Out of the mouths of babes comes the unvarnished, plain truth. Of that you can be sure. I thought of that when I took my little grandson to the park. Andrew was then a two-year old full of smiles framed by a few baby teeth, a little bit of fuzz on his head, and glasses to correct a vision problem.
June 19, 2020
You’ve heard people say it: “I’m spiritual, but not religious.” Whether it was a celebrity, your next-door neighbor or even your adult child, this is how one quarter of Americans view themselves, according to the Pew Research Center. [1] But not just Americans--Prince Charles and one-fifth of people in the UK fit into this category, according to Professor Michael King from University College London. The definition of the term is broad; it can include a moment of transcendence while watching a sunset, living in the moment or using meditation in an attempt to stop chattering thoughts.
[1] Castella, Tom de. “Spiritual, but Not Religious.” BBC News. BBC, January 3, 2013. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20888141.
June 18, 2020
Not all doubt is bad. Some of the world’s leading skeptics of Christianity have eventually become its leading advocates. Such a person was C. S. Lewis, the late professor of Medieval English at Cambridge University. A combination of issues--the horror of war, seeing some of his best friends die, wondering about the hereafter--made Lewis first doubt his faith, then search for answers. He found them, too, in the pages of Scripture. What’s good about doubt? Consider the following five observations, and then make your own decision.
June 17, 2020
Contrary to what some may tell you, there can be a silver lining to the dark clouds of doubt. “Just take it by faith,” we are often told, but there are situations where doubting what you are uncertain of results in a far more positive faith in the long run than to blindly accept something. Doubt causes you to dig deep, to search for truth, to compare what you have been told with what the Bible really says. There is a positive side to doubt. While some never confront their doubts, others face them and end up being better because of it, much better.
June 16, 2020
How do you keep track of your tomorrows? Do you plan them out, meticulously calendaring work and social events on your phone and reviewing tomorrow’s agenda before bed? Or do you stand by your paper calendar and a scribbled to-do list? Even if you don’t plan for the tomorrows of life, you probably operate under the assumption that you should. Human wisdom has generally run along the lines of the African proverb that says, “Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” If we’ve got a plan ready to execute, we may feel that when tomorrow arrives, we will have whatever it takes to meet it head on. We are in control of our destinies!
June 15, 2020
Our earth with its diameter of 7,926 miles (measured through the poles), rests basically on nothing, yet the earth races along its elliptical orbit around the sun in exactly three‑hundred sixty‑five and a quarter days. Isaac Newton defined this force in his "law of gravitation" when he said that the gravitational force is directly proportional to the product of two masses (e.g. the Earth and the Moon) and inversely proportional to the distance between them squared. The entire universe is held in harmony by an intricate system of balances and tensions.
June 11, 2020
The God of the Bible is a deeply personal God. The Bible tells us that he “knit us together in our mother’s womb.” He knows the numbers of hairs on our heads, knows when we sit down and rise up and knows what we’re thinking from afar (Luke 12:7, Ps. 139). And it is exactly because He knows us so well that He has compassion on us and offers us grace in our weaknesses. Think about it: He is intimately aware of your unique struggles. He knows, that perhaps, you need grace for anxiety because of a tumultuous childhood. Maybe He knows all about about your desire to impress others because, underneath it all, you feel incompetent. You need grace to comprehend His great love for you and to live in His acceptance.
June 10, 2020
It’s a hard fact to come to grips with: we are living in an evil world and that means pain is involved. The Bible points out to us that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV). Deceitful, wicked hearts produce evil deeds and followers of Jesus are not spared the spill-over of this evil. In fact, Christians should really be the least surprised when life turns upside down, knowing that our world is temporarily ruled by a god (that’s with a lower-case “g”) who does not have our best interests at heart. “Satan… is the god of this world,” says the Bible in 2 Corinthians 4:4.
June 9, 2020
It is a medical fact: Either you will learn to control your emotions or else your emotions will control you. When your emotions are out of control, they will create havoc with your physical body. David Messenger is a physician who has specialized in structural medicine. Speaking of the effect of your emotions on your wellbeing, Dr. Messenger says, "Negative emotions are energy‑draining, mind stifling and completely counterproductive. Allowing oneself to hang onto and revel in the bondage of bitterness, anger, resentment and hatred is a most self‑destructive way of living. Bitterness, with its subsequent anger, resentment, hatred and then self‑pity, is the emotional disturbance I see most."
June 8, 2020