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”
Category Archives: Service
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?”
Something to Keep You Warm
Some 25,000 winter coats are being gifted to children in Syria this Christmas. The effort is being led by Sister Annie Demerjian and the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, with support from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The thousands of coats have been made by tailors in Aleppo, northern Syria, which was devastatedContinue reading “Something to Keep You Warm”
Quitting with Grace
I remember my first job. As a 15 year old, I served as a referee for a youth soccer league that played on Saturday mornings. My first workday included tears and frustration—from myself, the players, and their parents. I was expecting a fun-filled Saturday, but a few missed calls turned it into a tormented beginning. What hadContinue reading “Quitting with Grace”
A Congregation Is Not an Audience
What is Jesus doing right now? According to Ephesians 4, he is ascended in heaven and is gifting his church for greater mission and unity. He’s giving leaders, who equip all the saints for ministry, so that the whole family can be built up in maturity. By contrast, we all too often create ministry systems thatContinue reading “A Congregation Is Not an Audience”
No One Believes in Social Injustice
I have been spending a fair bit of time researching the topic of social justice—something that has probably become obvious to you if you’re a regular reader of this site. The more I read, the more I see how much of the battle is not merely one of competing ideologies, but of competing vocabularies. JohnContinue reading “No One Believes in Social Injustice”
You Don’t Have to Do It All
I’m a 38-year pastoral veteran, now serving in a semi-urban, multi-ethnic congregation. I’ve never felt more overwhelmed. Though I’m not necessarily clocking in more pastoral hours, I am investing more grief and empathy—not to mention all the hours mulling over the threat to (and opportunity for) love, justice, unity, and mission that today’s issues present. I’m not busier,Continue reading “You Don’t Have to Do It All”
