Too often, my prayers seem to bounce back from the ceiling. Not sure about you, but I’m often left puzzled at how God answers prayers, or doesn’t. I know the cliché: he says yes, no, or later. However, a transcendent God shouldn’t, and can’t, be simplified into a three-option cliché. Maybe we can find more nuances in his responses. Maybe we need to…
Read MoreChaotic Devotions
I love Jesus. I appreciate personally knowing the transcendent Creator of the universe (one of my books, A Passionate Pursuit of God, focuses on this). I realize the need to nurture this relationship regularly. Not once a week, not even once a day, but moment by moment. And I’ve tried just about every method suggested by those who know. Daily devotion books. Christian living books. Study guides. Accountability partners. Practicing the presence. And they have all worked. Until…they didn’t. The flaw…
Read MoreDoing What We Most Desire
The face and name of a one-time date in my single days has faded, but a line she used seared itself into my memory. I mentioned that I wanted to do something, but wasn’t able to. She responded, “My big brother says we all do what we want.” I’ve pondered that, and concluded…
Read MoreWhy Worship Together?
Some lies have more truth than falsehood, which merely increases their danger. Such as, “I love God, but I can worship him just as well at the beach or the mountains.” I tend to agree, mountain trips often provide some of my best worship. Immersed in the transcendent beauty of God’s creation, away from the overpowering touch of man, my ego shrinks as I get lost in God. But if the truth in that quote becomes an excuse for not being in gathered weekly worship, then it becomes a dangerous lie. We eliminate part of what God designed worship to be. We decrease our godliness. Our preferences have more value…
Read MoreChoosing Our Response
Our world seems to be growing in harshness. Language has become more coarse and abusive, just look at much of social media. Road rage is frequently on the local news, and mass shootings have increased from 269 in 2014 to 647 in 2022 (four or more shot or killed, https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/). My mantra in earlier years was “don’t get mad, just get even.” I suspect many others share that. When wounded, we strike back: verbally or physically or economically or socially. Our search for “justice” merely increases bad behavior. And yes, that has
Read MoreTotal
A pastor friend embarked on preaching through the entire book of Matthew. Usually, he handles a chapter at a time, hinting at over half a year just on this one admittedly fine book of 28 chapters. But one day he examined only six verses of chapter six, covering just one topic in the Sermon on the Mount, composed of chapters five through seven. I hopped on a rabbit trail, wondering…
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I like metaphors, a comparison that helps us understand something we may not yet fully know with something we already know something about. And although I’ve followed God for 52 years, many aspects of him remain hazy, uncertain, even unknowable. But what’s around us can give us some hints, like…
Read MoreSpiritual Anemia--a Fix
A fellow teacher who struggles with anemia posted this on Facebook, “Why am I so exhausted after only teaching two days? Oh boy.” I understand; I taught also. But a more significant anemia is the spiritual one that so infects American Christianity. We lack energy and motivation for the things of God. We care, but not deeply. We serve, but not joyfully. We give, but not sacrificially.
The antidote may be found in a…
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