Why Crucify Your Son? An inquiry into the crucifixion of Jesus Christ written especially for those who stumble over the notion of a God who would slay his only Son by such a horrific death.
What Do You See? What do you and I see when we look at someone? Do we see them with God-eyes or do we, like Simon the Pharisee, not only miss seeing them as God sees them but perceive ourselves with equal error?
Disappointment If you’ve never found yourself disappointed in God, hang on. Sooner or later—days, weeks, months, maybe years—it’s going to be your turn. And if you don’t think it can happen to you, then you’ve forgotten that the student is not above his Master.
Priorities By what measure do we determine and arrange the priorities of our life? In the tenth chapter of Luke we find our Lord clearly staking out that which is the most important of all.
The Friendship of Trials affirms that trials are a vital part of the Christian life and we are encouraged to welcome them as friends that they might do their work and prove our faith sincere.
What the Children Deserve A closer look at the oft-repeated claim that we “deserve hell” and what it implies about God’s character.
Inseparable How do we view marriage and divorce? Are we willing and able to embrace marriage as God intends?
Lessons at Sea Based on the familiar passage in the fourteenth chapter of Matthew’s gospel it explores the familiar story of Peter’s walking on the water with Jesus with a somewhat different conclusion perhaps than traditionally held.
The Hell that Love Made What we believe about hell has everything to do with what we believe about God. Does the widely taught perspective square with God’s character and his aspiration for the universe he created?
Gender Identity’s Declaration of Independence Is an individual’s gender identity different than their sex assigned at birth? Does the Bible provide any insights as to the answer? How should followers of Jesus Christ respond to those who experience gender dysphoria?
Love—The Antidote to Fear We live in a world riddled with fear. Fear of loneliness, pain, rejection, loss, deprivation…even death. The antidote? The perfect love of the Father of Jesus Christ.
The Sending Away Forgiveness can be a tricky word. At least our understanding of it. Intrinsic to the common understanding of the word is the idea of pardon, of being excused from an offense.
Is this what Jesus came to do? To offer humanity a pardon from sin? An absolution? To excuse us from sin’s offense and protect us from his Father’s supposed wrath? Or did the forgiveness he came to bring include something deeper and more wonderful: the sending away of sin itself!
Do You Want To Be Whole? Jesus poses this penetrating question to a man who has been ill for thirty-eight years. It is not rhetorical. It is a question put to us all–together with a warning!
The Seed and The Soil In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus teaches about the impact of the word of the Kingdom on those who hear, whose soil of their heart differs.
The Reality of Following A scribe once declared to Jesus that he would follow the Lord wherever he went. Jesus’ cryptic reply hints at the reality of what following him entails.
I Do Not Condemn You Far from being a God who stands angrily over those who sin to condemn them, God is a perfect and good Father who seeks to free his children from sin’s grip that they might grow into true sons and daughters, perfectly at home in the Father’s great heart of love. Taken from the eighth chapter of John’s gospel, the account of the woman caught in the very act of adultery and brought before Jesus for condemnation highlights this truth.
I Am Willing Have you ever found yourself wondering if God were really willing to help you? In the eighth chapter of the gospel of Matthew we meet a leper who struggled with similar doubts.
And Lead Us Not Into Temptation Have you, like me, wondered about the curious inclusion in The Lord’s Prayer of the phrase, “And lead us not into temptation?” Would God ever lead us into temptation?
Miracle at Cana The first of Jesus’ “signs”, the turning of water into wine at the request of his mother teaches us much concerning the efficacy of prayer.
What Do You Seek? In the first chapter of John’s Gospel, we find two of the disciples of John the Baptist following Jesus who, seeing them following asks a pointed question, What do you seek? It is a question the Lord still asks of all who seek to follow him…
Mercy to Dogs The passage found in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 15:22-28, strikes many as one of the more harsh sounding pronouncements of our Lord. It almost seems as though he is relegating a Canaanite woman seeking his help to no more than the status of a dog! Nothing could be further from the truth…