Read Your Bible

Here is a picture of my Bible reading plan from this morning as I sat reading. It's kind of tiny and coffee stained, but it's what works for me to help me regularly read through the Bible. Almost weekly as I preach and teach others, I am encouraging them (you) to read your Bible, but sometimes I think people do not read because they simply do not have a workable plan. So I want to give you the basics of what I do, so that if you do not have a plan, you could at least start here.

1. Get a physical Bible. 

I am very easily distractable with electronics, and while I do have several Bible apps, for my regular daily reading, I sit down with a physical Bible, and it helps me focus.

If you do not have a good paper Bible, here are some links to ones I recommend. 

ESV Study Bible - This is a big dude with lots of info. It's the one I'm currently reading through.

CSB Study Bible - This version is little easier to read and it's currently my favorite to recommend to people who are non-readers.

Any simple reading Bible. If you need large print, there are lots of them available, just go to Amazon or Christianbook.com and you can find them. Invest in a good paper Bible it may help you.

2. Get a plan.

In the picture above you see that I have printed out plan with daily readings listed. It is a Bible in a year plan, but I do not use it that way. I just read the next chapter, and some days I read several chapters. It generally takes me 2-3 years to read through the whole Bible, then I print out a new plan and start over. I like marking off the reading and seeing my progress. I also have the same plan in my Bible app that I can read on my phone or tablet when I'm not home for a few days.

Here is a site to choose from a number of different plans. Bibleplan.org . You can start just reading a part of the Bible or get a whole Bible reading plan (which is what I really recommend). Most Bible apps also have plans, but again if you are easily distracted, you are probably better off having a paper copy as your primary reader.

3. Set aside some time

I do my daily reading in the morning when I get up. It's become really routine now. I generally spend 15 minutes reading the Bible and if I have time, I also read a devotional, pray, and spend time in Bible memory. Set aside 10-15 minutes at some point during the day to make it a habit and you will be able to read at least a chapter a day. I often still miss a couple days a week, but that's often because I'm in a group Bible study in the morning those days. 

Honestly, this will probably be the hardest thing for those who do not already do it. You have to commit to setting aside some time. If Bible reading is a priority (and it should be in your relationship with God) then you have to make time.

4. Take notes.

One of the things that has helped me focus, especially on some of the "boring" parts of scripture, is to write at least one note for every chapter I read. I do use a notes app on my phone for this, and yes it sometimes distracts me with other notifications. I would recommend a notebook and pen right alongside your Bible. Also, do not be scared to write in your Bible. Highlight, underline, and make notes for yourself. Use your Bible. Study your Bible. I use a pencil in my Bible to underline and take notes there too. Anything about the passage that strikes me, I write a note. Any thought that God brings to mind, I write a note. It keeps me engaged, and often God uses these lessons throughout my day to bring His word back to mind. 

So, if you don't have a plan, this could be a good starting point. God has spoken, and we can hear from Him daily. Let's read our Bible together.

Better than Santa

During this time of year our family watches Christmas movies, and many of them are  either about Santa or include him. Santa is almost always a good character that encourages people to behave better with the promise of reward. Christmas movies always turn out happy with a good focus on family and giving to others. For the most part then, watching Santa movies are happy times with the family, but I want to point out that while Santa may be fun, Jesus is an even better focus for the CHRISTmas holiday. If we compare the two, we will discover that Jesus beats Santa in every category.

Santa gives gifts to good boys and girls on Christmas. James 1:17 says that all good gifts come down from the Father of heavenly lights, and John 3:16 tells us that Jesus is the gift of the Father to the world so that those who believe in Him might have everlasting life. All good gifts are ultimately from God and for those who believe, we get to experience His goodness for eternity.

Santa seems to have quite a bit of knowledge of our activities since he knows when we are sleeping and when we are awake, and when we've been good and bad. Psalm 139 tells us that God knows us intimately and that there is no place where we can go that he is not there, and Psalm 147:5 says that God's knowledge is infinite, so God has more knowledge than even Santa.

Santa wants people to be good, not bad, but he seems to be kind of a legalist with your reward depending exclusively upon how good or bad you are. Some of the stories seem to indicate that if you are bad, you might only get coal for a present! God wants us to be good and gave us His law for our own good (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). Furthermore, Jesus tells us that if we love Him, we will do what He commands (John 14:15). But He also recognizes that on our own we cannot love Him, so He came to redeem us even when we were bad and still His enemies (Romans 5:8). Even our ability to be good after He has redeemed us comes from Him. He gives us His Spirit and changes our hearts so that we learn to love what is good. Then we can be good because we have new desires and the power of the Holy Spirit working in us (study Romans 6-8). 

Finally, while Santa is fun fairy tale to encourage us during the Christmas season, Jesus is really God incarnate who came to earth to show us God's love for us. He not just a fairy tale, but a real man, who lived, died, and rose again, so that we can know His love at all times and during all seasons. During the Christmas season it's okay to have fun with your family, give gifts to one another, and watch holiday movies, but it is most important to remember and put a focus on the one for whom the holiday is named. Christ is not just the reason for this season, but rather this season should help us remember that Jesus should be our reason to live and love well during all times of the year.

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

True Holiday

The traditional greeting on Easter is, “He is Risen,” to which the proper response is, “He is risen indeed.” Most Christians (probably most of you reading this article) firmly believe this to be true and have not questioned it in a long time if ever. But what if someone were to ask you, “Is He risen?” How would you answer? Do we even need to answer? In our world of individual “truths” does it matter whether Jesus rose bodily from the dead? 

Well here is what the apostle Paul said about the importance of the resurrection, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). In other words, the bodily resurrection of Jesus is so important that if it didn't happen, we aren't saved from our sins. Death is not defeated, and we won't have eternal life. So yes, the truth of the bodily resurrection is pretty important.

How can we know it's true though? Well, we know it's true because it's the best explanation for the evidence that we have. Let's examine some of the evidence.

First, Jesus actually died on the cross.The Romans knew how to kill people and they were very efficient at it. In fact, the soldiers responsible for their crucifixion would have been under a death sentence themselves if they didn't make sure that their prisoners were actually dead. That's one of the reasons that they either broke the legs of people still alive to kill them from suffocation or, as in the case of Jesus, stab them in the side to make sure that the heart-lung sack was punctured. 

Second, there's the empty tomb. No historian worth their salt actually questions that the tomb was empty. Otherwise, the Jewish authorities or Roman authorities simply would have produced Jesus' body to squash the growing conspiracy. 

Third, many people claimed to have seen Jesus alive. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that over 500 people saw Jesus alive, and this was written within 25 years of the event, so he encouraged those who did not believe to go talk to some of those people who were still alive. This wasn't just the illusion of one or even a few people at one time. He was seen many times over a 40-day period by many different people. He even ate with some of them and encourage them to examine his scars.

Fourth, many of those people were persecuted and killed because they believed that Jesus had risen from the dead. Lots of people might die for something they believe to be true. But in this case, the claim is that the disciples would have had to make up the story and would have known it was false. Who dies for a lie? Chuck Colson, a lawyer in Nixon's White House during Watergate, said he saw people giving up on the lie after three weeks of possible prosecution, so he couldn't believe the disciples would be telling a lie and endure a lifetime of persecution and then execution unless they really believed in Christ's resurrection.

A final evidence is that the church took off after the resurrection of Jesus, growing to thousands within a few weeks. The disciples recount how they were locked away and scared after the crucifixion. But once Christ rose, they became bold and right away were willing to put themselves at risk and to proclaim the good news about Jesus.

Put together, the best explanation for this evidence is that Jesus really did rise from the dead. If that's the case, and I believe it is, then his resurrection verifies the work of the crucifixion and his teachings about himself. He really is the Messiah. He really did die to take away the sins of those who call on him for forgiveness. He really will come back and restore all things. He is the reason for this season.

He has risen!!

Lonely Holiday

When Jesus started His public ministry, He was doing amazing miracles and teaching some profound truths, so many people started to follow Him. At times He had crowds over 10,000 listening, and He likely had as many as 120 regular followers if you include the men and women. Furthermore, from those regular followers He chose 12 men who were particularly close to Him and seemed to do everything with Him. Even among the 12, He had three, Peter, James, and John, that were even closer and who were with Him in the most intimate moments like the Transfiguration (see Matthew 17:1-8). Jesus’s life was so full of people that at times He had to move on from places to not get swamped, and He also went away some nights to be alone and pray with God the Father.

Yet as He approached the time of His crucifixion, He began to be clear about the cost of following Hi
m and many people left. He even asked the 12 if they were going to leave, and Peter said “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). When Peter said those words, I am sure he meant them, just like he and the other disciples meant it when they claimed they would die for Jesus rather than abandon Him (Matthew 26:25). But in the Garden of Gethsemane they could not stay awake and pray for Him, and then they all ran away when He was arrested, even Peter! I am sure that Peter felt like an incredible failure and totally alone when he wept after having denied even knowing Jesus three times that same night.

The next day as Jesus suffered and died on the cross, He even felt abandoned by the Father, repeating the words of Psalm 22:1, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” He did not deserve the punishment for our sins, and He did not deserve to be abandoned. But Jesus willingly allowed Himself to be abandoned and forsaken because He knew it was necessary so that we would not stay alone. He endured the cross so our sin would not mean that we had to stay guilty, ashamed, and alone after our failures.

When He rose again, Jesus took Peter aside and restored him. Three times He asked Peter, “Do you love me?” to which Peter answered, “Yes Lord.” After each answer, Jesus commissioned Peter to care for others. He was showing Peter that he was once again loved and accepted not just as a follower, but as a valuable member of Jesus’s kingdom.

Likewise, the brokenness of the world and our own brokenness can leave us feeling abandoned and alone. Jesus knows what it feels like to be alone. He came to the world to seek those who are lost and alone. He came to restore those who are broken. He came to connect the disconnected. Because He took on and defeated death, the ultimate aloneness, we can have abundant rich fellowship with both God and man. We can be restored and like Peter be part of reaching out in love to others who are still hurting and alone. 

This Easter, no matter your circumstances or your sins, come to Jesus to find a friend and be restored. You do not have to be alone because Jesus made a way for us to find everlasting love and to learn how to give that love to others.

What Plans Does God Have for You?

This morning in my daily Bible reading, I came across a very that most Christians have seen hanging on someone's wall at some point. It is Jeremiah 29:11, "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

My question for you is what does this verse mean for us? Can we /  should we take this verse as a promise for us? If so, what kind of promise is it. 

I raise this question as a way of challenging you to think about how you interpret and apply scripture to your life, because if you have in mind when you read that verse or see it on someone's wall that God is promising you a long life, good family, and lots of good things, then you are misapplying and misusing the verse.

So let me take you through the verse and the passage to see what if any promises we can glean from the passage. 

First, we need to understand that Jeremiah 29 is written to a specific group of people at a specific time. Jeremiah is a prophet of God writing at the end of the independent kingdom of Judah about 600 years before Christ. They have already been captured by the large kingdom of Babylon and some of the people have been exiled over to Babylon, while some of the people remain in Jerusalem and Judea. Jeremiah is given this prophecy to both sets of people. In the first part of chapter 29, he is writing to the people in captivity and telling them that God has not abandoned them, and that they have a future and hope. This is a specific prophecy of future blessing in this world when they will be brought back to the land. In the second part of the chapter God warns the people who remain in Judah that if they resist and rebel against Babylon that they will be destroyed, so they should obey him and not rebel. They did rebel and they were destroyed. Likewise, the Jews in Babylon were returned to the land after a 70 year exile. So we see in this passage a prophecy of blessing and destruction, and we find out from later historical writings that these prophecies were fulfilled.
So one of the clear lessons that we can take from this passage is that God keeps His promises, both for blessing for those to whom He promised blessing, but also for cursing to those He promised cursing.

But are there any specific promises in this passaged for anyone besides the Jews that we should count on? Well, not exactly in this passage, but if we continue to read the context in the next couple of chapters, we see some promises for Israel that were not fulfilled in the immediate context of the people returning from Babylon 70 years later.

For instance, Jeremiah 31:33-39 says,
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds 
and write it on their hearts. 
I will be their God,
and they will be my people. 
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
This is what the LORD says,
he who appoints the sun
to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
to shine by night, 
who stirs up the sea 
so that its waves roar —
the LORD Almighty is his name: 
“Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”
declares the LORD,
“will Israel ever cease
being a nation before me.” 
This is what the LORD says:
“Only if the heavens above can be measured 
and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel
because of all they have done,”
declares the LORD.

“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah.

In context, this passage seems to be a continuation of the blessing talked about being promised in chapter 29. Since the eternal types of blessing did not seem to be fulfilled, we can and should look further out for what God has done and will do. 

Did God give a new covenant where His people wrote His law on the hearts of His people? Yes, we can say that in fact, that has happened through the work of Christ. His people are no longer just the physical descendants of Abraham, but all those who Christ has saved. Can we then claim some of the goodness of the promise in chapter 29 has already been fulfilled by what God does for those who trust Jesus? Yes if you are a Jesus follower.

Furthermore, we can also say that the promises of an everlasting kingdom of peace are promises that we can look forward to. We have repeated promises like this in the New Testament where the saints are to look forward to the eternal kingdom.

But I want to warn you about a couple of bad uses of this passage. One use would be to think that God is promising any current believers earthly blessing right now. The promised earthly blessings from Jeremiah 29:11 are not even fulfilled for the current generation of Jews living at that time. Yes, God does promise to bless them in Babylon if they submit to the leaders there and try to bless the kingdom, but they current generation not only did not have hope to be brought back to Judah, but were told to expect a delay of 70 years for fulfillment, so none of the original readers of the passage should have expected the kingdom to get fulfilled right then. And those physical fulfillments were for a specific group of faithful Jews who would get to come back to their homeland. That's not us.

In fact, what are we promised as far as physical blessing in this life? Well, if we look at various proverbs and consequences of living according to God's laws, then in general, we should be have better outcomes. Faithful, trustworthy, loving people generally have more stable families, better jobs, and make better neighbors. As we let the Holy Spirit write God's laws on our hearts, we should becoming more and more like Christ, so in some respects our lives and the lives of those around us should improve. 

But, what happened to Jesus in this world? He got killed. What does He promise will happen to us if we follow Him? Matthew 5:10-12 says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Many times in the New Testament, followers of Jesus are warned that they will face trouble and persecution simpy for following Him. Not only will our lives not necessarily be blessed, but in this life, we should expect trouble. Our hope, our blessing is not to be found in the things of this world. We were made and are being remade for the next world. 

So if you see Jeremiah 29:11 hanging on someone's wall. I want you to remember that the true fulfillment of those promises even for the Jews was not in some partially restored kingdom 70 years later or some blessing that you are hoping for next week, next year, or next decade. Rather the true plans God has for His children are much bigger and much longer than that.

A couple nights ago, Traci, Abigail and I watched a movie called, 
"I still believe," which is a story about Christian singer Jeremy Camp and his first wife Melissa. It tells the story of how Jeremy and Melissa met in college dated and even got engaged rather young. Very soon after they got engaged Melissa found out she had cancer, and they began to pray earnestly that she would be healed. Miraculously she was healed of all of her cancer right before going in for major surgery. They got married 6 months later, but on their honeymoon, Melissa found out the cancer had returned. Again they prayed for healing but the cancer was spread too far that they did not even go in for treatment. Right before she passed away, she declared the pain was gone and that God had healed her. Then she died.

She was right. God did heal her. In the most complete way. In a way that matched God's plan for her life. A plan that He has for all of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. A plan for good and not evil. A plan for hope and an eternal future.

That's what I think of when I read Jeremiah 29:11, and I hope you will too.

To Whom are You Thankful?

Hopefully this week you will be able to gather with family and consume way too many calories! I know at three family meals that we have scheduled, I will definitely be eating too much! As I do, I will almost certainly be able to look around the room and find much to be thankful for, from the food, to the family, to the homes, and cars. Even coming and going from the different relative's homes, I will be able to see the harvested field, herds of cattle, barns of animals, various industries and shops that have helped to make all this bounty possible. In the process, I will be thankful for the many people who have added greatly to my life such as my wife, my kids, my extended family, my friends, my church family, and the various communities that have added so greatly to my life. When people live sacrificially and give to others they deserve our thanks, not just at one time a year, but regularly.

But many blessings in life cannot be tied to a specific person, such as life itself, health, natural beauty, and our own gifts and talents. As a Christian, I know who to thank for these blessing. Many places in the Bible let us know that we should be thankful saying, "Give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Other passages let us know to whom we should be thankful saying, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever" (Psalm 107:1). When we reflect upon the world, we see that blessings are all around us every day and that many of the best parts of creation, from the intricacies of a leaf to the smile of a baby, if they are to have any meaning at all must come from somewhere or more specifically someone else. Upon reflection, we can see that, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17). 

What if I do not believe in God or at least do not make God a regular part of my life? Where then do all these blessings come from and to whom should I give thanks? Around this time of year, I often hear people declare that we should be thankful for the good things or that we should live thankful lives. But if they do not know where the blessing comes from, who are they thanking? The universe? The world in general? Nothing? Thankfulness untethered to a deeper reality feels hollow because giving thanks should be tied to a relationship with the person who gave us the blessing. Our conscience tells us that being thankful is the right thing, but if God is not acknowledged as the origin of the blessing then our internal desire to thank someone is left empty. We end up thanking a void, which makes us feel like the emotion itself is meaningless. Conversely, our very desire to give thanks is one of the evidences that there is someone to thank!

Therefore, I encourage you this Thanksgiving time, to yes, pay attention to and even list the many blessings in your life, but also to make sure you spend time reflecting on who gave you those blessings. Pray a prayer of thanksgiving to our good God who gives us all good things.

The Bible Works

 

Last week, I got upset with someone, or more accurately, someone became upset with me, which "caused" me to become upset with them. I was feeling quite emotional at the time (I had knee surgery last week, so I was tired and sore), so I didn't handle my emotions very well, and I had to exit the conversation. After leaving, I began to reflect on some of the biblical principles of conflict resolution that I have often taught to others. Using these principles, I began to assess the situation and my emotions.

I realized that my identity needed to be grounded in what God says about me, and that my life and actions needed to begin with a willingness to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31), which is the first biblical principle of reconciliation I have learned. Then I needed to examine myself to see if I had a log in my eye, even though in my spirit, I wanted to remain resentful and blame the other person. In this reflection, I was able to recognize that I had sinned in my attitude and response. Before blaming the other person, I needed to repent to the Lord (1 John 1:9) and then ask the other person for forgiveness (Matt. 5:23). Therefore, it became clear to me that I had to seek reconciliation with my Christian friend (Romans 12:18). After a few minutes of more rational conversation and some apologies exchanged, we were reconciled. Our friendship was renewed, and we both learned more about reconciliation and how to love each other better.

Because I had specifically studied what the Bible had to say about repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation, I knew what God wanted me to do in this type of situation. At that point, it was not a lack of knowledge but a decision of the will, whether I would obey or not, and whether I would truly trust that God knows best about how I should live my life.

God has laid out many truths in His Word about salvation, about what is right and wrong, about how we are created to live and love Him and others. When we know these truths, believe these truths, and act on these truths, our lives are better because, as our Creator, God knows best. Following His Word helps us have confidence in our eternal relationship with Jesus, have better marriages, be better parents, learn to honor our parents, be better citizens, be better friends, find and use our spiritual gifts, be more honest, be more humble, be better church members, be better employees, or students. In these and many other ways, if we spend time learning God's Word, then believe its truth and act upon it, we will be better humans.

If you don't believe me, I challenge you to read some of the Bible daily and find one truth to meditate upon, and then try to apply it in your life. Test God's Word and see if it contains both the big truths of life and eternity, but also truths that help you live from day to day.

Where stands it written?

 

"Var står det skrivet?" is the actual title of today's article, which, when translated from the original Swedish, means "Where is it written?" This was one of the common phrases from the Free Church movement in Europe and the United States. The meaning of the phrase is an encouragement to go back to scripture as the primary authority of our faith. Now, I could talk about a lot of different doctrinal controversies where this phrase might be used, but instead, I want to describe how I use the idea in interpersonal conflict resolution.

As a Christian, it is important to be willing to hear criticisms and accept correction. So when someone comes and tells you that you have hurt them or done something wrong, it is important to listen to them and be willing to examine yourself. God wants to examine our hearts (see Psalm 139:23-24), and He often uses other people to help us see where we have gone wrong (see Proverbs 27:6). On the other hand, just because someone is upset with you or perceives that you have wronged them does not mean you have actually sinned. It is important to examine yourself in light of what scripture says. Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." So we can and should use scripture to correct us and help us grow.

Therefore, both when examining ourselves and when considering correcting another person, we should look to scripture and ask, "Where is it written?" In other words, how have I specifically broken a command of God, either according to the letter of the law or the spirit of the law? Likewise, when we feel wronged by someone else or think they have sinned, we should try to be specific about how they sinned. We should think about what specifically happened and how that made us feel (it's a good idea to write it out), and then search the scriptures for how these actions, words, or attitudes violated specific principles and commandments that God has given us.

A good example of this can be found in an article by Rosaria Butterfield, where she identifies what she did wrong by going to scripture and referencing the specific commandment. She goes further and identifies the motives and why those were wrong. She also explains why she is making a public apology for a public sin.

Getting specific from scripture helps in a number of ways. First, when we have sinned, we cannot know what to apologize for or what to correct unless we know specifically what we have done. Therefore, identifying the specific wrong helps to correct it so it will not happen again. Second, it takes the burden away from the interpersonal conflict and helps us see that sin is first and foremost against our Creator and Judge. It is easy to get defensive when you believe that the offense is primarily against another imperfect human. You can look at their faults and fail to take your own wrongs seriously. But when you know that you have sinned against the perfect and holy God, you know you cannot use the excuse of being no worse than the other person (See Psalm 51:4 for David's example of repentance to God).

Third, sometimes we discover that, in fact, there is no sin for which we need to repent. People might feel bad or take offense for any number of reasons, and sometimes their emotions are directed at the wrong cause. Emotions tell us something about what is going on in us but are not very accurate indicators of the truth. Therefore, we need to examine them to discover what is causing them and whether our thoughts and feelings conform to the truth of scripture and the reality of the world around us.

If we ask, "Where stands it written?" before and during a conflict, we will more likely get to the truth of what is happening. Then rather than escalating it, we can either defuse it by discovering that no sin had taken place or resolve it by repentance and forgiveness for the specific wrongs done.

Multiverse, Aliens, but no God?

The following is a quote from Neil Shenvi's book, Why I Believe,

Yet, no matter how counterintuitive, shocking and bizarre the constructs of modern physics become, many in our culture continue to insist that whatever it portrays is "ordinary" while the supernatural is "extraordinary." We balk at the existence of immaterial realities but seem seriously unconcerned with the proliferation of ten-dimensional strings, parallel universes, closed-time loops, and nonlocal entanglement. You can even see this inconsistency in our science fiction, where magical plot devices are barely concealed by a thin patina of scientific jargon. The presence of actual angels or ghosts in Star Trek would be exceptionally jarring. But if the captain announces that a "hyperdimensional tachyon-based life-form has materialized on the bridge," we can suspend our disbelief. Why the disconnect?

 As a Sci-fi fan, I have had this same thought a number of times, while watching Star Trek, Stargate, or Fringe. Why are scientific-minded people willing to believe in the possibility of aliens & multiverses but not even consider the possibility of God?

I have theorized at least these two reasons for this skepticism. First, like Neil says, the God explanation sounds like magic or an appeal to an illogical "faith," whereas the other sounds scientific and they desire to think themselves logical and/or grounded in "reality" by which them mean physical things that they can feel and explain. Of course, the problem highlighted in these shows is that there are many areas of life that are not strictly physical and for which we do not yet have any good explanations, such as morality, origins or destiny. Thus the writers often propose sciency-sounding explanations that are far-fetched or that appeal to some long-forgotten or distant alien culture that knows more than us. I believe that for many scientifically minded people a possible naturalistic explanation, no matter how unlikely, is still better than proposing God might be involved because they believe that God is like Santa or the Tooth Fairy, namely a being that can do anything necessary to fill whatever gaps we have in our understanding. Having "faith" in this kind of God is indeed like magic with no need for evidence, and unfortunately, some Christians behave as if God does desire us to have this kind of faith in Him.

Christians should counter this by explaining that God as described in the Bible is not illogical, nor does He demand faith without evidence. In fact, even in Hebrews 11:1 where faith is described as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen," it is still not a faith based on no evidence. In fact, in each of the stories described in Hebrews 11, the individuals had evidence of God's existence and plan, but they still needed to trust Him for the future. All over the Bible, God encourages people to examine the evidence for the truth of who He is and even to compare Him to other gods to see that He is real. He points to the order of the universe as evidence for Himself. Many early Christian scientists believed in the order of the universe because they believed in a God of order who had created with a purpose. The writers of the Bible do understand that humans are limited and do not fully understand the spiritual realm, but they never describe it as chaos or a magical place without rules. Rather it is a place where we do not have access to all the information yet.

But should we fail to believe in something just because we cannot fully understand it yet? Why should a spiritual realm where there exist creatures with purpose and will, not at least be one of the options for helping to explain phenomenon here? I do not assume subatomic forces do not exist or are disordered just because I cannot explain them. Likewise, I do not assume God is capricious or random, just because I cannot yet explain all of His actions. 

Therefore, as Christians, I think we can and should undertake to help skeptics see their inconsistent thinking when they propose theories like aliens or multiverses which have no evidence and really do not have any explanatory power, and at the same time reject even the possibility of a supernatural realm. We can do this by reframing the biblical understanding of supernatural realm from a magical mystical place with no rules, to one which is like another dimension where there are rules, but ones that we cannot access yet.

Unfortunately, even if we could help skeptics reframe their understanding of the supernatural, many would likely still reject God as a possible explanation for anything, because of a second reason which is spiritual and psychological. If God exists, then He not only created the universe with order and purpose, but it also means He created humans with order and purpose. Therefore, if we really wanted to understand ourselves and how we should function in the world, we might have to figure out if God has told us anything about that. In other words, God's existence might impact our existence and how we live our lives. To live our best lives, we might have to learn from and obey someone other than ourselves. Often, people are either afraid of a bad authority, or they simply do not want anyone to be an authority over them. Very few skeptics are likely to admit this kind of psychological prejudice, but often in conversation, I have heard experienced a level of anger at God that seems completely unjustified if the skeptic really did not believe He existed. What about the possibility of God's existence would cause them to be so emotional toward Him or toward believers in God if they did not have some much more personal reasons to doubt His existence. 

The most vocal critics of any belief system are those who have been hurt within that system, and if you hear the personal stories of many skeptics, you will hear many such stories. I am not suggesting that person hurt is the only reason for disbelief, any more than the only rationale for believing is psychological benefit, but it is clear that personal experiences play a large role in determining what we explanations we might accept as possible. 

In conversations with skeptics, Christians can help overcome this barrier in two ways. First, to be transparent about our own biases. If personal experience, such as dreams or some fantastic worship time, is one of the reasons we believe, we need to admit that. If God is real, than having such an experience should not be discounted, but that sort of evidence is not transferable to others, so we should be willing to also have and be willing to discuss other reasons to believe, which is exactly what Shenvi is doing in his book. If we can admit our biases and bring more neutral evidence, we can perhaps help the skeptic to be willing to examine their personal biases and how those might influence their conclusions. 

Knowing these reasons or any others for why someone might not consider believing in God will not necessarily overcome someone's disbelief, but they might help us further the conversation. If we think of sharing our beliefs with someone as gardening or farming, which is a metaphor the Bible uses, then we might simply be tilling the soil making it possible for someone to later on consider believing in Jesus. Ultimately God uses many different means to draw people to Himself, and the more we learn about the world, ourselves, and other people will help us to be available to be one of the tools God uses in the lives of others.

God's Part, Our Part, Their Part

Ezekiel 33:7-11 “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

“And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?’ Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?"

God wants to save and Ezekiel is responsible for declaring the message God gave him, but he is not responsible for how the people react to the message. There is God's part, our part, and their part. As much as we might desire to change someone else, we can only do so much. Once we have fulfilled our God given role in someone's life, we have to leave the results in God's hands. Likewise, ultimately our lives before God are not someone else's responsibility. When we hear the word of God, we need to obey regardless of what other people did or did not do. 

A bruised reed he will not crush.

My personal scripture reading today included Job 5 & 6. In chapters 4 & 5 Job's "friend" Eliphaz, responds to Job's lament from chapter 4 (Job had many, many bad things happen to him and he was really hurting from them.) To summary what Eliphaz says, he reminds Job that God gives good things to good people and bad things to bad people, but if you repent from the bad things, he will give you good things again. The clear implication is that Job is suffering because of the bad things he must have done.

Now it is in general true that sin leads to suffering and that a righteous life produces better outcomes, so as a proverb about the general state of the world, Eliphaz is correct. God set the world up to be orderly and moral actions just like physical actions have consequences. But Job does not know of any specific or outward wrongs that he has done to justify the trauma that he is experiencing, so he responds.

He who withholds kindness from a friend

forsakes the fear of the Almighty. Job 6:14 

In other words, it is not kindness to rebuke a person in the midst of terrible suffering. Furthermore he asks,

Teach me, and I will be silent;

make me understand how I have gone astray. Job 6:24

If Eliphaz can point to a specific sin that Job should repent of then go ahead and do it. Job would gladly repent if it meant that it would ease his suffering. We learn from earlier in the book that repentance was a regular practice, so he would not even have resisted it. At the end of the book, when God challenges Job about his sin in questioning God, Job is willing to repent. But in this moment, Eliphaz is not aware of any sin, but rather he just makes a general accusation, which adds to Job's suffering. 

I have lived and ministered long enough now to have many instances of personal suffering and to have been with many others in their suffering. In the middle of painful situation, most people will not respond well to a rebuke, even if the suffering is directly related to their sin. They will either get very angry and defensive or they will get very depressed and withdraw. 

Jesus in quoting Isaiah says this about himself,

A bruised reed he will not break,

and a smoldering wick he will not quench,

until he brings justice to victory. Matthew 12:20 

When someone is already down, we need to be there, show that we care, and establish connection, otherwise they will not hear us when we have to come and talk to them about anything negative. We see this in Jesus's behavior toward sinners. He often approached people who were known sinners in his society, but if they were very repentant when they came, he treated them very gently, while still calling for them to turn away from sin.

On the other hand, I know that when suffering is related to sin, it is not loving the person well to never address the issue of their sin. So I am contemplating how should I approach people who are trapped in sin when they are suffering from the effects of that sin?

I think for me the first thing has to be making sure I establish connections and show people that I care. I also want to help the church understand this. We need to be a welcoming place to those who are hurting, even if their pain is caused by their own behavior. But we cannot be scared to speak the truth about sin and its consequences, and when we have established some relationship or when we are in long-term relationship already, then we need to be loving enough to confront sin even if that is painful

The apostle Paul did that with the Corinthians. He challenged some sin in their midst and it caused them some pain.

For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 

2 Corinthians 7:8-10 

Here he distinguishes between wordly grief and godly grief. When someone is suffering the consequences of sin undoubtedly they will feel bad, but what we should desire is that it becomes a godly grief. A godly grief is not just feeling bad about the situation, but it is a pain that leads people to examine their life, discover the sin, and repent of that sin. His desire was that they use the opportunity of pain to repent of known sin (turn around and go the other way), so that they do not have to experience this pain again and so that they do not keep on causing pain and trouble for those around them.  

But for me actually knowing the right moment to talk to someone about sin in their life is very tricky. I suspect there is no one right way to do it, but rather that we need to remember some of the principles listed above and then treat each person and each situation uniquely. 

If you are reading this and are in pain due to hard situations in your life. I would encourage you to examine your life to see if there is sin for which you need to repent. God desires for you to come to Him. Jesus died for your sins, and His forgiveness is available. You may still face earthly consequences for your sin, but God wants you to come and receive His mercy, forgiveness, and love. The hard stuff is a form of God's mercy to let us know that we need to turn around and go another direction. He does not desire us to continue in painful behavior.

He can and does transform lives. No one is too far gone. His love is shown by tranforming people, and we find our ultimate joy in living in harmony with Him. Furthermore, when we allow Him to transform us, we also become the type of people that are good to those around us. 

Jesus says, "Come to me all you who are weary heavy laden and I will give you rest" Matthew 11:28.

The Lord is on my Side?

Psalms 118:5-7 

Out of my distress I called on the LORD;

the LORD answered me and set me free.

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

The LORD is on my side as my helper;

I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

I really identify with the first verse here. I do cry out to the Lord in my distress, but most of my distress is more internal than external. Therefore, the second verse it a little harder for me to say, because I don't think in terms of "my side" or of God being my helper. Instead, I think in terms of whether I am on God's side (think of the angelic warrior from Joshua 5). But this passage is here, so I need to deal with the reality of it.

I don't want to think of this like normal times when I am having a dispute over preferences or playing a ballgame against the rival school. Rather, at times people are legitimately facing injustice and are crying out to God for help. In those times it is good to remember that God loves us and is for us. I praise God that I have not faced too many times personally where someone has treated me openly unjustly, but I can see many places and circumstances where it does happen, so I can see the need for a passage like this to help the sufferer remember that they are loved.

It is also a good truth to embed in my own heart because in a fallen world we never know when someone might seriously sin against us and we might face they same feelings of injustice and loss and wondering if anyone really cares about us.

Losing Touch With Reality

Recently, I listen to this Breakpoint podcast, where John Stonestreet was talking about how Christians were the first ones to make the case against foot binding in China back in the late 1800s. The earliest opponents of foot binding didn't just make a Christian argument, but rather that they were able to make arguments based on the fact that binding is bad for the whole culture regardless of their beliefs. Christians can make such an argument because their beliefs are based in reality and that is why Christians can point others to the real world.

This reminded me of the fact that much of the modern age and scientific discovery came about because a Christian worldview began to dominate the western world. In the pre-Christian world there wasn't  a basis for believing that nature made sense, but the Christian understanding of the world was that God created and His creation makes sense, so we can discover truths about it using observation and logic. One early Christian scientist put it this way, "I'm thinking God's thoughts after him. "

Over the last couple of century, secular philosophers and scientists have been trying to jettison the idea of God, while at the same time trying to maintain a philosophy that the universe still makes sense. Unfortunately this is like trying to maintain a skyscraper while digging up its foundation. As time goes by the whole structure begins to crumble, and we are seeing the fruit of this godless philosophy in the postmodern age.

Here is how this works and why secular modernism cannot sustain the idea of a rational world. They start with the foundation that all evidence must be empirical or observable evidence that can be experienced and tested (This claim by the way cannot be tested empirically!) Second, because they cannot find that type of empirical evidence for God or anything supernatural (because their first test for evidence excludes evidence that might point to the supernatural by definition!) Then they claim that there's no rational reason to believe that God exists because there is no evidence for God. In other words, it is a circular argument that excludes the possibility of evidence of the supernatural, and then claims they cannot find any evidence or arguments for God.

The logical consequence of this is that there is no objective or larger reason for anything to exist or anything to happen because the physical world is all that could exist. In a purely physical world, every event is ultimately either random or determined by prior physical conditions. Things like meaning, purpose, morality, and destiny are not physical and are therefore ultimately not actually part of reality.

Now on this last point, many modernists are not actually very honest in public, although a few of them, such as Sam Harris in this podcast, admit the consequences of their belief system. Previous generations of atheistic philosophers, such as Nietzsche and Russell, have admitted the consequences of this view of the reality mean that there are no metanarratives that explain and give meaning to the universe.

If things like purpose, meaning, morality, and rationality itself are all ultimately random or determined, then how can we trust one idea to be "better than" any other idea. Thus modernism logically led to postmodernism, which makes the claim that all meaning is ultimately subjective coming from either individuals or groups. Ironically, this actually places a postmodern society back in the position of premodern societies, where truth was determined only by your group and most often by the authorities of your group such as the ruler or the priest. Meaning determined by which ever group or individual can hold power long enough to impose their definition on others.

Now we've gotten to the place where we can see how these ideas have practical effects on our culture. Here are three examples of the postmodern/relativistic view of truth in action. 

First, when someone makes a claim that they are transgender or a different gender than the physical body, they are making a claim that the physical reality of their body (chromosomes and physical characteristics) does not determine their gender. Instead, they claim that their internal experience can determine their gender. This works in the current culture because truth is not determined by physical realities, but by the individuals or groups. In the past, facts that were obvious to everyone's senses would have informed us that the physical reality is what should be believed rather than someone's experience, but now someone's internal experience is supposed to define not just their reality, but the reality of those who interact with them.

Another example is how we view race and any group that is deemed to be a minority or oppressed group. In critical theories, there is no meta narrative or overarching truth about the world, rather truth is determined by your exclusively by group identity. It is not just that you see the world through your particular set of lenses, but that in fact there is no way to get out of your particular set of circumstances and view the world objectively. From this perspective, logic and math can end up being tools of oppression used by a particular group to keep others down as described here. The claim that objectivity can be reached by a reasoned argument is refuted by the idea that even that is simply a culturally relative idea.

As a final example, I point to how various groups responded to the pandemic in this last year. For most people, we did not actually listen to competing scientific narratives and make a choice based upon who made the most compelling argument that best lined up with reality. No, rather most of us listened to the authorities we knew we could trust (likely who said the thing we already wanted to hear.) Therefore, if someone said hydroxychoriquine and zinc was the miracle cure for Covid, you either believed them or totally dismissed them based upon your and their political camp. Likewise, whether or not you believed masks were an effective means to significantly slow the spread also depended upon who you believed. Even when it comes to "scientific" knowledge, our beliefs have been broken down into groups and we believe our authorities, not your authorities. You might think this is just a problem with the regular guy and that the real scientists dispassionately look at all the relevant data, but as we have seen time and time again this last year, various authorities (even Dr. Fauci) have said something with great confidence only to have to walk back their comments or change their opinion. As a result, many of us have developed a jaded view of media and authorities and now make sure to only to listen to those people we "know" we can trust, not the bad ones like Fox News or NPR depending your perspective. 

These three examples illustrate how in our postmodern world we're not only losing touch with reality, but we are even losing the tools necessary to accurately assess what is real and what is not. This can be traced back to our loss of belief in God who grounds reality, and without whom we cannot be sure of what is real or even if there is a real truth to be found. If we are just blobs of carbon and water randomly found on one tiny spec of a much larger but still random universe, then how can we trust anyone, including ourselves. But if instead the universe and each one of us was created for a purpose and headed toward a conclusion, then we can have confidence that the universe makes sense and that we can make sense of it.

When Jesus was brought before Pilate, he asked Jesus, "What is truth?" In his pagan world filled with lots of different finite gods, Pilate could not find a firm place on which to ground truth. Ironically the man to whom he asked the question was the very one who claimed to be, "the way, the truth, and the life," and then backed up that claim by dying and rising again just days after Pilate had asked the question.

I believe that if we're going to be able to move forward as a society, we're going to have to go back and get in touch with the grounding of reality, namely a belief in a God who created it and therefore gives purpose and meaning to reality. 

Origin of Life: A Proof of God's Existence

I originally wrote this to a friend who does not believe there is any good evidence for the existence of God. He has many times also questioned various aspects of my faith and stories from the Bible I think it is legitimate for him to send me stories that question biblical stories like the exodus or the flood. I think it is perfectly fine to deal with objections to our understanding of the world, but I think it needs to go both ways. Often those people who think matter and energy are all there is do not honestly face the problems with their own understanding of the world. 

The origin of life is one area where I think the explanation of a creator is so much more reasonable than a natural explanation. The astronomical numbers involved in trying to think how material could organize on its own into such incredible complexity are mind-blowing and they simply defy belief. And it is not just one type of organization, there are many different chemical reactions, compounds, and then interactions between those compounds to get the simplest cell and at each step of the way, the "chance" of it happening naturally is virtually impossible. So impossible in fact that no one can even propose a possible realistic way for many of these steps. It seems impossible for chance or nature alone to "create" the organization needed for even the simplest of cells, and the only other option is that an intelligence was involved. Cells have many compounds and processes that look like engineered machines, and in any other field, we would simply say that intelligence must have been involved to get to this level of complexity. 

For me, the primary reason to deny the possibility of a creator being involved is philosophical and not scientific. The science clearly points to the fact that nature alone cannot and could not create such complexity. 

 Here is a video by Jim Tours, a world-class chemist who makes nanomachines, that explains the incredible/impossible odds of this happening naturally. 

 If you watch through it, you will notice that he never refers to his Christian faith or the Bible, rather he is a hard scientist who knows the field and numbers inside and out. As I listen to these types of numbers and odds the impossibility of a random/ chance/ exclusively natural explanation is evident, his words about needing faith (as you define faith, which is belief without or in spite of the evidence) that somehow science will discover how to overcome these odds through some supposed law, ring true to me. For me, this is one of the many areas where a much more reasonable and rational explanation of the data points to a creator.

Good News - You have a Creator

Recently, I have been seeing stories about teens and young adults who are so scared about the future that they do not even want to have kids, because they do not believe in a good future. We have the news at our fingertips all day long, and most of the news that is reported is bad, so many people live in fear. They are anxious about a climate disaster, mass shootings, the opioid epidemic, terrorist attacks, mass immigration, wars, an economic collapse, and political conflict. In the next month I want to present some good news about our world, but even better news about our God and what He has done, is doing, and will do.

Here is some good news about the world. Many people in the western world think that the economy is getting worse, but worldwide over the last 25 years, many, many people have come out of extreme poverty. Alexander Hammond writing at Humanprogress.org says, "In 1820, 94 percent of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty (less than $1.90 per day adjusted for purchasing power). In 1990 this figure was 34.8 percent, and in 2015, just 9.6 percent." Even in terms of raw numbers of people in extreme poverty he says, "Not only is the proportion of people in poverty at a record low, but, in spite of adding 2 billion to the planet’s population, the overall number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen too." I remember growing up and regularly hearing about mass starvation in many countries, and while this is still possible, over the couple of decades these types of events are becoming less and less common.

As a student of history, I know that we cannot count of things always getting better in this world, but as a Christian I know the good news that "The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord; for He laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers" from Psalm 24:1-2. God did not just make the world, but He also made me as Psalms 139:14 says, "I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made." Furthermore, God did not just leave the world to drift, but is still involved in  the world, as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:6, "yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist."

Finally, though the world is broken by sin, our ultimate hope is not in systems of this world, but rather that God will redeem and remake the world. As the promise in Rev 21:1, 3, 4 says "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. . . God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away."

The good news for today is that the one true God is creator, sustainer, and redeemer of the world. That same God also created you, loves you personally, and wants to redeem you to be with Him for eternity. If you need hope for today, turn off the news and turn to your creator.

Learning from the Flood

Luke 12:31 - 32

But seek His kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom.

Recently with all the flooding you may have seen many pictures and videos of all the destruction. Scenes of destroyed houses, roads and bridges washed away, dead livestock, burst grain bins, and fields full of debris are sad and can even lead to a sense of despair or hopelessness because the loss seems so overwhelming.

Rather than despair though, I want to encourage us to to use these hard moments to see what lessons God has for us.

The first lesson as you think about your personal losses or those of people who you know, is to take a moment and examine your own heart. While it is appropriate to feel sad over losing valuable things, if that sadness turns to despair and depression, it may well point to what you really consider valuable. Do you put your hope and trust in God or do you put your hope and trust in the things of this earth? If you lost everything, could you still have peace? What if Jesus asked you to give up everything? Could you do it? He did ask his disciples to do that, and if he is asking you to, could you ?  This may not mean you lose the use of things, but it might. Could you give away your house, your cars, your job, your electronics, your reputation, your everything if Jesus called you to do it? I have a friend going back to Cameroon, Africa and these are the very questions he is asking, because God has called him to a much more dangerous and much less prosperous place. Use this moment to consider if Jesus is really the most valuable thing in your heart.

Second, use this moment to look around you and be thankful for the blessings God has given you right now. One of the reasons that we sometimes get mad at God when He takes something away from us is that we have come to expect it rather than see the world and our very lives as a blessing from Him. Look at your family, your friends, your home, your food, the beauty of the earth, and rejoice in the abundance of God's goodness. Use this moment to thank God for the incredible blessings, both big and small. Start a list and write down one thankful item a day. Every single day you could find something for which to be thankful. If you do this, you will begin to praise the giver of the gifts and not just the gifts themselves.  God loves you and has already blessed you. Learn to praise Him on the sunny days and on the rainy days, in the days of drought, in the days of plenty, and in the days of flood. He is bigger than them all and any day with Him is better than any day with any other thing.

Psalm 84:10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.

Center of History

This time of year, we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. His life has had more impact on the world than any other man, and in the western world, we actually divide history by the life of Jesus. Before Christ, we could not fully understand how God was going to redeem the world. After the cross and resurrection, we can see that God's plan was to redeem a people by saving us from our sin.

The cross was not God's back up plan. In fact, when God created the world, he knew how history would unfold and planned to send His son to be the redeemer. Jesus as a member of the Trinity planned from the very moment He created to come and take on human form and die for us. The cross, while done for us, is not primarily about us. At the cross, Jesus gives ultimate glory to the Father by displaying the love and goodness of God through sacrificing Himself for those who rejected Him. Therefore, we can rightly say that no matter the number of years went by before or continue after the cross, it will still be the center of history

Since the work done by Jesus on the cross and His resurrection is the center of the history of the world, it should be the center of our lives. Is it? Does the gospel dominate your life?

How often do you think about Jesus and His work for you? How often does the gospel influence your decisions at work or in the home? How often do you spend time with your Savior in the Word or in prayer? Can you say you are intentional daily? When tempted to cheat on your taxes (yes this time of year too!), are you walking close enough with the Holy Spirit to be want to do the righteous thing even though you could probably get away with a little fudge here and there? Is Jesus love on your lips when you get home after a long day and see your wife, husband, or kids? In decision, attitudes, and actions throughout our daily lives, we need Jesus to be the center.

Now I know that none of us are perfect yet, because Jesus would not have had to die for perfect people, but the more the gospel becomes the center of our lives, the more like Jesus we will become. During this Easter season, I want to encourage you to think about how to make Jesus the center not just of your history, but of your everyday.