Repentance: uncomfortable and avoided whenever possible (at least that is the way Christians often look at the practice). So much so, that Martin Luther’s first of 95 theses—that “the entire life of believers [is] to be one of repentance”—can sound, even to Protestant...

My Muslim friend and I sat across the table from one another, enjoying gyros at a little Greek spot that had just opened. It was an exercise in co-education, each of us thoroughly convinced of our religious convictions yet wanting to be sure we heard opposing viewpoints accurately. So the Christian...

My neighborhood is one big loop with homes on each side. It’s an older neighborhood, filled with mature trees that, when covered in leaves, provide almost zero visibility for neighborhood happenings. But I can see all the way around our loop in the winter when deciduous trees stand bare. It...

I am an inerrantist. I believe that the Bible is truthful and without error in every part. But there are two verses that challenge my inerrantist views. No, I’m not quibbling with Metzger or Aland on a textual-critical issue . And I’m not falling prey to some sort of silly trajectory...

You’d think Pavlov invented it, that characteristic sound of a new instant message, the "buh-ding." That’s what Jack heard in his cubicle that morning, before caffeine had cleared the fog in his head. He clicked over to his messenger application as routinely as if distraction...

Lisa sat there, one eye squinting a bit and her heart aflutter but she couldn’t tell if it was a good flutter or not. Romantic relationships are like that. You expect to know exactly how you’ll feel at those crucial moments, and then, when they come or might be coming, it’s...

The luxury of the unexamined life is never the luxury of the Christian. Self-examination and a preaching of the Gospel to your own heart is the duty of every Christian--always. The times during which Christians find themselves in most trouble are the times when they think that they have arrived at...

I’ve been in ministry long enough now (well over a decade) to see friends enter the ministry and then leave it. Some of those exits have been for honorable reasons and some for dishonorable. I serve on two credentialing committees and have coached a few church planters over the years. I wish...

I wish I knew what Peter was thinking when he was looking at Paul--a ministerial acquaintance at best--who was now confronting him publicly. Yes, publicly. At least some portion of the Antioch Church was looking on as it unfolded. Was Peter shocked, dumbstruck, mouth agape? Was he incredulous,...

The Psalms form the largest corpus of one of the most unique genres within the biblical canon, namely, the genre of song and poetry. Evangelical Christians tend to neglect that genre for different reasons. In our post-Reformation, post-enlightenment Western way of thinking, most of us think that...

As a pastor, I have a deep desire for my congregation to grow as a welcoming and inviting community. Humanly speaking, we feel good to be invited. Whether it is a party, a wedding, or just a meal shared with friends, the very experience of receiving an invitation communicates value and belonging...

Whenever I’m leading the first few meetings of a small group or discussion group, I like to say, “You all can talk or I can talk. I prefer that you talk but I have no problem filling space with words, after all, I’m a pastor.” We all laugh and after a few people take me up...

Discouragement. Fear. Doubt. These three harbingers of anxiety may not have been Paul's “thorn in the flesh” but for most of us they remain as constant reminders of a fallen world still in need of mending. At the same time these negative emotions give us ample opportunity to look to...

I'm the sort of person who tends to focus on different aspects of theology, life, and ministry during various seasons of study. At the beginning of last year I decided to delve into the topic of "union with Christ." I had been interested in that area of study for quite some time,...

In December of 2013 we saw the cultural memorializing of two significant events—the first was the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting, and the second, the death of Nelson Mandela. Both events, set in the context of death, stand in opposition to one another. One was a sad reminder of a...

Words mean different things in different contexts. If I tell you that my favorite college basketball player is "on fire," either I'm telling you that he is running up the score or that we should be looking for a fire extinguisher. This isn’t anything specific to the English...

We find an unexpected tension in the middle of Luke’s record of the Acts of the Apostles. The early disciples were trying to figure out how their Old Testament theology finds fulfillment in Jesus while practically attempting to disciple thousands of new converts. These were exciting times,...