Category Archives: Spiritual Nuggets

Success Deceives When leaders come to power, there are always people who become insistent on stopping them. It’s incredible how easy it is for people to justify envy or hatred for authority figures. Most of us have made the offhand … Continue reading →

Beyond Regret I’ve excelled at regret. When I’ve dwelt on the wrongs I committed against other people and my offensive rebellion against God, I lost my focus. It’s difficult to be confident in our righteousness through Christ when we go … Continue reading →

Making Good Out of Bad God is renowned for working through unlikely means with the most unlikely people. During the period of the judges, there were few candidates less likely for God’s work than Jephthah himself: “Jephthah the Gileadite was … Continue reading →

Community Driven By default, we flag our own needs as high priority. And we often measure our church community by how well it’s serving our needs. Caught up in our own spiritual growth, we tend to forget that we’re meant … Continue reading →

Believing in the Impossible Too often, we’re cynical about circumstances. When people come to us for advice, we want to list all the reasons why they shouldn’t take a certain course of action. We want to dissuade them. But what … Continue reading →

More Than I Can Handle “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle.” This Christian maxim is a well-meaning attempt at putting our difficult times into perspective. It holds the view that God knows our weaknesses and knows when … Continue reading →

If Life Were a Musical Maybe life should be more like a musical or an oratorio—like Les Misérables or Handel’s Messiah. How we feel is often expressed better in song or poetry than anything else. Literary criticism tells us that … Continue reading →

Don’t Focus on Overcoming When I go through difficult circumstances, I want the end. I’m so focused on escape and overcoming that I barely think about what God might be teaching me through that experience. And I’m certainly not thinking … Continue reading →

Who Will Fight For Us? “Who will go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?” (Judges 1:1). I’ve felt this way before—wondering who will be my advocate in my time of need. It’s ironic that we … Continue reading →

They’re Futile; This Isn’t If you knew it was time to die, to say goodbye for good, what would you say? How would your final hoorah sound? In an episode of Northern Exposure, Dr. Joel Fleischman is convinced that he … Continue reading →

Examine Thy Self Before advising others on how they should act, self-examination is always necessary. When the Corinthians questioned the authenticity of Paul and his colleagues’ ministry (which is ironic, since he had planted their church), Paul says to them: … Continue reading →

The Subtle Sinner Some sins slip through the cracks—the ones that emerge in hushed tones between like-minded Christians. Sometimes these sins seem respectable because they occur out of supposed concerns for the Church or others. But they can leave deep … Continue reading →

Walking in Circles I often wish things were more obvious. I ask God to help me understanding His timing so that I can easily act. I ask for everything to happen at the right moments. I ask Him to give … Continue reading →

Bitter and Betrayed The betrayal of a loved one can shake our world. It can make us feel vulnerable and used, and if we’re not careful, it can cause us to be bitter and suspicious toward others. The psalmist in … Continue reading →

Bound for the Promised Land Faith is not just about being faithful; it’s also about trusting in God’s faithfulness. For years God dealt with the confused and waning nature of His people while they were in the wilderness. They wondered, … Continue reading →

Tongues, Flames, and Other Things That Devour I’d like to skip over the description of the “mighty man” in Psalm chapter 52. Of all of his destructive influences, the mighty man is most judged for his use of words. The … Continue reading →

The Art of Confession Confession is a lost art. Most Christian communities today have little outlet for doing so, and the systems for confessing that we do have are often tainted by a lack of honesty and trust. This isn’t … Continue reading →

Judging Gifts Comparing our gifts to those of the person sitting in the next cubicle or pew is dangerous work. Judging ourselves by this standard denigrates or inflates the gifts we’ve been given, leading to either ungratefulness or pride. Because … Continue reading →

The Misnomer About God’s Will We often hear a great misnomer about following God’s will. It usually sounds something like this: “God has commanded me to do x, so I’m going to go into x blindly without fear.” A phrase … Continue reading →

Be Generous to Consume? Our culture encourages us to absorb the latest and greatest, and then cast off our gently used devices. We are targeted to accumulate and consume. The new feature we learned about yesterday is now the one … Continue reading →