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
Some of Scripture’s strongest encouragements come in the middle of some of its darkest passages. 2 Peter 2:1-11 is one such passage. It contains one of the darkest and most foreboding condemnations of false teachers, but Peter wrote it to encourage us. We see this when we get to verse nine, but to truly appreciate … Continue reading Bright Hope on a Dark Canvas
We may say we are fully content with God and that he is all we need, but we all wrestle with certain sinful attitudes and behaviors that communicate otherwise. They are characteristics incompatible with fulfillment in God, but there is hope. The more we grow in Christian contentment, the more these tendencies will lose their … Continue reading 8 Characteristics Incompatible with Christian Contentment
They were gaining on me. Every breath I took was weighed down by the awareness that they were close behind. I had entered at the narrow gate, but somehow, they had managed to follow me onto the path. I could hear their taunts. Every one of their footsteps was like the sound of a war … Continue reading Enemies on the Narrow Road
"Strive to enter in at the narrow gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able!" Luke 13:24 This is the only gate which leads to pardon of sin, peace with God, and Heaven. Whoever goes in by this gate, shall be saved. Never, surely, was a gate more needed! Sin … Continue reading A Gate Made for Sinners
Peter delivers a succinct yet profound directive to believers in 1 Peter 4:7. He tells us, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.” However, many misread Peter’s primary point—they lose it in the details. While many interpret Peter’s main instruction as a call … Continue reading Prayer as an Indicator of Spiritual Health
The Fight of Faith 