glory

Hatch or Go Bad

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“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for a bird to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).

You’ve probably heard the age-old excuse for bad behavior — that’s just who I am, take it or leave it.

But the problem is that none of us can stay who we are indefinitely. We’re either moving toward or away from being better people. Or according to the Bible, we’re either becoming more like Christ or more like the world. Staying on the fence isn’t an option.

At some point, we’ve just got to hatch. We have to come out of our shells, so to speak. For many of us, that means becoming more vocal about what we believe, i.e. sharing our faith and having those gospel conversations. It means we can’t expect people to read our minds and our actions to guess what we believe. We have to tell them.

I can’t find where the Bible says that faith comes from seeing our faith acted out. While living what we believe is important and is what shows our faith to be genuine, what people need is to hear our faith proclaimed. We’re supposed to be ready to give an answer for anyone who wonders about the hope we have in Christ.

The problem is that many believers have never grown. They’re still babies in the faith. They never pray or read their Bibles. They don’t know very much about what they believe, much less why they believe it. Too many of them are fair fame for false teaching and cults. Too many are too willing to compromise convictions and doctrine over the illusion of peace and fitting in.

Basically, we all need to grow up. We need to move on from spiritual baby food to being able to feed ourselves on the Word of God and spiritually discern what’s good and what’s false. We need to live lives that will make others ask questions about why we’re different and what makes us different in the best way possible.

Lord, get us out of our shells, so that we can learn what it means to soar like eagles. Help us to grow up in You, so that we know what Your will is and what Your word says, so we can be faithful witnesses to those who need to know You. Amen.

Chris Johnson and Mortality

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For those of us long-suffering Tennessee Titans fans, Chris Johnson was one of the few bright spots in a history filled with a lot of bad teams who were often painful to watch. He was an electric presence on the football field and still holds the NFL record for yards from scrimmage in a single season, set way back in 2009.

It broke my heart when I discovered that he’s currently battling ALS, a nervous system disease that shuts down the body and leaves the person completely incapacitated. I watched the Good Morning America interview with him and Michael Strahan where he couldn’t speak and and to communicate through a computer controlled through eye movements. In a year, he went from relatively healthy to not able to pick up a cup of water. He’s 39 years old.

But I often forget that no one is promised tomorrow. No one is guaranteed 70-80 years of life. I’ve known way too many who didn’t make it to old age, so I don’t ever want to take for granted that I made it to 54. In fact, I’m thankful for every single day that God gives me.

I don’t know where Chris Johnson stands with Christ. I don’t know if he’s a believer, though I’m praying that he is. I do know that hs time left on this earth is limited, but every single person ever born under the sun can say the same. We all have a limited timespan. In the perspective of eternity, our lives, even those that pass 100, are like the dash between the birth year and death year — very short.

But for those who belong to Jesus, who said yes to Jesus to forgive their sins and be their Lord and Savior, death is just a doorway to everlasting life and forever in a place called heaven where God Himself dwells and where there is no more COVID or cancer or AIDS or ALS.

I’m praying for a miracle for Chris. I’m sure many others are as well. It would be an amazing testimony if God healed him of his ALS. But I also know God is not beholden to heal Chris or anyone else. We live in a beautiful but broken world that feels the effects of sin every single day. People get sick and die. People get hurt and die. That’s the reality of life on this side of eternity.

But I’m thankful that this is not all there is. Jesus told us He’s been preparing a place for us since He ascended into heaven nearly 2,000 years ago. I can’t want to see it. I can’t wait to see all those I loved who are there now. Most of all, I can’t wait to see Jesus. More than any pearly gates or golden streets, He’s the one who makes heaven heaven. I hope and pray that everyone reading these words has an assurance of salvation and a future eternity in heaven. If not, it’s not too late while you’re still breathing to choose Christ.

Another Day, Another Psalm

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“You’re all I want in heaven!
    You’re all I want on earth!
When my skin sags and my bones get brittle,
    God is rock-firm and faithful.
Look! Those who left you are falling apart!
    Deserters, they’ll never be heard from again.
But I’m in the very presence of God—
    oh, how refreshing it is!
I’ve made Lord God my home.
    God, I’m telling the world what you do!” (Psalm 73:25-28, The Message).

It struck me that one thing David did very well was to express gratitude for the goodness of God. Sure, he was vocal about some of the hardships he went through. He was very honest about his own struggles. But never forget that a large part of the Psalms is David singing God’s praises.

I think if believers were as loud about God’s goodness as we are about what’s wrong with everything, people might be more inclined to listen to what we have to say. As my old pastor used to say all the time, Christians are more known for what we’re against than what we’re for.

Worship is a way of expressing gratitude. It’s giving God His breath back, as I heard it put recently. That means we acknowledge that everything we are and everything we own, including the very breath in our lungs, comes from God. When we give thanks, we’re saying that God is God, and we’re not. We’re declaring our dependence on God that He will continue to be good to us.

I think expressing praise builds our faith muscles. When we verbalize our gratitude, we are testifying to God’s faithfulness and giving the most effective sermon anyone could ever hear. People can argue our politics, our theology, and our doctrines all day long, but they can never refute the genuine testimony of someone who has seen and experienced the goodness of God.

Lord, open our mouths to declare Your praises all day long as Your servant David did so long ago. Help us to be as faithful to share You with others as You were faithful to share with us by revealing Yourself to us and give us all things pertaining to life and godliness, Amen.

Planting Seeds

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“Planting seeds
inevitably
changes my
feelings
about
rain.” (Luci Shaw)

Growing up, I wasn’t overly fond of rain. It was something that inevitable spoiled my fun plans for the day. Rain meant staying inside and doing dull stuff (or at least what seemed dull to me at the time but would probably seem like a paradise now). I had to stay in and read or watch television or take a nap.

But these days, I find rain relaxing and soothing. To a point. I’m still not a fan of rain that lasts for several days with no sun in sight and only grey overcast clouds. But then again, if I were a farmer, I might think about rain a little different.

Think about the seed. It falls into the ground. It stinks into the mire. But instead of being set free from the mire, it gets buried further and further down into the earth, a kind of death. But then the rain comes, and from a seed dying and breaking open, new life is born.

Jesus said, “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love,“

Those parts of life that seem hard and cruel are the parts that lead to new life. The way God seems to press us into the earth instead of heeding our cry for relief leads to the seed cracking open, sprouting, and multiplying into a harvest. God knows what He’s doing.

Trust God in the dark and be thankful for the rain.

Another Post About Worship

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“To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God; to feed the mind with the truth of God; to purge the imagination by the beauty of God; to open the heart to the love of God; to devote the will to the purpose of God” (William Temple).

My absolute favorite definition of worship is still the one by Louie Giglio. Worship is giving God His breath back. The more I think about that one, the more I love it. There’s so much to unpack with worship being our response back to God with the very breath He put in our lungs.

But this is a good one. I really like this one because it encompasses all that worship is. We do tend to limit worship to Sunday mornings or the occasional worship night. Most of us use worship and praise interchangeably, but worship is more than singing songs.

As I’ve said before, worship is declaring the worth of God in every area of your life. You proclaim the goodness of God in the workplace by doing your job well. You proclaim the goodness of God in your home by loving your wife and family more than yourself and loving God more than your wife and family.

I believe that you can’t just show up on Sunday and expect worship to happen. If it’s not already a part of your everyday life throughout the week, then when you show up on Sunday, you’re just singing songs and going through the motions. Anyone can manipulate a feeling, but true worship goes beyond an emotional experience.

Lord, help us to worship You in spirit and in truth in everything we do. May we declare Your worth every time we open our mouths, whether it’s in song or encouragement or exhortation or simply breathing back Your breath. Help us to remember that it all came from You and it all belongs to You and that we have nothing apart from You, but You love us still. Amen.

Strangely Dim

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“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full, in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace” (Helen Howarth Lemmel)

For some reason, this hymn popped into my head out of nowhere today. What particularly stood out to me was the line about how the things of earth growing strangely dim. That’s a great way of putting it.

When I take photos with a camera, I like to focus on the subject and blur out the rest so that whoever’s looking at the photo will know exactly what the focal point of the picture is. Everything else fades into the background and becomes blurry.

That’s a picture of what happens when we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Everything else fades into the background. Everything else loses focus. All those problems that seemed so important and critical seem way less important in comparison.

There’s something about the power of praise that sets everything else into perspective. A mindset of worship has a way of keeping us from spiraling over temporal things that preoccupy our thoughts the majority of the time.

What is keeping you up late at night? What keeps you from sleeping and gives you anxiety throughout your days? Perhaps if we could turn our eyes on Jesus — not just cursory glances or occasional sightings but full intentional gazing on His glory and grace — then maybe those things would grow strangely dim in comparison.

Lord, help us to see You more clearly and to see everything else in comparison with Your matchless glory and grace. Let everything else grow strangely dim so that we can see that You are all that ultimately matters in the end, and all Your promises are still yes and amen. Thank You for loving us. Amen.

Hymn Night 2026

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The main campus of my church hosted a hymn night. It was better than advertised and even better than I thought it would be going in. Of course, they sang all the classic hymns that I loved growing up and a few newer ones (including a couple that I wasn’t familiar with before tonight).

The highlight was when they brought out Bill Gaither to talk about one of the songs his wife had written back in the day. I have to say he’s very spry for a 90-year old. I hope I’m doing half as well as he is when I get to be that age (unless Jesus comes back, then it won’t matter).

Throw in the Gaither Vocal Band and Larry Gatlin for a couple of songs, and calling it a great night would be something of an understatement. But the best part of the night for me was still those old hymns that still speak even though the writers have long since graduated to heaven.

One song that struck me forcibly with the power of the lyrics was called “I Then Shall Live.” It felt like an old hymn, but apparently isn’t since Gloria Gaither co-wrote the lyrics:

“I then shall live as one who’s been forgiven.
I’ll walk with joy to know my debts are paid.
I know my name is clear before my Father; 
I am His child and I am not afraid.
So, greatly pardoned, I’ll forgive my brother;
The law of love I gladly will obey.

I then shall live as one who’s learned compassion.
I’ve been so loved, that I’ll risk loving too.
I know how fear builds walls instead of bridges;
I’ll dare to see another’s point of view.
And when relationships demand commitment,
Then I’ll be there to care and follow through.

Your Kingdom come around and through and in me;
Your power and glory, let them shine through me.
Your Hallowed Name, O may I bear with honor,
And may Your living Kingdom come in me.
The Bread of Life, O may I share with honor,
And may You feed a hungry world through me.

Amen, Amen, Amen” (David Phelps / Dp / Gloria L Gaither)

Getting God Right

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“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like” (A W Tozer).

A lot of people today seem to have reimagined God into their own likeness. The old joke says that God created man in His own image, and man has been trying to repay the compliment ever since. We want a god like us because that’s a kind of god we can manipulate and control. That’s the kind of god who will never push us or challenge us or make us uncomfortable or ever ask anything of us.

If you get Jesus wrong, you get God wrong. If you get God wrong, you basically get everything else wrong. This doesn’t fall under the category of “you do you,” meaning whatever you believe about God is fine. The Bible has given us the one true God and anytime we try to deviate from that, we mess up big time.

Every part of our worldview and our worship springs from how we view God. Is He a benign old grandfather who will tolerate anything and everything? Or is He a moral busybody looking to crack down on the least little offense and throw some lightening bolts at sinners?

Brennan Manning said it best: “I want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of fright about being in right relationship with my heavenly Father nor a sappy spirituality that portrays God as such a benign teddy bear that there is no aberrant behavior or desire of mine that he will not condone. I want a relationship with the Abba of Jesus, who is infinitely compassionate with my brokenness and at the same time an awesome, incomprehensible, and unwieldy Mystery.”

Lord, help us to know You more and more. Forgive us for when we try to make You more like us instead of trying to be more like You. We confess that so often we would rather choose comfort and complacency than stepping out in faith to follow where You lead, no matter how costly the road. Help us to see that knowing You and following You is worth whatever the cost and is infinitely better than anything we might lose. Amen.

Smell Those Roses

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“Taking time to smell the roses leaves enduring impressions of a dear glory that, if sufficiently reengaged, can change the quality of our entire life. The rose in a very special way—and more generally the flower, even in its most humble forms—is a fragile but irrepressible witness on earth to a ‘larger’ world where good is somehow safe” (Dallas Willard).

I do take time occasionally to smell roses and other kinds of flowers, but I think in this case the idea is to slow down and savor your life. Don’t be in such a hurry that you wind up at the end of your life and have no memories of precious time spent with the people you love. After all, the only place you get to in a hurry is the grave.

This culture glorifies busyness. We abhor boredom or down time. We need to fill every single moment of the day with some kind of activity, and we think we can sleep when we’re dead. Unfortunately, you’ll end up dead a lot faster that way. Plus, so much of what we remember isn’t all those things we planned, but what happened when we were waiting or when our plans got intteruppted or changed. So much of when God speaks to us isn’t in the middle of our hectic schedule but in those margins when we’re finally able to be silent and still.

The old saying goes that you will never have time unless you make time for what’s important to you. You can let your life be dictated by the tyranny of the urgent, or you can prioritize what matters most to you and decide to put those things first in your life. Then you’re finally living and not merely existing anymore.

Lord, help us to focus on living well instead of merely living a long time. Give us eyes to see where You’re working around us and give us ears to hear what You’re saying to us. Slow us down so that we don’t miss what You want to do in us and through us. Amen.

Not My Will

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“Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt. Send me where Thou wilt. Work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever. Amen” (Betty Scott Stam).

This is another good prayer to pray. I mean, I have nothing against prayers about God blessing us and giving us the desires of our hearts, but the prayer that God will always honor is one that says, “God, Your will be done.”

I’ve learned over the years that I’m not the best at choosing what’s good for me. Sometimes, I feel what’s best instead of thinking it. Sometimes, I want something because I see that someone else has it. My motives are a mixed bag at best.

But when I leave the choice with God, I can rest assured that God will always choose the best. He will pick what brings Him the most glory, which in turn is what is always for my greatest good.

If God gives me something other than what I asked for, He is still good. If God doesn’t give me what I ask for, He is still good. If God gave me nothing else from this point on, He would still be good. No matter what, through feast or famine, through garden or desert, He is still good.

Lord, have Your way in me. I lay down every one of my desires at Your feet to do with as You will. Whether or not You ever give me any of them or not, You are and will always be good. Amen.