Whatever time we are able to take to slowly look at scripture is worth it, because it yields insights that were not evident before. Take today’s passage for instance. I had always thought of it as a bit of a conundrum related to some interplay between our work and God’s work in salvation, but the context changes how we look at the issue.  Read More

Will you pray with me? Will you ask God to show the splendor of his majesty? In many ways, that is what this whole passage has done. It demonstrated the power of Jesus to humbly submit to the will of his Father and be humiliated for our sake, but the grandeur of the story is in the recognition that his name is above all others. What’s the big deal about the name?  Read More

G. K. Chesterton wrote of Jesus’s birth, “There is in that alone the touch of a revolution, as of the world turned upside down.” But this was only the first step in the humbling, because what was to come was a humiliation. The one who is God from everlasting to everlasting, took the form of a human, submitting to the ultimate degradation and judgment reserved for a slave.  Read More

What sets apart those of us who have been born a second time from the rest of the world? It is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our regenerated souls which makes it possible to think, live, do, and be like our savior Jesus.   Read More

In Psalm 31, David reminds us that each day, along with each different season of our lives, are all in the hand of God. He wrote, "My times are in your hand" (31:15). But David added something earlier in the Psalm as well.   Read More

I like things clean. I don't think I'm a "neat freak" but I enjoy things picked up and tidy. I don't know about you, but I find it really hard to live and work in the middle of a mess. I see a mess and my visceral reaction tends to be frustration. But God has been tea...  Read More

Motives are hard to pin down some times. Certainly, for other people it can be nearly impossible. They can’t tell what is driving our actions toward them. If we are honest with ourselves, it can even be hard to know our own motivations. This is partly because we can have multiple reasons that weigh on our decisions and sometimes we have gut level reactions to events or people that are not thought through at all.  Read More

What is Christian unity? It is not a feeling or always agreeing about everything, rather it is an understanding and steadfast commitment to believing the gospel and living out its ramifications in our life together as the church.  Read More

The “ifs” in our life signify something is conditional. Paul piles a whole bunch of “ifs” that while presented as conditional are actually realities in the Philippians lives. He has been exhorting them to live together in a manner that is worthy of the gospel despite suffering and opposition.  Read More

It is encouraging to read stories of Christians who trusted God despite oppression, persecution, or even the call to martyrdom. Reading the story of Polycarp, Perpetua, Martin Luther, Jim Eliot, Corrie ten Boom and so many others inspire Christians everywhere. But what is the inspiration? Is it their apparent strength where we suspect weakness in ourselves? Is it their heart conviction when we have hearts that are quick to capitulate? Is it their vision of God’s kingdom when we distract ourselves pursuing the American Dream?  Read More

There are so many ways we to be divided in our communities and relationships. We can be divided by envy, greed, mistrust, even simple differences of personality and style. This divides families, neighborhoods, all the way up the human relational chain to nation states.  Read More

Children know very little of their parents fussing, sacrifice, thinking, and concern for them while they grow up. It is only later, when they are responsible in a similar way that they begin to understand what was hidden from them.  Read More