They’ll know we are Christians by our glad-hands and bling, by our pearly-gate smiles and sermons on tithing; by the size of our church and the rules that we keep (though a suit is a suit, and a goat’s not a sheep). They’ll know we are Christians by the power we bear, by the HOLY…
Category: Discipleship
Kingdom Meditations
“My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight…. As it is, My kingdom does not have its origin here” (John 18:36). When Jesus says His kingdom is not of this world, we tend to think of location. What if Jesus is talking about source, something qualitative? My kingdom…
Truth, the Person
Sketch by Patrick Murphy: inspiredsketch.blogspot.com Jesus is real. I could not deny that any more than I could deny my wife and kids, who live with me. Jesus is not a set of propositional truths to be debated. Christians may derive propositional truths or creeds from Jesus, but creeds are not Christ. Creeds or doctrinal…
Bears All Things
Sketch by Patrick Murphy: inspiredsketch.blogspot.com “Love…bears all things….” (1 Cor. 13:6-7). Considering what Jesus suffered when He died on the cross, is there anything the Lord wouldn’t call us to bear in love? We all have an internal line that says, “I will only take this much and no more.” This is fine because it…
Nothing without Christ
“[W]e labored and struggled, working night and day, so that we would not be a burden to any of you. It is not that we don’t have the right to support, but we did it to make ourselves an example to you so that you would imitate us (2 Thess. 3:8-9). Paul comments that, while ministering to…
Terror and Darkness
After promising Abram descendants, the Lord restated His promise to give Abram the land of Canaan. Abram asked, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?” (Gen. 15:8). The Lord answered by telling Abram to sacrifice a three year old cow, a three year old female goat, a three year old ram, a turtledove, and a…
Only One Is All
My wife and I were talking recently about America’s divisive socio-political landscape. COVID and protests have exacerbated division but did not create it. Division exists in each of us because human nature is prone to sin. Strident exchanges are everywhere. As usual, social media is the great bullhorn, amplifying every discourtesy and difference. Even between…
Church of Cowards
Matt Walsh was unknown to me until a few months ago. A friend asked me to read Walsh’s book Church of Cowards so we could talk about it. Walsh is a conservative blogger aligned with the religious right. I’m not the religious right’s biggest fan but I read on anyway. Walsh is a literary bludgeon. If…
Shhh! Don’t Tell the Governor or President!
Much of the world is living with restrictions because of coronavirus. Like many others, I’ve struggled with all of this. Every time guidelines/restrictions are added or changed, it takes time for me to process them and adjust. I’ve seen myself go through some classic stages of grief: denial, anger, depression…I haven’t really bargained because there…
Love, not Law
The following appeared in our local paper’s religion column last weekend. It is a revision of a previous post, “Love, not Law”. The paper re-titled it “What Complete Freedom Means.” *** “Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). Most Christians know…
