Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” –Acts 1:8 I’ve written before about how traveling is not my strong suit. All the preparations, arrangements, worries, unknowns…Why not just stay home and stream the world on TV? Well, that’s not a very Christian attitude. …
I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope. — Jeremiah 29:11 This verse from Jeremiah is one of the most inspirational in the Bible. I remember stumbling upon it while in a dark period of …
This I know, that God is for me. — Psalm 56:9 I subscribe to a weekly meditation offered by Pastor Debbie Bronkema on her connect.faith website. In a midweek meditation she recalled a seminary professor, in one of her classes, pulling out a wrinkled piece of paper upon which he had written the above verse from …
He enacts justice for orphans and widows, and he loves immigrants, giving them food and clothing. — Deuteronomy 10:18 An interesting undercurrent in the Bible is the presence and place of immigrants. The tone is set in Genesis 12, with Abraham leaving home to seek God’s promise of establishing a new nation through him. Scripture details …
Wash! Be clean! Remove your ugly deeds from my sight. Put an end to such evil; learn to do good. Seek justice: help the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow. — Isaiah 1:16-17 What we sometimes take for sin is unbiblical. A popular conception is that sin involves a list of iron-clad do’s …
The more I live, the more I’m convinced that we should know when to shift our critical thinking machine into neutral and simply enjoy life like we used to when we were kids. That’s difficult to write because I firmly believe that critical thinking is key to helping chart the course for our individual and …
“Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask.” — Matthew 6:8 I’m a planner. Always have been, always will be. I look ahead, anticipate things, and strategize to either make good things happen or keep bad things from happening. Planners, by definition, have difficulty relinquishing control. That’s not exactly …
For God so loved the world that [She] gave her only son. — John 3:16 Recently I returned to Columbia, Missouri, where I had served as campus pastor in the 80’s and 90’s. I was amazed at how young the students looked. [It couldn’t have been because I’m much older now.] That youthfulness reflected the …
“Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” — Luke 2:14 It’s pretty clear that if we want peace in the world, we need to enter into the lives of others as God did. There were no savior-from-on-high theatrics. No confrontation between sword-wielding angels and the Roman legions. Indeed, …
Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature. — Romans 12:2 My wife and I got back from Ireland a few weeks ago, which means you’ll see Ireland popping up occasionally in …