At Hopewell Counseling, Dr. Irv and I use the Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis personality assessment to help clients gain personal insight. One of the nine common personality traits assessed is Dominant vs. Submissive. A healthy personality scores moderately high on dominance without being extreme. Submissive in the context of the TJTA means passive, compliant, and dependent. It does not refer to Biblical submission which is a proactive, intelligent choice to place oneself under the authority of a competent and benevolent leader. A dominant person takes appropriate responsibility for themselves and others who are under their legitimate authority without being bossy and abusive. The passive, doormat type of submission doesn’t take ...

God loves relationships. He is in a relationship within the Godhead. He created Adam and Eve to be in a relationship with Him as well as with one another. He wants a relationship with you and me. What stands in the way? Our sin. Until our sin is dealt with we cannot have a relationship with God. We need a savior, a sin-bearer, someone to atone for our sin. That’s where Jesus Christ comes in. He is the sin-bearer, the only way to have a relationship with God. If we would have a relationship with God we must come through Jesus Christ. 

God loves relationships. Next to this article is a diagram of family relationships. It is in the form of concentric circles of relationships. Let me explain it. At the center, the bullseye of the ...

All of us get angry at times and rightly so. Anger is woven into our emotional makeup. We are made in the image of God (imago dei) and God gets angry. He is a wrathful God. The problem is that His anger is always righteous being directed at sin and unrighteousness. Our anger is seldom righteous or godly. We become angry when our goals are frustrated, when someone fails or disappoints us, when we feel wronged or experience a perceived injustice, or when we don’t get our way. Anger is not the problem. Our motive and attitudes are. As a side note, you aren’t angry because you inherited a short fuse from one of your parents or because of your nationality (Polish, Irish, Italian, etc.). You make the choice to become angry.

Anger can...

Why was Jesus born? Most of us would answer that He was born to die. That is true. He was born to die. He was born to be the perfect sin sacrifice for sinners. He did not come to die by happenstance or accident. He came in the “fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4). He came at the Father’s behest and according to His eternal timetable.

In what way was Jesus born in the fullness of time? Here are some thoughts. The Bible prophesied that the Messiah would die by crucifixion (Psalm 22:16, Zechariah 12:10). Crucifixion was the Roman’s primary mode of execution for those judged guilty and condemned to death. The Romans crucified the guilty; Jews did not. Jews stoned those condemned to death. Jesus was born during the Roman ...