One question often discussed among pastors is this: how can people attend solid Bible-teaching churches and not seem to make much progress in their growth as Christians? I’ve been mulling that one for a decade. I think an answer that deserves repeated attention is simple: emotions. Emotional immaturity is a barrier to overall spiritual health. So…
Read More
The changes in technology over the past 15 years are striking. Tops among those innovations is the smart phone. Its prevalence in our culture is reaching a saturation point – and Christians need to think seriously and deeply about what it’s doing to us. Here are a few observations. 1. Our phones nurture our innate narcissism …
Read More
I’ve been working my way through a book, that for me, is the best book I’ve read in 2017. It’s entitled, This is Our Time, by Trevin Wax. It’s all about helping us spot the longing and the lie in every story society tells. In one particular chapter, Wax camps in the arena of politics. It’s…
Read More
Sometimes our lives can be radically transformed by a monumental or traumatic event. Sometimes the death of a loved one wakes a person up to realities previously unconsidered. Sometimes a divorce causes a person to begin asking questions they weren’t before. Sometimes a positive life experience like marriage or becoming a parent radically shifts the…
Read More
We ALL feel the pressure to impress. I feel it. You feel it. We all feel it. In Genesis 27, Jacob felt the same. So much so he went to great lengths to impress his father. The method he used, is one we use frequently – whether or not we realize it is another issue. …
Read More
I don’t know that any society has had more options available to them over the course of human history than we do in the U.S. in 2017. As I scan my home office where I’m writing this, I see a door knob (attached to a door), a backpack, my phone, the computer I’m writing on…
Read More
God encouraged risk-taking. When you stop to think about what God was asking Abraham to do in Genesis 12, it really is unreasonable – according to conventional wisdom. God tells Abraham to leave home. Home represents everything that is familiar and comfortable. God says, “leave it behind.” That would be hard enough, but it gets…
Read More
The world is yet again numbed by the senseless atrocity of Las Vegas this week. Shock, horror and grief have gripped the U.S. Inevitably cascading from this deluge of killing are the questions: “Why?” “How?” “Who?” There are no shortage of Christian reflections on this, so this one isn’t intended to be all-encompassing that accounts…
Read More
This is one of Satan’s tactics. If he can get you think God isn’t really looking out for your interest; if he can get you think God isn’t good, then he’ll get you to think, “If I obey God about this or that, I won’t be happy.” Through the enemy’s attempt to disorient us, we…
Read More
It is my firm conviction Christian values have been more prized than the Christian gospel since America’s inception. That is, many of us get more excited over seeing our favorite political candidate win an election than we do over God saving a sinner. That’s why, by the way, the phrase “God and country” is able to garner energy…
Read More