Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
Two questions. First, what do we want from God? And second, what does God want from us? As a courtesy, let’s take the second question first. Because God, as Creator, has honor over his creation. This shows my bias as a Christian. What does God want? To start I’ll chase a variety of options. Each …
Read More What God wantsThe Bible gives readers a repeated alert, “Then you will know that I am the LORD.” Over seventy times. In both the Old and New Testaments. It’s spoken by prophets as from God himself, and it’s meant mainly for self-assured skeptics. Or quietly indifferent agnostics. Should we pay attention? Of course. It’s profoundly important. If …
Read More “Then you will know”Let’s revisit our ongoing discussion of faith. It’s how humans, once dead, come alive to God. John’s gospel is a workbook on faith—or, as he prefers, on “belief” in Christ. Early in John’s gospel Nicodemus came to Jesus for spiritual coaching. And Jesus, citing Numbers 21, simply told him to “look and live” in John …
Read More Living FaithConsider Psalm 2:12. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” We’re surprised to find God’s Son cited in an Old Testament setting. Christians later recognize the Son to be Jesus of Nazareth, as in Acts …
Read More “Kiss the Son”I’m in a coffee shop as I’m writing this, and some man just got into my car outside! I had my IRS tax return payment sitting on the passenger seat. The auto-lock door hadn’t worked! So I jumped up, and as I got outside the man was already getting out. “Sorry!” he said as he …
Read More Disrupted LivesI sailed on the Queen Mary 2 recently. The first morning out I sat in the library watching waves reach to the horizon, with companion clouds. A few seabirds floated above the ship’s bow. It was a quiet, pleasant scene. But after an hour boredom came trolling. A ship on the ocean is all too …
Read More Empty EyesA small chain of four links sits in my left front pocket. Reminders of the four bonds in 2 Timothy 2:1-2. “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you [1] have heard from me [2] in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men [3], …
Read More ChainlinksThe Spirit is God’s bond of love. It’s who he is and what he does. Yet he’s fully personal, with feelings, intentions, and actions. He prefers transparency in his role of elevating others, in forming union, and sustaining unity. So the Father loves the Son, and the Son in turn loves the Father, with the …
Read More You & me togetherDecades ago, in 1987, I sent an article on Bible reading off to a magazine [the Moody Monthly] and it was published. I’ve maintained a slightly updated version on a separate page of this site as “Bible read throughs.” I’ve now scrubbed it up a bit, but without changing the basic content. Here’s the new …
Read More Make this the year!How does faith reshape our appetite for freedom? Freedom has been a human ambition from Adam and Eve onward. It’s ironic, given our deep reliance on others: in being birthed and raised; in learning; in work, family, and daily needs; and in our final interment. There is a healthy impulse to leave home to enter …
Read More Dependent Hearts