In our home we use a short question to help guide our interactions with one another: Are you building up or tearing down? Meaning, do my words or actions give life or cause destruction? What am I communicating with my words, tone, facial expression, or body language? Is it building up my family? Ephesians 4:29–32 (NIV) gives us a picture of what our relationships should entail: Do not let any...
The book of Acts traces the birth of the early church from its small, inauspicious beginnings to Paul’s arrival in Rome. As Jesus predicted, the kingdom of God started small, but the power of God is still transforming and changing broken people and places. Jesus is still with us, still at work, writing a new history that moves the lives of people in every place to bring heaven to earth until that...
“What is possible in art becomes thinkable in life.” This quote from British musician Brian Eno resonated with me. I think he’s right. What is possible in the imaginary realm becomes manifest in story, the most compelling medium in human expression. And I think C. S. Lewis would agree. In a now famous account of his journey to Christ, Lewis described how a work of the imagination became manifest...
Paul knows something that many of us forget—people change and grow through encouragement. He doesn’t hesitate to say a hard truth when needed, but his go-to is reminding people of all they have in Christ and encouraging them to live out their union with Christ in the everyday details of life. In keeping with that, he closes out Colossians with some more encouraging words. As he does, we get a...
One evening, as my wife and I were putting our kids to bed, our three-year-old daughter, Opal, was making silly faces in the mirror. After reviewing her exaggerated expressions, she paused and asked, in a serious tone, “Why did Jesus make my eyes weird?” Now, you have to understand, Opal has ginormous eyes. We call them her “Disney princess eyes” and have always told her they are beautiful. On...
