Yesterday, one of my pastor friends from Atlanta, Dr. Crawford Loritts, preached a sermon from Psalm 46. His main point was that, “sometimes it takes more faith to sit still than it does to move forward.” There’s no doubt in my mind that these past two months have tested our faith. Any time something enters our life that is not only unexpected but not desired, our faith is tested.
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More than I can say, I hate it, but it’s reality: I’m more easily influenced by people other than Jesus than I ever want to admit. And I’m a pastor. Shouldn’t I be an influencer rather than the influenced? A few years ago, when everyone in our culture started saying, “That’s awesome!” about something good or exciting, I followed suit. Hey, I’m an outgoing and enthusiastic, and extroverted guy who tends ...
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Many people grew up with an abusive father, negligent father, or an absent father. For some, tragedy struck and our fathers died way too early leaving some questions unanswered, conflicts unresolved, and memories never made. Thus, for countless squirming saints in the Church, the idea of having or even wanting an intimate relationship with God as “Father" is not only incomprehensible; it is altogether repulsive.
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God did not leave us on our own to try and figure out this Christian life thing on our own. He gave us the Spirit. If we fail to lean into him, we’ll never make it. Paul says, “If you live according to the flesh [that is, by the power of the flesh] you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you ...
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The entire message of the Bible is a message of grace, hope, forgiveness, and love – all unearned, ill deserved, and completely without condition! The love of God is reckless, pervasive, and unstoppable.
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A few years ago, I had a heart attack. Subsequent to that, my doctor and I have become “best friends.” He says that my good health is because of my genes, and I say it’s because of Jesus. My doctor has at least gotten to the point of saying, “Well, maybe some of both.”
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Jesus calls us, as his followers, to walk the same way that he walked. And that’s a very hard road. In Mark 8:34–9:1, Jesus realized how little the disciples understood of his ministry. They, like us, figured that following Jesus was a sure way to health, wealth, and happiness. It was within this context of misunderstanding that Jesus gave his hard teaching on discipleship.
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Jess Keller was my uncle and one of my heroes of the faith. He was one of those Christians who demonstrated servanthood every day I knew him. I always admired Jess, but we became especially close after my dad died. Jess immediately began serving me at that critical point in my life. He knew he could not replace my dad, but he wanted to be there for me as much ...
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The difference between wanting to be completely rid of guilt and wanting to be completely rid of sin is no small thing. Every normal person desires to not feel guilty. But to desire not to be sinful? That’s an entirely different matter. This is part of what makes the good news so good. In the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, we not only have the atoning blood provided, which ...
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Dread, and her ugly sisters, Guilt and Shame, have kept me up at night, sometimes made me the phoniest person in the room, have destroyed intimate relationships, and have taught me to play the part of a self-righteous Pharisee. And they have caused me to smile a sham smile, hide my tears and sadness, and stifle my laughter lest I seem shallow and silly.
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