Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
The bold progressives were venting their spleen at the old man. In their view Jerry, the target, was a peddler of the past. He had resisted their vision for a secure future: a vision that included moving to a new setting—to a lush and gated suburb of Cairo—and building a strong new faith. As we …
Read More Sorting Spiritual VoicesPaul is blunt: anyone outside the faith is as thick as a brick about God. Without faith no one will ever grasp God’s ways or wisdom. Even if they happen to be otherwise bright and able. Yet once faith comes alive the promise of Isaiah 64:4 is available to all: “‘What no eye has seen, …
Read More What God has preparedLet’s play with words for a moment. We speak of feeling sheepish in the embarrassed moments after an obvious mistake. But what if we apply “sheepish” to the quality of human character God finds attractive? God often refers to believers as his sheep but not as his lions, horses, camels, ferrets, or wolves. Is there …
Read More Sheepish thoughtsA growing field in Christian missions is called member care ministry. Workers in this field help global workers—missionaries—with emotional and spiritual hurts that have come from their time in ministry. Our question for today, then, is: Why the wounds? And who’s doing the damage? We may have heard the easy answer to the Why question: …
Read More Is the Spirit in?Our question for the day: how pragmatic can we be as followers of Christ without losing our credibility? Is there, in other words, such a thing as a pragmatic faith? Or are the terms an oxymoron and the stuff of hypocrisy? Faith, we know, is a response of trusting obedience to God and his word. …
Read More Pragmatic FaithA few years ago at an academic conference in San Antonio I sat in on a debate between a scholar who had just offered a paper on the reformer John Calvin and a questioner in the audience. The presenter had argued that Calvin’s ideas were “pre-critical.” The questioner respectfully disagreed; and a productive exchange went …
Read More Comfortably non-CartesianI confess: in days past I’ve used a laser pointer with our family cat. You know the trick. A jiggling laser dot on the floor can entertain us and frustrate a bewildered pet for minutes at a time. It only takes a bit of human perversity and the cat’s preying instincts to have Mitsy pouncing …
Read More Chasing DotsHow many of us grew up with a “grumpy God” syndrome. I’m thinking mainly of those among us who have a rigorous religious heritage. So that the child’s Christmas question of “who’s been naughty or nice” is a year-round preoccupation. And God is the great moral inspector in the sky. If that’s you, consider having …
Read More An InvitationI have a question about selfishness. Is it useful or destructive? Let’s set aside any in-between options as unhelpful. The question isn’t about gray uncertainties but about trajectory. What’s the basic direction of our ongoing choices? So, once again, is it ever okay to follow the selfish path, or does that path always lead to …
Read More A question of faithThe final verse of the book of Revelation—and the completion of my read-through—ended with a double calling: “Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.” Jesus is the focus of both calls—one that speaks of the future and the other of the present. In the first call John exhorts Jesus …
Read More “Come, Lord Jesus!”