Today is Shrove Tuesday. But what is it all about? Lent is the time of spiritual preparation leading up to the main event in the Christian faith: Easter. Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent begins. The name comes from a practice in England to “shrive” on this day: seeking and receiving forgiveness from God … Continue reading Shrove Tuesday explained
honesty
Honest about how dependent you are
When someone says you should “shine your light,” what comes to mind? -Helping someone in need? -Talking about Jesus? -Doing your best? What about being honest about how dependent you are on God? If he’s our Teacher, then it follows that we need teaching. If he’s our Healer, then it follows that we need healing. … Continue reading Honest about how dependent you are
Don’t pretend to be perfect
Okay, let’s be honest. Some people who believe in Christ can fall into a trap: Pretending to be perfect. You’re right: It’s not always true! But it’s sometimes true, isn’t it? Speaking to the believers in Corinth, Paul said, “we are ambassadors for Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:20). And who doesn’t want to be a good … Continue reading Don’t pretend to be perfect
Feeling gross and dense
At some point or another, all of us struggle with guilt. We do something wrong, we act poorly toward another person, we disobey one (or many) of God’s commands, we make a bad decision that results in many negative consequences. And that weighs heavily on us. Have you ever fell into the water with all … Continue reading Feeling gross and dense
the good news about your weakness
One of the mistakes we often make is to pretend we have it all together when we don’t. It happens innocently enough. A lot of us are doing our prayerful best to grow and become more like Jesus. But we can exaggerate or embellish our progress! Take me for example. I often don’t have answers to … Continue reading the good news about your weakness
Ambiguity: the enemy of action
Yesterday I talked about the unpopular and much-neglected process of repentance. In fact, since it flies in the face of our Do-Anything-That-Makes-You-Happy society I kind of wonder if some of you will actually unsubscribe to this devotional after you read this! 🙂 But since repentance is biblical, it matters. And what matters to God should … Continue reading Ambiguity: the enemy of action
When is being nice a bad thing?
My wife and I are in a small group. We meet weekly with people from our church to talk about Sunday’s sermon, the Bible passage, and pray together. One of the real benefits is hearing other people’s insights and ideas. Recently we were talking about how easy it is to over-commit. For a lot of … Continue reading When is being nice a bad thing?
When you haven’t kept your word
For the past two days I’ve been talking about being a person of your word—a person who is honest and trustworthy. In Matthew 5:37 Jesus taught about the importance of speaking with sincerity: “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” It’s a statement that … Continue reading When you haven’t kept your word
A light, even in your words
Yesterday’s devotional was about being a person of your word. I said that people who keep their promises keep track of their promises. It makes total sense. If you’re going to be a person who is trustworthy and who keeps their promises, you have to know what they are. You need to keep track of … Continue reading A light, even in your words
Wounds from a friend
Proverbs 27:6 says: “Wounds from a friend can be trusted…” But what in the world does that mean? It means that true friends are in a unique position of trust in our lives. They care about us (and we care about them). Because of that, they can be honest. Although we tend to like honesty, … Continue reading Wounds from a friend
