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The Simplicity That Is In Christ

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  Both Old and New Testaments warn us again and again about false teachers and false doctrines. As we’ve observed before, it is so easy to be deceived if we don’t continually stand guard against it. In one of these many warnings, the apostle Paul wrote, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). What is this simplicity Paul spoke of? “Simplicity” is Strong’s # G572, haplotēs . Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines it as, “singleness, simplicity, sincerity, mental honesty; the virtue of one who is free from pretence and dissimulation; openness of heart manifesting itself by benefactions, liberality.” Elsewhere in the New Testament, this word is translated as “liberality” (generosity) or “sincerity.” For example, “he who gives, with liberality [ haplotēs ]” (Rom. 12:8). The Septuagint employs this same Greek word to describe integrity, innocence, or uprightness (2 Sam. 15:11...

A Wounded Heart

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We live in a rough world; a world bent on our destruction and the destruction of our hearts. In our daily lives, we walk through the valley of the shadow of death constantly because any moment might be our last. I'm not trying to be dramatic, that's simply the truth. Very few deaths are expected, and most happen completely out of the blue, so not only might every moment be our last moment, but it might also be someone we love's last moment. There are a lot of things that could be said about that, but the main lesson to draw is that we need to make every moment we have with those we love count because we might not get another one. Someday we will have seen someone for the last time on this earth and not even realize it. That's a bit of a sobering thought when you recognize that our time with those we love is temporary. Losing someone can be one of the greatest emotional struggles we will face in our lives and the pain is one of the deepest and longest-lasting pains in th...