Why Pastors Should Read Fiction
you’re in a reflective line of work and that staring out of the window is in the job description. Reflect on things, consider them, turn them over. There’s always joy to be found for those who look for it.
The ‘classics’ which are generally more readable than time at school might have made you think, are typically good studies of character. These authors understood people and managed to describe them in ways that help us think about people and character. Living inside a guilty person’s head in Crime and Punishment is both exhausting and... Continue Reading
Patience is Grown Fruit
If you find yourself in such a season of waiting, embrace what is being grown in and through you.
Typically when we think of the fruit of the spirit we skip over a few of them. Love and joy get a lot of press time, but we don’t think a lot about patience. But there it is, alongside all the other traits the Holy Spirit is growing in us. And make no mistake –... Continue Reading
Ready to Lose
In ministry, and even in life, you have to be prepared to lose, and when you do, you must be prepared to handle it graciously.
All too often ministers who lose votes take it personally—they get offended. Worse yet, they fail to see how others could possibly disagree with them and thus believe that their colleagues have somehow compromised the truth because they opposed you. Years ago, I had my first experience as a parent sitting on the sidelines... Continue Reading
Why Should We Seek to Glorify God?
Do you know that your Father delights in you already? Do you walk in the paths of His pleasure? Or are you seeking to appease a God who you mistakenly believe is otherwise distant from you?
His desires, His will, His pleasure becomes our purpose. And in our very pursuit of God’s pleasure, God rejoices. He has actually told us so! Why else would He say to us in His Word: “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Ps. 147:11), and,... Continue Reading
Walking Through What Is Hard
Think of one act of obedience you have been putting off because it feels hard. Take a small step toward it today, and ask Christ to meet you there.
Jesus walked this road first. Obedience led Him through rejection and pain before it led to glory. He never hid the cost of following Him, but He never withdrew His presence either. That is what gives courage to quiet faithfulness. The kind that feels costly and unnoticed. God uses that steady obedience to strengthen souls,... Continue Reading
In Defense of Organized Religion
Three cheers for "organized religion"!
” . . . And on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” (ESV). I suppose that resistance to “organized religion” has probably been around since the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden. The hue and cry is, “You cannot trust the... Continue Reading
The Purpose of Proverbs (Prov. 1:1-7)
One memorable feature of Proverbs is the repeated exhortation to “get” wisdom, knowledge, and insight. We are called to “seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures” (2:4).
Proverbs exists in the canon so that God’s people might live in the joy of God’s presence. We could easily inscribe 1 Thessalonians 4:3 at the front of Solomon’s book: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification… .” Each of us is called by God to strive for “the holiness without which no... Continue Reading
Giving All Like Jesus (George Muller)
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”
He spoke with her at length, actually trying to persuade her to reconsider whether or not she should make such a sizeable donation. She replied earnestly: “The Lord Jesus has given His last drop of blood for me, and should I not give all the money I have? Rather than that the orphan house should... Continue Reading
How Christians Should Respond to Crises
Unlike the world, we return to the Fathers House.
We ought to throw open the doors of our sanctuaries and call the assembly of the saints! Gathering in twos and threes, tens or dozens to cry out to the Lord, reading His Word, praising, praying, and repenting for our sins and the sins committed by the nations against the Lord and His anointed (Psalm... Continue Reading
The Parable of the Dog and the New Master
The end of the dominion of sin.
On some mornings, the son would go out to feed the dog and the barking would stop for a few minutes. He spoke soothingly to the dog, using his new name, and the dog looked just quizzical instead of murderous. When the family arrived home in their car, the dog stood quietly behind his fence... Continue Reading
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