Did you know the word "crisis" shares the same root as "decision"? In other words, whenever you face a crisis it is also a moment of decision. The crisis may or may not be of your own choosing; how you decide is.
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Do you live like a person who has been rescued? I've never been carried from a burning building or pulled from a car wreck. No near-death or light-at-the-end of the tunnel experiences ... so far. But I've been rescued from something far more dangerous, something more deadly than death itself. Here's how Paul describes it: For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14). "The dominion of darkness." It just sounds bad, doesn't it. Yet that's where each of us lived prior to surrendering our lives to Jesus. We lived under the control and mastery of darkness -- not just in darkness but controlled by it. The substitionary death Jesus died on the cross was to set us free from darkness. Simply put, God rescued us. He…
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If only getting wise was as simple as getting older. I didn't ask for gray hairs -- I simply had children! My knees decided on their own how much basketball I would be able to play in one week. Aging happens; wisdom is not so automatic. How does a person gain spiritual wisdom? When the apostle Paul writes his letter to the Colossians, he shares this prayer: For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way ... (Colossians 1:9-10). The Holy Spirit grants wisdom to those who yield themselves to God. There are certain things we can only learn or understand by…
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As every coach is bound to say at some time ... "Practice makes perfect." The idea is simple: practicing reinforces the right (or wrong) way to play the game. Practice creates habits -- allowing our reactions to become second nature rather than having to stop and think about them. When it comes to your thought life, what are you practicing? If you allow yourself to think angry thoughts, you are practicing how to get angry. It shouldn't be surprising, then, when we react in anger to something that upsets us. If you continually entertain thoughts of being inferior, you will feel inferior. Which will lead to acting inferior. Why? You were practicing. In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul describes the importance of being disciplined with our thoughts: The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish…
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I enjoy preaching; more specifically, I love preaching. For me, I love the thrill of putting together a message that intertwines heaven and earth. I love the challenge of speaking the Word of God using a common language -- bridging, as John Stott would say, two worlds. I've never seen it as a burden but as a privilege. What about you? Are you doing what you love?
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