Category: CHRISTIAN LIFE
The Friendships You Can’t Keep
Yes, friends you have are SO important . . . and your family. But what about the friendships you can’t seem to keep? First, make sure you are not the problem. I once knew a couple who owned a bookstore. You had to walk between them...
The Lot of Man vs. The Legacy of Christ
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting...
Talk about Others the Way You Want Others to Talk about You
A friend and her husband recently told me the story of how they met and married. One day, sometime before they moved into a serious relationship, he called her about something completely unrelated. The phone picked up, but he soon realized that it had answered by...
Overcoming Self-Consciousness
Self-consciousness is a destroyer of authentic Christian experience. We’ve all been singing in church when all of a sudden the thought races by: “Look at me here singing. I’m enjoying this.” And from that moment on your joy in singing is somehow less real than it...
Three Non-negotiables for Christians In the Upcoming Presidential Election
It is a blessing to live in a country where citizens are free to participate in the political process, deciding through a voting system who governs and, to some degree, how they govern. It is also a reality that even this comparatively good system is not...
Paraphrasing Scripture as a Way to Meditate
Like a beautiful landscape or a good song, the riches of biblical literature can be experienced in multiple ways. You can read it closely, pencil in hand. You can memorize it, mulling over the verses. You can listen to it taught. Or you can simply lie...
Production or Virtue?
We are fanatics for productivity. Some of us are like miniature corporations ticking off our project objectives and meeting our target points. And for many, productivity is the canon for self-evaluation. I started to realize this about myself early in my marriage when I would get...
Praying Specifically
My dad tells a story about an old deacon who was asked to pray during a church meeting. The man stood up and after other typical worn out phrases said, “Lord, we pray for all those for whom it is our duty to pray. Amen.” I...
Reclaiming Your Eyes from Pornography
I used to watch my dad brand cattle. I still remember the awful smell. The bovines would wail at the momentary pain, and the smoke from singed hair and burnt cowhide would rise into the afternoon sun. One by one the cattle would file through to...
Love is Dangerous
“And I will gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved” (2 Cor. 12:15). These are the words of the apostle Paul spoken to the church at Corinth, a church which he had founded...
