Ephesians 5:16
They say, “Charity begins at home.” That’s good. Probably right. But what is charity, or what do we mean by charity? And is home charity’s destination or beachhead? A friend recently sent out a Latin poem the first line of which is “Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.” Another friend quickly identified it as an ancient hymn and gave […]
What are the right pronouns to use? He/him/his? She/her/hers? Lots of conversation surrounds pronouns these days. But we are having the wrong conversation about the “right pronouns”. That conversation speaks to which third-person pronouns we ought to use. Wrong conversation. The right conversation, the more helpful and ultimately more salutary one, centers instead on a better distinction between use of […]
Late next week I will be involved in a one day conference that will challenge people to read through the Bible. This is not designed to be a burden; it is not forcing one person’s piety on another. It is to capture the imagination. “What difference would reading through the whole Bible in a year make?” Check out the following […]
Aging includes ups and downs. Both good and bad things grow out of the aging process. One of the biggest downs is that no matter how hard you try you will lose muscle mass and strength. You will struggle to lift heavy boxes. You will get tired easier and sooner when you work in the yard. This is why older […]
Where we live there are a lot of stop lights. A lot. Many intersections have multi-phase lights: blinking yellow, blinking red, red arrow, green arrow, red light, yellow light, green light. Multiple streets and lanes feed into the intersections from assorted directions, often more than just four. It can be quite complicated watching who goes when and where. You can […]
Perplexing issues have plagued me recently, a couple thorny issues. So I started looking around for my magic wand, the one I used to use when I was a pastor. Then I remembered; I never had one. I still don’t. Neither do you. A friend reminded me this week, “You can’t fix everything.” Neither can you. There are no magic […]
The Twist. Watusi. Ballroom. Square. Tango. There are all sorts of dances made up of all sorts of steps. Left. Right. Shuffle. Hop. Forward. Back. Sometimes the most important step in a dance is a step back. This past week there was a discussion about a complex issue that involved many people and organizations. People were taking positions. People were […]
God’s followers are not heart-less; we are heart-left. No matter what hurts our hearts, minds and bodies, we have “heart left”. Many things disappoint us. The outcome of a game. Things that happened at work. Someone else got a position. The kids are doing this and not that. The fig tree has not blossomed and there is no fruit on […]
Jesus criticized the Sadducees saying, “You are deceived because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29) While there continues, rightly, to be emphasis on Christians reading, studying, learning the Scriptures, what do we know about the power of God? What should we consider when we think about God’s power? When did you last contemplate […]
Jesus’ statement to Peter has been banging around my mind this week, “You do not have in mind the things of God but the things of man.” Ouch. Or, touché? What things do we have in mind? Are they God’s or Man’s? Are they God’s or THIS man’s? Carl Trueman has written both The Rise and Triumph of the Modern […]