Of all the letters Paul wrote, Second Corinthians is the most autobiographical. In it the great apostle lifts the veil on his private life and allows us to catch a glimpse of his human frailties and needs. You need to read that entire letter in one sitting to capture the moving emotion that surged through […]
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Painful Days
Are you in physical pain today? Someone reading this is in pain. Perhaps it’s you. Or maybe you know someone in pain. Pain rarely makes sense and often continues without relief. Throughout the ages, others who have endured pain have turned their attention from the temporary pain to things eternal by meditating on passages of […]
Read MoreHow Do I Overcome Anxiety?
Question: Last month, I thought I was having a heart attack. My pulse was racing, my palms were sweating, and I started breathing heavily, as if I were going to pass out. I went to the hospital, and they said my heart was fine—what I had experienced was a panic attack. Now I have anxiety […]
Read MoreDoes God Care about Our Suffering?
Agonizing in prayer over a difficult leader who was causing conflict in my church, I asked God to remove him and to protect my family and me. As senior pastor, I became the target for a few disgruntled people that this man had secretly poisoned against me. Eventually they demanded my resignation, threatening to disrupt […]
Read MoreStill Living: Grieving after Suicide
Disclaimer: If you are thinking about hurting yourself or believe someone you know may be, call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 now. When I was a teenager, one of my youth group peers committed suicide. He was about 18 years old. Later, I served in a church where two youths killed themselves. In […]
Read MoreWhy God Shakes Your Spiritual Tightrope
I can already tell the year 2014 will require me to have the skill of a tightrope walker to stay balanced. If you’re like me, sometimes it seems we barely keep steady on our spiritual tightrope . . . and then something—or someone—shakes the rope! Believe it or not, that someone shaking our rope is […]
Read MoreStrangely Wrapped, Silently Delivered
Ever since the first Christmas celebration, I think one word has fallen from everyone’s lips more than any other. It isn’t the word joy or carol or tree or food. It’s the word gift. Gifts are so inseparably linked and interwoven with Christmas that we can hardly think of one without the other. However, we […]
Read MoreFaith in the Workplace
You invest more than one-third of your life at work. Punch the clock, turn on the computer, start your engines at 8 a.m., rest a few minutes at noon, but keep your mind and body in gear till the sun has set. Then tomorrow—repeat. Sound familiar? So how can your relationship with God grow in […]
Read MoreWriting from Corinth
As Paul traipsed through the port city of Corinth, his nostrils full of the aromas from exotic spices and his ears catching snippets of conversations in foreign tongues, he likely encountered a diverse array of the people and practices—from gruff sailors and meticulous tradesmen to wealthy idolaters and enslaved Christians. The prominent Roman city provided […]
Read MoreRomans: Cornerstone of Christian Truth
The editors of the New Geneva Study Bible describe the book of Romans as Paul’s fullest, grandest, most comprehensive statement of the gospel. Its compressed declarations of vast truths are like coiled springs—once loosed, they leap through mind and heart to fill one’s horizon and shape one’s life. John Chrysostom, the fifth century’s greatest preacher, […]
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