UBC Wed For Life

The Word of God is powerful and capable of bringing monumental change to the lives of those who heed it and the world at large. The Bible, which is the Word, compares it to a sword. For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12 In the above verse, the comparison is meant to illustrate how profound the impact can be when someone encounters the Word. It is interesting that the verse mentions a “double-edged” sword in particular. We commonly use double-edged swords as metaphors to describe something else. Typically, we are saying that something is capable of both helping or hurting depending on how its used. That more commonly used sword-based metaphor is also true for God’s Word. We as Christians believe the Word can save. That is God’s purpose for his Word. It was written to give us knowledge of his Son and ...

When reading the Bible, you’ve likely noticed a number of differences between the Old and New Testaments. One in particular might have stood out to you. The Old Testament books are largely narrative in nature. Most of them tell stories or series of stories about God, the trials of the Israelites, great prophets, and several other topics. The New Testament starts off similarly as the Gospels tell the story of Jesus and the Book of Acts recounts the events following the death of Jesus. However, immediately after that the nature of the books changes. Instead, of narratives, we get letters from several prominent figures from the era when Christianity first came to be. Paul is one of the most notable characters in the New Testament. While his story is told in the Book of Acts, his real prominence in the New Testament comes from the inclusion of so many of his letters. Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians w...

Love is the last of the things Peter stated needs to be added to our Faith. In the previous entry, we discussed mutual affection and how it is essentially the most basic way that humans understand love. Mutual affection isn’t the same as God’s love, but if we learn how to extend the affection that we feel for family and friends to our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are in effect learning how to reduce the conditions required for our affection. However, God’s love is unconditional, so to truly fulfill the order Peter laid out, we have to learn to love like God, without condition. Paul explains how such a love should look. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Perhaps we al...