Category: Christian Spirituality
-
What It Means to Be Bold (Letters to a Samuel Generation)
This morning I sat in an adult Sunday School class where we watched a video about the death of Jesus, and then began to talk about the impact of His life. It was, said the teacher, a life that was like a stone dropped in the middle of history, creating a ripple effect that spread…
-
You Have a Place in the Body (Letters to a Samuel Generation)
Imagine, for a moment, the following scenario. A hand and a mouth have gotten together over lunch to “fellowship.” Somewhere in the conversation, talk turns to a common acquaintance—a foot, to be exact. “Did you see Foot last week?” Hand asks. “He was down in the mud, trudging alongside the rest of the world.” “Hmm,”…
-
We Still Need Amazing Grace (Letters to a Samuel Generation)
“Oh foolish Christians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun…
-
Not in Vain (Letters to a Samuel Generation)
It is the ultimate question of life. The one question we find ourselves asking again and again, no matter who we are or where we come from. The heart of our nation asked it as we watched the Twin Towers fall on our television screens. We ask it when the job we wanted so badly…
-
Unity May Be Simpler Than We Think (Letters to a Samuel Generation)
Very few of the prayers of Jesus are recorded in the Bible. The longest of them is found in John 17, and takes up all twenty-six verses of that chapter. It seems to me that this address from Son to Father ought to be of immense importance to us. As it was important enough for…
-
We Are the Miracles (Letters to a Samuel Generation)
I was born into a Christian home, and so many of the words of Jesus are familiar to me. They’re so familiar, in fact, that I often forget to listen to them. There’s a great temptation to take for granted that which is most precious, only because God has blessed us with an abundance of…
-
Letters to a Samuel Generation: An Introduction
While I work hard to finish Seeds 2, I’ve hit “pause” on new Matthew commentary for this blog. Until I’m able to resume, I wanted to share from an older-but-still-oh-so-relevant work with you. For the next six weeks I’ll be posting from Letters to a Samuel Generation, a book about knowing the mind and heart of God. When I…
-
We Are in the World, But Not Of It
“To the temporary residents of the dispersion,” Peter writes. What is, in my Bible, translated “dispersed” is more properly a noun: the dispersion, or the diaspora. The English Standard Version renders it “those who are elect exiles.” In this first-century world Peter was writing to Jewish communities planted throughout the Greek-speaking and Greek-encultured Roman Empire.…
-
I Am Not Enough (And That’s Just Fine)
Recently I heard someone talking about this incredible truth he had discovered, that “I am enough.” It’s a popular idea right now, especially among the quasi-Eastern mindfulness crowd. The idea is that we are enough, in ourselves; we have everything we need; we are all we need. On the surface, this seems like clear nonsense.…
-
A Christmas Letter
Almighty God, I don’t understand. What are You doing in a child’s body? Why are You putting Yourself in a dirty stable on a cold night? Why are You entrusting Your beautiful Son to the care of two confused and vulnerable human beings? The angels are singing tonight: the King has come! The Mighty God,…