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 …
Category Archives: Christian living
Sunday: What Kind of People Ought We to Be?
It is common to read the Bible in small sections, ignoring the larger context. One place that happens is in 1 Corinthians 3. The context of chapter 3 includes chapter 2 where Paul explains that authentic spiritual wisdom is available to spiritual people who think in spiritual ways and can apply spiritual truths to real …
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Sunday: Earn the Right to Have a Point of View
Not too long ago, Jan and I watched the movie, Music Within. The movie is based on the story of Richard Pimentel, a brilliant public speaker with a troubled past. When he returns from Vietnam severely hearing-impaired, he finds a new purpose in his landmark efforts on the behalf of Americans with disabilities. One line …
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It’s Sunday Again: I Am, Therefore I Act
We spend a lot of energy in the church trying to get people to do what they ought to do. We study motivation–we encourage, we scold, we “lay on” guilt trips. We have missed a basic truth of Scripture. I am, therefore I act. One cannot get “faith actions” out of “unfaith” people. According to …
Sunday: Taking Church for Audit
Twenty years after I graduated from college with my bachelor’s degree, I decided to go back to school to earn a master’s degree. My Hebrew was a little rusty (OK, very rusty!) so I decided to audit a Hebrew course at the local university. There are two ways to audit a course. The first way …
Sunday: Contemplating “Us”
I have resumed international mission travels. I am thinking about the contrasts between the churches in the U.S. and the churches in Latin America. I share a few miscellaneous reflections. Before the pandemic, it was common to be in Latin America almost as many Sundays as I was in the U.S. The differences were often …
Answer the Call: 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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Sunday’s Coming: How to Develop Your Spiritual Vision
How is your spiritual vision? When 2020 came, many church bulletin articles focused on developing a 20/20 spiritual vision. Now another year has come and gone–2021 is history and 2022 has begun. We must think carefully about 2022 — think about our spiritual vision, our spiritual growth and development in 2022. In 2021, we did …
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It’s Sunday Again: Measuring Life?
A long time ago in another millennium, I read a book that changed the way I have looked at life across almost five decades. The book is The Compulsive Christian by David Mason, first edition 1969. Our society tends to measure life by what we have or by what we do. Mason reminds that God’s …
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 …