The tragic story of Saul’s demise provides a powerful historical lesson for anyone aspiring to leadership: unconquered insecurity will corrupt the noblest of ambitions. Sadly, Saul’s error continues to be repeated generation after generation—even among Christian leaders. Shortly after I came to Christ over thirty years ago, I began associating with a Christian movement that […]
Rules, rules, rules! Do you ever feel that Christianity is nothing but legalism—the constant pressure to obey a long list of rules and obligations? If so, you’re missing the heart of what God wants to do in your life. Laws and rules tend to work from the outside in. The Holy Spirit works from the […]
Brrr! It is COLD in western Pennsylvania. Last night the temperature dropped to -9°. It hasn’t been that cold here in over 20 years! This morning, my car didn’t want to start any more than I wanted to go outside. Last night, during the news reports about our current “polar vortex”, a commercial kept airing […]
Friends of ours are in the process of rearing three very young children. With awesome hearts of love, they’re doing all that they can to raise physically and emotionally healthy children. There is a slight problem, however. Those cute little kids are expressing their own little wills, as all of us are wont to do. […]
You’ve seen it on TV! “Buy Product X and you’ll be beautiful forever! After all, it’s your only body and you are worth it!” In our culture physical beauty constitutes the highest form of personhood. While cultural norms may be vainly twisted, our physical bodies are obviously important—something we find to be painfully true when […]
Do you see it?When we enter into the New Covenant with and through Jesus Christ we enter into a sacred and binding relationship with all other true believers. Baptists, Catholics, Methodists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, etc. are all covenant brothers and sisters! What an intense thought! “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, […]
Through the last couple of posts we’ve seen that 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 (the Trinity) and that 1 + 1 = 1 (marriage). There remains one other of God’s mysterious math equations that stops me in my tracks with amazement. 1 + x = 1: where x represents not zero, but the […]
ONE–what a fascinating concept! Strangely enough, it has multiple meanings. Check out part of Webster’s definition (the rest isn’t exactly relevant to our current purposes): 1: being a single unit or thing 3 a : being the same in kind or quality <both of one species> b (1) : constituting a unified entity of two or […]
Demosthenes, the famous Greek orator once wisely stated, “Nothing is so easy as to deceive oneself; for what we wish, we readily believe.” Demosthenes understood something about the essence of human nature! Quite frankly I am amazed by our ability to rationalize our judgmental attitudes toward other Christians—especially those foolish enough to remain outside of […]
Up the Creek Without a Paddle? Without question the Church is currently losing the battle to shape American culture. The negative effects seem to taint every facet of society and all of our valiant efforts have been unable to reverse this terrible trend. We are especially paying the price in broken lives, both young and […]
