It was an interesting year. If you’re a regular reader of God Running, you know I often write about how to love people like Jesus loved people. Well in 2019 God gave Kathy and I many opportunities to do what I write about. To be honest, this year there were so many opportunities to demonstrate Jesus’ love to people, I sometimes longed for the quieter times of years past. But in the end, for both Kathy and me, the most fulfilling best happiest most meaningful times of 2019 were those times Kathy and I had a chance to pour Jesus’ love into people.
My hope is our experiences resulted in people giving themselves to Christ, and blog posts that were more helpful than ever.
Of course not all blog posts are created equal. Some were more useful than others, which is why I created this list.
Below you’ll find the blog posts that perhaps were most helpful to you in 2019 as measured by the total number of times you viewed them.
10) Damian Lillard, Steph Curry, and Bad Christian Examples It’s not about basketball. Not really.
9) “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” Jesus said that in John 14:14. Maybe you’re like me and there’s someone in your life who likes to use that verse to make fun of Christians. “‘Ask anything and I’ll do it,’ Jesus said. So ask for a corvette. Or ask for a million dollars and let’s see if God answers,” my frenemy use to say.
His comments used to make me wonder about this passage. But as is so often the case, after I read more of the Bible and understood the context, it made sense. The answer to the question of how this works is contained in this blog post.
8) Jesus and the 5 Love Languages: Chapter 17 from the new book Love Like Jesus coming January 2020 This blog post is on its way to becoming the most viewed post in years. While I was researching to write this book, I was thinking about how Jesus is never quoted as saying the words, “I love you.” So toward my goal to love people the way Jesus loved people, I decided to try it. For one week I took the phrase “I love you” out of my vocabulary. To see what happened during that week between Kathy and I, and to learn how Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too) check out this blog post. The book Love Like Jesus comes out in 2020. If you’re interested you can read more about it here: Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)
7) The 5th Day of Creation–The Holy Spirit and Bearing Fruit: Genesis 1:20-23 The one thing that changes everything when it comes to bearing fruit for Jesus is explained in this post. But it begins with the discussion of an amazing study conducted by marine biologists and the incredible finds they made.
6) Drunk and Naked–Love Covers a Multitude: Genesis 9:18-29 While the provocative title might have something to do with why this post is so popular, it includes a serious discussion of sin, and how Noah’s son Ham’s response to his father’s sin had repercussions that lasted for generations.
5) He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched–Genesis 32:22-32 Jacob swindled his brother out of his blessing and birthright. He was a conniving manipulator, that is, up until he was physically humbled. Find out how God used suffering in the life of Jacob, in the life of others, and in my own life too. Probably the most autobiographical post I’ve ever written. This material is expanded on in the book Love Like Jesus.
4) The Consequences of Ignoring God: God’s Way, Your Way, and Your Crushed Spirit Anxiety, fear, and depression can be caused by all sorts of reasons, but one of the primary reasons is often overlooked. Read about what happens to our hearts, souls, and spirits when we’re not paying close enough attention to Jesus.
3) Joseph’s 4 Steps to Success: Genesis 39:1-6 Joseph of the Old Testament went from the bottom of a pit (literally) to becoming the second most powerful person in ancient Egypt. How did he do that? Some of the steps that resulted in Joseph’s rise to success are shared in this blog post.
2) 10 Attributes of Jesus’ Relationship with his Father (and what we can learn from them) As the title indicates, ten attributes of Jesus’ relationship with his Father are shared and then this post looks at how these same attributes are present in Jesus’ disciples’ relationship with Jesus. And how we also need them present in our relationship with Jesus too. Finally, the implications these attributes have on the nature of effective evangelism is shared.
1) Joseph’s 5 Steps to Avoid Temptation: Genesis 39:6-23 Let’s be real. Temptation is everywhere these days. It’s never been easier to succumb to temptation, especially when it comes to pornography on a screen.
What Joseph could have said when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him might have sounded like this: “Come on, give me a break, this is a situation where an older woman is taking advantage of a young man. What do you expect someone my age to do, with hormones raging? How can I possibly resist?”
Joseph might have been tempted to embrace that mindset. Maybe you’re tempted to face temptation with that mindset too. But ultimately that wasn’t Joseph’s approach. He looked at it differently. To find out how Joseph successfully resisted sexual temptation (and how you can too) read Joseph’s 5 steps to Avoid Temptation.
Notes:
Image of couple reading their phones via ClearFrost — Creative Commons
