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A friend loves at all times. (Proverbs 17:17)

It always breaks my heart to hear it, but some people simply don’t have any friends. For whatever reason, they go through life never feeling as though they belong. They have no one to comfort them when they hurt. No one to laugh with, cry with, celebrate with. For those among us who have been blessed with solid friendships, it’s hard to truly empathize. We take for granted the friendships we have and never really give a second thought to those who go without. I think this happens more often than we want to admit. Continue reading A Community of Friends →

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)

This verse is foundational to the gospel message. Out of the mouth of Jesus himself, to see the kingdom of God you have to be born a second time, but this time “from above”. Not simply by virtue of the union between your mother and father, but by the power and purposes of God (John 1:13). But why? Why can’t Jesus just patch us up here and there in the areas where we need help? Why is something so radical necessary? Continue reading The Whole Outfit →

I tell you this – though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. (Luke 11:8)

Have you ever read something that literally made you spontaneously laugh out loud? That happened to me this week as I was reading Luke chapter 11 in preparation for Sunday morning. I got to verse 8 and the translation I was reading (NLT) rendered the last two words as “shameless persistence.” For some reason that struck me as funny, that Jesus would say it like that. I looked up the Greek and, sure enough, the word there is shamelessness, which takes on a slightly different nuance than mere persistence alone. Continue reading Shameless Persistence →

You also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22)

No spiritually-minded Israelite would ever argue that God actually “lived” somewhere on earth, as though his presence could somehow be contained in a physical structure made by human hands. The entire universe could never contain his infinite being, let alone a single building. However, they did understand that the temple – which sat at the heart of their religious and cultural life – was the dwelling place of God, or, more specifically, the place on earth where God promised to manifest his shekinah glory (in the inner sanctuary), a symbol of the reality that he dwelt among his people. Continue reading Growing Into a Holy Temple →

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations. (Jeremiah 31:10)

Have you ever been guilty of not listening to someone like you should? All gender-based stereotype joking aside, it’s a serious question. As intelligent beings, human persons have the ability to express themselves through the form of communication we know as language. But more than merely possessing the ability to communicate, we also have the desire to be heard, understood, and responded to. Ignoring someone who is speaking to you, not giving them the requisite attention necessary for them to be properly heard and understood, carries the potential of offending the speaker and disrupting your relationship to them. Continue reading A Listening Posture →