Laughing while the ship goes down

Huh? What does that mean? Well, it means something close to what you thought, but not quite. If it means something akin to what I thought, then why would we laugh that the country is in ruins? Well, is it not actually in ruins, but simply that that large wooded sculpture that we let in,…

Psalm 131

1 O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. 2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, hope in the…

Christian. Noun, or Adjective?

It has been said that the term Christian is a noun, not an adjective. So, let’s think about that. I would certainly agree that Christian is a noun. They are people. Christians are personal, real-flesh, and blood followers of Christ, absolutely and indubitably. It is people who are converted and born again, not your dog or toaster. So, yes, Christian is a…

Covenantal Cleansing

If we were all honest, I believe we would love to have our sins forgiven. There is a liberation in knowing that you are made whole–free of debt. We would all love to think that whatever we do is not a violation or offense to anyone–that no one is collecting interest on us. We would…

Believe the report

As our culture has moved well beyond post-war to post-Christian, it is no longer what we do in the bedroom that is sex, but it is religion. How has the world pushed the church into the bedroom and brought what was in there out into the world? We aren’t only in the bedroom, but the…

On Christian Duty

There is a famous story in the Gospels about the Centurion and Jesus. Matthew 8 and Luke 7 record it for us. Jesus meets the Centurion’s servant, who wants Jesus to come and heal another servant. Jesus agrees and then begins to follow the man, but the centurion sends another servant who stops him. He…

We made this bed

It takes a few things to destroy a country and replace its government with tyranny. The first thing is to get rid of God. We have seen this all around, tearing down the 10 commandments, getting rid of prayer in schools, teaching our children we are simply material accidents, genders are mere choices, and the…

On Loving Enemies #2 (a reprisal)

I wrote about this a long time ago, but as I have reflected on it recently, I have more to say. That is what Pastors do, come up with more things to say. Anyway, I have probably said this myself at some point: we love our enemies by making them friends. While true, I must clarify, that…

The parable of the Two Sons

In Dennis Prager’s commentary on Exodus, he makes this passing comment about Israel. “All the Nations of the world are God’s children, but Israel is the firstborn.” Or you could say, the older brother. That brings a whole new light to the parable of the Prodigal Son. The church certainly does in some sense look…

If God’s Truth were not so. (Presuppositional Slippage)

Francis Schaeffer, who I have rediscovered my love for, gave a rather jarring point in his book, The God Who Is There. He describes the idea of standing in a queue, waiting our turn. Schaeffer mentions them as if the ideas of turns and lines don’t have any meaning without the truth of the Word…