Sin wants us to itself. We find this heart-stopping line in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic work, Life Together. “Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in … Continue reading Sin Wants Us Isolated
Jesus will pronounce many people "unclean" when they stand before him, because they do not accept the deeper teaching of this verse. -Click to Read More
Look on yonder yet There’s work still to be done Look on yonder yet The risen one has yet to come See the work dog carry on See the songbird build its nest See the old horse, weary, yawn Their time’s not come to rest -CLICK TO READ MORE
I am concerned that our preponderance of virtual activity affects us more than we realize, especially concerning the church. Context is crucial when it comes to worship; let me give an example. If I were sitting alone at my kitchen table and took a small piece of bread and gave it to my dog, it … Continue reading The Sacrifices of Virtual Church
To borrow language from John Calvin, both “useless drones and faithful ministers” find their way into pulpits, and we must carefully distinguish between them. As believers, we must discover faithful ministers and place ourselves under their ministry. Still, we must be aware that there are others out there who have a form of godliness but … Continue reading 6 Characteristics of False Teachers
There is something about me that always wants to be in control. If I am sick, I want to outlearn the disease and overcome it. If relationships start to fail, I want to be able to charm them back to life. We all desire control. I think this is why we buy into so many … Continue reading Finding Peace Beyond the Illusion of Control
The following is an excerpt from a letter from John Berridge to a fellow minister who had recently injured himself in a bad fall. Dear Sir, I received your letter, and dare not say that I am sorry for your fall, nor indeed for any afflictions that God lays on His children; they are tokens … Continue reading Fierce Furnace, Gentle Grace
The good times are to be expected, and the hard times are surprising and strange. Perhaps that unconscious assumption is causing us grief. In his book Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry describes the “old-timers” in a way that seems lost on many people today. He says: “As much as any of the old-timers, he regarded the Depression … Continue reading Finding Strength in Hard Times
One of the most perplexing questions of the faith is this, “Why doesn’t God just reveal Himself? Why does He require us to believe what we can’t see?” It certainly would seem much easier to be a Christian if we could look up and see Jesus looking down at us. The preparations required to debate … Continue reading Why Does God Require Faith Without Sight?
Standing at my window one day, while the cholera was raging in London, I saw two corpses carried by, followed by one little child, walking alone next to the coffins, with a few neighbors behind. That child was now an orphan. Both parents had been carried off by the pestilence. The sight of that child … Continue reading Spiritual Orphans: Forgetting our Heavenly Father
The Fight of Faith 