These last few weeks before graduation are always filled with public thank-you’s, gifts of gratitude, and tokens of appreciation. The academic excellence of students and the sacrificial faithfulness of leaders calls out many well-deserved expressions of honor. On the Deans’ Staff this year, we’ve had the privilege of serving alongside a very rare student leader — … More Gift Exchanges
What do you say when you know it’s the last thing you’ll say? How do you choose your words when you know that there won’t be another tomorrow to say the things that go unsaid today? We use so many words throughout life, many of them fairly careless and insubstantial, spoken out of the ease-inducing sense … More Last Words
In Malachi 1:11 God explains the reason why He is so sternly rebuking His people for their hypocritical, self-deceived, God-demeaning worship: “For from the rising of the sun to its setting My name will be great among the nations.” God is not talking about time. He is talking about location. God is not declaring that … More From the Rising of the Sun to Its Setting
You know your blog has lost steam and substance when posts only appear in conjunction with the calendar (Christmas and New Year’s, for instance). Perhaps I’ve officially joined the ranks of the periodic drive-by commentator pounding out shallow remarks about contemporary events, complete with the obligatory pre-post apologies. At least I’m just in time for … More Pre-Atonement Projects
I have realized that I cannot come close to expressing the joy I feel during the Christmas season. Somehow, some way, for the past several years, the awe and wonder of the incarnation have multiplied exponentionally in my heart during the weeks leading up to Christmas. I am especially taken with the beauty, depth, and power … More Joy to the World
In recent meditations on gratitude, the Lord has led me to consider how personal gratitude impacts the surrounding community. Most of these are not direct goals of gratitude, but some of the significant side effects. Gratitude exposes complaining. Get around a thankful, positive, hopeful person, and your negativity will be exposed. Be a thankful, positive, hopeful … More Gratitude in Community
On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to … More The One Who Returned
At TMC this week we’re enjoying the privilege of hearing capable theologian and church historian Stephen Nichols in chapel as we lead up to Reformation Day. One of the joys of my new position is the undeserved opportunity to spend time with visiting speakers. After chapel on Wednesday, the Student Life Directors enjoyed an informal brunch with … More Is This the Life You Would Choose?
Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! — Psalm 34:8 We prayed through Psalm 34 at a recent prayer meeting. Since then I have wanted to spend some time meditating on verse 8, and have decided to do it publically here. I am making these … More Taste and See That the Lord Is Good
Tom Krattenmaker doesn’t mind if Christianesque sports stars start their postgame interviews with general gratitude to a general god. But he does mind the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob being real, the Bible being true, and Jesus being King. And he does mind that athletes like Tim Tebow talk like it. In his recent … More Christian Athletes, Public Faith, and the Exclusivity of Jesus
I was grading several class assignments this afternoon. They included comments on Scripture passages that deal with spiritual gifts. Some were more general, some more specific. Some summarized broad truths found in the texts, and others dug deeper into the nuances. It struck me as I compared the scriptural passages to the summaries provided in … More Gold for Those Who Dig
Shortly after Saul was killed on Mount Gilboa, David was made king and immediately began to establish his kingdom (1 Chronicles 11:1-8). The Chronicler then records, “David became greater and greater, for the LORD of hosts was with him” (11:9). The first immediate evidence given to demonstrate how God blessed and supported David is the mass of trained, committed, fierce, … More Valiant Men
It is surprisingly easy to lose Christ. Somehow, in the mix of schedules and priorities and programs and meetings and burdens and anxieties and responsibilities, the person we love and who so loves us gets lost. It’s ironic that the blanket of good things that covers and warms our lives also tends to suffocate our … More Losing Christ
If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day … More A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
The “problem of evil” has been debated for centuries. How can God allow evil and suffering to go on in the world? If He rules the world, why is there so much pain? Did He create evil? Or did He just allow it to exist (and how does that work)? Is evil under His control? … More The Problem of Mercy
Guest Post by Derek Brown As we saw in the last post (Part 1), the path to wisdom is paved with the hard yet precious stones of reproof. Yet our ability to profitably accept rebuke and correction is not something we stir up by sheer will power, nor is it something that “just happens.” There … More A Tough Means of Grace: Profiting from the Rebukes of Others, Part 2 (Guest-Blog by Derek Brown)
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