Sunday Leftovers: When people leave the church

The apostle Paul spoke for all pastors when he reminded the Corinthians of the difficulty and burden of his ministry — imprisonments, beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, long journeys, robbers, and hard work. Yet the greatest source of his concern was “the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my […]

Sunday Leftovers: Worldly desires

“Do not love the world, nor the things in the world.” John (1 Jn. 2:15) could not be more clear. The things that are in the world, and all that the world produces from its ungodly system are deadly for the godly man when he lives for them and not for Christ. The believer should […]

Naaman’s dream

Have you ever had a dream? I have… When I was five, I dreamed of being a garbage man. When I was ten, I dreamed of being fifteen. When I was fifteen, I dreamed of being a baseball player. When I was twenty, I day-dreamed. When I was twenty-five, I dreamed of finishing school. When […]

Sin became a trifle

Epitaphs take a life and synthesize it into a concise statement. Some are humorous. “I told you I was sick.” Or “She lived with her husband for fifty years and died in the confident hope of a better life.” Some suggest a wasted life. “She loved the phone.” Others are tragic. “One miserable soul; lived […]

Sunday Leftovers: Your strength

A number of years ago, Sports Illustrated profiled arm wrestler Dave Patton. At the time, he hadn’t lost an arm wrestling match in 12 years, even though he only weighed 160 pounds. His secret was his training. He would train up to four hours each day, including 756 bicep curls during each session. Though often […]

God, please don’t give me too much (repost)

This blog was originally posted on June 11, 2010. The “fish story” is the poster-child for exaggeration. The longer the fish is dead, the bigger it grows. But fishermen are not the only ones who are prone to stretching the boundaries of a story. A 25-pound weight loss creeps up to 30, then 35 or […]

Q&A with King Solomon

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon does a Q&A with himself on a variety of life topics. Listen in as Solomon conducts this “interview” with himself. Q: What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun? (1:3) A: All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is […]

Life in the Son

Solomon says that life on this earth — life under the sun — is vanity. But the New Testament says even more clearly what Solomon can only hint at: that life in the Son is satisfying, fulfilling, and the only ultimately worthwhile venture.

Living like Jesus lived

Many years ago, many Christians began sporting rubberized wrist bands with the initials WWJD — What Would Jesus Do? In one sense it’s an irrelevant question — Jesus is the Son of God, the third person of the Trinity, perfect in all His attributes and actions, completely sinless. I can’t do what He would do. […]

Spiritual food

“For as he thinks within himself, so he is…” (Prov. 23:7a; NASB) A quick trip to the local bookstore and even a superficial perusal of the food section will yield a plethora of books on dieting and eating designed to help the reader change his habits of consumption. The tenor of the books? “You are […]

Integrity

“Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in speech and is a fool.” (Prov. 19:1; NASB) A number of years ago, Ted Engstrom told this story in his book Integrity: For Coach Cleveland Stroud and the Bulldogs of Rockdale County High School [Conyers, Georgia], it was their […]

A short concordance for Proverbs

One of the best tools for studying Scripture is a good concordance. Seeing how an author discusses a topic throughout a book or in his other books, or discovering how other authors discuss the same topic will help one develop a full theology on a given topic. One book where it is particularly useful to […]

What the Lord hates

Is it possible for God to hate? Does God hate? Yes, it is possible for God to hate and yes, He does hate. He hates anything that is contrary to righteousness. His hatred is a means of defending His truth, integrity and good. He is against anything that violates His standard of what is right. […]

Sunday Leftovers: the believer’s security

The security of the believer is the objective reality of what God has done to save believers and keep them saved. It is different from the believer’s assurance, which is his subjective experience of his salvation. A believer’s security is unchanging. Despite what he feels about his salvation, once his name has been penned in […]

What is wisdom?

Huston Smith, senior professor of religion at Syracuse University, recounted his interaction with a famous author and professor: While I was teaching at MIT, Aldous Huxley joined us for a semester as distinguished visiting professor in the humanities. Needless to say, he was in demand all over New England, and my regard for him was […]