Gentleness in a Culture of Outrage: Book Resources
This past Sunday, I preached on “Gentleness in a Culture of Outrage.” There are a few books I’ve been reading that have been helpful to me on this subject. If you are wanting to grow in the particular ways that I talked about in the sermon, let me recommend these resources to you. Gentle and […]
Those Strange Old Testament Laws: Part 2
Just how do we, as Christians, relate to the laws in the Old Testament? Are we supposed to keep them? Some of them? All of them? In my last post I gave a few guiding principles to help us. Today, I want to look at a variety of laws given in Leviticus 19 to help […]
Those Strange Old Testament Laws: Part 1
In our Bible Reading Plan for 2020, we’ve been reading through the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Old Testament). And if you’ve made it past Genesis, that means you’ve encountered God’s laws given to the people of Israel. We read about them in Exodus. And in Leviticus. And Numbers. And Deuteronomy. Lots of […]
Slowing Down to Observe Advent
It’s December, the season of hustle and bustle. It’s interesting to me that while this season is one of the busiest of the year, according to the Christian calendar, which helps us mark time in a different way and according to a different story, this time of year is a time for learning to slow […]
We Are Not of the World, So that We Can Be for the World
We live in a culture that is highly polarized and divided on all kinds of issues, and this raises important questions for us as Christians. What does love and faithfulness to Jesus look like in our culture? We’ve been reading through the Gospel of John as part of our Bible Reading Plan, and one of […]
The Beauty We Long For, Part 3
As part of our Philippians sermon series, I preached recently on “The Bedrock of Joy.” I said that the roots of joy can be traced all the way back to the eternal fellowship of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Before creation, before anything else existed, Father, Son, and Spirit were in the most […]
The Beauty We Long For, Part 2
If you had to pick a song that best captured our human experience—an anthem for our existence—what would it be? I don’t know for sure, but I think U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” would be up there on my list. Maybe you’re familiar with the lyrics: I have climbed the highest […]
The Beauty We Long For, Part 1
We are creatures of longing. Born with hungers and thirsts, with deep longings and desires for…something that can be hard to name. But there it is, deep within us. We long for it, even if we don’t always know what it is. Lately I’ve been thinking about beauty—whether expressed in art or music or stories […]
Loneliness in an Impersonal World
In my last blog, I wrote about learning from Jesus how to slow down and see people, really see them, the way He does. “This moment is the most important moment. You (the person in front of me) are the most important person I can be talking to right now.” Being present in the moment, […]
Are You Too Busy To See?
Our lives are busy. Really busy. It’s probably the most common response I get when I ask people, “How have you been?” “Busy.” It may be the most common response I give, too. Sadly, I’ve been realizing how my busyness—all my attempts to find rest in achieving and in gaining control and keeping order in […]
