No matter what way you slice it, our definition of success is different than God’s definition of success. The problem that we run into with success, as with many other areas, is that we seem to lay our definitions over God’s Word. As churches, we often turn to different gimmicks to get some type of visible results, while the scriptures are clear that God will and is building His church. (Matthew 16:18) As individuals, we are constantly seeking steps into a so called ‘victorious’ Christian life, and quickly forget how Christ measures success in this life. CS Lewis emphasized this when he said, “It is not [our] business to succeed.” 1 This increasingly true with those that would proclaim that we can live a “victorious Christian life” over sin and become what is deemed a Spirit-filled Christian. While the fact of the matter is that this concept is not only foreign to scripture but has disastrous effects on the lives of believers. This mindset will inevitably lead to one of two desti...

“SIX INCHES!” This was the standard rule for members of the opposite sex through most of my childhood and into my teenage years. Touching was prohibited, which left even a handshake or high five with a girl seem oddly inappropriate. The basis for this was from a passage of scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter seven, and as far as verses that were to be memorized, it ranked right up there with John 3:16. This verse reads, “Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.  Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.” (1 Corinthians 7:1,2) The reasoning that was given for this statement was that since committing fornication requires touching, Paul is saying that the best way to avoid fornication is unmarried people to keep from touching each other. But the question that a study of the text, in context, brings is, “Did Paul really say that it is good for a man not to touch a w...