Marked for all to see I’ll never forget the first time I received ashes on my forehead on Ash Wednesday. I was part of a non-denominational church in New York City, a church that, although it was a relatively new church plant, was committed to be grounded in the historic… Read More

Can getting angry ever be a good thing? That depends on how we think about anger. What is the purpose of anger? American theologian Tim Keller defines anger as “love in motion toward a threat to that which you love.”1 This is the “righteous anger” of which we often speak. One of the strange… Read More

This is the fifth installment in a series of blog posts addressing Jesus’s promise that his followers who abide in his Word will know the truth (John 8:31-32). Shortly after I became a Christian, the leaders in the ministry of which I was a part taught me how… Read More

It’s Easter morning, and I’m tucked in between my mother and father on the church pew, shivering a bit from the walk through the spring rain. I feel the swell of the organ as the voices of the congregation rise around me in rich harmonies. The joyous fervor of their… Read More

Shortly after I became a Christian, I was encouraged to memorize Bible verses. I remember deriving great comfort from memorizing Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (ESV). Then one day… Read More

Jesus promised his followers that if we abide in his Word, it will set us free. But free from what?  And what does it mean to abide? This series of articles explores how the truth of Jesus’s Word can free you. Start from the beginning here. As I… Read More

The word “Thanksgiving” has taken on a whole new meaning since the Pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated together in 1621. Since that first Thanksgiving, we Americans have layered the word with thoughts of turkey roasting in a warm kitchen, pumpkin pie piled high with whipped cream, and families gathering. We… Read More

Cruising along in Hebrews 11, the famous “faith” chapter, I am struck by verse 6: “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (NIV). Now that statement stops me in my tracks. If faith is that important to God, it should be important to me. Is faith something more than… Read More

Just when we New Englanders thought that we would not outlive winter’s grip, signs of spring begin to appear. It’s subtle. You have to watch for it. The bare willow trees turn sunny and golden. Crocuses and tiger lilies poke up through the dark earth, rising up out of… Read More

My neighbor must have been in a good mood—or maybe a spectacularly bad one—because, for the first time since I’d moved into my apartment five months earlier, I could hear music blaring from next door. Only the bass tones reached my home office, but it was distracting. Do I say… Read More