“Who can change the sinner’s heart?” Imagine if Jesus told the parable of the sower as if he were a church health guru: The seed is the word of God. Those ones that fell along the path, snatched up by…
Every pastor probably recalls with a shudder his first attempt at a sermon. My first sermon was in seminary back in 2001 when the homiletics professor assigned me Romans 2:12-16. It’s about how those “who sin apart from the law…
About a decade ago, I did a deep dive into Myers-Briggs types. A few years ago, it was Annie F. Downs recurring Enneagram Summer podcasts.[1] These assessments are like white collar emotional donuts. And the roots of these tests go…
There are two books I have vowed never to write: a book on marriage and a book on raising children well. Most, I am sure, can understand why one might have some trepidation writing on those topics. But, as a…
During the Christmas season, we rightly focus our attention on the marvel of the incarnation of the eternal Son of God; then, we lag into the final days of the year with regrets about the many ways we failed to…
Consistent throughout Scripture is the idea that the impossibility of perfection does not loosen its claim on us. God’s vision of the bride of Christ, as of a people without spot or blemish, translates to an annoying shortage of loopholes.…
