Category: Spiritual Growth
Obedient from the Heart
Why do you think Jesus can confidently say “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27)? Or, how can he say “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15)? How can John confidently say, “By this...
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...
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...
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...
Writing Down Our Thoughts
It is a well-known fact that the spiritually facile New England pastor and revival leader, Jonathan Edwards, was taught by his father to write down almost every new thought he had, a method he practiced throughout his life. His “Miscellanies” are now an invaluable source of...
Words Hold Remarkable Power
“I am but an ordinary Man. The Times alone have destined me to Fame—and even these have not been able to give me, much…Yet some great Events, some cutting Expressions, some mean Hypocrisies, have at Times, thrown this Assemblage of Sloth, Sleep, and littleness into Rage...
Why Read a Good Book?
As an old man Paul directed Timothy to “bring the books, but especially the parchments” on his return trip. Luther, who wrote a book or large tract every two weeks from 1519 until the end of his life, said “Printing is the highest and ultimate gift...
What Do You Love About Jesus?
It’s easy to profess to be a Christian based on church attendance, a sinner’s prayer once prayed, a baptism, or a family tradition, but none of these are reliable tests of your profession of faith in Christ. One’s claim to know Christ becomes less flippant when...
