Photo by Omar Prestwich on Unsplash Grouchiness about other pastors’ churches? Their size? Their coolness? The number of conversions they see? Their creativity in programming, marketing, and sermons? Nope. Not me. Never. I promise. I’m always kingdom-minded and thankful for the work that God is doing in and through other churches. God tells us to…
Photo by Julio Rionaldo on Unsplash I don’t hate my sin like I know Jesus calls me to. I compare and contrast. I downplay. I fail to see at times the far-reaching effects of sin. I fail to see that just as God has created us as communal beings, my sin is also communal and has a negative…
I want to interact with those around me, respond to sin (either mine or others), and generally live in such a way that I put the good news of Jesus on display. Of course, I’ll never do this perfectly but I should strive to make everything I can in my personal life point to the…
No one enjoys feeling trapped. When you feel trapped, you feel suffocated, pressed in, like there’s no way to escape. Many Christians live feeling like they are trapped in sin. While we experience the joy of Christ changing us through the power of the Spirit, there always seems to be certain sins from which each…
Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash Passages for 1.5.20: Genesis 12-15; Psalm 148; Mark 5. In Mark 5:21-43 we read about two healings. The first was a woman with a twelve-year problem with a discharge of blood; she touched Jesus’ garment and was healed immediately. The other miracle was the resurrecting of Jairus’ daughter. In verse 23 Mark…
Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash A couple weeks ago I met with a friend who recommended John Newton’s book, “Letters of John Newton.” John Newton was once a strong advocate for the slave trade and lived a deeply immoral life as a sailor. Through the gospel, Jesus saved John Newton and used his life in a remarkable…
Not long ago my husband and I had a weekend that would make for great reading in parenting books. Multiple children required discipline for sinning against someone else, but the contrasting responses from two of our children in particular clearly displayed biblical truth. One child faced the consequences of speaking unkind words and name-calling: When…
Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash So maybe the above picture is a little bit of an embellishment when seeking to describe the conflict that happens in a lot of marriages? Or maybe it isn’t? My bride and I are going on seventeen years of marriage and though there are many roads of conflict we have often traveled,…
Photo by Mihai Stefan Photography from Pexels I want their spouse. I want their job. I want their notoriety. I want their well-behaved kids. I want their pedigree. I want their house. I want their influence. I want their skills. I want their discretionary income. I want their gifting in preaching. I want their church because it’s bigger…
Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash In 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You, author Tony Reinke says, “digital consumerism is directly at odds with many of the most fundamental convictions of the gospel. Spiritual authenticity is measured by faith in the unseen truth of God, not by confidence in the visible consumables of our age” (138). What does he…
Theology Along the Way 