I do love Christmas—the whole Christmas season. I told the family on our way to a Christmas Eve worship service that I was sad that it was Christmas Eve already. Christmas Eve means the beginning of the end of the Christmas season. I love everything about Christmas: decorating the tree, putting up lights, Christmas cookies, time spent doing fun things with family and friends. And, like everybody else, I enjoy the gifts. I enjoy giving gifts. I enjoy the look on Kim’s face when she opens up something she didn’t expect. I enjoy the anticipation of watching the kids open something that I know they are going to like. And I enjoy the gifts given to me! I keep an on-going Christmas list; if I didn’t get something this year, I just roll it over to next year’s list.

And I personally have no problem with the gift-giving aspect of Christmas. Continue reading →

In my last blog, I made this statement. “Jesus pleased God because Jesus is God.” Now, that sounds like a simple and even obvious statement, but I want to try to amplify and explain that statement, because I believe that it has real implications for our lives.

First, I would amplify that statement by saying it like this. Only Jesus can please God because only Jesus is God, and the only things that please God are the things done by God. Now if that is true, the implications of that statement are crucial. Continue reading →

In my last blog article I made this statement. “Obedience is not godly unless it requires Jesus.” Really I think it is more accurate to say that obedience is not truly obedience unless it requires Jesus. The Pharisees were not obeying God; if they were they would have welcomed Jesus. Their behaviors were not evidence of an obedient heart toward God, and only God can bring about obedience in our heart. They were religious, just not obedient.

So why is it that the only things that please God are the things done by God? Continue reading →

Recently Kim and I were talking about another couple’s marriage. We’re quite good at that . . . talking about other people and how they should be better! At some point one of us said something like this. “Well, she just needs to be more submissive.” That was probably me. And of course Kim responded by saying, “Well, he just needs to love her sacrificially.” And I think we were right. In reality they just needed to obey the Scriptures.

But is it that easy? Well, the answer is yes, and no. Certainly the solution to most, if not all, of our issues in life is to better obey the Scriptures. The more we obey the Scriptures, the more we honor God, the more we live out the purpose for which God made us, the more we enjoy God’s blessings. But the moment we think that obedience is easy is the moment we start to fall.

Let me make a statement that speaks to this, and then try to defend it. Obedience is not godly unless it requires Jesus. Continue reading →

Recently I received some good news. I didn’t win the lottery, but something quite beneficial occurred, something for which I had been praying. And I was really happy. And then, typical me, I began to dissect it.

Here’s the question. How do we celebrate in a gospel-based way? You see, God did not change. He was the same before I received this news as he was after. And I was not constitutionally different. My circumstances, however, changed, and so my mood went from nondescript to elation.

And that told me something. Continue reading →

Last week I tried to introduce a new Foster Family Christmas tradition—Family Yard Work Day. Virginia and Buddy were home from Auburn for their Christmas break. Kim was off work. I was off work. I thought it would be a great time to get a lot of little yard clean-up projects done and enjoy time together as a family. I thought wrong! Continue reading →

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11). Kim and I attended a worship service yesterday and we heard the pastor preach on this verse. This is an incredibly forceful verse with a lot of strong ideas. Peter calls us God’s beloved, he urges us, he says that we are aliens to this world, and he declares that our sinful desires are “passions.”

But the idea that caught my attention was that the passions of our flesh wage war against our soul. They wage war. Continue reading →

Among many other things, the Scriptures portray God as our avenger. Jeremiah 51:56 describes the Lord as a God of recompense. Simply put, this means that one aspect of God’s character is that he will right all wrongs. Does that characteristic of God strike you as unusual? When I hear the word “avenger,” I think of some caped-crusader, some super-hero, like Superman or Batman. But when I hear the word “avenger,” I don’t usually think of God. Continue reading →

I was reflecting this week on how difficult it is for me to repent. One of the main reasons is that I don’t recognize my sin that clearly. I read recently the story of the death of John Murray, Professor of Theology at Westminster Seminary back in the 50’s. It is recorded that some of his last words before passing into the presence of his Savior were these: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” When I read that, it really struck me. Here was a man of God, one who loved Him and knew Him well. As he was preparing himself to enter the presence of God, he was asking God for mercy. Continue reading →

Life is all about God. Too often we think that it is about us. But it is not. It is all about God. Paul said this in a sermon when he spoke to pagan religious leaders in Athens. In describing God, he said, “In him we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28). We have our life “in God.” Everything we do we do in him, and for him, and because of him, and through him, and in front of him. And most of us would agree with that, at least intellectually, but few of us really live like it. I know I don’t.

This really comes to light when we fail or struggle or suffer. Continue reading →

Jesus came not to condemn. He came to save. He didn’t come to criticize or critique. He didn’t come to instruct or advise or counsel. He didn’t come to help us be obedient or clean up our act. He didn’t come to make us better people. He came to make us new people. You see, better people don’t get to heaven. Only new people do, those who have been born anew by the Holy Spirit. He didn’t come to make us savable. He came to actually save us.

The gospel is not about what we are supposed to do for God. It is about what God has done, and continues to do, for us. Continue reading →

I really enjoy the miracles of Jesus, but not for the obvious reasons. Most would enjoy the miracles of Christ because they show his power, over nature or situations or people. To me, the miracles of Jesus reveal the gospel. Take the feeding of the 5000, for instance. The disciples come to Jesus and tell him to send the great crowd away to get food, since it was late in the day and some had come from a distance to hear him. This is when the story gets interesting. In Matthew’s version of the story (14:13f) Jesus looks at his disciples and says, “They don’t need to go away; you give them something to eat.”

Now what strikes me here is this. Continue reading →

I preached this past Sunday on the miracle of Jesus calming the storm. The story may be familiar to you. Jesus and his disciples get into a boat to go across the Sea of Galilee one evening. Jesus was exhausted from teaching all day so he went to the back of the boat and fell asleep on a cushion. At some point, an incredible storm blows in. These were experienced fishermen who knew this lake well, and yet they had never seen a storm like this. Matthew uses the Greek word “seismos” to describe it. We get the word seismology, the study of earthquakes, from it. This was like an earthquake on the water, Continue reading →

I love the parable of the Talents in the Bible. It is found in Matthew 25:14-30, and you should look it up. Here is the gist of the story. A landowner or a businessman of some sort was going on a trip. So he called his servants together and entrusted to them his money. This was not unusual. He probably used his money as capital that he loaned to others at interest. He used his money to make money. While he was gone, he wanted the loan business to continue. Now, keep in mind that these were not servants in the way that we might think of servants or slaves. These “servants” were skilled accountants or businessmen who managed the affairs of this landowner. They had business abilities and they knew what they were doing.

He gave three servants three different sums of money: five talents, two talents, and one talent. This must have been an incredibly wealthy landowner, and he must have had great confidence in these servants, because he gave them each a huge amount of money. A talent was equal to 20 years’ wages for a laborer. At, say, $15/hour, this would have been equivalent to about 3 million, 1.2 million, and 600 thousand dollars. Continue reading →

Several years ago, I went to Tanzania on a mission trip. I went to teach African pastors how to study the Bible better. And I obviously experienced a lot of differences between that culture and my own. I was an alien, a stranger to that culture. Everyone spoke Swahili, the climate was different, the food was unusual, and I was usually the only white-skinned person (except for my teammates) for miles. And I experienced a lot of discomfort and difficulty. I was out of my routine and didn’t have my normal conveniences. I was away from my family. I couldn’t communicate. I never felt comfortable. But, you see, I was not supposed to. Continue reading →

A few weeks ago I wrote about how to live our life without making what we do the focus of our life. Right now my full-time job is to raise support. I have been called as Church Planter Recruitment Director for Mission to North America, but this is not a salaried position. I must raise my support for this position. So that’s what I’m doing. And it is a consuming task, especially considering that it is the source of my income. In other words, if I don’t work to raise my support, then I don’t pay my bills and provide for my family. But there is a real danger here. How do I do something of such necessity without making it the focus of my life? How do I raise support without letting the task of raising support drive me or control me? Continue reading →

Here are some more thoughts on the Chick-fil-a hullabaloo (“hullabaloo” is not as cool as “kerfuffle,” but it is still a fun word to use):

It is unfair, even wrong, that hate is equated with intolerance and intolerance is equated with a difference of opinion. Are not those who cry, “Intolerant!” of those who oppose homosexuality themselves intolerant? Besides it seems that tolerance is to be valued over all things. But is that correct? Is tolerance the highest value? Continue reading →

You’re hungry and it is lunch time and you’re looking for a place to grab a quick bite to eat. And as an evangelical Christian you know right where to go: Chick-fil-a. But now suddenly, your favorite fast-food entre has become a political ping-pong ball, a pawn in a match between conservatives and liberals. Personally, I’m not sure the cows ever intended this to happen. Now you can’t “Eat Mor Chikin” without being accused of hating homosexuals.

And I must admit; I’m torn. I don’t like having a business I respect be accused of hatred, which is, if you knew anything about the founder of Chick-fil-a and the many who work there, the last thing that they should be accused of. At the same time, I don’t like the “us vs. them” tone that this controversy has produced.

So here is a smattering of thoughts Continue reading →

Right now my job is to raise support. I have been called as Church Planter Recruitment Director for Mission to North America, but this is not a salaried position. I must raise my support for this position. So how do I do that without making it the focus of my life? And even beyond that, how do not let the ups and downs of support-raising dictate my life? How do I keep myself from feeling encouraged when money comes in and discouraged when it does not? How do I do what I am supposed to do without gaining my sense of joy and identity from it? In other words, how do I live my life without gaining my life from my life?

I believe it is like this. Continue reading →

In my last post, I wrote about Zechariah 2:8. Listen to these words again. “He who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” I focused then on the fact that we are the apple of God’s eye. (I hope you haven’t gotten over that statement. I hope it still arrests you with the power of that truth.) Let me focus now on the other part of that statement.

God makes a point to say, “If anybody touches you, they are touching the apple of my eye.” If you have ever stood up for someone else, you understand this feeling. When one of my children is treated unfairly, I want to go to bat for them. I want to defend them. I want to fight that battle for them—and I have. “If you touch one of my kids, then you are touching the apple of my eye. Beware; you are messing with something that is very precious to me.” Now, take those feelings and multiply them by a hundred, a thousand, a billion. This is how God feels about you. He says, “If anybody messes with you, they are messing with the apple of my eye.” In other words, nobody messes with the apple of God’s eye!

So here’s the obvious question. Continue reading →