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Getting Over Mommy Guilt
It’s real. That pain in your gut feeling that you don’t teach enough, bake enough, snuggle enough, read enough, pray enough — and generally aren’t enough. Mommy guilt plagues us as we do our daily chores and celebrate milestones. The pressure to do more than we can, be more than we are, to give more than we have wells up from within. It leaves us feeling hollowed out, empty from trying to meet expectations that we can never quite achieve. Whether you’re a seasoned mom or just starting out, the daily challenges of raising kids wear on us. We’re tempted to absorb every stumble and struggle—telling ourselves that if only…
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Why the Gospel Matters in 2017
As 2016 came to an end, several of us found ourselves grieving over the harsh realities of our fallen world — mass shootings, Zika, civil unrest, terror attacks, Aleppo, corruption in politics, the refugee crisis in Europe, and lives over far too quickly. To sum it all up one woman made a “dumpster fire ornament” and tweeted “Dear 2016: I made you this ornament. It’s a dumpster fire.” People identified with her sentiments, and it went viral. Many of us are relieved 2016 is over. Some of us are fearful over what 2017 may hold. As believers, we weep with the world as it groans under the tyranny of sin,…
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The Birth of Christmas: While Sheperds Watch Their Flocks By Night
One of the things I love most about Christmas is the cards we receive from many friends around the world who tell us what’s happened in their lives in the past year. When I was a boy my mom used to hang all our cards on the door frame between our living room and our dining room and I can still see the progression of those cards on that door frame until it was totally covered. Lynna and I keep a large basket full of cards in our entryway, a constant reminder of those we love and miss. One of the greatest themes on those greetings is that of…
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Am I Enough?
Yes, I know the Gospel. But quite honestly, sometimes, the Gospel doesn’t seem enough for me. It seems too good to be true. And so sometimes I fail to live as if it were true. “What? God did everything and I did nothing? How can that be? I know I’m unworthy. I know I’m not enough. How could a perfect, holy, and righteous God ever overlook my ‘not enoughness?’” So let’s sit with that question for a moment, the question that haunts many of us, “Am I enough?” 11 years of off-and-on counseling has helped me to break free from some of my people-pleasing tendencies. So I’ll just be blunt…
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Social Gospel or Gospel with Social Ramifications?
Before I became a Christian, I attended churches where I heard the “social gospel.” That is, I learned all about doing good works, but I didn’t actually know how to have peace with God through Christ. I thought good works were the way to such peace. But grace means that works follow salvation, not the other way around. Unfortunately, since becoming a Christian, I have often encountered an equally distorted view at the other extreme. Christians who know how to have peace with God through Christ often view pretty much everyone committed to feeding the poor and clothing the naked as preaching a “social gospel.” Often such believers see…
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5 Gospel Centered Scripture Memory Verses
One way to teach our children the importance of the gospel is through highlighting gospel centered verses—this may be through Scripture memory or simply studying key verses together as a family. The word gospel means “good news.” Each of the 4 gospel accounts is prefaced by the phrase “the gospel according to…” (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John), and the accounts tell us about the good news of Jesus. Here’s a few verses focused on the good news of salvation to get you started: Defining the Gospel Message—Read 1 Corinthians 15:3–5 and pay attention to the four key verbs (died, buried, raised, appeared). Simply put, the gospel message of salvation = Christ…
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Destination Theology: Is the Gospel mainly about going to heaven?
I grew up with the Wordless Book—one page black for sin, one red for Christ’s blood, one white for being cleansed of sin, one gold for going to heaven, one green for growing. It is a strategy often used in children’s ministry to explain the salvation message. It has no doubt been helpful to bring many to Christ. But I think in my own life that gospel message and the children’s ministry I was a part of nurtured a “Salvation is a ticket to heaven” mentality. The main thing was to get rid of my sin, escape hell and get to heaven. I think there were some adults in my…
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Beach Boys, Love and Mercy Movie and the Lost Gospel of Brian Wilson
Released to DVD and Amazon Prime on September 15th Most of us associate the Beach Boys with summer-soundtrack songs about surfing, cars and girls on the beach. And their staggering 100,000,000 records sold. Back in the 60’s, outside the music business, we didn't realize that Brian Wilson, the creative genius who wrote most of their music, was taking his place among American greats like George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Burt Bacharach. We just knew that when we pulled the sun roof back and crooned along on "Don’t Worry Baby," something deeper reeled us in: the sheer beauty and increasing complexity of the music. The constant shifting from major to…
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Christ Has Died. Christ Is Risen. Christ Will Come Again.
Christ Has Died. Christ Has Risen. Christ Will Come Again. These are the words I repeat with our community of Christ-followers each time we gather to observe communion. They have come to mean something endearing to me, more than ritual recitation. They echo what has happened, and they speak to what will happen. This Thursday my mind dwells on the last supper our Lord had with His disciples and the events that took place Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so long ago. I grew up hearing the stories of faith from my family and another community of believers. Friday morning coffee brought the story of Jesus’ suffering. How He’d been…
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Humility: The Art of Self-Forgetfulness
This Lenten season I’ve been reading The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis. In this eloquent novel that cuts to the heart, Lewis writes about the basics of Christian life, our relationship with God, and how to avoid temptation. The fictional novel is written from the point of view of Screwtape, a senior demon, to Wormwood, a lesser demon, on how best to tempt humans and limit their spiritual growth. Since Lent is a season of reflection, repentance, and renewal, I’ve appreciated how Lewis draws my attention to the many ways in which I wander from God and the grace with which God calls me back. Over and over again, I’m…