Posts from 2015
A Lecture-Free Life: Confronting Our Sin
Several years ago, while driving through Minnesota, I came across a billboard for a dental office that offered “Lecture-free Dentistry.” Underneath those three words was a slogan regarding this lecture-free dental office. My first thought was “there is no way I am going there!” I don’t know what your experiences with the dental office are, but the only lectures I have…
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff is the title of a little book by Richard Carlson. It is a collection of 100 short essays that give practical advice on how to keep the small irritations of life from driving you crazy and suggestions on how to live a more peaceful, less stressful life by putting things in perspective. I thought it was a catchy, appropriate title that captures…
The Prosperity Gospel and Redemption (frustrating, disappointing, difficult redemption)
I recently read Micah 6. It is a wonderful passage on the difference between religion that wearies and saddens God and true religion, a vibrant relationship with God. As I was reading, a particular word caught my attention…redeemed. Micah 6:4 states, “For I brought you up from the land of Egypt…
John Lennon, Modern Science and the Faulty View of Religion
I came across a op-ed in the LA Times the other day. The authors were asserting that DNA studies in recent years have “proved” that “God didn’t make man; man made god.” The authors introduced the article by quoting John Lennon and then asserting that the only world that makes any sense is a world…
John 15 – Fruitfulness and Pruning
John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in…
The Fruitful Soil (Mark 4)
Jesus often used parables in his teaching, which were simple short stories that would have been familiar to the people he was addressing, to explain and illustrate a spiritual truth he wanted to convey to them. Since I’m a simple guy, parables are right in my wheelhouse. This particular parable is used to depict the responsiveness of unbelievers to God’s message of…
Though You Slay Me (Video) – Seeing Hope in Affliction
If you are struggling to see the purpose of pain or to see a good God in the midst of affliction, Paul offers hope in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. “16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction…
The Master Physician and the Heart of Stone
An operation is an extremely painful and uncomfortable life event. My older daughters both had open heart surgery at age 2. It was a deeply challenging experience. The first night after surgery was the most difficult. I spent the night awake at their bedside that I might comfort and calm them when they awoke with screams of pain. They would move in and out of sleep in…
