Is worship a natural expression that flows from our hearts? Or is it a discipline that requires effort? Is it spontaneous or practiced? Another way to look at it might be this: Which do you like better broccoli or cheesecake? Which one is better for you? An expression is something that just happens. We love […]
Write Your Own Psalm
Intentional spiritual living is about more than just thinking new thoughts. It comes to life in actions, practices and habits. Because my goal is to help you have a more intentional spiritual life, I am making some changes in how I blog. First, you’ll notice that at the end of most every post there’s a […]
Do You Know Too Much About Jesus?
That Didn’t Turn Out So Well! A while back I was working through the Gospel of Matthew in my personal worship time. I came across a sad couple of verses at the very end of chapter 13. They challenged me and I thought they were worth passing on to you. The story is in Matthew 13:54-58. […]
A Dirty Worship Experience
This is not the dirt you’re looking for. Several summers ago we built five raised garden beds in our backyard. We love having fresh veggies and herbs around. It’s hard to beat a plate of garden-fresh tomatoes and basil, drizzled with a little olive oil. But building the beds was only the beginning of the process. […]
Worship Styles? It’s Not About the Shoes.
For several years beside my front door, we had two small baskets of shoes. This was our compromise. We had a shoe rack where my wife and I put our shoes, but try as we might we could not get our children to use it. Lucas was nearly five. Emerson, six-going-on-twenty. They’ve always taken off […]
A Worship Short-Circuit.
I was preaching from the book of Jonah once and came across an interesting thought about worship. Most people know the set-up to the story, of course. Jonah gets tapped by God to go “cry out” against the wickedness of the city of Nineveh. But Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian empire, and […]
Worshipping as a Child.
I was reading in Matthew this morning and came across a little scene that sparked my thoughts. It’s the well-known passage where the disciples keep some children from coming to Jesus, and Jesus corrects them. Here’s the passage, Luke 19:13-14. “Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray […]
The Connection Between Gratitude and Worship
There are some things my parents used to say to me that I never thought I’d ever say. But things have changed. Now that I have a 4 1/2 year old and 3 year old running around the house, I’m starting to sound a bit like a broken record (or perhaps a sampled drum loop, […]
Declare Your Creed-In-Process.
I was reflecting on Matthew 16:15 as a part of my personal worship a few days ago. This is the moment where Jesus asks his disciples who they really think he is. They tossed around the latest news – some people thought Jesus was John the Baptist back from the dead. Others thought that perhaps he was […]
Write Your Own Psalm (v1)
Note: There is an updated version of this post here: Try This: Write A Psalm Christians know, of course, that the Bible is meant to occupy a central role in our lives and worship. Many of us grew up with some kind of morning devotion or “quiet time” practice and we’ve all heard that we’re supposed […]