Understanding Love

We have fears below the surface that we don’t consciously know we have. God wants us to be free of them. How can we be? Well, he has made a way for us. It is the way of his love. His perfect love for us casts out all fear. "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them...There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear...The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:16&ndash…

I got a text from Colleen last Friday at 4:00 that she’d be home from work at 5:30 and would bring appetizers for dinner. Perfect timing, I thought, I was hungry already. She showed up at 7:10 after texting she was on her way at 6:03, and it was a 25-minute drive, with an empty Chick-fil-A bag that once held her dinner she picked up in the drive-through. I didn’t respond. Nor did I say much of anything when she got home. I chose the silent treatment for a few…

At first glance I dismissed the painting Consider the Lilies by Makoto Fujimura as a simple, monochromatic painting featuring a lily seemingly hiding in the background. However, the painting came alive when I learned it was actually painted with more than eighty layers of finely crushed minerals in a style of Japanese art known as Nihonga, a style Fujimura calls “slow art.” Looking closely reveals layers of complexity and beauty. Fujimura explains that he sees…

Personally, I find one of the most startling things Jesus says tucked away at the end of the fourteenth chapter of John. He is preparing his closest friends (and soon-to-be-successors) for his departure. They still don’t believe or don’t want to believe he’s leaving. Here is what Jesus says to them (and to us): "Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27) Wait—do not let your heart be troubled? I thought to,…

I oftentimes preach, “God loves you, and He has a purpose for your life.” Yet whenever I do, it seems that someone in the crowd believes he or she is an exception. Sadly, people with this mindset have bought into Satan’s lie: They think they aren’t important enough to be singled out from among the billions on earth to receive a blessing. Or they listen to the Deceiver when he insists they are too weak, sinful, or scared to merit the Lord’s.…

The beginning of the Bible tells us that God created human beings in His image. But we’ve been tempted to reimagine God in our own image. The result? Believing that God is much less than who He really is. These misconceptions can make God seem more like a cartoon villain instead of the loving and gracious Creator that He is. So how can we truly see and understand the character of God? We look at the life of Jesus in the New Testament. The New Testament authors share…

Sunlight on water. Songbirds in a forest. Desert sands under moonlight. Vineyards just before harvest. These all share something in common—they reflect the heart of a particular artist. They are his masterpieces, his expression and his gift to us. The artist’s name is Jesus. Something else lies in common between these treasures and Jesus as well— words on a page cannot compare to a personal experience. Sailing the ocean on a bright morning with the wind in…

Who do people believe Jesus is? Some say He was a good teacher, but just a man. Author C. S. Lewis wrote, “Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher.” These now-famous words from Mere Christianity propound…

I’m reading a book written by the author of The Shack, Wm. Paul Young. In fact, it was a topic on this week's Embracing Brokenness Podcast. I'd encourage you to Listen Here. Many of the premises in his book have been considered controversial. I will say this, as I’ve delved deeper into what Young is saying I find myself agreeing more than disagreeing with the vast majority of the Lies We Believe about God, the book's title. I’ll focus on one…