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…
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…
My friend took his life two weeks ago. When I read the news, I felt as if I was standing on a shifting fault line. My stomach ignited and sent its flaming fingers up my chest and grabbed hold of my throat, choking each attempted breath. These reactions racked my body as I tried to…
Soteriology refers to the doctrine of salvation. Under this particular theological category, one finds a number of topics. For instance, the doctrine of conversion falls here. Then, under the doctrine of conversion, one finds discussions of faith and repentance. Often these two elements (faith and repentance) are discussed as two sides of the one coin…
A friend of mine recently called with a confession. Though married, he had gratified himself after fixating on a tantalizing visual image he came across while at work. He was broken. He was frustrated. And he was confused about where he was to go from here. Have you ever been there? Have you ever wrestled…
This brother who wrote this is marked with a gospel security, humility, clarity and power that is deeply encouraging, challenging and refreshing. This is a POWERFUL word from this pastor on many, many levels…confession, speaking the truth in love, accountability, sin, repentance, the power of the gospel, humility, husbandry, pastoring, etc. I can’t say enough…
This is taken from Rico Tice’s book, Honest Evangelism: how to talk about Jesus even when it’s tough. He writes, Mark 8 v 14 is Jesus’ description of what it will mean to follow him. It is on that no public relations expert or marketing department would ever come up with: ‘Whoever wants to by my…
This is taken from Rico Tice’s book, Honest Evangelism: how to talk about Jesus even when it’s tough. He writes, Mark 8 v 14 is Jesus’ description of what it will mean to follow him. It is on that no public relations expert or marketing department would ever come up with: ‘Whoever wants to by my…
Sin, as a label for our natural state before God, signifies rebellion, defilement, condemnation, and slavery. Rebellion: all persons resent, defy, evade, belittle, ignore, and disobey God in way or another, every day of our lives. Defilement: all persons are unclean — dirty, to say it straight out — in God’s sight; we are offensive…
Michael Horton’s book The Gospel-Driven Life has some good thoughts on repentance I wanted to pass on. Horton starts by quoting Psalm 51:1-9, David’s prayer of confession and then cites four features of David’s repentant spirit. They are: David is not simply ashamed of his behavior but guilty (pp. 119). Though David has sinned cruelly against Bathsheba and…
Theology Along the Way 