What We Were Created For

When difficulties arise, are you surprised that the Lord would allow them? Such thinking assumes that being an obedient believer exempts us from problems. Consider today’s passage—the disciples did exactly what Jesus said by getting into the boat and setting sail for the other side. Yet before long, they found themselves battered and tossed about by a powerful storm. Then there are other believers who automatically assume that if trouble comes, they’re the.…

“See that?” The clock repairman pointed his flashlight beam on a small, fine mark roughly engraved inside the old grandfather clock he was working on in our home. “Another repairman could have put that there almost a century ago,” he said. “It’s called a ‘witness mark,’ and it helps me know how to set the mechanism.” Before the age of technical bulletins and repair manuals, “witness marks” were used to help…

In rural Amish culture, the building of a barn is a social event. It would take months for a single farmer and his family to construct a barn, but the Amish, doing it together, make quick work of it. Lumber is stocked ahead of time; tools are prepped. On the designated day, the entire Amish community gathers early, divvies up tasks, and together pitches in to raise a barn—sometimes in a single day. This is a good picture of God’s vision for the church and our…

Most believers experience feelings of doubt at one time or another, and when they do, it affects their ability to receive the Lord’s wisdom. Doubting God means not trusting Him completely—and trust is how the Lord “will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3:5-6). God’s wisdom in your life may be clouded if you struggle to believe the following truths: God loves you all the time. When we’re “good,” most of us believe God loves us&mdash…

We have no idea who we really are. Whatever glory was bestowed, whatever glory is being restored, we thought this whole Christian thing was about ... something else. Trying not to sin. Going to church. Being nice. Jesus says it is about healing your heart, setting it free, restoring your glory. A religious fog has tried to veil all that, put us under some sort of spell or amnesia, to keep us from coming alive. As Blaise Pascal said, "It is a monstrous thing ... an…

AW Tozer once said that what comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. Why? Because the way you see and think about God shapes the way you see and think about everything else. If you answer the question “who is God?” with “the giant dictator in the sky,” your behavior, how you move through your day, will probably be marked by fear and hesitancy, hoping you don’t mess up and get smited for it. If you answer…

This is a love story, dear friends. God is love, the apostle John tells us, and then he says it again so that we don’t forget, “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God” (1 John 4:16). Love is the single most defining quality of his character and his life. God is a passionate, and jealous, lover. (Is there really any other kind?) Out of his love he creates us for love. “We love, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The…

What’s in Your Top Box? It’s a question I heard from Bill Hybels way back at the 2015 Global Leadership Summit. Bob Buford was asked the same question from a high-powered strategic planner he hired as he was considering how to move from success to significance in the second half of his life. I’ve asked that question of myself more than once during my 35-year career as a business owner, employee, leader, and now in ministry. It’s a question that each…

Have you ever thought about what God will say to you after you’ve finished the course of your earthly life? The apostle Paul was imprisoned when he wrote the epistle known as Second Timothy, and he knew his life would soon be over. Since this letter contains his last words to the young man he mentored, we can assume that Paul was writing about matters he considered of highest priority. What a blessing, not just for Timothy but for also for us, that Paul took the…