When bitterness becomes your religion, healing becomes heresy: Christopher Cook says, “But here’s the fruit of that belief system: the most anxious, entitled, bitter, and emotionally fragile generation in history. The world is not freer. It is more fractured. The culture of curated authenticity has not led us to peace, but to exhaustion.”
Mortifying our desire: Keith Evans begins, “A young man once told me, “I never chose to feel this way. These attractions seem to have always been part of my life.” His honesty captures what so many experience—same-sex attraction often feels unchosen, even natural. But when we look to Scripture, we discover even that which may feel natural is not always good.”
Wanderlust and the Christian Life
“Oh the places you’ll go!” Dr. Seuss believed that the true achiever is an adventurer: “You’ll head straight out of town. It’s opener there in the wide open air. Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.”
“We’re taking a vision trip to Florida,” our friends shared. Tired of the heat of the Sonoran Desert, they set out to find the perfect place for their family to settle. I’ve been part of several similar conversations. It’s healthy for couples to dream together. I’ve seen God weave those dreams into something that honors him and blesses others.
Unbelief Isn't a Sin, or Is It?
An earnest interlocutor responded to me, “God wouldn’t hold it against me if I don’t believe in him, would he? If he hasn’t made faith clear enough, isn’t that his responsibility?”
Is unbelief a sin? Surely not!
Culturally, we don’t take unbelief very seriously. We tend to think of unbelief as a neutral characteristic, if not even something that might show a particular strength of character. We might consider someone who doesn’t believe as being sharp minded, thoughtful, or not gullible.
Many Christians even diminish the nature of unbelief. I recently read a book by a popular pastor who claimed that Jesus didn’t call his followers to believe,
Who Do You Critique Loudest
What comes to mind when you think of a Pharisee? A self-righteous finger-wagger? An arrogant rule follower?
Jesus was a Pharisee.
There were two major Jewish groups during Jesus’ time: the Pharisees and the Sadducees (a smaller number of Jews were part of the Essenes, a separatist group). The Pharisees and Sadducees both emerged after the Hasmonean dynasty (The Jewish rulers who gained independence after the Maccabean revolt (167-160 BC) were known as the Hasmoneans).
The Sadducees controlled the Temple and had political favor with the Romans. They accepted only the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and rejected oral tradition.
A Prayer for the Loud Lord
Today I have the opportunity to share another one of my daughter, Camille’s poems. She wrote this poem during her time serving at the Grand Canyon this past summer. –John
a prayer for the Loud Lord
You are loud here. winds wind through royal blue stone, drowning my breath.
so small. so fleeting. so futile. but the vapor of a whisper.
i don’t need to go anywhere to find you. You are here.
How Hard Is Your Heart?
You can tell a good piece of fruit or vegetable by its color and by its feel. The avocado, though, is tricky. A novice might think that a bright green, hard avocado is the best, but counter-intuitively, the best avocados are dark, with shades of brown, giving easily to the touch. The heart of a growing Christian also gives easily to the touch.
When we seek out counsel, the state of our hearts can resist the very thing we want. A soft heart can turn mediocre counsel into pearls of wisdom. A hard heart will turn the wisest counsel into sawdust.
Listen to Your Life
My wife is very comfortable with quiet. I admire her ability to sit peacefully and listen to God. Me? Not so much. I work out with audiobooks or podcasts as my audio backdrop. I write with music on.
There are benefits to this audio soundscape that I live in. It means that I input quite a lot of information. I benefit from many wise voices and am grateful for the gift of music which inspires, soothes, and provokes.
The problem with a life of input is that it can choke out self-reflection and even the voice of God.
How Christian Border Patrol Agents Think About the Border
“I have to make sure I’m never in uniform in public.” I sat down over pizza with two border patrol agents and chatted about their experience as Christian agents. Living near the border, we have a number of Border Patrol Agents who attend at our church. I wanted to hear from them what their experience was and hear how their experience could shape the church’s thoughts concerning illegal immigration.
Over the course of three meetings, I met with four agents and listened as they shared their perspective on serving as Border Patrol Agents. All of them share an unbending commitment to uphold the law of the land and protect our borders and to care for the people they engage
This Week's Recommendations
How do I help someone see their anger when they can’t see it themselves? Ed Welch answers, “It’s difficult for at least two reasons. One is that angry people tend not to see their anger as a problem, because anger tends to feel like a righteous reaction against some kind of injustice. Another is that angry people, they can combust in a moment.”
How were the biblical Psalms originally performed? Marek Dospel asks, “How much do we really know about how biblical psalms were originally performed? What might a psalm performance have looked like in the First Temple period, around 900 B.C.E.?”
Can't We Just Be the Church?
“Don’t go to church, be the church,” urged an influential Christian leader whom I respect.
I understand his call to action. If you must choose between attending a weekly service or demonstrating Christ through service, you might want to opt for the latter. It’s better to joyfully steward our God-given gifts rather than sliding in and out of the back row every Sunday. Caring for the orphan, widow, and the jobless outweighs downing an (admittedly delicious) New Life Bible Fellowship donut and coffee.
But God doesn’t ask us to choose between going or being! In fact, making a choice to be the church without going to church robs us of the power Christ has offered us as he calls us outward to serve.






