Gods looks like Jesus. And that changes everything.
Do you believe that there is such a thing as demons? I know people with almost every conceivable view on the subject. Some believe that every day they encounter personal struggles attributable to activity by evil spirits. Others think the idea...
During a recent sermon, I talked about false messiahs and false prophets—figures Jesus said would come along, claiming to represent him and even offering miraculous evidence, but who should not be believed (Mark 13:5-6, 21-23). For some, this all...
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about false gospels. A few weeks ago while scrolling through YouTube, I happened upon a sermon by Steve Cuss, author of Managing Leadership Anxiety. Cuss described a gospel as a story with two key components: (a) a...
There’s a story Jesus tells about a man who goes on an extended journey and leaves a sum of money for each of three servants to tend in his absence. Two of the servants double the investment. The third sticks the money in a hole—the ancient...
There’s a story told in 1 Kings 17 about a prophet named Elijah who delivers bad news to a person in power and is forced to hide out in the wilderness. When famine hits and the local food and water sources dry up, God tells Elijah to go to a town...
Recently praying about a decision I needed to make, I kept having a strange experience. During prayer I would reach a point of seeming clarity about the best action to take. But an hour or two later, the clarity would vanish. This happened again and...
I’ve been slowly making my way through Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren. If you haven’t read it, the book is about how the small things we do everyday form us and how we can better show up to the presence of God at work within them...
I’ve been reading the book of Leviticus lately. Claiming Leviticus as your favorite book of the Bible would be sort of like claiming green beans as your favorite food—I mean, they’re great and all, but have you tried literally anything else? Many an...
I think frequently about a conversation I had with a Christian leader who was explaining why her community doesn’t spend much time with the Bible anymore. “We all read it a lot growing up,” she said, “so we already know what’s there.” I’ve had...
I thought I’d met a true saint once. For the record, I’m not someone easily seduced by Christian celebrity. I’ve met too many well-known preachers, scholars, and activists to ever confuse talent with character. That said, this man felt like the real...
Gods looks like Jesus. And that changes everything.