Most holidays suffer from insufferable commercialism and superficiality in these dark times. Occasionally Christians respond by retreating from the holiday as a whole. I wonder if this is really the best course of action, however, especially when young children are present; I wonder if it wouldnât be better to redeem the holidays instead. While not addressing the issue directly, Scripture does hint at the latter response. After all, Jesus encountered the same crass commercialism…
I am probably a week too late to comment on The Komen Foundationâs decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood and the subsequent reversal of this decision. And yet reflection so rarely happens in real time that it may be best to revisit the topic with the clearer sight distance affords. Many evangelicals rightly responded with joy when the decision came to cut support. Planned Parenthood has been at the forefront of abortion-rights activism since…
There exists a disturbing trend among Christians today to forsake the Word of God for a secular counterfeit. Now, I am not talking about paying more heed to pop psychologists, celebrities, and other ill-suited mentors than to expositing Scripture (though that may be true). I am speaking instead of our preference for faddish jargon rather than the eternal Wordâseemingly innocuous, but devastatingly dangerous. A few examples may prove the point. Evangelicals often speak…
In honor of National Sanctity of Life Day, which was yesterday, here is a short poem I wrote depicting the horrors of abortion. I will warn you that this is not for the faint of heart. While not any worse than the story of Ehud and Eglon, if you would prefer not to read graphic language, I would suggest you pass on to the next post (while still supporting the sanctity of life, of course!).…
While discussing Wednesdayâs post with a friend and colleague, he shared a story that demonstrates the need for cultural discernmentâwhat I called âloving judgmentââamong ministers of the gospel. My friend had spent the past few weeks speaking with a group of missionaries from a decidedly post-Christian nation. These missionaries were lamenting the state of the nation, giving as an example a recent church retreat at which half the attendees shacked up in cabins with…
At one point in his letter to Titus, Paul goes on a ârantâ that, were he to utter it in todayâs culture, would surely have gotten him dismissed from his apostolic post. He says to his young charge, âOne of Creteâs own prophets has said it: âCretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.â This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faithâ (1:12-13). These are strong…
The charge of favoritism arises inevitably whenever real disciple-making happens. Disciple-makers recognize that, as humans, we cannot build into everyone we know equally. This is ministerial humility. We are not God; we havenât the ubiquity to be able to be all things to all people in our sphere of influence. And so choices must be made. We must choose to devote ourselves to someâa student or member of the youth group, a friend or co-workerâto…
Disciplining yourself to spend time with God can be a daunting task. Here are a few tips and suggestions to help you on your way. Set a specific timeâideally the same time every day. I believe there is real wisdom in setting aside the first part of your day for this time of intimacy with God. As Iâve suggested elsewhere, the Scriptures seem to commend the practice of rising early to meet with the…
As the new year rolls in, we would be wise to plan for the coming year. We accomplish few things of lasting value without having planned for them in advance. This is true for our spiritual journey. Now, at the start of the year, is the time to plan for how we will encounter God in his Word for the next twelve months. Below are several excellent Bible-reading plans available to download from different ministries.…
In a famous passage the apostle Paul enjoins us, âwhatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirableâif anything is excellent or praiseworthyâthink about such thingsâ (Philippians 4:8, NIV). I wish to focus on the first part today: what it means to think about âwhatever is trueâ only. This encouragement has broad implications for our lives, for training our minds to live by the revealed truth…