What We Were Created For

Our culture desperately tries to postpone death. Yet vitamins, exercise, and healthy diets will eventually prove futile because, as James 4:14 says, our life is “a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away.” We’ll all die, but believers have no reason to fear. In fact, the apostle Paul assures us that, far from being a dreadful change, physical death actually leads believers home to be with the Lord forever (2 Cor. 5:8). Ultimately,…

God, You know my heart better than anyone. You know the dreams I have for the future, and the silent prayers I’ve prayed for years. You know what I am longing for, searching for, and waiting for. You know my dreams, but You have a plan. You make all things beautiful in their proper timing. You are faithful to keep Your promises. But so often, I forget this and grow discouraged when my situations don’t seem to change. In those moments, it’s easy to forget…

We're now 10 days into 2022. Do you have a clear vision for what God has in store for this year? If you're like me and most of us the answer would be of course not. Just look at the last couple of years and you'll understand how uncertain the next minute is. I'm not so sure there are any 100% certainties in this life. The only certainty I can point to is an eternal one with Jesus. But....... as I wrote in a recent blog, we still have the ability to…

We feel that God is not only unconcerned with our plight, but that he is actually working against us. And sometimes, we are right… Indeed, in the seventeenth chapter of Acts, Paul gives the Athenians the stunning news that every single thing in the lives of both nations and individuals is orchestrated with this sole objective that they might seek God (vv. 26-28). This revelation requires some reflection. We are used to thinking of the great movements of history, even…

Walk into any large mall, museum, amusement park, university, or hospital, and you will typically meet at once a very large map with the famous red star and the encouraging words "You are here". These maps are offered to visitors as ways to orient themselves to their situation, get some perspective on things. This is the Big Picture. This is where you are in that picture. Hopefully you now know where to go. You have your bearings. Oh, that we had something like…

First, the man selected a tackle box. Standing in his town’s small bait shop, he then filled a shopping cart with hooks, lures, bobbers, line, and weights. Finally, he added live bait and selected a new rod and reel. “Ever fished before?” the shop owner asked. The man said no. “Better add this,” said the owner. It was a first-aid kit. The man agreed and paid, then headed off to a day of not catching a thing—except snags on his fingers…

There are some things you will never learn on your own. You only learn them in community. To grow and develop your potential, you must learn from other people. For instance, you can only learn forgiveness in relationships. You can’t learn that on your own. You can only learn loyalty in relationships. You can only learn love in relationships. You can’t learn kindness or faithfulness or graciousness or unselfishness without others. In fact, the most important…

One of the strangest quirks of life here on this planet is the fact that the one face we hardly ever see is the one closest to us: our own. As we move about in the world every day, our face is always right before us and always just beyond us. Somebody could write a fairy tale about that. It would be an allegory for how rarely we see ourselves, who we truly are, the good and the bad. But in unexpected moments we get a sideways glance, as when passing by a plate glass window,…

Most people think of the church as a building, but that’s not the biblical definition. It isn’t merely a meeting place for social interaction, scriptural instruction, and service projects. Rather, the church is composed of all those who have been redeemed by Christ. He is the head of church, and believers are called His body. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” He was referring to the…