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Even our virtues need the balancing influence of other virtues I recently returned to an old devotional book that has spoken to me across the years: Abundant Living by E. Stanley Jones. In a reading titled “Unbalanced Virtues,” Jones makes a surprising observation: a life may contain many good qualities and still become distorted when…
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“Be still, and know that I am God…” — Psalm 46:10 It is a simple verse. God is speaking directly: “Be still, and know that I am God.” When I read those words, I do not hear them as ancient poetry addressed to someone else. I hear God speaking to me. But His voice has…
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Don’t be a cynic: “A cynic is a a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” – Oscar Wilde Furthermore: The difference may be too subtle to catch but, I will ask anyway: Do you do what you do for living or do you do what you do for a…
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Recognizing the Essential Ingredients of Authentic Christian Discipleship “If there’s no roux, it ain’t gumbo.” Some ingredients are essential. Without them, a thing is not what it claims to be. Someone recently told me, “I tried following Jesus, and it destroyed my life.” I had to wonder: Where did you follow him? Where did he…
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A Pastoral Reflection Do I Know My Neighbor? When someone asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told a story. Stories have a way of reaching places in us that explanations cannot. They move past our defenses. They settle into memory. They speak to the heart while the mind is still trying to organize the…
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“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”—John 13:7 The great wonder of the Christian life is that we can come to know what our Lord is doing. We do not always understand at first. We come to know “hereafter.” There is a basin at Jesus’ feet and a towel in…
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Some things only take two words. In English, we usually need at least a verb and a noun or pronoun to make a complete thought. Sometimes, in an imperative, just a verb will do. But some of the most profound truths in Scripture come to us in only two words. “Jesus wept.” Two words. Yet…
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“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”— John 13:1 Jennifer was on the phone with her best friend, Lillian, as her…
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Daily Readings for Monday, July 6 Psalm 1, Psalm 2, Psalm 3, Numbers 32:1-6,16-27, Romans 8:26-30, Matthew 23:1-12 As your pastor—or a pastor, if I am not your pastor—I encourage you to read the Bible every day. I offer Scripture prompts, but not necessarily everything you need, and not necessarily the direction the Spirit may…
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