It is easy to be impressed by the giants of the Christian faith. We read in the Bible of people like Elijah who stood up to evil kings, of Moses who stood before Pharaoh, and of Paul who testified before rulers and hostile Jewish governments. We know of people like Martin Luther and John Knox …
Many Christians are terrified of evangelism. It is the kind of thing we know we should be doing but we don’t get around to, like flossing or exercise. It is easy to come up with all kinds of excuses not to tell other people about Jesus. Maybe they will reject me or be mean to …
I often come across a complaint non-Christians have about the church: it brainwashes people. Many see the church as being the same as a cult, forcing people to believe things. For those who see themselves as enlightened and free thinkers, equating the church to a cult explains why so many people would hold to views …
It can seem that becoming a Christian requires a great deal of knowledge. If you are interested in knowing about Jesus and the church, the new material can be a little overwhelming. Church is so strange culturally with singing and praying and listening to sermons. And the Bible is a very big book, much bigger …
Have you ever slammed your finger in a door? If you have, just reading that last sentence might have made you flinch. The pain is immediate and terrible. You would likely scream for help. At the time, it dominated your thinking. You were unable to remember whatever it was you were thinking about before, and …
We all want to belong somewhere. There is something comforting about being with the people we love in a place where we know we are welcome. There is something special about home. The apostle Peter wrote his first letter to Christians scattered through the world. Peter described his readers as “elect exiles”. To be elect …
Like a significant number of people in my city and the world, I spent most of the past two weeks in isolation. My wife and I and two of our children contracted COVID. While the children recovered very quickly, it was a rougher few days for the adults of the house, worse than I expected. …
The advertised time for the church service I am part of is 10am on Sundays. This is not a new time, but is the time our church has met for decades now. Yet, most Sundays, less than 50% of the people who will ultimately be present are there at 10am. Sometimes the service leader stands …
Greed is one of those sins that creeps up on you. You see it in the lives of other people. It is easy to silently pass judgement on that person who bought that luxury car or lives a lifestyle you would be uncomfortable with. If your name doesn’t appear on some list of the wealthiest …
Most parents have a certain dream for their children. They hope that they grow up to be nice, well-adjusted people. They hope that their children are respectable and, ideally, wealthy. The parents want them to be good to other people. If someone had a child who grew up into a nice, middle-class, friendly person, they …