It is a common refrain that I have heard to saddle all of humanity with the base and sinful desires that God has told us to avoid, as if they are an indelible part of our existence.  This is a clam is that “human nature” is always just as bad as the sins that are committed the most frequently.  Because it is common, therefore, it is referred to as natural.

Part of this is based in the modern naturalism movement that says we are all just evolved animals and are motivated by various instincts and impulses with no real…

Sometimes humans have a complicated relationship with the law.  There are times when we want to rebel against the law because we want more freedom.  There are times when other people are exercising freedoms badly and we want the law to be more restrictive.  In either case, we see the law as either a means or barrier to reaching a goal.

God provided laws that had a particular goal in mind for His people.  When they followed those laws, they were able to attain that goal, and they were blessed.  When they failed to follow those laws they hurt…

When we look around us at this time of year, it can be a bit refreshing to see more people talk about the Lord we serve than they might normally do.  Others, surely, only use the time to focus on remnants of fertility festivals and chocolate, but some people will take this time to say something about Jesus.  Even people who don't attend a church regularly might be willing to engage in conversations about what we believe happened almost 2,000 years ago.

Some people's perception of the church is colored heavily by the enemies of the Lord, and will…

When we speak to people who do not attend church, or are even directly hostile toward the church, one reason that seems to be offered quite often is hypocrisy.  The claim is that the church is an unreliable place to exercise our spiritual life, because people do not always authentically live the faith that they claim.  Whether or not this is a valid argument is not really my focus, but the accusation itself is worth investigating, because hypocrisy is strongly condemned by Jesus on several occasions. (Matthew 23:28; Luke 12:1)

If we are going to be the church that…

It seems each new week brings another national commotion over news of controversial social media posts that were made in the past—sometimes years ago—by someone who is now a public figure. A major league baseball player has come under fire for bigoted remarks he posted while in high school. A newly hired editor at a major newspaper has faced criticism for a history of ugly comments on Twitter. And on it goes. The statement may or may not have been deliberately offensive. The person may or may not have changed his thinking since then. Regardless…

Not long ago, in a careless moment around the grill, I burned a couple of my fingertips—not badly, but enough that once the pain went away those fingertips were numb for a few days.

I couldn’t help thinking of some words from the apostle Paul. Describing the pagan Gentiles, he said, “they, having become callous [past feeling, NKJV], have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness” (Ephesians 4:19). Elsewhere he spoke of people whose consciences are “seared as with a hot iron” (1 Timothy…

2 Kings 5 tells the story of the healing of the Syrian general Naaman. We read of how this powerful, proud man learned to humble himself and obey God’s instruction through the prophet Elisha, and so was miraculously cleansed of his leprosy. But none of it would have happened had it not been for an obscure Israelite girl.

The chapter begins by explaining that bands of Syrian troops had been raiding Israelite territory. In one such raid a young Israelite girl was taken captive and made a servant to Naaman’s wife. Observing…

In Luke 14, Jesus tells the story of a man who gave a great feast. Many people were invited. When the feast was ready, the host sent out his servants to summon the guests. But instead of coming, those who had been invited “all with one accord began to make excuses” (verse 18). So the host had his servants go out and invite anyone they could find to come to the feast. He added, “none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.”

The parable, of course, is about God’s…

“Better is the end of a thing than its beginning” (Ecclesiastes 7:8).

I confess, I’ve always had some trouble with that statement. I guess it’s easy to see the truth of it when the thing in question is a dental procedure or a tax audit. But in many cases, the end of a thing saddens us: a fun vacation; a memorable school year; a gratifying career; the life of someone we love. The end means it’s over. Done. No more. It means it cannot continue, no matter how much we might want…

I had a frustrating experience a while back. I called a company with which I regularly do business, spoke to a person whose job is to provide customers with accurate information, and asked her a pretty basic question, which she promptly and cheerfully answered. But the answer she gave me, as I soon discovered, was wrong. Not slightly wrong, very wrong. I ended up spending a whole day correcting mistakes that would have been prevented if she had given me the correct information.

When it comes to our spiritual lives, misinformation is…

This time of year many people are making new year’s resolutions. One person resolves to lose weight, get in shape. Another resolves to save more money, get out of debt. And another resolves to quit a bad habit, such as smoking.

Of course, many new year’s resolutions are not kept. Some don’t even make it to February. And often this happens because what the person needed was not just a resolution, but a revolution.

A resolution is a determination to do something. But a revolution is a radical change. The…

During a visit to a funeral home some time ago, I ran across an interesting bro­chure. It was an advertisement for something called “Escape School.”

Escape School, it turns out, is a community program that teaches child­ren how to keep from becoming victims of kidnapping or assault. That this kind of program is necessary is a sad commentary on our so­ciety. But the danger is real. Many parents can’t even let their children walk to the corner by themselves, fearing they may be abducted by some psycho. I applaud families and communities…

Have you ever wondered where our English word “church” came from? The word evolved from the Old English cirice, which had its origins in the Germanic kirika, which was adapted from an ancient Greek term, kyriakon, meaning “the Lord’s [house].” You can detect a similar history of the word for “church” in many modern languages, from Swedish (kyrka) to Czech (cirkev) to Afrikaans (kerk). Even in Scottish dialect, a church is called a kirk.

Think on that for a moment: “church” derives from a word denoting the Lord’s house. What is the Lord’s…