Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
Some Christians seem to bank on salvation as the spiritual equivalent of a catastrophic health insurance policy: good for the future disaster called death but hardly related to the small matters of life in the here and now. This, I suspect, is the fruit of an approach that drew many people to profess a Christian …
Read More How saved are we?Terry raised a question about prayer and, separately, Peter has been asked to speak on the same topic next weekend. So here is my own question: should I pray about writing a post on prayer, or should I just do it in response to Terry and as part of my ongoing conversation with Peter? Let …
Read More Praying affectively and effectivelyWhen we talk about Christian salvation does a belief in the Trinity really matter? Can’t we be saved just as readily if our view of God is less complicated. So why not dismiss the three-in-one confusion that comes with the Trinity and deal, instead, with an all-powerful monadic being? After all many would argue that …
Read More SalvationWe all rely on myths that offer rational and emotional support for our values, especially those values that are impossible to justify. I embrace a myth, for instance, that my little bit of walking in a day is enough to satisfy my need for healthy exercise. A recent contact with my doctor put that one …
Read More Myths & NobilityAs a lifelong single I see the marriages of my friends and family as a gift for learning more about life in Christ. Here is why. Marriage is not an end in itself but offers a picture of the ultimate marriage. Throughout the Bible God uses marriage to explain what it means to be united …
Read More Marriage and MinistryIn most relational settings we are free either to give or to take—to be consumers or to be resources. Whatever we do is a litmus of our standing with Christ—a conspicuous signal of real faith over against a mere profession. In Christ we regularly prefer giving over taking because our hearts have been reoriented by …
Read More Give or Take?Most of us, I suspect, assume that God’s love is best measured by the way he treats us. We look to our circumstances as evidence of God’s delight and approval. Enriched, gifted, or attractive folks are on God’s good side; those whose circumstances or abilities are marginal to poor must be on his bad side. …
Read More Measuring God’s LoveThis weekend all Christ’s followers remembered his death and resurrection once again. Yet the world at large retains its smothering skepticism about our claims that he is risen. We can hardly be surprised. Even his forewarned disciples doubted the first reports of an empty tomb as when Jesus scolded two of his disciples on the …
Read More A Healthy SkepticismI fear that too often Christianity is the product of social compliance rather than the fruit of Christ’s love in us. Wherever this is true the church loses her impact on the world. The solution? We need more stubborn lovers who are ready to dismiss a life of safe compliance in favor of a risky …
Read More Christian Compliance or Stubborn Love?I was reminded by Peter’s sermon tonight that blind people often have better sight than do the sighted. In Mark 10 the blind man, Bartimaeus, knew enough to call out to Jesus for healing and Jesus responded. The story of the man born blind in John 9 is another example. Jesus loves to give sight …
Read More Eye Opening Thoughts