I realize now that during my twenty-five-plus years as a follower of Jesus, I’ve had many ideas about him. I’ve chased movements and given my best shot at checking off discipleship lists. I’ve tried to be good, and I’ve been where the exciting Christian movements are happening. The problem all along was that as part of these ideas, I’ve always thought of Jesus as a sort of lucky rabbit’s foot. I...
. . . speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.Ephesians 4:15 There is the old joke about a businessman interviewing applicants for a position in his company. He asked each of them a simple question, “What is two plus two?” He got a variety of answers, including “I don’t know, but I’m glad for the opportunity to discuss the issue,” and a...
Sunday, April 4th will mark my twenty-fifth Easter as a Christian. I came to Christ as an eighteen-year-old in South Carolina. That makes me forty-three. At this age and after these many years, I seem to need the same reminder every Easter. I need someone to remind me Easter means more than pastels and eggs, peeps and chocolate bunnies, tulips and warmer days. I need someone to remind me why...
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”“O death, where is your victory?O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.1 Corinthians 15:55-57 Meditating on death, at its very core, is morbid and depressing. We mourn, weep, and lament death, sure—but what is the point of taking a...
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”Luke 23:34 ESV What we see today as a beautiful cross, an expression of religious art set in precious metals or stained glass, was a sign in Jesus’s day of wickedness, punishment, and judgment. The cross meant humiliation and prolonged suffering, torture, and shame. Jesus carried the massive top beam, weighing about a hundred pounds, on his...
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