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…
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…
Here are a few lessons Psalm 51 teaches us about God: He is just in His judgments. Our sins our before Him and against Him. He breaks our bones and convicts us of sin. Then He restores us so we can rejoice in our salvation. His mercy is abundant. His love is steady and enduring.…
Measuring spiritual growth appears to be an unspiritual endeavor but it is indeed spiritual and a Jesus-honoring endeavor. We see Paul telling the believers in Thessalonica to keep doing good and excel at it (see 1 Thessalonians 4:10), as well as Jesus exhorting His disciples to bear much fruit (see John 15:1-8). And the references…
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…
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash Here’s a short word from Timothy Keller on Christians friendships: Christian friends are not only to honestly confess their own sins to each other (James 5:16), but they are to lovingly point out their friend’s sins if he or she is blind to them (Romans 15:14). You should give your Christian friends…
Photo by Callum Chapman on Unsplash The book of Jonah is a good reminder to obey and trust God. But how often do we read it and still think we’re not like Jonah? I mean, he literally attempted to run from God, traveling the opposite direction God told him to go. We laugh when we read that because…
Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash Before you accuse me of not taking ownership of my sin, hear me out. Timothy Keller said, “the functional cause of our discontent is that our loves are ‘out of order.’” Keller is quoting Augustine who said that our issues are reduced to disordered loves. What does Augustine mean by disordered loves?…
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…
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…
Theology Along the Way 