What is God Like?

Yesterday I was given a copy of The Root of the Righteous by A.W.Tozer.  It has been a while since I read any Tozer, so I used my train journey to read a few chapters.  Many of his books are made up of brief articles he wrote for his church newsletter, so essentially he was …

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Magnetic Faith

Spiritual life treats God as attractive and trustworthy. His character—wholly righteous—brings light to the darkness of our selfishness. And faith is our response to Christ’s call to “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” God’s attractions become ever more obvious to the eyes of faith. We realize that he created all things well. …

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Friendship with Jesus

What a friend we have in Jesus! John 15:15 is an absolutely astonishing witness to the abundance of God’s goodness, how is it that the One in whom all things hold together wants to be my friend? I’m not just any acquaintance but a friend worthy enough to give his life for mine.   What does …

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Repentance Uncompromised

One of the greatest terms in the Old Testament prophets is the word “turn” or “repent.” The prophets spoke to a nation of God’s people who had consistently turned away from God and to others. They turned to Assyria or Egypt for support via political alliance. They turned to their own military might for confidence. …

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A Clear Connection

A lively conversation will often display a tension—either a disagreement or a misunderstanding. Maybe even a willful opposition. Yet if the speakers share mutual love, trust, and common values the exchange is likely to be productive. It may even be a pleasant process. But we’re less optimistic if the participants don’t like each other and …

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Protecting “God” From Christ

Have you ever heard someone answer a question about Jesus’s nature or his activities by starting with one of these two phrases: “Jesus in his divinity …” or “Jesus in his humanity…”? It may be easy to speak of Jesus this way, but it is unbiblical.  None of the biblical authors speak of Jesus this …

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A Secret Society?

A friend’s email noted his surprise at how often he’s heard Christians—including church leaders—speak of Bible reading as a chore or an unhappy challenge. He mentioned this as he wrote about his delight in finding a partner for a fast-paced Bible read-through. I celebrated with him. In our shared pleasure I realized how rare we …

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Why Didn’t God Reboot?

I recently upgraded the operating system on my computer. Frustratingly I now have a computer that freezes periodically. The only solution appears to be reaching for the power button for an enforced reboot. God created humanity and soon saw them corrupted by sin. It was not gradual. We read of the fall into sin in …

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Can We Stop Saying…?

I learned quickly in seminary that there were two “Sunday School” answers that could be given to almost any question asked in class: “Jesus” or “Context.” Jesus is obvious – he could be the ultimate answer for nearly any question. But it was a shock to me to hear “context, context, context” from every one …

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God Begs to Differ

God seems to be at a disadvantage in the world today. His self-appointed biographer happily leaves people unimpressed with him at best and disgusted at worst. And this biographer—the “angel of light”—has an ambition to twist our view God whenever possible. One of his twists is that God is necessarily distant from the creation. This …

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