Your True Inheritance
In a previous post, I mentioned how Jesus is our true retirement—our true Sabbath rest that awaits us. As you think about riches, bank accounts, 401(k)s, and your finances in general, we need to remember that only what we have…
Tag Love
Seven Letters Seven Dangers: Speaking Truth
Dear Theophilus, You have been so inquisitive. Your questions demonstrate your great desire to learn more of the faith. However, allow me in this last letter to speak to you about one of the greatest dangers facing the church today.…
Seven Letters Seven Dangers: Sincerity
Dear Theophilus, Since God’s word makes abundantly clear that the human soul is “deceitfully sick, beyond cure”—that is, human cure—and that God alone knows it (Jeremiah 17:9), we are wholly incapable, on our own, of accurately discerning the biblical validity…
Monica of Tagaste – A Persistent Mother
Monica of Tagaste – A Persistent Mother Augustine was a difficult teenager, the kind that keeps parents up at night. The restlessness he would later describe in his Confessions was already evident at a young age, especially to his…
Seven Letters Seven Dangers: Pride
Dear Theophilus, Greetings in Jesus’ name! May his grace abound to you through his Spirit to the glory of the Father. As requested, I write to warn of a grave danger facing the church, namely, ungodly pride that leads to…
This is Your Time (God Has a Plan and Purpose to Every Season of Your Life Under Heaven)
What season did we recently enter? Spring. What comes next? Summer. Then what? Fall. Then what? Winter. And then? Spring. And so on until Christ’s Second Coming. The year’s seasons are cyclical—and somewhat predictable. So the seasons of our years…
Into the Abyss
Like nearly all the Christian Festivals (however many or few our particular churches may celebrate) the events marked by Easter can easily loom large on our horizons momentarily, only to be forgotten until the following year. If we allow ourselves…
Deconstructing Destruction in the Church: Interpersonal Conflict
I could tell the young man standing in front of me was deeply concerned. It didn’t take long to find out why. A friend of his from another church was having a difficult time with the church’s leadership. He felt…
Deconstructing Destruction in the Church: The Lord’s Supper
I once read a book about how to read good literature. The author made a clear assertion. He said a meal is never just a meal. Now, I am not a lit scholar. I don’t want to argue for the…
Deconstructing Destruction in the Church: Loving One Another
The Psalmist certainly professes a great truth when he remarks “how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.” But if we’re honest, this passage can often sound like an unattainable rhetorical ideal; not a commonly celebrated experience.…