christianity

My weekly schedule includes several standing appointments with other men I’ve grown to trust over the last few years. We’ll meet for coffee or a sandwich at our regular time, and after a little small talk we’ll get down to sharing what’s really going on in our personal lives. These guys know my story, and I know theirs. We have spent so much time

Consider the message to the church at Ephesus recorded in Revelation: I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have

Without pen in hand or fingers on the keyboard, I can get so distracted in meditation that I begin tacking one unrelated thought to another until I’m shingling off into the fog of daydreams instead of thinking in the light of Scripture. The discipline of writing down my meditations in my journal helps me concentrate. Sitting with pen and paper or

To name something is to call it out from the flux of the world as a figure, not just a background; it is to recognize in it the dignity of identity. This is the task and the privilege that God sets before Adam.

That purpose and path can be one that is bullshit performative junk, or it can be one of substance. Right now, the performative bullshit junk is winning.

So, as you seek to help your friend, there are two things to hold onto. First, whatever you do must have the goal of heart change. Second, whatever you do must follow the example of the Wonderful Counselor. I want to introduce a model of personal ministry that takes both things seriously. It gets its shape from the way Christ brings about change in

My goal is that through the things I say (message), the way I say them (methods), and the attitudes I express (character), God will change the heart of this person. Think of it! Think that God is connecting you with people so that he might complete his work in their lives!

Godly sorrow hates the sin itself. Godly sorrow feels the horror of disobedience and weeps over the reality of a heart that chose transgression over faithfulness.

After eleven chapters that describe God’s forgiveness, redemption, and indwelling by the Spirit, the text now reveals how our new relationship with Christ gives us a new identity, a new security, and a new and eternal significance. In short order, we learn there is a new way “to think,” a new family “to belong” to, and a new purpose “to fulfill.”