We can unknowingly do tremendous damage by guilting ourselves (or other people) into forgiving too soon. What?!? The Bible commands us to forgive! Yes, it does. I completely believe in the power of forgiveness, no argument there. But it has to be real forgiveness, not cheap forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the most misunderstood topics […]
I was in a devotional meeting on zoom recently where my friend and host played a beautiful song I hadn’t heard before, Heal the Wounds by Point of Grace. It’s about how God heals the wounds but leaves the scars. It got me thinking. I know God heals our wounds, physical, emotional and spiritual. But […]
How, as a Christian redeemed by a loving God, do we relate to people we love who are behaving badly and hurtfully? The truth is, love is unconditional. Relationship is not. But we should be forgiving, right? Seventy times seven! Love keeps no record of wrongs! Turn the other cheek! Gaslighters, narcissists, and other unhealthy […]
A rural pastor was out visiting his peeps. In the course of chatting with a local farmer, he asked him, “If you had two cows, would you give one of them to the Lord?” “Why, of course, Pastor! Absolutely. Wouldn’t even think twice about it,” responded the farmer. The pastor asked another question. “If you […]
I’m taking for granted, in this audience, we all want to spend time with Jesus. We all know we “should.” But more than that, we truly desire that intimacy, that quiet time, with him. But what do you do when it doesn’t work? What do you do when your “quiet times” fail? Because, try as […]
I’ve found, in my life, there are 4 ways of relating to Jesus. Although I’ve worked through different ones at different times in my life, I think it’s healthy to have all 4 active at once, to one degree or another. My regular readers know that, while, yes, I acknowledge good theology is important of […]
I think we’d all agree the church should be a safe place. We all want to feel safe when we go there. Hopefully, we’re all open to being challenged, since that’s where the growth is. But none of us want to feel judged, condemned, or threatened. For many of us, the church has not been […]
As much as we try to ignore it, we all have pain in our lives. And we all touch the pain, one way or another, for better or worse, in each other’s lives. Yet as universal as pain is, we typically don’t talk about it, for a couple of good reasons. First and most obvious, […]
Honor is the currency of the Kingdom of God. It’s different from the currency of the world. In the world, if I want to increase my bank account, I need to hoard it. I need to not let you get any. I need to keep it for myself to increase my bank account. But the […]
For a long time, I thought one of the beatitudes was, “Blessed are the peace keepers…” But that’s not what Jesus said. He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers…” There’s a huge difference between keeping the peace and making peace. I can speak to this because I made this mistake for decades in my own life. […]