The concept of unconditional love is among the best-known and most-beloved of all Christian doctrines, and for good reason. God’s love for his children is unmerited; there is nothing that we can do to earn God’s love so there is nothing that we can do to be separated from it either. Nevertheless the more I think about the idea of “unconditionality” the more unease I feel about the concept. What does it mean for something...
I want to tell you a story. Five years ago today, I got dropped off on Biola University’s campus to catch a ride with a stranger to the Bay Area for Spring Break. My dear friend Sarah and her parents had graciously invited me to spend the week at their home on a vineyard in wine country since I couldn’t afford a flight to Florida where my family lives. I also couldn’t afford a flight...
I can be the sort of person that gets a bit lost in my own thoughts. I work from home, primarily on the computer, while my wife is at work and my kids are at school. Often as I am going through the routine tasks of my work week, I’ll have CNN or NPR playing in the background so that I can familiarize myself with the events of the day. This practice can lead to...
“O LORD our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” (8:1-2) Recently I’ve been participating in a Hebrew reading group and we are presently working through the Psalms. I just began translating Psalm 8, an all-time favorite. From the opening, the reciter...
“For this we labor and strive…” God is a giver. So much of Christian belief and action rests on this elementary observation that it is almost shameful to put into words. God’s gifts of grace and mercy are daily refreshed (Lam 3:22-23), and the gifted grace of Christ Jesus is held as the defining “giving” of God. Following that, the Bible has been received as apostolic testimony to God’s person and ways in the world....
It can all come to feel so mundane. Established. Foreseeable. So taken for granted. It’s a given. The daily commute. The workday. The repetition. All the hours, and things that we will do in them and see in them mapped out. We come to feel a certain predictability in our routines. We know what we’ll be doing at 9 o’clock on Monday morning, we know what we’ll see on our drive to work, we know...
I don’t remember ever saying this, but here goes. I’ve never been more confident of my salvation. I’ve never felt so secure. I’ve never been so satisfied in Christ. And yet, at the same time, I’m more aware of my sin, ready to acknowledge it, even willing to tell people about it. Sound like a paradox? Welcome to the Christian life. I’m convinced that a true understanding of the gospel allows these two truths to...
I am notorious for listening to Christmas music at any time of year. This produces a gamut of responses from utter disparaging of the thought to confessions of similar behavior. My reason is never an attempt to sustain the festivities long past their due. Rather, I am deeply and profoundly encouraged by the gift we celebrate at Christmastime, the gift of the incarnation. God truly did so love the world that He gave His Son,...
With the recent tragedy in Connecticut there is reason to doubt. Last friday I was driving in my car listening to talk radio. The entire show was dedicated to the day’s horrific events. At one point the host started to explain that although he is not religious, he is ‘spiritual’. He stated emphatically that he ‘knows’ there is a god of some kind, but events like the one that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary...
Allow me to introduce myself. First and foremost, I’m a sinner saved by grace. I’m a husband and a father. I’ve been a youth leader, Sunday school teacher, deacon and elder. I served in the Air Force for thirty years. I was a three-sport letterman in high school, played college football, and played seven years of football overseas while in the Air Force. I like sports, action movies, being in control, and I would never...
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