If you’re wondering how to balance grace and truth in your life, you’re not alone. A Word for the New Year I was prayer-journaling this past week, reflecting on how fitting it is that we celebrate Jesus’ birth just a short week before the beginning of the new year. Jesus’ birth is the start–not the end–of the holiday season, both …
I’ve never been a good fast-er. I remember that my parents had us fast for half a day every Black Friday–the religious Black Friday that proceeds Easter, not the American shopping extravaganza–to commemorate the death of Jesus. From when we awoke in the morning to three p.m., we subsisted on water alone. It was not uncommon in Romania to observe this …
This is the second post in the series, “Abiding in Christ–when reading the Bible isn’t an option.” Check out all the posts here. There’s a problem for those of us who grow up in an established religious tradition: we bring with us the baggage of rituals, expectations, thou-shalts and thou-shalt-nots, and we end up either prideful & arrogant because we …
Everyone knows the story of Jonah, right? A disobedient prophet is swallowed and spit up by a big fish, preaches fire and brimstone against the evil city and then laments God’s compassion on them. There may be a few more details along the way, but that’s the gist of it. Which is why I was surprised to find this little …
“You know you’re a pharisee if sin disgusts you more than it moves you to compassion.” ~John Piper Jesus had harsh words for the Pharisees. And for good cause: they created stumbling blocks for those who sought God, they prided themselves in their good works and self-righteousness, and they despised the tax-collectors and ubiquitous “sinners.” Jesus called them “white-washed tombs” …