The Peculiar Idol of Personal Opinion
It’s a time to quietly examine ourselves, to carefully consider the word of God, to refuse to build our thoughts and feelings into cheap idols to bow down to, remembering that God’s thoughts are so much higher.
We’ve learned to love the sound of our own voice and to love the feel of our personal feelings and to enjoy the thrill of putting ourselves on display on social media (whether we have anything godly or good to contribute or not). I know I’m being hard on us. But these are times that... Continue Reading
Then Comes the End
Even death will be extinguished so we have nothing to fear.
The conflicts of our day are not the time for Christians to be afraid. We must be willing to put ourselves in danger. Speaking the truth of Christ and biblical standards, especially when it comes to sexuality, will cause you problems. You will subject yourself to cancel culture. Your social media accounts could be censored... Continue Reading
The Skill of Living in the Future
The basic idea is to slow down and be thoughtful. Our hurried lifestyle works against this critical life skill.
With humility in hand, we imagine the future. The following questions help you do this. What are you doing that you want to remain private? Forecast into the future and imagine your life when the private becomes public, because it will become public. What have you learned from the funerals of the wise and funerals of the... Continue Reading
Beauty, Ethics and Worship
If beauty exists, and if the human being is made in God’s image, a dearth of beauty must produce both a thirst and an eventual demand.
The neglect of beauty within Christian liturgy and practice in the last century have had visible effects on Christian worship. The last one hundred years or so have been a less fruitful era for Christian expression in terms of music, poetry, literature, architecture, and the plastic arts. This lopsided emphasis on propositional truth may have... Continue Reading
3 Places Our Eyes Might Be Fixed, Other Than on Jesus
Fix your eyes, friends. Fix your eyes, and your steps will follow.
It is a good and right thing to ask the question, “What is God’s will for my life?” It’s a good thing, that is, until it’s not. That’s because a question like that can be paralyzing. We can devolve into running scenarios, looking for messages in the clouds, and second guessing every feeling we have... Continue Reading
Can the American Gospel Save America?
America needs less of American cultural religion and more of the Good News of Christ.
It’s not just the misuse of the Gospel to sell the consumerist ‘American dream’. Nor the way that politics and religion have become so intertwined in a state that was designed to prevent that happening. A W Tozer wrote in 1953,”The religion so common in the United States today, which confuses Caesar and makes Christianity... Continue Reading
God’s Word in Godless Times, or the Appearance of Godliness in Signaling Virtue
It is the Holy Scripture that God breathed out to be our authoritative, sufficient guide for life and godliness.
Lawlessness in our society is tragic. But what is worse is the failure and even complicity of so many Christians in the face of it. In their responses they have, as Paul puts it, an appearance of godliness that denies its power (v. 3:5). True godliness unashamedly declares what God has said and it does... Continue Reading
Who Gets to Define Terms?
If the goal is understanding and persuasion, we do well to consider what is heard as much as what is actually said and intended.
If our intention is to persuade others that what we mean is true, why would we camp out on a phrase so open to misinterpretation and that is frequently misheard as saying something altogether different? People may use whatever language they choose to use and it is not for the rest of us to dictate... Continue Reading
Now’s the Time for Rest
If we hope to endure without a burden of guilt or bad temper, we should rest.
Remember, the Christian calendar is like no other. Certain ancient calendars had no day of rest. The West typically follows a five-plus-two calendar: work five days, then enjoy a two-day weekend. The Jewish calendar is similar, with a six-plus-one pattern: “Six days you shall labor,” then Israel rested. By contrast, the Christian calendar is one... Continue Reading
Live Images Are Not Living Persons
Worship is more than communication: it is the communion of living persons with one another.
A Christianity that is still reeling from Enlightenment rationalism and from contemporary technopoly tends to see the faith in informational terms. Christianity becomes a set of ideas to be transmitted, and if one can see and hear what is being communicated, then worship is thought to be largely occurring. Everything can be reduced to sights... Continue Reading
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