Here and Now

  A co-worker said something to me this week that really stuck with me.  It seemed so simple and yet so amazingly profound.  We are attempting to make some wholesale changes to the way we do things at my day job in an effort to improve not only efficiency and profit, but to improve the experience of working there for everyone.  And there is a lot of discussion about how to do that.  And it becomes very easy to get distracted from the actual doing when there is so much talk about how it should be done.  So, eager to start moving towards improvement, my friend said: "Nothing will change if you don't actually change something." - Thomas Ney  Brilliant!   You see, when we want change, we tend to want it a lot more in theory than we do in actual practice.  Whether it is at work, at home, in a relationship, or in the church.  And the same holds true for our Spiritual lives.  We all want to change for the better - to be closer to God, to be more obedient, and t

Howdy, y'all!  I thought I'd share some of the things I read this week that I found particularly interesting.  (And, in the interest of full disclosure: I have a few posts started but not finished, and I was REALLY pressed for time this week).  Enjoy! Check out this post about how to handle the atheist-created "reason vs. faith" myth here Next, check out some teaching from John Wesley on seeking God here Then, check out a GREAT defense of complementarianism (the belief that God made men and women to fill different but complementary roles) here Then check out this post in favor of pastors staying for a long time in their pastorate  here  (which is a good companion to my post from last week that you can find here  ) Finally, read a great post that a great friend sent to me about making friends who are different than me here (thanks, Leyla!!)

I found out this week that the Senior Pastor of the largest church in Nutley has been reassigned to another church.  I am sorry to see him go.  I have always appreciated this particular man's preaching and heart for God.  I am blessed to pastor here in Nutley.  Though there are many churches in town of all different denominations, we do share some unity by all of the pastors working together in a "Clergy Fellowship" to keep a Christian presence in the town through combined services, prayers, and events throughout the year.    So I started thinking about the departure of this man of God, and I realized something: of the ten congregations that have been represented in the fellowship since I have been involved, five of them have had changes of pastor, one more than once, and one of the churches has closed.  I have been in the fellowship for less than four years.  Am I the only one who sees a problem?   Now, I am not saying that the changes these churches have gon

As a follow up to my last post about how we are to love each other as Christians, I would like to take the next step and point out that we are not supposed to stop there.  While loving each other is a great testimony to the world without which we will not see souls saved, we are also to love the unsaved.  And I think that the reason we sometimes (often?) do not, is because we view our battle in this world as us against them.   But we need to remember that our battle in this world is not with those in this world.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  (Ephesians 6:12) Satan is shrewd.  And his greatest strategy is to convince people that their war is against someone other than him.  He is currently in control of both sides of countless wars.  He is currently controlling warring nations.  He is current

I was on an atheist blog the other day, and I can only assume that what was written was meant to encourage those of a like mind and help them grow in their worldview.  It seemed like a harmless enough article: it was well written, it did not insult the intelligence of those who may have a different view, and the author in no way tried to exalt himself or his opinion above the reader.  So what was the issue with it?  The comments. I try to tell myself time and again that I will not read the reader comments below any blogs or articles I read online because I know it is very likely to upset me.  Yet I do it.  I guess I am a glutton for punishment... You should have seen what was being said!  The author was accused of misunderstanding the true atheist worldview, was insulted, and was even called names.  Then, the commenters were arguing among themselves.  This guy said what that said was wrong, and felt obligated to correct him.  Then that guy came back with a response meant t

I have been making a push since the start of the year for the members of our congregation to get into the Word this year more than in the past, and for all of us to step up our prayer game, as well.  But I realized today that there is an inherent danger in pushing this too hard, and that it isn't enough to just encourage people to read their Bible and pray.  People need to do it for the right reason.  And constant prompting, regardless of how loving, without emphasizing the reason for it can lead people down a bad road of feelings of inadequacy and guilt. Now, please don't get me wrong.  God wants us reading His Word and He wants us to pray, and it isn't possible to do either too much, if you ask me.  But He isn't keeping score .  We cannot have the idea that we need to get in our Bibles a minimum amount so we can cross the threshold from "God wants me in the Word more" to "God is pleased with how much I read today."  And the same is true for praye

I thought it would be fun to share with you some of what I read this week.  I follow a whole lotta blogs, and I find that they not only give me great sermon material (quotes, illustrations), and they not only keep me informed about what is going on in the world from a Christian perspective, but I am really edified and encouraged by many of them. So check these out and enjoy! Check out Sammy Adebiyi's blog about surrendering to God here And Joe Carter's exploration of whether or not the now legal in some states use of marijuana is sinful here And Steven Dunn's cumulative case for the existence of God here And Ray Ortlund's discussion of four different types of speech Christians should concern themselves with here And an excerpt from a new commentary on the book of Obadiah here

I love the Psalms.  Perhaps as a songwriter myself, I am touched by the overwhelming emotion that the writers of the Psalms pour into their songs which, in turn, pour out to me as I read them.  As I read some Psalms the other night, I came to Psalm 78.  Of course, the initial thought when someone comes to this Psalm is probably "this thing is three pages long!".  That's okay.  Nobody minds when a good song is long, do they?  (Freebird!) The Psalm begins by stating its purpose: to pass along to the next generation the history of what YHWH has done as given to the Psalmist by the previous generation.  In particular, the "glorious deeds"  and the "wonders" God had performed on behalf of His people. Then: 65 verses that detail, in a very honest way, the struggle that has continued since Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the Garden.  Not the struggle between good and evil (especially since God doesn't see that as much of a struggle). Not the struggle be

I have noticed on the Christian blogosphere that many a blogger is offering Bible reading plans for the year.  It is, after all, the time for resolutions (see last week's post here ) and there is no time like the present for committing to reading the Bible.  There are plans for reading through the whole Bible in a year, plans for reading the Bible through in 90 days, plans that focus on the New Testament and Psalms, chronological plans, topical plans, all kinds of plans for all kinds of people. So, I want to offer my Bible reading plan.  Ready?  Here it is: pickup your Bible and read it.  I know, I know, it isn't very sophisticated.  And I can't offer you a pretty printable chart that shows each day's reading for the days ahead, and I can't tell you exactly when you will get through the entire Bible, and there is no checklist for you to get through as you finish chapters and books.  Because I don't want you to just get through the Bible in 90 days or a year or