Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
The residents of Jerusalem during King Josiah’s reign (640-609 BC) experienced a revival that came with a rediscovery of God’s previously ignored and misplaced Word. Zephaniah, a prophet, warned that enjoying the memory of a revival is not the same as living in response to God. The problem? The people of his day were ready …
Read More Spiritual ComplacencyAn email came last week that reported a conversation between a friend—call him Tom—and his unnamed colleague who told him, with emotion, that “the feelings are not to be trusted!” This confrontation of Tom’s “heresy” (his friend’s term) came because of Tom’s claim that underlying affections define all our thinking and choosing: we always do …
Read More Never trust your feelings!Jeremiah’s book is God’s spiritual and moral bristle brush: it always gives my soul a good scrub when I read it. God, as the prophet tells us, will confront sin. Chaos is coming. Why? Because national religious and political leaders all support evil: the evil of ignoring God’s words and ways. Jeremiah promises his readers …
Read More Stability in ChaosYears ago I met each week with five or six Christian men from two regional theological schools. In evangelical parlance it was an accountability group—a meeting that called for mutual reports on how we were doing in our self-designated ambitions to be holy and faithful men. Any reports of moral defeat or felt vulnerabilities in …
Read More Accountability GroupsToday in our Cor Deo meeting we spoke of Athanasius as one of the heroes of the faith. As bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, (328-373) he was sent into exile by various Roman emperors five times, so that of his 45 years in office he was away more than he was at home. Still he wrote …
Read More Heroes of the FaithChristians, if quizzed, will favor firm objective truth rather than loose subjectivity. If, for instance, believers are asked, “Do you know that God loves you?” most will respond with, “Yes, of course”. We can treat God’s love as an objective certainty affirmed in the Bible. But if the subjective question is asked, “Do you often …
Read More Faith and ExperiencePsalm 34 is attributed to David as his response to God after he played the madman before the king of Gath. One distich in the Psalm caught my attention in a new way: “My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.” I take it that David was aligning …
Read More Humility as a hearing aidFor the next while I’ll limit my blog entries to the every-other-week Cor Deo offering (the site I share with Peter Mead). As before, I’ll continue to offer a brief lead-in segment here and a link to that site when I do publish. My plan is to work on another writing project with the added …
Read More Gentle readers . . . a change to noteI recently reflected on some of the main spiritual pathways found among evangelicals today. Let me identify three broad sectors and offer a brief commentary on each. It’s still a preliminary work of reflection and readers are invited to look over my shoulder to offer comments. For the full post please go to our Cor …
Read More Current Options in SpiritualityThis morning I read in Exodus of Moses complaining to God about his inability to speak well. Moses had just been commissioned by God as a divine spokesman: he was to confront the king of Egypt on God’s behalf. I’ve always been curious about Moses’ complaint. Did he have a speech impediment? Or was it …
Read More Answering Inadequacy