Renew

The face of Jesus: marred more than any man-- spit upon, slapped, thorn-pierced, bloodied, sweating, the beard plucked, twisted in pain-- For my salvation. A glorious face, now. Let its light shine on me, O Light of Life. Let Your radiance fall on me, Sun and Savior, Lighten my darkness. Then grant me this by Your grace: That I, in turn, may give "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God" (2 Cor 4:6 AV) As I see it in the face of Jesus Christ. --Elisabeth Elliot, A Lamp for My Feet

Recently I was asked about the worship at Redlands, the Presbyterian church I pastor. "What's with all the responsive readings and prayer recitations? I thought we were Protestants." I knew what he was getting at. The order of worship seemed a little too ordered. It seemed like we were just going through the motions (though as Presbyterians we really don't do any "motions"). I reminded him that we do want to avoid being rote, but there is nothing wrong with routine. This reminded me of a recent blog post by John Haralson. He explains their practice at Grace Seattle : We follow an ancient liturgical pattern in our worship, drawing from the wisdom of Christians who have gone before us. Every Sunday we renew our commitment to God, offer him our prayers and gifts, confess our sins, receive forgiveness, hear from God’s word, and celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. In other words, not much changes from week to week. Sure, we sing different songs, pray slig...

A friend of mine recently wrote me about his attitude toward his children. I thought it was worth passing along: Why don't I see the beauty that God has placed all around me – my children?  I see work – not works of art.  I see busyness – not joyful and eternal business.  I see inconvenience, not scenes of heaven.  Daily I prove that my pride means so much to me. Especially in light of the recent shooting in Ohio, I want to hug my kids, pray with and for them, and be more grateful for the gifts of God they are.

When I was a kid growing up I often heard that the Biblical word for "tempt" and "test" was the same. I have since learned that this is indeed true. It is still puzzling to me. The same temptation from Satan can be a testing from God (e.g. David's census 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21). William Gurnall, the 17th century Anglican, explains how God uses Satan's temptations in his classic work, Christian in Complete Armour . God makes Satan's temptations the courier of His love to the saints...And what did Satan get for all the energy he spent on Job, but to let that holy man know at last how dearly God loved him? The devil thought he had the game in his own hands when he got Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. He supposed he now had man in the same predicament as himself. But did he catch God by surprise? Of course not! God knew the outcome before the match was ever begun and used Satan's temptation to usher in that great gospel plot of saving ma...

The 'Parable of the Prodigal Son' found in Luke 15 is really the story of two lost sons. The younger son was estranged from the father by breaking the rules. The older son was estranged from the father by keeping them. Both were seeking to live life on their own terms, apart from a loving relationship with the father. Tim Chester, from the Crowded House , explains how this dynamic works. There are two ways we get life wrong. 1. We want to be our own Lord instead of Jesus In other words, I replace Jesus as Lord with Tim as Lord. I run my life my way. I want to be in charge. That often leads to behaviour that by moral standards is bad: ‘sex and drugs and rock-n-roll’. We do not think Jesus is enough. We do not think the rule of Jesus is the good life. So we replace Jesus with others things. But there is a second way we can get life wrong. 2. We want to be our own Saviour instead of Jesus In other words, I replace Jesus as  Saviour  with Tim as saviour. I want to sa...

In case you missed this or haven't seen it yet, you really owe it to yourself to watch this video. Eric's talk begins 35 mins in (on the C-SPAN video below) and ends with him leading the 3,500 assembled (including the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State) in singing “Amazing Grace”. This may be the most important 30 minutes you spend today. As Eric says, this is a Bonhoeffer moment. As Christians, we need to lovingly, yet with full conviction stand for religious liberty, the freedom of conscience, traditional marriage, and the protection of all human life. Here are two first steps. First, get informed and add your voice to the the more than 500,000 people who have read and signed the Manhattan Declaration . And then share it with others on Facebook, Twitter, and by email. Second, please take 60 seconds and  sign this petition  to the President and let him know that you want him to stand for religious liberty. Chuck Colson an...

In 1854, at the age of twenty and just four years after his conversion, Charles H. Spurgeon became pastor of London’s New Park Street Church. His ministry grew so much that the 6,000-seat Metropolitan Tabernacle was built to accommodate the congregation. In “The Mustard Seed: A Sermon for the Sabbath-School Teacher” he spoke of the power of the gospel, and his words extende to the whole of Scripture. The human can never rival the divine, for it lacks the life-fire. It is better to preach five words of God’s Word than five million words of man’s wisdom. Men’s words may seem to be the wiser and more attractive, but there is no heavenly life in them. Within God’s Word, however simple it may be, there dwells an omnipotence like that of God, from whose lips it came.