On Sunday I shared the poem, "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" by William Cowper (1731-1800), with Downtown Cornerstone. It's an oldie, but a goodie. Over the years it has become deeply meaningful to me.
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Jonathan Dodson and Brad Watson have written an incredibly helpful, culturally accessible and doctrinally sound book in Raised? Finding Jesus by Doubting the Resurrection. Here are my brief takeaways.
Read MoreIn October a news report came out concerning a small Norwegian town, deeply tucked between steep mountains, that is stuck in shadowy darkness for six months of the year. In order to bring more light into town they installed mirrors - yes, mirrors - on a nearby hillside to reflect the sun into town. You can read more here. Though it is an imperfect analogy, I was struck by how similar this is to how we often view following Jesus.
Read MoreHave you ever picked up your Bible, read it, put it down, and walked away feeling like you didn't read it? I have. What happened there? The Bible is just like any other book and, at the same time, unlike any other book. Like other books, there are printed words, sentences, and paragraphs that are intentionally arranged to communicate specific ideas. You should read the Bible literally, in that it is a piece of literature. Yet, at the same time, it is utterly unlike any other book. The Bible claims to be the divinely inspired revelation of God to fallen humanity (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21). Therefore, when we approach the Bible we are not merely approaching a piece of literature (though it is that); we are approaching a piece of literature that is God's direct revelation to us. Given this dual nature of the Bible it is possible, if not all-too-common, to read the Bible without really reading the Bible. In so doing we harm ourselves by cutting off God's primary means of grace in our lives. How do we read the Bible without reading the Bible?
Read MoreAnger is complicated. Even if we spend little time considering the anatomy of our anger, we all intuitively recognize its dangerous power (which, of course, is why we leverage it as we do). I deeply appreciate how the Bible carefully nuances this important issue.
Read MoreI once heard a pastor say that he’s never had to memorize scripture in his life because he has a photographic memory. That’s not very helpful for all of us non-photographic-memory-types. What about the rest of us who forget our mobile phone number or forget where we put our keys, let alone remember how Psalm 23 ends?
Read MoreEvery January there is a flurry of blog posts (like this one and this one) and encouragement to make a plan for your personal reading of the Bible (among other things) in the new year. That’s good. But, the reality is you may already be behind or too busy to come up with a plan. In fact, most of us are, which is why I’ve waited to post this until now.
Read MoreI find it incredibly life-giving to regularly revisit the attributes of God (i.e. what God is like). Taken individually, they are stunning; taken together, they are breathtaking. Without knowing it, our fallen hearts often get derailed and we end up with a god that is very different than the God of the Scriptures.
Read MoreOur church recently spent three weeks walking through foundations of biblical marriage (and other related topics such as gender, headship, submission, etc). For many, it was the first time they've been exposed to biblical teaching on why God created marriage and what it means to be a husband and wife. While there are other resources available, the following is a list of those I have found to be the most helpful and accessible. I commend them to you for personal/group study.
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