Working for God Is What Matters Most I’ve worked from home since 2000. Over the years curious neighbors, seeing me at home during the day, have asked if I’m retired. I smile and shake my head. More recently the question has shifted to “When are you going to retire?” Again, I shake my head. Retirement […]
Helping Others Is One of Many Ways to Worship God I like the stories about Jesus helping people in need, such as by feeding them and especially by healing them. Even more I like it when Jesus confronts the religious practices of the day. We have so much to learn from his example. It’s a […]
When We Do God’s Work, Our Labor Is Not in Vain As Paul winds down his first letter to the church in Corinth, he gives a simple command, followed by some encouragement. He says for them—and us, by extension—to remain diligent doing God’s work. Though we may not see the results of what we do […]
Consider Your Attitude toward Church and Your Motivation for Going When I listen to people talk about church, I often hear what draws them in and what drives them away. They enthuse about programs for them and the youth group for their kids. They gush about the skill of the minister delivering inspiring sermons, the […]
Consider Your Response to Receiving the Greatest Gift Anyone Could Ever Get Paul tells the church of Philippi to work out your salvation (Philippians 2:12). He doesn’t say to work for your salvation. They’ve already received eternal life as a free gift through God’s goodness (his grace), and there’s nothing they need to do to […]
Make Sure That What You Do Advances the Kingdom of God Many people talk about being a missional church (and a missional follower of Jesus). This is an ideal goal, yet people have different understandings about what it means to be missional. Before giving a holistic definition of this often-misunderstood word, let’s first look what […]
Align with Other Believers to Build Ourselves Up and Serve Others In my post about spiritual mastermind groups I talked about the benefit of aligning ourselves with other like-minded followers of Jesus to walk with on our spiritual journey. Now I’d like to look at the word cohort and apply that too. Let’s call this […]
In the book of Hosea, God calls the young man, Hosea, to be his prophet—telling him to marry a prostitute, (see “Hosea Shows Us God’s Unconditional Love”). This is one of God’s most scandalous directives. What is intriguing is that God does not indicate which prostitute. God gives options. The choice is left to Hosea! […]
The first time someone said this to me, I was both excited and dismayed: “God’s calling me to full-time ministry—so I’m going to seminary.” Though I’ve now heard it many times since, my reaction is the same to the thought of seminary training. I’m thrilled whenever anyone desires to work full time to support God’s […]
How We View and Handle Money Matters to God and to Us Paul writes to his protégé Timothy, warning him that the love of money is the source of all manner of evil. An unhealthy preoccupation with wealth is especially risky for followers of Jesus, for their pursuit of money can distract them from their […]