You don’t drift into Godlikeness. You don’t automatically become godly just because you are a Christian. For many years, I thought this way. I thought that God would pick me up and toss me into a place called “godliness.” Since I was justified by faith alone, surely I’d be sanctified by faith alone. After all, I didn’t want to be … Read More
When it comes to “godliness” most Christians come up short. Though the word “godly” is only mentioned about 25 times, the whole Bible is a book about godliness. Unfortunately, most evangelical commentators want to reduce its meaning to something like “devotion to God.” I believe its more like “Godlikeness.” For example, “friendliness” is more than a devotion to a friend. … Read More
On August 7, 2018, Kevin left the struggles of this earth and entered eternity. Kevin was born December 11, 1949 spending most of his life striving to appropriate Christ’s life into his own. In this struggle, he impacted thousands of lives towards a fuller faith in the Triune God, including mine. He will be eternally remembered by His Lord and … Read More
Every Spring, with the harsh winter behind her, Kathy begins to prepare her little plot of land for delicious vegetables. She tills and feeds the soil and makes sure the garden is protected from pesky deer. She can taste the greens and peas, tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers and squash as she plants the seeds and starter plants. Heavenly showers and … Read More
There are some mindless, trivializing Christian clichés floating around out there that drive me nuts. They are usually spoken by well-meaning people who are trying to sound piously assuring in the face of some difficulty. Or, they are meant to instill confidence in God when another’s faith may seem weak. Whatever the reason, they come off as banal platitudes from … Read More
Seeking to accept Jesus’ words with a heart and mind which are free from preconceived ideas, is practically unthinkable. We’ve been trained to make sense of such teachings, making sure we’re accurately interpreting Jesus’ words so we can understand them better. It’s my contention that the sayings of Jesus are given to us not primarily to understand but to practice, … Read More
Do you ever wonder why your life is so hard while others around you, even non-Christians, seem to have it so good? “Why do I struggle so much while my heathen neighbor seems to have it all?” These type of questions were also asked by Asaph, a musician and poet, who observed “the rich and famous” from his position as … Read More
Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11.29-30) [featured-image single_newwindow=”false”] These familiar and well-loved words … Read More
You can no longer ignore meeting with God. You’re too broken. You’re too busy. You’re too preoccupied. You’re living in a cesspool society. But, you need good reasons to do so…a powerful WHY that will inspire you to keep at it no matter what. You need a vision that resonates deep within that keeps calling to you in times of … Read More
Lately I’ve been doing some thinking about a couple labels used by insular people to critique the perceived insular perspectives of others – “small-minded” and “narrow-minded.” [featured-image single_newwindow=”false”] In a time when tolerance as a virtue is given supremacy in our culture, I wonder if Christian culture has also been influenced by this same mindset. It’s understandable how this can … Read More
