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…

In the first century, Roman engineer Sextus Julius Frontinus was so impressed by his world that he said, “Inventions have reached their limit, and I see no hope for further development.”

In 1895, British scientist Lord Kelvin declared, “Heavier than air flying machines are impossible.”

In 1932, the great physicist Albert Einstein said, “There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable.”

In 1977, computer industry pioneer Ken Olsen remarked, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

Now, if you know the Plant City congregation, you might say we have plenty of Davids already! At present our number includes eight fine men by that name. Some of us have even joked about changing the name on our sign to “The House of David.”

But of course that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m referring to King David of Israel. He was not perfect, but God called him a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). This church, like every church, needs men and women like that. Specifically, every…

The purpose of a doctor is to help sick people get well, not to make them feel good about being sick.

The purpose of a road map is to help us get where we need to go, not to make us feel good about being where we are.

The purpose of a plumber is to fix your pipes, not to make you feel good about having a leak.

Despite some modern exceptions, the purpose of schools and teachers is to educate children, not to make them…