Your motive matters

Almost three decades ago, when I was a first or second-year seminary student, a retired pastor in our congregation pulled me to the side in the foyer one Sunday morning. “I have a question for you,” he said. And pointing his finger somewhat aggressively towards me, he asked, “why do you do what you do?” […]

Who decides?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been collecting articles that indicate moral dilemmas and debates in our culture. The spectrum of articles I’ve seen is broad. In January, the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision was marked. Those on either side of the debate are seemingly becoming more entrenched in their positions. The […]

Reading the Pentateuch

This year our church is following an Old Testament reading plan — reading through the entire Old Testament chronologically, along with two of the Gospels. So these first months of the year, we are in the first five books of the Old Testament — the Pentateuch. For many books of the Bible, I have put […]

Just as the Lord commanded

Obedience is hard. We tend to do “kind-of obedience” — the kind of obedience that moves towards fulfilling the spirit of the law, but not the letter. Full obedience? That’s rare. Obedience that is complete, exact, to-the-letter, joyful, and non-resistant is unusual. We cut corners — “that’s close enough.” So driving 73 (or 75 or […]

“I don’t do blood”

I don’t do blood. Those real-life operating shows on TV? You’ve never seen anyone flip channels so fast! Dissections in my high school and college biology labs? Someone else had to do them. Emergency room and intensive care visitations? They better be quick — I’ve had more than one hospital room start “spinning” on me! […]

Passover and communion

This morning I read again the account of the first Passover in Exodus 12. As Jesus makes clear (Mt. 26:2, 18-19; Lk. 22:15; see also 1 Cor. 5:7), there are obvious connections between the Jewish festival and the Christian church’s ordinance of communion. After reading the biblical account, I further refreshed my mind about the […]

“I am the Lord”

One of the tenets of bibliology is that Scripture is the self-revelation of God. Through the words of the Bible, we discover truth about the nature and character of God. And sometimes, that self-disclosure by God is particularly evident. Consider, for example, the declaration, “I am the Lord.” Though the Lord only makes that declaration […]

Necessities of life

What we deem to be necessary for our lives and what God deems to be necessary for us are often in conflict. We idolize simplicity and solitude and ease. God desires our sanctification and Christlikeness. And sanctification rarely happens in ease and leisure. So God — decreeing what is necessary for us (1 Peter 1:6) […]

2013 Bible Reading Plans

For several years, our church has read through the Bible annually. Last year, we created another plan in which individuals could read chronologically through the New Testament and consecutively through the Psalms. This year, we have not only updated last year’s plan to correspond to the dates of the new calendar, but we are also […]