Feeling the Pressure?

We’re not sure how Jesus was feeling when He said it. Was He sad? Frustrated? Stressed out? Or just lamenting? Whatever the case, it was a heads-up moment for His disciples—a foretaste of what lay ahead for them. In Luke 12:50 Jesus says, “I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under [...]

History Makers

Most of us long to be significant … to contribute something that’ll make a positive difference in the world. I remember studying psychologist Abraham Maslow’s theory about human motivation when I was in college. His chart—called the hierarchy of needs—was a triangle. The large base was made up of basic physiological needs like breathing, food, [...]

Ready for Action?

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.” (Luke 12:35-36) I’m praying for revival, and I hope you are too. Consistently. Fervently. Alone in my prayer [...]

Love Actually

February is the month we acknowledge and celebrate love. People have written a lot about the wonder of love. Some of the quotations we’ve memorized, we’ve heard them so much: “Love is blind” (Geoffrey Chauncer); “Love conquers all” (Virgil); and “’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” (Alfred [...]

On Assignment for God

The first time I encountered the idea of my life circumstances being an assignment from God was when I got diagnosed with cancer. Because I had seen others get healed miraculously, instantaneously by God, I assumed that’s what would happen with me. But when the results kept coming back as positive, and the doctors told [...]

Training for Godliness

When I was a young Christian we used to crack jokes about 1 Timothy 4:8, thinking it was justification for not staying in good physical shape. Here’s how it reads in the KJV (the version we read back then): “For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the [...]

Food that Perishes

What do you get teased about in your family? Everybody in mine knows I’m likely to push second helpings onto dinner guests and offer leftovers to them as they leave our house. Why? Because I have a thing about good things being wasted. I’m not sure where I picked up my aversion. It was probably [...]