Quote – We know the truth by the heart.

This one makes me think. ” We know the truth, not only by the reason, but by the heart.” – Blaise Pascal. Pascal was a scientist, mathematician, and philosopher. You’d expect him to be fully on the side of reason. But his experience led to something else. It’s important to cultivate our heart, our intuition, […]

Quote – Our False Sense of Shame

Shame is a powerful force in our lives. It’s often used to manipulate us. It keeps us isolated. It makes us believe that we are completely alone. It is the belief that we are fundamentally flawed or wrong in our core creation, and that is in contradiction to the Imago Dei within us.  A.W. Tozer is […]

Why reading the Bible straight through is usually a bad idea.

February is a month of frustration across Church world. Why? Because that’s about the time when all the people who made a New year’s resolution to read through the Bible from cover to cover get bogged down in the swamp of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Ever had that experience? You started with such good intentions. […]

Weekend Wisdom / Living Water Within

In a conversation with a woman who was as much of an outsider as you can be, Jesus made a radical promise. He offered something called “living water.” He said that by asking him, she could receive a perpetual inner well of this living water bubbling up to an eternal kind of life. What is […]

New to the Bible? Wandering around confused?

One of the roadblocks that can get in our way with the Bible is familiarity. This comes in two flavors. Some of us are so familiar with the Bible that we got jaded. We come to it with an “I’ve heard it all before” attitude. We talked about how to deal with that in the last […]

Quote – Don’t Cautiously Avoid Sin

So much energy and time is poured into efforts to avoid sin. What would the world look like if we spent all that time and energy actively doing good? I’m struck by Bonhoeffer’s take on this: “Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God’s will.” Bonhoeffer is […]

Quote – Justice is a Manifestation of Love

We often get caught on the prongs of this debate: Is God love? or is God Just? It’s a false binary. God is love. Everything God does is an expression of God’s character of love. If you find yourself arguing about some kind of distinction between God’s love and mercy, or the Old Testament and New […]

Quote – The Summary of Biblical Faith

Concise and to the point. Brugemann is a voice we need in this season of the church. “Steadfast love, righteousness, justice, mercy, compassion. These words are a summary of biblical faith.” – Walter Brugemann Walter Brugemann is a widely respected theologian and Old Testament scholar. The guy is full to overflowing with wisdom. His stuff […]

Has familiarity with the Bible left you bored and jaded?

I don’t remember the first time I heard about Jesus’ crucifixion. I do, however, remember the first time I experienced the story as something more than just words. It was at the University of Cincinnati in the fall of 1989. I was studying architecture, surrounded by art student with every kind belief and background. It was […]

Quote – Why doesn’t God do something?

One of the long-standing arguments against God is the lack of Divine intervention in the many terrible tragedies in the world. We shake our fists at the sky and yell. “Why aren’t You doing something?” Shane Claiborne suggests God’s answer: “When we throw our hands up and say God why don’t you do something? He […]

Quote – Faithful, not Successful

Mother Theresa, the well-known founder of the Sisters of Charity, and a long-time servant of the poorest of the poor in India, was well-known for her focus. These words are a challenge: “I am not called to be successful. I am called to be faithful.” Everything in our culture is aimed at encouraging us to […]

Quote – Bob Goff says God plants seed, not sod.

We so badly want to look good, especially church people. God’s not particularly interested in how we look, or what our reputation is like. Bob Goff gets at our tendency to focus on the visible externals and the short-term solution. Both of those are antithetical to real spiritual growth. “We plant sod where God wants […]

2 Reasons using the Bible to prove your point is often wrong.

If you read comments online, you’ve undoubtedly seen this scenario: Someone is upset about some behavior or other. They hammer out their comment declaring that such-and-such is PROHIBITED BY THE BIBLE!!! Almost immediately someone else retorts, “So is wearing polyester and eating shell fish!” The argument kicks into high gear and nothing is accomplished apart […]

Quote – Our most Genuinely Christian Actions

One of the greatest obstacles to real discipleship where people apply the life of Jesus in their whole world is our tendency to compartmentalize. We think we’re OK because in the “religious department” of our lives we’re on track.  But if what we learn from Jesus isn’t shaping every other aspect of our lives, we’re […]

Quote – Don’t Conceal Wounds

Roman poet and philosopher Horace on one of our greater stupidities: “It is the false shame of fools to try to conceal wounds that have not healed.” This is a human problem, for sure.  But it’s an epidemic in the church. We want to look strong, OK, faithful, right. That mediates toward not telling the […]