Matthew’s Gospel speaks about integrity intwo ways. To begin with, there is the debate around authoritybetween Jesus and the religious leaders. This confrontationhappened just after Jesus had thrown the money changers andanimal sellers out of the Temple. The leaders wanted to knowwhether Jesus really had a valid right to do what he did, so theyquestionedContinue reading “When We Have Only Words”
Category Archives: Service
Please Make Yourself Uncomfortable
Most of us who are reading this have access to technology that qualifies us as, at the very least, “middle class.” This can make talking about God’s passionate concern for the poor more than a little uncomfortable. Part of the problem is that we tend to frame the conversation in either/or terms. If God isContinue reading “Please Make Yourself Uncomfortable”
A Theology for Work
God created human beings to work. The first instruction God gave Adam was to work, to tend the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15). Unfortunately, over the centuries, the term work has gained some negative connotations. We often view work as a difficult or unpleasant activity we are forced to perform. However, work is simply engagingContinue reading “A Theology for Work”
My Feet Hurt. 29 Years in Hospice.
So my feet hurt. Well, my foot and two-thirds. The podiatrist tells me that blood-starved nerves cause pain and that, given my prognosis, amputation doesn’t make sense. I have a prescription, and it’s helping. Still, my feet hurt. All the time. The pain sits just on the edge of real discomfort, which means that itContinue reading “My Feet Hurt. 29 Years in Hospice.”
You Don’t Have to Change the World
I’m 62 and have been a vocational pastor for 39 years. I serve in a smallish church of very diverse believers, and commit around 55 hours per week to active ministry. I’ve got my hands and head full, and don’t know that I can handle much more. So yesterday’s billboard wasn’t helpful. It urged collegeContinue reading “You Don’t Have to Change the World”
I Will Not Offer the Lord That Which Cost Me Nothing
2 Samuel 24:24. But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” David sinned by numbering the fighting men of Israel. It was not wrong that the kind took a census ofContinue reading “I Will Not Offer the Lord That Which Cost Me Nothing”
This Truth Will Set You Free
God will always sanctify you before He sends you. The Father set aside the twelve disciples and made them holy by the Truth, His Son. As they related to Jesus, the Truth (John 14:6), the disciples were refined by that Truth and were prepared to be sent out to preach the gospel. Jesus challenged theirContinue reading “This Truth Will Set You Free”
This Isn’t Your Year
We made it. 2021. A brand new year with new possibilities after one of the most difficult years in living memory. But that doesn’t mean the challenges and lessons of 2020 get thrown by the wayside. Our problems didn’t vanish at midnight like a magical reset button. Even with the recent deployment of COVID-19 vaccinesContinue reading “This Isn’t Your Year”
Do Something This Christmas
SOMEBODY COPIED THIS piece from a well-worn carbon in the billfold of a thirty-year veteran missionary. She and her husband were on their way to another tour of duty in Sudan. No one seems to know who authored it, but it captures the essence of the greatest essay ever written on love. If I haveContinue reading “Do Something This Christmas”
Not Quite What You Thought Is It?
I mentally ticked down the clock until bedtime: nine hours to go. It was only 11 a.m. Already I was fighting ennui—not because I don’t love my children but because the day stretched ahead of me with the same activities I’d been doing for days before and would be doing for days afterward. I amContinue reading “Not Quite What You Thought Is It?”
