Category: Spiritual Formation
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Why So Afraid?
Bob Newhart, in his classic comedy sketch, “Stop It!“, plays a psychologist who offers unusual therapy to his patients. The patient in this particular sketch is a woman who expresses fear of being buried alive in a box. She laments that her fear is affecting her, even debilitating, in her day to day life –…
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The Spirituality I Want
“I want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of fright about being in a right relationship with my heavenly Father nor a sappy spirituality that portrays God as such a benign teddy bear that there is no aberrant behavior or desire of mine that he will not condone. I want…
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Living in a State of Thankful Discontentment
The Christian life should be a state of thankful discontentment or joyful dissatisfaction! We live every day thankful for the amazing grace that fundamentally changes our lives, but we should not be satisfied. Why not? Because, when we look at ourselves honestly, we have to admit that there is still need for personal growth and…
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Gospel-Driven Sanctification
by Jerry Bridges Early in my Christian life I heard someone say, “The Bible was not given to increase your knowledge but to guide your conduct.” Later I came to realize that this statement was simplistic at best and erroneous at worst. The Bible is far more than a rulebook to follow. It is primarily…
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What We Celebrate At Christmas Is Why We Go to Church
As Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year, church leaders across the country are making decisions about whether their respective congregation will hold services or forgo them. As one who holds a firm resolve about the prudency, even the appropriateness, of arbitrarily canceling services on any Sunday, no matter how noble-sounding the reasoning, I…
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Some Sources of Spiritual Erosion
Earlier this Summer news outlets around the world reported two beach houses from the same village on the Outer Banks of coastal North Carolina crashed into the sea – within hours of each other. (WAVY) Fortunately no one was injured in either instance. But the cause in both cases? The constant pounding of the Atlantic…
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The Ways & Means of Following Jesus
Eugene Peterson, in his book, The Jesus Way, wrote: Following Jesus necessarily means getting his ways and means into our everyday lives. It is not enough simply to recognize and approve his ways and get started in the right direction. Jesus’ ways are meant to be embraced and assimilated into our habits. This takes place only…
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6 Signs of Living to Please God
The great English Puritan, Richard Baxter, exhorted: “See therefore that you live for God’s approval as that which you chiefly seek, and as that will suffice you.” Baxter suggested that we may discover for ourselves whether or not we are living chiefly for God’s pleasure, or for something else, by considering these six signs: 1. You…
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Anxiety: “Do Not Be Anxious”
Three times, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs us “Do not be anxious…” (Matthew 6.25, 31, 34) The repetition is a rhetorical cue that he really means it. It could almost sound as if Jesus is doing his own version of the old Bob Newhart Stop It! sketch. Why is Jesus so resolute…
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Directions for Reading Christian Books
[Adapted from Richard Baxter’s Christian Directory of 1673] Because God has made available the excellent, holy writings of his servants; and many may have a good book, on any day or at any hour of the week, even those who have no access to a good preacher – I advise all God’s servants to be…
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Lord, Make Me Like You
I don’t recall where or when I first heard following story, but it has often caused me to stop and ask myself about my attitude and motivations: A man prayed to the Lord: “Lord, make me like you; may my words & thoughts be like yours; may my actions produce great fruit…” This was his…
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Knowing God
More than 200 names for God are recorded in the Bible. All of them are important. Each of them reveals and affirms certain characteristics of God. While God is incomprehensible – we will never exhaust what there is to know about Him – He is nevertheless knowable. He has revealed himself to us. To know…
