He Who Began a Good Work
"Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a god work in you will continue to perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil.1:6). We begin the Christian life by coming to God and letting Him do for us what we cannot do. We continue to...
Call Upon Him, While He is Near
"Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near" (Isa.55:6). Familiar words. But today I noticed the context, and my heart was warmed....
Who Was I?
We often find ourselves asking, “Who am I?” But yesterday I was asking God, “Who was I all those years when I did not know who I was?”...
Processing Anger
In the Fall of 1985 my life was in shambles, and I located a couple of support groups to help me through that difficult time. The first group was held at an evangelical church in Minneapolis; the second was a secular self-help group that had meeting locations all over...
What About Sin?
Christians who are unfamiliar with spiritual formation sometimes wonder why we do not say more about sin and repentance. The reason is that Christian formation has a far broader understanding of repentance than is traditionally taught, and as such, deals with the sin problem far more effectively. Read more...
We Need a Bigger Box!
I am constantly amazed at my own self-made limitations on the goodness of God! Whenever I think I’ve let Him “out of the box” I had put Him in previously, I eventually find that I’ve only given Him a slightly bigger box. And I wish I could do away...
A Plea for Safety in Honesty
Having accepted Jesus into my life as a small child, I grew up in a church environment that exerted tremendous social pressure to look and behave in certain ways or risk the contempt and disgust of the larger group. In practical terms, though no one would admit it, this...
Being in God’s Will
We don’t see them much any more, but when I was growing up we would often see special events where the speaker’s topic was, “How to know God’s will for your life.” You had to get there early, because the place would be packed out....
Repentance?
I was really taken this morning by the opening phrase of Psalm 51: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love”...
Making Renovations
Looking around our North Carolina house, we have done a lot of renovating since we bought it last December. Lots of stuff pulled up — like the 4 layers of linoleum in the kitchen, plus the wood layment, plus the cork tile under that — all the way down to the...