Welcome to the Truth@Life Blog Site by Curtis Songer


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There are 5 threads of thought in this blog site:
1. Church Stuff - things pertaining to the evangelical Christian Church of today
2. Leadership Corner - concepts on management & leadership
3. Two Becoming One - principles of marriage enrichment
4. Train Up a Child - principles of parenting
5. Personal Thoughts - my mental ramblings on how God is growing me

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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Love God, Not the World

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1 John 2:15

I don't have to tell you how hard the world is vying for your affections. It beckons you and me with the lure of lesser loyalties. The world wants you to have a better car, a bigger house, more-fashionable clothing, a sleeker cell phone, a snazzier computer. And nearly every day in the mail, you are offered a brand-new credit card to buy it all with.

But what you may not realize is that money and possessions are not the only things the world offers to demand your affections and compromise on one of the Bible's clearest commands.
What in the world do you love? Why not complete a year-end inventory of your heart and its affections? Just like a year-end inventory in a big warehouse, walk down the aisles of your heart and take note of what clutters the shelves. How do you use your time? What do you think about and talk about?

Perhaps you'll find some "old inventory" that should be moved out of your heart. Perhaps there are some habits you've developed over the years--and if you are honest, you really love these old habits more than you love God. Things like hobbies or television--or perhaps even addictions like food, alcohol, drugs or pornography.

Perhaps the inventory will reveal a possession that you realize owns you. It is in competition with God for your love. Perhaps it's time to clear out some inventory and replace it with some fresh obedience to God's commands. Wasn't it Jesus who said the greatest commandment was to "love the Lord your God with all your heart" (Matthew 22:37)?

Fall in love with God. Love His people. Love His mission and will. When you're consumed with love for Him, you won't have much room left to love the world.


Please comment below or email me directly at csonger@new-communitychurch.org

Ever Feel Down?

How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?Psalm 13:1

Some people believe the words "Christian" and "depression" should never appear in the same sentence. They believe that a person whose Bible proclaims, "The joy of the LORD is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10), should know better than to be unhappy.

It makes you wonder, though, if that was the case with William Cowper, author of such classic hymn lyrics as "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform" and "There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins." Severe depression forced him early in life to abandon his career in law. If not for the patient mentorship of John Newton (composer of "Amazing Grace"), who knows how low Cowper's depression would have taken him?

Charles Spurgeon struggled mightily with depression, particularly after a false cry of "Fire!" set off a stampede in his packed-house congregation, killing several in attendance. He often talked about hearing his "own chains clank" as he delivered his sermons, comparing his feelings to a chariot stuck in the mud.

King David, we know, cried out in melancholy many times through the psalms. Paul, who wrote, "God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus" (2 Corinthians 7:6), certainly knew seasons of darkness and despair. Biblical figures such as Moses, Job and Elijah went through overwhelming valleys of doubt and fear.

So if either of you find yourself under the heavy weight of depression today, grappling to work free but not always able to win the fight, you're not alone in your struggle. Your suffering is not unknown by God. Your dark circumstances are not beyond His power to heal, restore and redeem.

As you seek God for relief, take a measure of comfort in your good company.

Please comment below or email me directly at csonger@new-communitychurch.org

Thursday, October 8, 2009

What is God's Plan for Your Marriage?

In Genesis chapter 2 the Bible says, "For this cause (marriage), a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and unashamed." This is a picture of complete transparency and intimacy. But how is it accomplished? It begins with unconditionally accepting your mate as God’s provision for your needs. To understand what I mean by this, read on…..

God’s plan is that we accept (not just receive) our mate from God. This is not easy. It means that we have to view our mate’s apparent weaknesses as qualities that God may be using to transform our own life. This means that we must unconditionally accept our spouse on the basis of who they are, not what they do. It’s a position-based relationship, not a performance-based relationship. It’s just like our relationship with our Savior Jesus. He accepts us because, out of His mercy and grace, He calls us His children (a position-based relationship) if we believe in Him, not because we do good things to earn our way to heaven (a performance-based relationship).

Therefore, we must accept our mate because they were designed by God, as a gift to us, to be the perfect fulfillment of all our needs - past, present, and future. God designed us, so He knows our needs better that we know ourselves. It makes sense then that he is a better designer of the fulfillment of our needs than we could ever be. So rather than change our mate to become someone we think they should be, we should be more concerned with accepting them for who they are - God’s provision for our needs.

This can be extremely tough! In fact, we can only accomplish this by the power of God’s Holy Spirit and by having faith in Him. So the basis for my unconditional acceptance of my mate is faith in God's character and trustworthiness to care for my needs. We are only able to fully accept our mate by coming to know God and trusting in His character.

A godly marriage then is not created by finding (or trying to make) a perfect flawless person. Rather, it is created by allowing God's perfect love and acceptance (and forgiveness) to flow through one imperfect person - you - toward another imperfect person - your mate.

Please comment below or email me directly at csonger@new-communitychurch.org