Prayer Perspective
We need to remember the greatness of the God to whom we pray. We often pray small prayers for small things because we’ve forgotten...
Real Biblical Love
“Love” may be a word we hear every day, but it’s rarely employed to describe anything resembling the virtue the Bible calls us to emulate. While there is nothing wrong with feeling good about the things, places, or people who make us feel good, the biblical concept of “love” is something entirely different...
Relativism
After recently preaching on the problem of relativism, I am reminded of just how pervasive, yet inconsistent, this way of thinking actually is. Many loudly insist that it doesn’t matter what you believe regarding religion, because, after all, “God is loving” and he wouldn’t conclude that anyone’s views about him are wrong. It doesn’t matter, they insist, if your beliefs don’t
If It Feels Good
Countless Christians have warned of the folly contained in the well-worn phrase, “If it feels good, do it!” But this warning should be applied to more than just the indulgent physical pleasures that would transgress the bounds of righteous and godly behavior. We ought also to be cautious...
Christianese
Every arena of life has its own vocabulary, whether we are talking to teammates in a sport’s league or to coworkers in our profession. Christianity is no different. Some of our specialized Christian vocabulary can be helpful, providing us with a kind of verbal shorthand for more efficient communication. But it is time we realize...
Rejoice Always
The Bible tells us to “rejoice” (Phil.4:4). While that may be expected, what comes next in that little verse is…
Spiritual Humility
Real spiritual growth requires humility. An accurate understanding of truth and its appropriate application takes place in those who humbly recognize their need for truth and change. These are the Christians who have learned to...
Receiving Correction
God’s word describes the wise person as one who is “open to reason” (Jms.3:17). The one Greek New Testament word that translates this phrase speaks to the attribute of a person who is willing to change his mind or behavior when presented with...
Body Parts
“The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,” the New Testament repeatedly tells us (cf. 1Cor.12:22). Of course, “the parts” God is trying to get us to appreciate are those people within the “body” of the church who are...
You are Rich
Some days, for any number of reasons, you may feel like you have nothing going for you. On days like that be sure to remember that as a Christian you are richer than you could ever imagine. Of course the riches I’m talking about are...
Building Bridges
Lots of Christians talk about “building bridges” with non-Christians. And I’m all for it. The problem, though, is that often once the bridge is built nothing of eternal significance is ever transported across. Intuitively many bridge builders don’t...
Parenting
Parenting is hard work. Particularly because we are called by God to direct and correct young human beings who are born sinners (Ps.51:5), by nature chafe against the instructions of God (Rom.8:7; 1Cor.2:14), and are obstinately focused on...
Work Ethic
How we work says a lot about our relationship with God. According to the Bible, Christians are to approach their employment as a service to the King of kings. We are told that regardless of who our employer might be...
Cost of Discipling
The Bible is realistic in presenting us with the costs of having a godly impact on others. God compares this work to that of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer in 2 Timothy 2:3-6. Farmers, of course, are known for...
True Truth
As many faithful defenders of the Christian faith have pointed out, the truths we speak of as Christians, are claims we assert to be “true truth”. We do not presume to be proffering religious preferences or personal values. We are boldly claiming...
Excuse Making
We live in a culture of excuses. Our generation is skilled at making them because excuses have become increasingly accepted as a means to evade blame and avoid responsibility. Excuse-making is nothing new. Adam and Eve are described as making...
Fight the Drift
Scripture reading twice a day, fervent daily prayers, and serious personal Bible study strongly urged for all—according to the student handbook of Harvard University, back in the days when the school was founded. Such an unexpected revelation of a “Christian past” could be followed by...
Absolute Truth
Truth is always true. Even so, it is amazing how many people seem to think it’s up for grabs. While we can reasonably reach an impasse as to which restaurant has “the best” Mexican food, when it comes to what you had for lunch yesterday there is a right and wrong answer. That’s the thing about “truth”...
Count It All Joy?
It is admittedly a challenge to “count it all joy, when you meet trials of various kinds” (Jms.1:2). But if we start by understanding that “counting it joy” is not the same as “enjoying” or “feeling good” about the painful situations in our lives, it may help us...
Life and Death
Death is a really big problem for us. The resurrection of Christ advertises to us the availability of the ultimate solution. Many misguided philosophers prefer to speak of the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection as metaphor...
Imaginary God
Often we struggle with a variety of verses in our Bible reading because they grate against our preconceived ideas about who we believe God to be. That would never happen if...
Fleeting Life
Talk about perspective! The lyrics of Psalm 39 boldly prompt the worshipper to consider the brief nature of his or her time here on earth...
Trusting God
God wants us to trust him. The Bible goes so far as to say, “without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6). Trusting God to forgive us, and having confidence in Christ to save us from the penalty of our sins is just the beginning (as the rest of Hebrews 11 goes on to illustrate). We face important opportunities to trust God when
Act Like a Child?
For people who prefer to think of themselves as intelligent, competent, and self-reliant (which is just about all of us), the following words of Jesus likely come as a shock: “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mk.10:15). No one likes to be considered childish...
Right Side of History
These days we often hear cultural pundits speak about the need for everyone to get “on the right side of history.” Now there’s some media commentary I can get behind. I am all for it! In a fundamental sense, calling people...
Sober Up
There is a kind of sober, vigilant, circumspect mindset that the Scripture consistently promotes and calls his people to maintain. Paul rebukes the Corinthians both metaphorically and literally: “Wake up...
Disparaging Words
It is almost impossible to get through a week without hearing one Christian disparage another. Unless we are personally invested in the conflict, we usually stand by feeling uncomfortable, while passively allowing our friend to “vent.” But the Bible tells us...
Help Wanted
God tells us in 2 Corinthians 9 that when we serve, sacrifice, or give for the good of his church there is a cascading series of positive effects that should encourage and motivate us to keep at it. He begins with...
Very Funny?
We all enjoy a good laugh. And God is quick to affirm the benefits of a cheerful heart and the appropriateness of laughter (Pr.15:13-15; Ec.3:4). However, he also found it necessary to warn us about the way that some types of humor can...
Careless Words
There’s no doubt that our internet culture has provided an increased sense of anonymity, which has prompted an onslaught of abrasive and even savage words that would rarely be uttered in person. Face-to-face communication has always...