Gods looks like Jesus. And that changes everything.
The fourth and final in a series exploring the idol-toppling question, “What don’t you like about your faith?” Read the first installment in the series here. I never imagined arguing with Jesus about his own temptations (Matthew 4:1-10). In a one-on...
The third in a series exploring the idol-toppling question, “What don’t you like about your faith?” Read the first installment in the series here. When Jesus starts speaking of judgment, I get really uncomfortable. (Yes, I’m aware this is an ironic...
The second in a series exploring the idol-toppling question, “What don’t you like about your faith?” Read the first installment of the series here. The first thing I can recall seriously disagreeing with Jesus about was his patience. The fire of the...
I once sat on an international flight next to a young Hindu man. During small talk, it came up that I was studying at a Christian seminary. He was delighted, explaining that he’d never had a chance to speak with a Christian before. We began...
My favorite character in the Christmas story is one who rarely shows up in pageants—an elderly man named Simeon. Simeon has spent his long decades of life waiting for the restoration of Israel. To be fair, so had many, many others before him...
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Jesus spoke these famous words during the Festival of Tabernacles, one of three annual pilgrimage festivals in which...
The third in a three-part series of reflections on gifts and lessons that come from seasons of darkness… The love of God is different from mine. The darkness taught me this. One of my chief priorities in life is sparing people pain—especially those...
The second in a three-part series of reflections on the gifts and lessons that come from seasons of darkness… What does it look like to honor God when you’re at the utter end of yourself? I thought about this question a lot during my last season of...
At least three times in my life, I’ve experienced seasons of particularly intense darkness. Two of these seasons were triggered by wrenching changes in circumstance. One fell seemingly without any external cause at all. I look back on these dark...
The book of Acts offers this provocative description of early Christian life: “All the believers were united and shared everything. They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. Every...
Gods looks like Jesus. And that changes everything.