Two Lives

by | Aug 16, 2026 | Articles, Mentors Corner

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life “(John 6:63). God has structured our existence with two lives:  1) the one that finds our hope in what we see, feel and experience in this lifetime and 2) the life of the Spirit, one characterized by a hope in the unseen. The first is a temporary hope because all that is seen eventually vanishes or rots away.  As a result, it is a hope that cannot be fulfilled.  Ironically, it is embraced and encouraged by the world and claims to reward those that seek it. It has an end.  It is dead (spiritually).  It leads to death (physically).  It is used by Satan to entice us and to deceive us.  It seems right but does not satisfy—It leaves us always wanting more. “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). In the end, this temporal life disappoints.  It is empty, void of any legitimate hope and meaningful purpose.   Ecclesiastes describes it as vanity, it is like a wasteland.  It promises much, but delivers only enough to keep you pursuing. Solomon presents a stark commentary on the realities of the hope in the temporal life, after having missed the life in the Spirit.  It is stark because man has sought to make the life of the temporal something it was never meant to be. It seems that hope in the temporal is ultimately so full of despair, its purpose is to guide us...

Humility and Gentleness

by | Aug 4, 2026 | Articles, Mentors Corner

“Walk in a manner worthy of the calling” is the call to believers out of Ephesians 4:1-8. We have a duty to uphold, being adopted sons of God and imitators of Christ. Humility is freedom from pride and arrogance. However, it is not thinking poorly of ourselves. Instead, humility is the recognition that everything we have comes from God, that we are sinners saved by grace, that we are not superior to others, and that God is the ultimate authority—not us. Humility must be learned, because our natural instinct is often to exalt ourselves. Philippians 2:3–8 gives a clear example of this humility in Christ. Paul tells believers to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but to regard others as more important than themselves. We are created to look out for our own interests, but we are also called to look for the interests of others. Jesus is the perfect picture of this. Though He existed in the form of God, He “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. ”Instead, He “emptied Himself”, took the form of a bond-servant, and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. That is maximum humility! The concept of being humble appears repeatedly throughout the Bible, and usually with an attached promise. For instance, James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” And, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE” in 1 Peter 5:5-6. This repeated lesson is simple: we must let God exalt us and avoid exalting ourselves. Gentleness is the...