“Be faithful until death” (Rev. 2:10). Jesus said this to the church at Smyrna. Its members were suffering financial loss, imprisonment, public accusation, and in some cases death. This verse has renewed for me what is the deepest call in the Christian life: to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23)….
Category: Discipleship
Thumbs Up!
As one called to preach and write about Christ, God often challenges my motives. Why do I do what I do? Am I still functioning out of His life and calling? Have I slipped into letting ambition drive me? Do my own efforts sustain what I do or am I energized by Christ’s energy? (Col….
A Worthy Answer
Icon of the Apostle John When the holy Evangelist John had lived to extreme old age in Ephesus, he could be carried only with difficulty by the hands of the disciples, and as he was not able to pronounce more words, he was accustomed to say at every assembly, “Little children, love one another.” At…
Questioning Questioning
God knows I can be skeptical. In the time I’ve known Him, He has graciously fielded hundreds, if not thousands, of questions from me. Sometimes, Christians will admit to me that they’ve had certain questions or doubts. I always encourage them to ask away. The questions I’ve been most afraid to ask God have…
A Demon’s Advice on Prayer
Recently, I began re-reading CS Lewis’s classic, The Screwtape Letters. For the uninitiated, Screwtape is a series of letters in which a senior demon, Screwtape, instructs a junior demon, Wormwood, on the finer points of capturing a human soul. The letters begin when Wormwood’s subject is an atheist; they end after Wormwood’s subject becomes a Christian and later…
Crossroads
We’re familiar with the rich young ruler who approached Jesus about salvation. He went away sad because Jesus told him to sell everything he had, give it to the poor, and follow (Mark 10:17-22). This is the same call Jesus gives His disciples in Luke 9:23–“If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny…
Another Face in the Crowd
Minions from Despicable Me Most of the time, I don’t feel very spiritual. I feel average. My day is filled with mundane things like brushing my teeth, going to work, caring for kids, taking out the garbage, etc. Amidst daily responsibilities and stressors, sometimes I keep my humor, sometimes I don’t. On occasion I’m a shining…
If It IS Broke, Don’t Fix It
“Brokenness” is a term I hear bandied about by Christians. “We need God to break us” or “We need to be broken before God” are some usual phrases. I wholeheartedly agree. That said, I don’t see a lot of actual brokenness in the church. In fact, a lot of the teaching aims to fix us….
Despising the Lamb: Contempt for Christ in First Samuel
Painting by Johnny Mays, Nationalight Ministries Several years ago, the Lord drew me to the book of First Samuel. Through the stories in First Samuel, God began to show me pictures of Christ being despised by His own people. The pictures gave me a small glimpse of the grief the Lord has suffered–and still suffers–for our sakes….
God O’ballD
The following is a quirky poem I wrote about double-mindedness. *** Right now I wood lyke 2 spell yor nayme with two dees beakuz iyme con-fused without fusion un-one Two without u blown to sub-atomic smithereens (set blender to atom-smasher. Hit bl-end) with ewe confronted with tornadic reinteriordecorating sudden death we(l)dding what a mess pureed…
The Voice of One 