Busy-Busy
For a month and a half—besides all my regular teaching, editing, and pastoring, Kim and I remodeled and moved to our new house—I worked twelve-to-sixteen hours a day, seven days a week for a month and a half. I broke the Sabbath commandment, my cherished prayer time fell away, and I lived on auto-pilot. Anyone may put in those kinds of hours for a few days or weeks. But a month and a half of focused intensity only on getting through each long day left me physically shaking and psychologically numb. It gave me a new perspective. For that month…
How to Love, Part 3
Is there anyone you tend to hate, or who consistently angers you? Most of us have someone or something. Confess! My confession: My top three are Islamic terrorists, the Chinese Communist Party, and crazy leftists. Now when I think about it, as a follower of Christ, I shouldn’t hate any of these people; I’m not even allowed to. But these indulgences of the flesh sometimes surface when I read the news. Yet I’m working on overcoming this and working on loving people whom I find hard to love. This commitment is particularly relevant in the divided political climate of the…
How to Love, Part 2: Loving God First
When I went to seminary, I met a lady who loved God more than anyone else I had ever personally known. She honored God’s Word, was led by God’s Spirit, and lived the life I saw written in the New Testament. Then I married her. And we’ve been pastoring together ever since. Matthew 22:37–39 reiterates Old Testament commands and says, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Because Kim loved…
How to Love, Part 1: Agape
I’ve lost count of how many times I see someone accusing Christians, particularly traditional Bible believers, of being “unloving” because they didn’t celebrate or approve of that person’s ideas or lifestyle. Yes, believers are sometimes unloving, judgmental, or prejudiced. And when they are, they need to repent and change. But that’s only a part of the picture. It is becoming critically important that people who identify as followers of Christ define and practice what God’s love / Christ’s love really is. New Testament Greek uses four words for love: Eros—physical love (of which plenty varieties are going around). Philos—emotional love…
Amazed at What I Didn’t Know
One of my richest aspects of living in the South has been learning about the African-American experience. Before I came here I thought I understood it. I could not have been more naively mistaken. I learned at the nation’s primary exhibits in Atlanta, GA; Montgomery, AL; and Jackson, MS. Month after month my church member and dear friend, Jerry, who’s with me in the photo, graciously interacted with me about what things were like in the past, and what still lingers. I’ve come to see politics and human rights at a much deeper level. Yet I’ve also seen how in…
