Is Worry a Sin?
Our tendency to worry strikes at the very heart of what we worship, treasure, and adore.
Worry is often a combination of sin and suffering. It is important to understand what we mean by each. When you hear the word “sin,” it probably evokes images of high-handed disobedience. But sin is much more subtle than that. Sin is often a quiet, micro-moment when we shift our loyalty from God to something... Continue Reading
Grace in Glory
The prospect of grace in the future transforms how we cope with the present.
Writing at a time when the church found itself in extremis—when Christians were tempted to look only at their immediate circumstances—Peter issues a strong exhortation. He says, ‘Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ’... Continue Reading
When Everything Is Not Obvious
It only takes fives minutes on Twitter to realize that the best way forward is not patently obvious.
Let’s be mindful of what we truly know and of all the things we don’t really know. Along the same lines, let’s pray for our leaders to be men and women of wisdom and courage who want to do the right thing and the best thing no matter what it is and no matter who... Continue Reading
The Difference Christianity Makes
It often makes the difference between life and death.
This dedication to care for people in the face of danger has been common during the coronavirus pandemic. So common, it appears normal. But it’s not. In fact, the reactions we’ve seen to the coronavirus are the complete opposite of cultural attitudes toward disease and health care before Christianity began to spread around the world.... Continue Reading
Man is the Measure of All Things: The Scale of the Pandemic and Everything Else
The Son of Man is the true measure of all things.
We would do well to remember that when the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable God entered the world, he did so on a human scale. The cross upon which Christ died, and tomb in which he was laid, and from which he was raised, were both according to the measurement of a human being. The chair... Continue Reading
Pilgrims in a Pandemic
In a way, this pandemic has given us a wonderful opportunity.
In the midst of the heartache, the anxiety, the loss, God is working—always working—his beautiful plan for his glory and the good of his people. Coronavirus has, for a moment at least, stripped away the façade of this world’s system. This virus has shaken us loose from our addiction to all things worldly and can... Continue Reading
The Great Omission in Our Prayers of Thanksgiving: Chastisement
In the sunset years of my life I realize that my personal Great Omission is not thanking God for chastising me when I sin.
As I thank God for His chastisements in my life regardless of painfulness, I also remember and thank Him that Jesus Christ was pierced for my transgressions, crushed for my iniquities, and that He was chastened for my well-being, that by His scourging I’ve been healed. Thank God that “the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” “Whoever loves discipline... Continue Reading
The Nature of Unbelieving Thought
Choose this day whom you will serve!
The pressure to be neutral causes professing Christians to actually compromise while they never actually realize they are doing so. They may believe that their intellectual neutrality is compatible with a Christian profession, but actually, they are operating in terms of unbelief. Why is this so? 17 So this I say, and affirm together... Continue Reading
For the Church’s Sake, Don’t Let this Crisis Go to Waste- Part 2of 2 [7 Paradigms]
If we waste our crisis, we will quickly slip into old paradigms and have very little fruit to show for this time of suffering.
Crisis and suffering in scripture are never used as a means to better preserve what we consider normal. It is always used to realign the hearts and minds of God’s people to the purposes of God, a deepening through refining. If that doesn’t happen in times of testing, suffering or crisis- we are in danger... Continue Reading
Four Clarifying (I Hope) Thoughts on the Complementarian Conversation
Our theology must not be formed by personal anecdote or personal angst.
Manhood and womanhood cannot be reduced to authority and submission, or to leadership and nurture. But these things are meaningful expressions of what it means to be a man and a woman, rooted not just in the names we give to people but in nature itself. The expression of nature will not look identical in... Continue Reading