belief

Completely Other

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“‘I don’t think the way you think.
The way you work isn’t the way I work.’
God’s Decree.’For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
they’ll complete the assignment I gave them” (Isaiah 55:8-11, The Message).

I don’t know about you, but I’m thankful for a God I can’t figure out. I’m grateful that His ways are higher than mine, because anything I could completely comprehend wouldn’t be worth worshipping. As far as the heavens are above the earth, so much higher are God’s thoughts than mine.

I also think that a lot of deconstruction of faith happens when we judge God by our standards rather than the other way around. We make ourselves the standard by which God must abide. God would never [fill in the blank] because I would never [fill in the blank]. But that puts us above God and essentially makes us gods.

The older I get, the more I’m sure the less I know. I’m less inclined to think I have all the answers than I was when I was younger. I am also more aware of my deep need for a God who isn’t just Me 2.0, upgraded to be faster and stronger and smarter. I need someone who is completely other, someone who could condescend to my level and do for me what I could never do for myself. And that, my friends, is the gospel.

Thank You, God, that You are bigger than entire galaxies and universes, yet You are mindful of me. You who are beyond space and time became like me so that I could one day become like You. You entered into human history to redeem it and to redeem me and everybody else who calls on You in faith. Amen.

Ash Wednesday 2026

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“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the one Nietzsche ridiculed as ‘God on the Cross.’ In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us” (John Stott).

Lent has officially started. I’m a newcomer to this season of fasting and repentance that leads up to Easter Sunday, but I’m already a fan. I’ve gone through several years where I give up social media for Lent and found myself not missing it as much as I thought I would.

But Lent isn’t primarily about giving up or abstaining. It’s really about preparing your heart and mind for Easter Week, from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday and leading up to glorious Easter Sunday. It helps remind me that Easter really is more than baskets of candy and bunnies (although I’m not against those myself).

Easter is about God in the flesh taking the form of a servant and becoming obedient to the point of death, as the Apostle Paul puts it in Philippians 2. Instead of me and you dying deservedly for our own sins, Jesus took up the cross and bore our sins on His own body. Instead we get His righteousness and when God sees us, He doesn’t see our flaws but Christ’s perfection.

The best part of course is Resurrection Sunday when Jesus rose from the grave and forever defeated satan, hell, death, and the grave. There is now nothing to fear for anyone who has been made a new creation by Christ. We know that no matter what happens, the worst part will never be the last part because of the resurrection. As Tim Keller put it, the resurrection means that everything is going to be okay.

Cancer won’t have the last word. Dementia won’t have the last word. Terrorism won’t have the last word. Not even death will have the last word. One day, Jesus will descend and every grave will open up and we will all rise to be with Him in the air. That will be the best day ever for anyone who has trusted in Jesus for salvation.

My prayer for anyone who is observing Lent this year is that we will be more inclined and attuned to the voice of God than ever before. I’m praying that we will experience more deeply than ever before the glorious reality of the empty tomb and the risen Christ.

It may seem like a perpetual night of hopelessness these days with so much doom and gloom over every headline and social media feed, but Easter Sunday’s comin’!

From Lonely Agonies to Everlasting Splendors

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“Does it not fill our hearts with a thrilling excitement to think that the costly disciplines and lonely agonies that make up our earthly discipleship may at any moment, and without any warning, be transformed into everlasting splendors the like of which we can scarcely conceive, let alone understand?” (James Phillip)

That’s my hope. One day, this will all make sense. One day, God will pull back the curtain and reveal the totality of a glorious tapestry that He’s been weaving in and through our lives. Currently, we only see the darker threads with occasional glimpses of gold and silver. We only see chaos and confusion.

But one day, we will see the big picture. One day, we will see all the colors woven together and see that every one of them points to the glorious splendor of Jesus our Brother, Friend, Redeemer, and Savior. And every bit of suffering that we have gone through or seen our loved ones go through will have been worth it for the joy of that moment when all of God’s creation is renewed and restored and all those who hope in Christ are forever made new and alive.

One day, all those worries and anxieties that constantly dog at our heels and never seem to let us rest won’t matter anymore. We’ll be too busy adoring and worshipping the Triune God to remember or care. The joy will be so much more glorious and overwhelming than any amount of pain or suffering we endured.

“So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, The Message).

And the Angels Rejoice

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I used to get super excited when my sports teams won. Especially when they won the championship for their league. The only problem with that is that a couple of years later no one can remember who the champs were except for a very small number of people.

Sometimes, I find myself really looking forward to a new book, a new movie, a new album. But then I get it, play it once or twice, and the novelty is gone. It’s still a great book/movie/album, but I can never again match the thrill of hearing/seeing it for the first time.

These days, I get excited whenever I read about someone coming to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I love reading about how the person used to be a satanist or a porn star or a Muslim but now is a follower of Jesus. I should probably be more discerning because not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord” is really a true follower and disciple.

But I also remember that every time one single lost person is found and comes home, the angels rejoice. They throw the party to end all parties. It’s an epic celebration in heaven, and it’s all for one single solitary person.

I think about that prodigal son who came home to a party. He didn’t deserve it. He had done everything to disgrace the family name and dishonor his own father. He hadn’t shown a pattern of changed behavior to show that he wouldn’t run away again. But he came home.

Maybe that’s you. You need to stop making excuses and stop living a lie and come home. The Father is waiting. To come home means doing a 180 from going your own way and doing your own thing to going God’s way and doing things God’s way. It’s called repentance. You confess that your way doesn’t work and that you want God’s way.

Maybe in the grand scheme of things one changed life isn’t a big deal. Maybe one person who turns from sin and self to the Savior isn’t noteworthy or noticeable and will never gain any national headlines. But God knows. Heaven sees. And they throw the most epic celebration ever. Every. Single. Time.

I Wish You Knew

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One of my favorite artists, Keith Green, has a song entitled “Song to My Parent (I Only Want to See You There),” and I think that expresses my sentiments over so many people I know. If there’s anything I’ve learned from 53 years of being alive and over 45 of those as a child of God, is that having Jesus is so much better than not having Him. My worst days with Jesus are better than my best days without Him.

It’s not about avoiding going to hell, although hell is real. After all, God won’t force anyone to be with Him and He will respect the choices that we have made, even if we choose to be separated from Him. The best part isn’t not being in hell but looking forward to an eternity in heaven with the abundance of joy in this life as well.

There are so many stories and testimonies of people who were hopelessly lost and hopelessly addicted, but Jesus found them and now they are brand new creations. They aren’t improved versions of their old selves. They are something completely new that only God could have dreamed of and made into reality.

It’s amazing when God opens your eyes and you really see everything for the first time. Everything makes more sense. Sure, suffering and pain still exist, but now they have meaning. We still lose people we love, but now we grieve as those who have hope. I’m finally starting to get what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains” (Acts 26:29, NLT).

I’m closing with the song Keith Green wrote for his parents with the hopes of seeing them in heaven one day. He may be gone, but his legacy of music and testimony lives on:

“I need to say these things ’cause I love you so
And I’m sorry you get angry when I say that you just don’t know
That there’s a heaven waiting for you and me
I know it seems every time we talk
I’m only trying to just make you see

But it’s only that I care
I really only want just to see you there

Please try and overlook my, my human side
I know I’m such a bad example, and you know I’m so full of pride
But Jesus isn’t like that, no, He’s perfect all the way
I guess that’s why we need Him
‘Cause by ourselves, there’s just no way

And it’s only that I care
I really, really only just want to see you there
To see you there

Close the doors
They’re just not coming
We sent the invitations out a long, long, long, long time ago
We’re still gonna have a wedding feast
Big enough to beat them all
The greatest people in the world just wouldn’t come
So now we’ll just have to invite the small

And it’s only that I care
I really, really only want just to see you there

Isn’t that Jesus?
Isn’t it Joseph and Mary’s Son?
Well, didn’t He grow up right here?
He played with our children
What? He must be kidding
Thinks He’s a prophet
Well, prophets don’t grow up from little boys
Do they?
From little boys
Do they?”

Worship

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“As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing, but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God” (C S Lewis).

Back in the day, the battle was between hymns and praise choruses or traditional versus contemporary worship styles. After much deliberation, I’ve decided that the answer to the question is yes. I like both. Both can lead us to the throne room of God and both can become a hindrance if we focus on them instead of the God we’re supposed to be singing about.

These days, the production value and musicianship in a lot of churches is top notch, rivaling just about anything you’d see in a concert venue. The only problem with that is that if the Holy Spirit is absent, would anyone notice? Would anyone care?

I’m not saying that artistry is bad in worship music. I’m not against fog machines or stage lights or guitar solos. But that’s not what true worship is. Singing songs is a part of worship but not all of it. It begins with a surrendered heart and a captivated mind. Worship is essentially declaring the great worth of God no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Cleaning toilets can be as worshipful as singing about Jesus in a room of thousands.

I think it comes down to dependence. I think the best way to prepare for worship is to show up hungry for God. Musical worship is the overflow of a life of continual praying without ceasing and giving thanks in all circumstances. It comes from a Romans 12:1 mentality of presenting our very bodies and selves as living sacrifices for God to do whatever He wants with.

The best worship services aren’t the ones where all the songs are first rate or where every singer and musician sings and plays flawlessly. It’s one where God shows up in a way where we couldn’t focus on anything else but seeing Him and hearing from Him and committing to obey Him no matter what. That’s true worship.

The Real Winners

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So I watched the Super Bowl (or at least most of it). I low key wanted Seattle to win, but I was not going to be a bit disappointed if New England won. Still, I made it into the 4th quarter when Seattle was up 19-0 and decided that it was basically over, so I went to old school Murder, She Wrote with Angela Lansbury.

Spoiler alert: Seattle won.

My favorite these days isn’t so much when my team wins, which is probably a good thing. My Tennessee Titans haven’t won very many games lately and watching them sometimes is about as fun as a root canal. Actually, the root canal may be more enjoyable.

But I love seeing where former and current players have given their lives to Jesus. I love how they can boast not in any individual statistics or games won or lost, but in the fact that they are known and loved by the God of the universe.

That’s the real victory. I know the cartoon is probably supposed to be mocking heaven, but I’d love to think that’s how I will enter heaven. It will be such a sweet relief and an overwhelming joy. I won’t be able to point to a single thing I’ve done for the reason that I got in, but I can say with the thief on the cross that the Man on the middle cross said I could come.

It’s only by the blood of the Lamb. Because Jesus died for me and took my place on that cross, I can live eternally. Because instead of my own sin I now possess the righteousness of the only One who ever lived a perfect and sinless life, I can come boldly to the throne of God. Because of Jesus, I will one day walk through those pearly gates confidently because my confidence is on the grace that saved me and sustains me.

I can’t imagine what it’s like to hoist that Lombardi trophy and be able to have bragging rights about being the best team in the world for at least the next year. I know that the percentage of people on Super Bowl winning teams has got to be minuscule compared to all those who have played football at any level and are watching from the comfort of their couches.

But I will know the joy of walking victoriously into heaven and that victory will last not just for the next year but all the way into eternity. And that offer goes to anyone who says yes to Jesus.

Unfinished People

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“Unfinished people are dangerous.

Moses wasn’t Moses overnight.

He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. Rage took over.
Looked left. Looked right. No witnesses.

So he killed him.
Buried the body in the sand.

Forty years later he’s still running when the bush burns. Still seeing blood on his hands.

“Who am I?” he asks.

God sends him anyway.

Not from murderer to hero.
From murderer to man still being worked on.

Paul didn’t become Paul overnight either.

Stephen preached. Rocks flew. Skulls cracked.
Coats piled at Saul’s feet while he approved.

Years later, after writing half your New Testament, he’s still begging God about a thorn.

God doesn’t say, “You’re finished.”

He says, “My grace is sufficient.”

Your Bible reeks of in-progress redemption.

Exodus doesn’t hide the murder.
Acts doesn’t hide the coats.

KJV. No polish. No PR team.

God will still be working.

You’re not disqualified.
You’re under construction.

Same clay. Same Potter. Same wheel.

Build anyway. Fall anyway. Get up anyway” (The Biblical Man/4 AM on X).

I love that. I don’t think he’s saying that there shouldn’t be consequences to our actions, especially if we break the law and harm others. But nothing we do disqualifies us from God’s grace. Ask Moses. Ask Paul. Ask the thief on the cross. Nothing.

Who you’ve been and who you are don’t necessarily automatically definie who you’ll be. Only God can do that. And God can use the murder and the sin and all the wrong you’ve done and turn it into something positive. He can take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it for good.

That’s the gospel. Still.

Gatekeepers or Grace Givers

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I think if we’re not careful, we can become gatekeepers of the grace of God. I read recently we judge ourselves by our intentions but others by their actions. In other words, we’re more lenient with ourselves than with others. I see a lot of professing believers posting about how they hope the other person gets karma (which almost always seems to be for somebody other than me).

It’s especially evident when it comes to people we don’t like or with people who think and vote differently than I. It’s almost as if God’s grace exists with exceptions for Donald Trump (or his supporters) and Kamala Harris (and her supporters). We make grace something you have to earn instead of a free gift.

But the truth is that no one is worthy of God’s grace and mercy, but everyone is welcome to it. I’ll say it again because someone out there (maybe me) needs to hear it again: no one is worthy of God’s grace and mercy but everyone is welcome to it.

That means that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. With no exceptions. Anyone who acknowledges their sin and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, believes in Him by repenting of their sins and turning to His free gift of salvation, and confesses Him before others will be saved.

I think I get judgmental when I forget how it took the same amount of Jesus’ blood to save me as it took to save anyone else in history. It took all of it. I was (and still am) as much in need of the grace of God to save me and sustain me as anyone else who has ever lived.

The gospel means that no one is too lost to be found, too messed up to find grace, or too far gone to be saved. That’s the hope for the world and the message that every believer has to share with anyone who has ears to hear.

Act Yourself Into a New Way of Feeling

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“Feelings are great liars. If Christians worshipped only when they felt like it, there would be precious little worship. We think that if we don’t feel something there can be no authenticity in doing it. But the wisdom of God says something different: that we can act ourselves into a new way of feeling much quicker than we can feel ourselves into a new way of acting. Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in an act of worship” (Eugene H. Peterson).

To act when you don’t feel it isn’t authentic. Often, it’s obedience. I do what’s right because I know it’s right and not because I feel it’s right. If I waited every time until I felt like worshipping or reading my Bible or tithing, I would do all those things a lot less.

Feelings are fickle. So often they are unreliable guides to base decisions and actions upon. I may not feel like it because I’m tired or hungry or not feeling well. Sometimes, feelings are based off of false or incomplete information. When I find out a key missing ingredient, my feelings change.

Faith is not a feeling. Love is not a feeling. Both are acts of the will. You are stating that I believe in something enough to put my full weight into it whether I feel like it or not. I love by acting in such a way that seeks the betterment of the other whether I feel it or not. Often when I commit to faith, the feeling follows. When I act in loving ways, then I feel loving.

Above all, worship is an act. It’s a declaration that God is worthy. Even when I don’t feel it, He’s still worthy. Even when I feel He’s absent or silent, He’s still worthy because my feelings may trick me or lie to me but God never will.