I few years ago, I was asked to speak at a weekend men’s retreat. I got to spend time with a group of men from a church in Bentonville, Arkansas. We talked about priorities; we discussed discouragement. The group discussion returned several times to an illustration I use to describe our Christian lives. I begin …
Category Archives: Christian living
Word for Today: “Surrender” to what counts
You will never be worth much to God in your Christian life until you learn to surrender to what counts. The spiritual disciplines must include surrender. In fact, surrender may be first, the foundation of every other discipline. Surrender is the ultimate expression of thinking like Jesus (Philippians 2:5). Until we learn the lesson of …
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Casinos and 1 Thessalonians 5:17
I couldn’t help but notice–the car entered the interstate next to the Firelake Casino at a very high rate of speed. First thought–I wondered if the driver was mad because he had just lost a lot of money. On second thought, “Probably just a coincidence. Perhaps the driver lives nearby.” He sped up enough to squeeze …
Living Under the Lordship of Jesus
Interesting conversation–a friend and I were talking about our experiences in visiting other locations on mission trips. His comment, “They live as though Jesus really is their King!” Wow! What does it mean to live the Christian life? Surely it is more than worship attendance, or more than worship plus some prayer and regular Bible …
The Final Battle
As the end of another year arrives, it is a good time to think about how the end of time will ultimately play out. It seems to me, at least at times, that the sensationalism of premillennialism holds sway in much of what is written about Last Things. The storyline usually goes something like this: …
Little Things
The biggest things in life are the little things. Many go through life wishing to make the one big splash, to receive recognition, to accomplish something spectacular or noteworthy. Life is not to be measured by the big things but by a continual, consistent stream of little things, hardly noticeable, but powerful in their combined …
Wisdom
Today I share a “borrowed” thought, origin unknown. Wolves Within One evening an old Indian Chief told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, …
Thinking about….our inheritance
The question seemed easy enough. “What does our inheritance in the Lord look like?” After several traditional answers, the response of one of the class members went beyond our usual thinking. “A child who is waiting to be adopted into a family is not focused on what he or she will receive when the new …
God at the Center
It is no easy matter to maintain focus in life. Life happens; busyness is normal. Life fills with the urgent and the trivial. Life pushes priorities to the periphery. To what end? To what purpose? God wishes our lives to reflect his presence and possibilities. In the midst of life’s seemingly meaningless activity, God gives …
This is the Day
The song says it well: “This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” The quotation is from Psalm 118:24. We recite the verse in unison each Sunday as we begin worship at the Park Plaza church. A travel ad from a couple of years ago, an …