Why Your Work Matters
This is a terrific conversation between Collin Hansen of The Gospel Coalition and Matt Perman, proprietor of the blog What’s Best Next and director of strategy for Desiring God Ministries. Collin interviews Matt about his forthcoming book, but more importantly about the often-neglected doctrine of work. I love this new emphasis, helping so-called “lay people” discover […]
A CEO’s Courage
Read this story in the New York Times and I thought it was a good one (HT: Janice Crouse) IT seems that every week we hear of a C.E.O. who earned millions from a golden parachute after demonstrating poor business judgment or cutting thousands of jobs with no financial downside for executives. These stories feed […]
Why Christians Shouldn’t Be Jerks
We’ve been studying the book of James on Sunday Mornings at Gages Lake. We just finished the third chapter on Sunday. The last section of this chapter gives a very specific definition of spiritual maturity. James tells us what it isn’t and what it is. I found it interesting that James was very specific in […]
Why Hobbies are Better When They are Not Idols
John Calvin famous said our hearts are great “idol-making factories.” A good, wholesome, beneficial pursuit can quickly become an idol. For me, I find that my pleasurable hobbies can often lead to idolatry. Sports is perhaps the biggest threat. I’m a big time fan of team sports. I love the NFL, the NBA, and Major […]
Why Campaigning is Easy, but Governing is Hard
I’ve been watching, with interest, the emerging campaign for Presidency of the United States. I gave up involvement in politics a few years ago to devote full-time attention to ministry, but I am still keenly interested. I watched clips of the GOP Presidential debate last Thursday night. I’ve always enjoyed the debates and give the […]
The Importance of a Good Editor (In writing and in life)
I’m currently working on my fourth book, a look at the unique struggles of those who grow up in the church. It’s the most difficult book I’ve written and probably the most ambitious. I have learned over the course of writing three books and numerous articles the importance of having a good editor. I’m not […]
The Gospel and Relationships
Yesterday I preached a message entitled, “The Gospel and Relationships.” It’s a single message in a series of single messages until I begin preaching through the book of James in July in a series entitled, Authentic Faith. Ironically, I took my main text for this single message from the book of James, chapter 4:1-3. Essentially […]
Forgetting the Past – Of Others
I had a conversation the other day with someone about a guy we both grew up with. This guy was considered a “bad kid”, always getting in trouble, kicked out of school, and proudly wearing the reputation as “no-good.” So when he came up in this conversation, the person I was talking to sort of […]
Can We Stop Bashing the Church Now?
This is an early preview of my Crosswalk Column for next week: If I had a dollar for every Debbie Downer book on the American church, I’d make Warren Buffet look like a poverty-stricken college freshman. It seems every single day, Christian pollsters, pastors, authors, and just ordinary folks are telling us that the American […]
7 Factors to Determine Your Direction
I run into a lot of young people who are pretty committed to following Christ with their lives and yet they sort of live in this fog about exactly what that looks like for them. We tend to over-spiritualize God’s Will as if it is some hazy, foggy, wispy thing when it is really not […]
5-4-3 Tools for Making Good Decisions
5 Things To Know: 1) Know What You Believe (Matthew 6:45; Proverbs 23:7) What you believe down deep in your heart is the most important thing about you. Notice I said what you believe, not what your parents or pastor or guidance counselor believes. Every major life decision should be run thru the filter of […]