If you are like most people, you like to laugh and have fun. And if you are like most people you seldom pray for God to help you have fun. If you are a teenager praying to God to have fun may appear counter-productive: what does God have to do with having fun? That is a really good question! As strange as it may seem, fun is God’s gift to us. If it was not for God we would have no clue that fun was even a thing! All the things that are good in life come from the hand of God. It is true that humans can distort the good things that God is given. But just because people […]
Monthly Archives: April 2019
It’s cloudy this morning. As the sun rises the thick cloud cover will break open to show the blue sky. This is typical for where I live and probably where you live as well. So, why write about something so ordinary? Because seeing God move the clouds is anything but ordinary! The Holy Spirit has made it a point in Scriptures to tell us that when we see the clouds move across the sky we are seeing God in action. Meteorologists explain how what begin as moisture rising to form clouds on one part of the continent may generate into a massive storm system that will impact locations thousands of miles away. Scripture fills in the rest of the story: […]
Relationships are the fuel of life. They bring out the very best and the very worst of who we are. Relationships are a gift that can give beauty, meaning, and purpose. But they can also be a weapon to hurt and damage our souls. Relationships bring joy and sorrow, healing and pain, hope and despair, fulfillment and emptiness, gain and loss. Why is it like this? How can the same thing be so good and awful, a blessing or a curse? The answer is not that complicated. Relationships that are lived with God’s care and love at the center become the richest of blessings. Life lived this way is consistent with the reality that all people are made in the […]
Three years of hope, gone. Jesus gave John, the only disciple with him at his death, final instructions about caring for his mother. Then Jesus spoke his final words — “It is finished.” To you and me, now, those are words of hope and wonder. Jesus did what was necessary to secure life for his sheep. “It is finished” means that our sins are forgiven, Jesus did the will of his Father. They are words of comfort and peace. But that is not likely what they meant on that Saturday to those who had followed Christ. In the distance, perhaps they could still see the three barren crosses. Their ears had heard the unique, precious words of their Teacher. Their […]
The Last Passover, the first Lord’s Supper, the intimate setting in the upper room, provides precious memories. But there is another memory of that night that we don’t recall so easily. It is a story that discloses the selfishness of the human heart. Just after the Lord’s Supper and just before Jesus goes to the garden to pray, the disciples manage to get into an argument that exposed the pride of their hearts. They were trying to figure out who among them might betray Jesus since he had just predicted that one of them would. Instead of standing with Christ or seeking God in prayer that the betrayer would repent, the disciples began to argue among themselves about who of […]
John records that at the end of his life Jesus said, “it is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. These are not the actions and words of a victim. Jesus was in control of his own death. He ended his life when it was the right time when he had finished what his Father asked him to do. No one took his life from him, he laid down of his own accord (John 10:17-18). The death of Jesus was not a random moment in time. He died in obedience when he had completed all that he had been given to do. This is what obedient love and sacrifice look like. Jesus is our Messiah because […]
You may think you know exactly who your enemy is. Your enemy is your unhappy spouse. Your enemy is your stubborn teenager. Your enemy is your ungrateful boss. Your enemy is your friend who said something you don’t like. Your enemy is the economy or the job market. Your enemy is your sickness. Your parents are your enemy. In short, you may think life is your enemy. The truth is that most of the time you are wrong. You are likely to believe the enemy is the people and circumstances you encounter. When this happens your energy is spent fighting the wrong target! You need God’s wisdom to identify your actual enemy, otherwise, you become like the fool in Proverbs […]
The resurrection of Jesus Christ has become a fairy tale in modern culture. Chocolate bunnies, new clothes, and Easter church services are all tolerated as a tip of the hat to an outdated myth. So, Easter break has become Spring break. This is Easter week. Does it still matter? The media will observe this week as a religious or traditional event. But it is doubtful there will be commentary that states the fate of the world depended upon a political prisoner 2,000 years ago. It is unlikely that you will hear that the decision of this prisoner, a radicalized carpenter, to suffer the pain of the cross was the defining moment in all of human history. If Christ had not […]
Dear Father, My dreams are too small, my desires too selfish, my actions too sinful. My focus and, too often, my prayers are about what I think is best. Father, you know my weak heart and doubting faith. I pray you would give me the courage to see that my life is about Christ. I need to follow his life and love you as he did on earth. I pray my life would be about adding to your reputation. I pray my focus would be consumed by showing gratitude for the grace and mercy given to me. Help me to make you attractive in the eyes of those who know me. Father, I confess that my energy is too often […]
Jesus died for you. He was resurrected for you. He gave you life. He gave you the opportunity to tell your kids how special he is to you. Jesus made a commitment to you. It’s personal! Do your kids know how special he is to you? Here is a way to let them know. You have caught your middle school child in a lie. You have confronted him with his lie and he has admitted it. Then you tell your child something like this: “Justin, I know what it is like to lie. When mommy was a little girl, I used to lie when I didn’t want to get in trouble. As a matter of fact, I lied all the […]