By definition, Evangelical believers believe in the authority of Scripture, but what does that mean in practice? How does it change one’s life? More specifically, to the Evangelical believer, how does it change your life? Our statement of faith at Gulf Coast Community Church includes this: “We believe…
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“Nothing less than life in the steps of Christ is adequate to the human soul or the needs of our world. Any other offer fails to do justice to the drama of human redemption, deprives the hearer of life’s greatest opportunity, and abandons this present life to the…
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Reading: Psalm 2:4-8 I imagine that if creation can groan (Rom. 8:22), it can also laugh. Moltmann might just be right when he pictures the universe laughing with “the universal Easter laugh.”[1] The laughter of Easter originated with God! Psalm 2:4-8 speaks of God’s Easter laugh. My previous…
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Humanity’s rejection of God’s right to rule began in the Garden (Gen. 3:1-7). It advances in Israel’s rejection of God as their King (1 Sam. 8:7-8). It culminated in the suffering and crucifixion of our Lord on the cross, with a placard stating “the King of the Jews”…
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Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 The context of the “love chapter,” as 1 Corinthians 13 is commonly called, is not a wedding but a letter written to a church in which strife and division were a thing (1 Cor. 1:10-12). This section of the letter focuses on how the…
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The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. (Deut. 29:29) When an atheist asserts that there is no god, Stanley Hauerwas wisely asks which god…
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It just happened that my reading of a collection of essays by Miroslav Volf titled, Against the Tide, landed this morning, the day after the 2021 Presidential Inauguration, on his reflection “A Politician for All Seasons.” It was written after the 2000 presidential election, during the first season…
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Reading: John 6 The opening scene of John 6, the “feeding of the 5,000,” results in political unrest from which Jesus flees. Might this chapter have a message for believers today in our own season of political unrest? The people want to make Jesus king by force! Eating…
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“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matt. 10:16) To be honest, I don’t think this is a good strategy. If asked to apply this strategy, I think most of us would question the wisdom…
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A few years ago, in one weekend, I had two paradoxical experiences. The first, on Saturday morning as I stood in line for breakfast following a prayer meeting for pastors and church leaders. The two men behind me were discussing the political issues of the day. One of…
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Reading: Genesis 11:1-9 Babel, also translated Babylon, shows up in Genesis and continues through the course of the Scripture all the way until the end (Rev. 18). It was an actual empire of the ancient world, but eventually became symbolic of the empires of this world that offer…
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“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” (Inigo Montoya, Princess Bride) Sola Scriptura is one of the so-called Five Solas of the Reformation. The words themselves mean “by Scripture alone.” But the way it is sometimes applied reminds me…
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In a consumerist age, a believer’s call to Christian sexuality is a call to resistance. This concept is not new with me; in a book on family ethics, Kiernan Scott is quoted as saying that the Christian practice of marriage can be “a protest against a meaningless, self-centered,…
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Reading: Matthew 4:8-11 This third temptation of Jesus is the offer of “all that glitters” and the “gold.” All that glitters isn’t gold but it sure does catch our attention, doesn’t it? In fact, it may be some of the most tempting stuff we deal with. The splendor…
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Reading: Matthew 4:5-7 Christ’s wilderness testing can teach us much during this current pandemic. The things that tempt us as humans have not changed much, nor the truths necessary to overcome those temptations. Part three of this multi-part post explores what we can learn from Jesus’ second temptation…
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