Christian Life (Page 2)
Rejoice
I suppose a certain level of anxiety is part of living on this fallen earth. I haven’t yet met the person—even among those following Jesus—who lives a completely carefree life. Do you worry at times? Get stressed out? Lie there staring at the ceiling in the wee hours of the morning? I doubt we’re the first ones to struggle with it. It seems like every page of Scripture says something about it. Take this one, for example. To one of…
Who in the world is Epaphroditus?
You’ve got big names in Bible history, and then you’ve got Epaphroditus. We know a lot about Abraham, Moses, David, and Paul. They’re the movers and shakers on the human side of God’s story. But Epaphroditus? He gets six verses. But as one of my old Bible teachers used to say, they’re chock-full of meaning. Try not to hurry through them. I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and…
Doubt…I Get it Now
From time to time, when an idea occurs to me…or I hear something that I want to explore further, I start typing and then title it and save it for a rainy day. Recently I was looking for something to work on and noticed a file entitled “Doubt.” I thought, “We’ve been studying doubt in the teen class, so I’m sure I can add to that one.” I opened it and saw these words: “Doubt…I get it now.” I looked at the date…
Standing up
I love reading biographies, and Eric Metaxas has written two excellent ones. Amazing Grace describes William Wilberforce’s twenty-year fight to abolish the British slave trade. Bonhoeffer discusses the courageous life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian who stood up to the Nazi regime and was eventually hanged for his convictions. In his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast a few years back, Metaxas himself made a point about the common theme in these biographies: both of his subjects fought for…
Citizens
There’s a lot of talk about politics right now . . . Well, it seems like there’s always a lot of talk about politics in America. Nearly everyone has a (strongly held and loudly vocalized) opinion. So perhaps this is a good time to think about this: Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing…
Ready to go
A few years back I read a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Christian who lived during the Third Reich’s reign of terror. He refused to bow to the Nazis’ demands of the church, and ultimately they imprisoned and executed him. He faced his death with remarkable confidence, fully trusting that being executed for his convictions was far preferable to compromise. Death did not frighten him. That kind of attitude has always fascinated me, and the apostle Paul certainly had…
Paul’s Pity Party
Instead of blowing up the balloons and sending out invitations to the pity party, maybe we should first sit down and talk to the Lord.
I don’t have time
I don’t have time. I say those words a lot, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with them. All of us have to make choices with our time. I think the issue is what we say those words about. And whom we say them to. Paul addresses the principle here: Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16). How we spend our time…
Fear
The longer I live, the more I realize the huge role fear plays in our lives as Christians. Do you ever worry? About your health, your kids, your future? Most of us do, and worry is just another word for fear. Why do we fudge the truth? Probably because we’re scared of what’ll happen if we don’t. Why do we sometimes fail to say what needs to be said? Because we’re afraid of confrontation, or the effects of confrontation, or…
People like you
Sometimes it’s easy to see the good stuff that God is doing in other people’s lives. Maybe that preacher or writer or godly stalwart of the faith at church—we can see what God is doing there. But in us? In me? We’re all-too-conscious of the ugly things we’ve shoved into one of our closets to think that God might be doing something significant in us. But listen to Paul: And I am sure of this, that he who began a…
Too busy
Mary and Martha were like a lot of siblings—they loved each other like crazy, and sometimes they just drove each other crazy. Can you relate? This story about them always makes me laugh—Martha asks the Son of God to help her settle a little sisterly spat. Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet…
I hate your sin
We don’t hate sin enough, or at least most of us don’t. Well, we do hate some sin, and we hate it with a passion. It makes our blood boil. Like pedophilia, and other kinds of sexual misconduct . . . especially when the weak and vulnerable are involved. We hate that, and we should. It’s been all over the news lately, and I’m glad to see the moral outrage. Maybe America still has a conscience. We hate other sins…