 6:12)          There seems to be two levels of action implied here - striving (fighting) and seizing (taking hold). These descriptive words do not have anything to do with the initial Salvation of an individual. The Holy Spirit makes this point clear through Paul to the believers in Ephesus -  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) ...

                              The idea of walking around naked everywhere as the norm, like Adam and Eve experienced before The Fall, is hard to imagine now-a-days, but not impossible. Clothing is essential - mentally, spiritually and physically.          Clothing has gone a lot of different directions since God clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skin (Genesis 3:21). Besides the fact that clothing is used as a sanitary function and cultural expectation, we observe clothing used for status, protection, making a statement, as a disguise and simply as a comfortable covering.          We have certain, one-time outfits or at least far-and-few-between apparel in our closet. There are clothes that show we are in mourning. There are clothes that display we a part of a wedding party. There are clothes that hint at a Prom nearby. There are clothes we wear ...