Category: Life Issues
Wearing Your Own Jersey and Being Unlike Mike in the Body of Christ
“Compared to the talented people in my church, I’m worthless. Maybe I should just stay home. They don’t really need me.” Have you ever thought like that? In a church culture that highlights certain gifts (like speaking) above all others, such feelings are common. Paul uses...
What to Do With Sin
Here’s a church-life guarantee: people sin. Sometimes, they even sin against you. We all know this. What we don’t always know is how to deal with it. In my experience, we tend to swing to one of two extremes. At times we confront sin in such...
What To Expect From Pastoral Counseling
The goal of all worthwhile Christian counseling is to help believers meet the challenges of life in a way that will please and honor the Lord. It is aimed at training believers how to walk without stumbling into, or how to recover from, patterns of sinful...
The Value of Arriving Early to Church Meetings
“If we had left just five minutes earlier, we wouldn’t be in this predicament,” you mutter to yourself, confident that you are going to arrive after the church meeting has started. You feel your heart racing. You dread the attention you are about to bring upon...
The Suffering Church: Meitei Believers
As I spoke by interpreter to the Meitei pastors and church planters in Bangladesh, I knew that I was training a special group of conscientious leaders. We met in a small mud chapel beside a devoted pastor’s home who had just died unexpectedly. They listened intently...
Watching Out for the Faith of Others
Paul had waited long enough. He just had to hear from the new believers he had left in the Macedonian capital city of Thessalonica—believers who were facing affliction for their commitment to Christ. Paul longed to see these new Christians face to face, but it wasn’t...
Waiting for a Ministry
It was John Wesley who said, “Don’t seek for a ministry, but seek for the fruit of a disciplined life.” In other words, pining away for a ministry is a waste of precious time. Rather, go deeper and God will use you in ways you haven’t...
The Care and Feeding of Flies
I just received this news about a Warren, Arkansas event, which took place 84 years ago. I’m sure that I’m the very latest one to receive this intelligence. Here it is: Mar. 3, 1914: Warren, Mar 2 – Yesterday closed the fly contest that has been...
The Particular Importance of Not Being Particularly Important – Or: Just be a Nobody
If you’re interested in being somebody in your life, think again. Chances are, Jesus is not on board. Take a step back to the 1st century and imagine a ruler of the Pharisees invites you to a Shabbat dinner. This is a meal that Jews observe...
The Fellowship Factor
Living for Christ Better by Loving Him Together Christians who hold each other accountable by regularly asking each other to confess sins they have committed are restraining each other from sinning. The knowledge that someone is going to ask you to tell the truth about your...
