The Difference between Guilt and Shame
Guilt and shame are the children of humanity.
Though Guilt and Shame are twins, born in the garden, only moments apart, they aren’t identical. Guilt is usually tied to an event: I did something bad. Shame is tied to a person: I am bad. Guilt is the wound. Shame is the scar. Guilt is isolated to the individual. Shame is contagious. In Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol,... Continue Reading
Will We Have Our Own Homes in Heaven?
“In my Father’s house are many rooms. . . . I am going there to prepare a place for you.”
The term room is cozy and intimate. The terms house or estate suggest spaciousness. That’s Heaven: a place both spacious and intimate. Some of us enjoy coziness, being in a private space. Others enjoy a large, wide-open space. Most of us enjoy both—and the New Earth will offer both. Perhaps you’re familiar with Christ’s promise in John 14: “In my... Continue Reading
The Joy of God’s Salvation
It is strange that joy so often seems to be missing from Christian experience and, more so, even from worship.
What we need is not ‘joy’ in some vague sense, or even a ‘joy’ that comes from ‘salvation’ in the multitude of ways this has been construed. Rather, the joy we need and the only joy that truly satisfies the human spirit is that which God alone can give, through his gracious salvation. In it... Continue Reading
The Most Underrated Spiritual Discipline
Given all the astonishing things that happen when I pray, why do I treat prayer so lightly?
Not only does God hear me when I pray, but he also strengthens me. In the midst of affliction, when I barely have the strength to call out to God, he hears me and strengthens me. He imparts real spiritual, emotional, and even physical strength to me. Prayer connects me to the infinite strength of... Continue Reading
The Comfort Found Only in the Church
When we have friendships in the church, we receive comfort and encouragement we can’t get anywhere else.
Based on this truth, the comfort we give to one another in the church isn’t the “you can do it” and “everything will be okay” comfort of the world. No, this comfort is honest about sin and its effects. It doesn’t sugarcoat or wish things away. Instead, it seeks hope and help outside of our... Continue Reading
The New View of Heaven Is Too Small
Our recent emphasis on “kingdom work” misses the real hope of the afterlife.
Heaven and earth will come together as Christ’s kingship is recognized by all creation. Moreover, we should embrace “the kingdom work” that calls us, as the revised song states. Yet, I also sense that we impoverish our hope for heaven when we turn it into an expression of our current activist emphasis upon “kingdom work.”... Continue Reading
Trusting God in the Face of Tragedy
We are called to live by faith, to trust God when we can’t see how it all works together for good.
Faith is all about trusting God when we don’t see the whole picture. When we don’t have all the answers – or any answers. When we don’t understand what God is doing. When we can’t even begin to imagine how something as horrific as this could possibly lead to the good of those who love... Continue Reading
It’s Just the Way I Am?
A Peace Treaty with Sin?
Instead of warring against the sinful passions of their own flesh, a person who believes that it’s possible to be a “carnal Christian” begins to think, “Well, I just have a temper [or insert any besetting sin here]. That’s just the way it is, and I can’t do anything about it.” In this same vein,... Continue Reading
A Liberating Theology?
As with Liberation Theology, Black Liberation Theology begins with the experience of oppression at the hands of oppressors and seeks to find liberation from it.
Liberation Theology seems to reinforce a victimology that perpetuates their oppression. It fails to deal with real personal sin while shifting blame to other corporate entities. It militates against true reconciliation. It can be argued that Liberation Theology has a deep compassion for the hurting, the marginalized, the poor, and the oppressed. But Liberation Theology... Continue Reading
Treasure in Earthen Vessels
A Christian is an earthen vessel whose weaknesses work to showcase the glory of the One who indwells him or her.
The question is not whether a believer will face difficulties and experience human weakness. The question is when. Will you trust that in those moments Christ is just as strong, just as glorious, just as much your Lord, life and Savior as He ever has been? Because He indwells every believer, and indwells you whose... Continue Reading