As I look around there seems to be a lot of suffering in the lives of my friends. Maybe even more than usual. Mother in laws that are terminally ill, a mom who is dealing with the news that her little son has cancer, another mom who has just miscarried twins, a couple who long for a child and yet their arms remain empty. Suffering and sadness is everywhere. Whenever I think of suffering I think of the puritans. They knew what it meant to experience hard times and loss in their life. I think this is why they wrote so much about it. Suffering was a normal part of life for many of them. John Bunyan lost his first wife, had a daughter who was blind, and found himself incarcerated for 10 years for preaching in public. Spurgeon’s mother had 17 children of whom 9 died in infancy. “I love my suffe...

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) often tells audiences, “Republican Party events need more people with tattoos.” It struck me, as I heard him say this, that this is kind of what evangelical Christians ought to be saying about our churches. It struck me further when I read this tribute my former student Spencer Harmon wrote about his new wife and her past that this is precisely the issue facing the next generation of the Bride of Christ, the church. What Paul (the senator, not the Apostle) means, it seems, is that his party, if it is to have a future, shouldn’t count on just doing the same thing it’s always done, and it can’t rely on people who look like what people think Republicans ought to look like. The party must expand out to people whose pictures don’t currently show up in ...

Spanking. The act and even the word itself have become controversial. To many it is abuse, not discipline. People claim that it gives birth to frustration, anger, and violence. They say that it does not bring about any good, instead it does harm… and they are right. “Spanking has been shown to weaken the bond between kids and parents, slow mental development and increase antisocial, violent and criminal behaviors.” (NY Daily News) A child is caught lying to his mom, she grabs him by the arm, hauls him off to another room, lays him over her knee and gives him a good spanking. A boy sasses his dad who has had a bad day. He pops his son on the mouth telling him that he better not disrespect him like that.  These are examples that are all too common when it comes to spanking. Such respons...

Holidays such as Easter and Christmas are often times when pastors and congregations focus not only on Jesus but on the potential for an increase in visitors. Everything is extra-special on those days. There are special programs, worship is typically different, and we even take the time to throw out our everyday dress in exchange for something new. These holidays are indeed special and draw a crowd for a good reason–Jesus is the Savior of the world. But what happens when the holidays have passed? How can we encourage visitors to return every Sunday? I became a Christian at the age of 22. I didn’t have any real desire for the Lord but when I heard the gospel and gave my life to the Him I stayed. Here are a few reasons I think I kept returning and ways pastors and congregations might k...

Hardly a month goes by without another article being released on the internet that analyzes who is leaving the faith and why, as well as what reasons are given by those who reject Christianity. Our interest in this subject is not surprising. Christians in every generation have wondered why certain friends and family members still reject Jesus after hearing the gospel many times. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer for why some people reject Jesus and others don’t, here are two of the biggest reasons why many reject Jesus today. 1. Religious Hypocrisy Imagine growing up in a home where your parents forced you to attend church services but never talked about Jesus throughout the week. They often complained about society as if they were perfect saints trapped in a world of sinners. The...

The other morning I woke up while my children were still sleeping and began to pray. I started thinking about my identity. What am I? Who am I? As I settled into my prayer time I began to rejoice at the thought that I am a mother. It is part of who I am. To my children it is my name: “Mom.” The modern mom doesn’t always like to be identified as a mother. We are “liberated.” We have names and identities of much greater significance. Even the Christian mommy would prefer to keep her mom identity in check. “I am a Christian first and foremost,” we might say. This is so true and so good. We are first and foremost identified as united to Christ. He has redeemed us and therefore our identities are wrapped up in his righteousness. But this doesn’t mean we have to deny the si...

If you haven’t figured it out yet let me encourage you to see something that will greatly help you. Not all of your ideas are good. Some of them are bad. And God will often let you flail and fail out there for very good purposes. And when you fail do not lose the opportunity to find grace in the midst of it. I believe this is especially important for pastors to understand. It’s one of the most important lessons I have learned in 16 years of pastoral ministry: failure is to be expected and learned from. I have misspoke, misstepped, and missed the mark in more ways than I can explain here. And failing hurts. Most of us of are afraid of it. Leaders in particular are afraid of failure since it’s always a bit more of a public spectacle. I’m not talking about moral failur...

I was raised in a devout Muslim home, confident of the truth I had been taught all my life about Allah and Qur’an. So how did I move from believing adamantly in Islam to telling others about Jesus? It started with a friendship during my college days when a Christian named David befriended me despite our differences.  If you want to connect with your Muslim neighbors, classmates or coworkers, here are three suggestions from someone who’s been on the receiving end of a life-changing friendship: 1. Make sure the relationship is genuine. We all like to be with people we like and are like, so we may not know much about life outside of our own culture. Think about friendship with Muslims organically. That’s how my friendship with David began – sharing time over our studies. You can begin by...

In light of the recent action of the Romans Catholic Church to canonize two Popes, it is vital for Christians to understand what the Scripture actually teaches about sainthood. There are certain topics that I am reticent to write about—the question of sainthood is not one of them. This is not because I believe that I’ve attained to some level of holiness more than that of my brothers and sisters in Christ; nor is it because every Christmas, without fail, one of my friends jokingly annexes the title saint to my name. Rather, it is because both the Old and New Testaments unreservedly teach that all true believers are—in this life—saints. Laying hold of this truth has massive implications for our growth in grace and our personal assurance on the way to glory. One often-overlooked aspects of t...

Every Christian must be a theologian. In a variety of ways, this is something I tell my church often. And the looks I get from some surprised souls are the evidence that I have not yet adequately communicated that the purposeful theological study of God by lay people is important. Many times the confused responses come from a misunderstanding of what is meant in this context by theology. So I tell my church what I don’t mean. When I say every Christian must be a theologian, I don’t mean that every Christian must be an academic or that every Christian must be a scholar or that every Christian must work hard at giving the impression of being a know-it-all. We all basically understand what is meant in the biblical warning that “knowledge puffs up” (1 Cor. 8:1). Nobody likes an ...

I stare out, glancing at the trees in my backyard.  I soak in the scene before me, wanting to capture the moment.  In three short weeks, this view will no longer be mine. I will no longer have access to this place I now call home. Boxes slowly are piling up around me, crowding our rooms, crowding my mind.  So much to do, so much to do. Yet, at the window I pause.  This view has been mine for eight years.  That’s nearly 3000 evenings of washing dishes and watching.  Watching my children laugh and swing as the sun sets.  Watching the birds’ fly, gather food, and rest.  Watching the trees bloom, burst with color, and grow barren once more.  Somehow, I thought I owned this little view.  Yet, I am realizing more and more, I never really own anyt...

I remember lying awake in bed as a child, eyes wide open, while the darkness seeped into my room. From my window I saw stars dancing, and I wondered, “Is there a God?” That thought opened the door to a number of other questions. If he is there, how long has he been there? Who made him? And what is he thinking? If he existed forever, does this mean I will exist forever? Now that was a very uncomfortable idea for my young mind to ponder. Life without end was too big a thought for me to handle. So I turned my attention to less stressful matters. Would Luke Skywalker marry Princess Leia? My parents were open but cautious about God’s existence. They certainly weren’t atheists, but neither did they accept the notion of a personal God. Mine was a home that embraced the supernatural in general, bu...