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For Love of the Savior
“What ultimately keeps our motives biblically prioritized and holy before God is the profound conviction that obeying God will merit us nothing. This is why Jesus tells us that, when we have done all that we should do, we are still unprofitable servants. Jesus does not nullify the value of duty in order to dissuade…
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10 Contemporary Sacred Cows That Need Tipping
My grammar school days were lived out in a plush Philadelphia suburb. My first taste of culture shock came just before I entered high school, when my family made a cross country move and settled into a cul-de-sac home in a nice new development in a then-more-rural area outside Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. It was in…
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4 Possible Paradigm Shifts for the 21st Century Church
I am not sure in what context or venue he said this, but billionaire financier Warren Buffett is credited with having noted: “In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” Whatever the initial context, there is much wisdom in this insight that can be…
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Advantages of Pleasing God More Than People
The following dozen points are about the advantages to us in seeking to please God, instead of living for the approval of other people. They were originally written by the great English Puritan, Richard Baxter. I have attempted to clean up the language a little, hopefully without dulling the wisdom: 1. If you seek first to please…
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7 Rules for Self Discovery
A.W. Tozer has a wonderful way of cutting straight to the heart of things. This is true of his writings whether he is speaking about the Attributes of God, about Worship, or about knowing ourselves. Tozer postulated 7 Rules for Self Discovery. I have adapted Tozer’s rules and put them into the form of questions.…
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Christian Leaders Learn to Think Theologically
Here is an important thought for my fellow pastors, and other ministry leaders. It is also important for shaping what church members should value in and expect of their pastors and Elders: Few ministers and priests think theologically. Most of them have been educated in a climate in which the behavioral sciences, such as psychology…
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Wading in the Gospel Deep
The message of the gospel is shallow enough for a child to wade in and yet deep enough to drown an elephant, and to grasp it we suggest following the summary of the gospel story through the four narrative acts of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. As each act of the drama unfolds, it’s important…
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A Thought for Mother’s Day
A thought for Mother’s Day: “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind…
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Living & Loving to Please God
Steve Brown, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary and president of Key Life Network, penned a marvelous word picture of the motive and expression of a life gripped by God’s grace: When I became a Christian, two things happened. I got saved, and I got loved. I got loved so deeply that it still amazes me…
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Same-Sex Marriage: Some Suggested Reads
Ever since President Barrack Obama mad his announcement about the Great Reversal, and his renewed support of Gay Marriage there has been no lack of opinions posted… well, pretty much everywhere. I considered writing something up, but other pressing matters left me without the time to formulate words to express my opinions. But I did…
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Living By Vows
While going through pre-marital counseling during our engagement, one of the things our pastor, Dr. Donald Hoke (here & here), required Carolyn and me to read was a little booklet written by his dear friend, Robertson McQuilkin, Living By Vows. This short booklet chronicled a period in the life McQuilkin shared with his wife, Muriel…
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You Will Never Regret Loving This Much
Wedding season will be in full bloom within the next few weeks. But there is never a season when those already married or those contemplating marriage would not benefit from tending the soil of their souls by renewing their understanding of what marriage is and what marriage demands. As I say at the beginning of…
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10 Warning Signs of an Inwardly Obsessed Church
Researcher Thom Rainer warns of signs of a church that is so inwardly focused that it has ceased to be the church of Jesus Christ and has become, at best, a museum to (assumed) past glories, in which the membership makes up the board of directors. Rainer writes: Any healthy church must have some level…
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Ordo Salutis Illustrated
John Bunyan has a wondrous grasp of the theology of the Christian Life. Pilgrim’s Progress is evidence of that. In this classic literary masterpiece, Bunyan uses allegory to illustrate the reality, and the perils, of life in this world for God’s redeemed people. And in the illustration above someone has taken Bunyan’s allegory and writings…
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