By grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone
Others aren’t always as they seem. That shouldn’t surprise us we aren’t either. A smile, for instance, doesn’t mean all is well. In the latter half of 1 Timothy 5, Paul is speaking to Timothy about elders. He advises his young protégé not to ordain too hastily. In verses 24 he says why: “The sins […]
“Out of the mouth of babes,” said Jesus to His detractors livid that He was being praised by children, “…thou hast perfected praise” (Matthew 21:16, KJV). Jesus is quoting Psalm 8:2 as a reference to himself. What is astounding about this is that Psalm 8 concerns the excellence of God and that He alone is […]
Have you read Leo Tolstoy’s (1825-1910) short story How Much Land Does a Man Need? It’s about a peasant farmer not satisfied with his lot in life. He wanted more of everything. One day he receives an amazing offer. For 1,000 rubles, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day. […]
It’s the time of year for graduation speeches. Hopeful words from podiums across the land about following dreams and reaching for the sky and stuff like that. How many grads know that most dreams don’t come true and the sky is generally higher than they imagine? I don’t want to be a sourpuss or throw […]
I certainly am no John Bunyan (The Pilgrim’s Progress), but I also have a dream and a story to tell: For as I lay down in that place to sleep, I slept and dreamed a dream… And I stood before the Great White Throne. The Ancient of Days’ gaze was upon me. I turned and […]
“Lord Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?” (Zechariah 1:12). It may surprise you, but the Angel of the Lord asks this question, doing so in the Prophet Zechariah’s night vision. Israel had been exiled some 70 years […]
Like it or not (and I don’t), Pastor Joel Osteen has become the church’s spokesman. I guess that comes with being pastor of the nation’s largest church. Lakewood Church in Houston has around 50,000 members. Osteen’s books (It’s Your Time, Become a Better You, Your Best Life Now, and Everyday a Friday) have made him […]
When she came down the stairs for breakfast, I told her she’d kept me up all night. Claire quizzically looked at me. Our 18 year old daughter hadn’t done anything wrong. The home was at peace the night before; it was quiet through the night. I had risen around 2 a.m. to go to the […]
The mailer started out well: “One death and one resurrection brought us one Savior to rescue us from…” You’ve seen them before. Churches send out oversized postcards to those in their zip code inviting them to a special service or a special seminar. The one I’m quoting from was an invitation to Easter Sunday. But […]
I still remember “liver and onion” night as a child. We probably didn’t eat it that often but it seemed like it showed up at dinner every few weeks. I can still remember the “tub” it came in from the store. I can still remember looking at the reddish-brown “blob” as it was thrown into […]
Marx, Freud, and Darwin have been dead a long time but their disciples still advance their cause. This past week, our local newspaper (The News Tribune, March 21, 2012) ran an editorial from the Detroit Free Press. It was entitled “Evolving Opinions on Evolution.” They were reacting to a reposting of a Gallup Poll that […]
I was so excited to get my first check, after all, I didn’t even own a bed. Rent was $525. When you divide that by the other five (all of us buddies who had just graduated from Pacific Lutheran University) each share was just $87.50 per month. But when you were just starting out, every […]