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God’s Grace When We Stray

One frustrating thing about the Christian life is how fickle our hearts prove to be. I’m amazed how I can start my day in Scripture soaring on the truths of God’s glory, and then by lunch I doubt whether God will come through for me. I can tell others about His goodness one day and then question His goodness the next. I’ve had seasons of spiritual dry spells where it felt like the dark clouds of life hid the sun of God’s presence, and then had seasons where the rays of God’s presence felt like they beamed directly on me. I can lay down my life in selflessness toward one person but act so selfish toward someone else. My mind can rest in God’s Word, only to have a windstorm of anxious thoughts sweep through with a trail of destruction.

What Star Wars Teaches Us about Not Trusting Our Feelings

The Star Wars franchise is guilty of overselling the wisdom and strength we can find from within, but they also recognize how much our thoughts and desires can cloud our judgment, confuse us, or conflict within us. This is the experience of Anakin Skywalker, or Darth Vader, from beginning to end. He’s a conflicted character. He trusts himself too much but experiences inner turmoil and conflict because of it. Throughout the film are scattered remarks that highlight the instability of the human heart.

What Does It Mean that David was “a man after God’s heart”?

When I began studying David, one question that intrigued me was what it meant that he was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22). When I asked people what they thought this phrase meant, I heard differing opinions. Some were even bothered by the fact that such a sinful person was described this way. So what does it mean?

New articles and book excerpt

Over at The Gospel Coalition, I’ve posted a new article on “Your Wilderness Wanderings Aren’t a Waste.” It overviews the theme of wilderness, spanning from Israel to Jesus, and reminds us that God’s ultimate goal in any wilderness season or situation is “to do you good in the end” (Deut. 8:3). Older TGC articles I’ve written can be viewed here.

Why Good Friday is Good News

On Good Friday, we remember the death of the Son of God on a bloody and horrific cross. It seems paradoxical to call such a day Good Friday. How can a day focused on death and suffering be good? How can Jesus being rejected by his people and tortured on a Roman cross be good? To understand more of this mystery, and what Good Friday is all about, it might help to wade deeper into the pool of theology by considering the meaning of the cross. Ultimate victory was at work in initial defeat.

Continue reading Why Good Friday is Good News

Bible Reading Plans for Holy Week

Sometimes it’s nice to have a reading plan that takes you through a month or a semester, but other times it’s great to have something for one week. Here are a couple of reading plan options for Holy Week leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

The Point of the Plagues, the Passover, and the Parting of the Sea in Exodus

My daughter is learning in elementary school about recognizing a story’s theme or purpose. She moved past identifying characters, setting, storyline, and plot, and now she’s learning to identify key themes within a story or the larger purpose of it.

It’s not only something we’ve done with stories she reads or movies we watch, but it’s something I ask on the drive home after church on Sundays. For both kids, they can retell me what their Sunday school teacher talked about, but it’s often harder for them to answer the why behind it. Yes, the walls of Jericho fell, but what’s the greater point being taught? The kings of Israel worshipped false gods, but what’s the purpose of the story being told?

It’s a helpful skill for reading books, watching movies, or listening to sermons and lessons.

In most passages of Scripture, you can boil the overarching point of a story or passage by answering these two questions. What is God revealing about Himself? How are we meant to respond to God in light of that revelation?

Lent 40-Day Reading Plan

The Christian seasons of Lent and Advent are a great time to commit to daily Bible reading as you prepare your heart for Easter and Christmas.

During the six-week Lenten season, Christians have historically focused on the wilderness temptation and sufferings of Christ, including his crucifixion on Good Friday, ultimately leading to his resurrection on Easter Sunday. It’s a season of being emptied of ourselves as we reorient ourselves on the fullness of life in Christ. It can be a time of spiritual refinement and refreshment as we walk through our own wilderness season eager to receive God’s grace. In this time, followers of Jesus ask God to rid us of our fleshly desires and satisfy with the glories of the gospel of Christ.

Psalms Prayer Guides & Worksheets

I’m teaching a short class on the Psalms, and so far, we’ve studied Psalms 3 and 13. Each week I’m creating a prayer guide with some reflective questions that can help us pray back the psalms through in our own words in light of our own circumstances. We want to both learn about God but also talk to Him.

Part of what we’ve talked about is praying with both honesty and humility before God. Eugene Peterson describes this as praying who you actually are not praying who you think you should be. But we’re also letting the Psalms help us express what we’re thinking and feeling while also shaping our thoughts and feelings.

Singing Praise when Pain Stings

I think we can know God has good plans and purposes for us in our personal trials, and yet the pain of those trials lingers. There’s a sting of the trial but then there can even be a bit of a sting in God walking us through it. I say that believing God is always wise, good, loving, and faithful in everything we go through, and that He is with us in whatever dark valley He leads us through. You can know God’s heart is good and loving, you can trust His character and plan, and yet it still hurts. You might even be able to give thanks to God or be thankful for the trial in retrospect (or at least grateful for what God has done in and through it) and yet still carry wounds and scars from it all.