Sin & Repentance
-
Not able to remember what it feels like to have a dream and a goal and a purpose …
In order to prep for my “Persevering with Grace When Our Leaders Let us Down” workshop (that I’ll be giving at a women’s leadership conference in a few days), I am deep into pruning 80+ pages of notes down to 20. (Eek!! Eek for the fact that these conferences are HERE this week and EEK that I still have so much work to do!!) In the middle of my outlines, I found notes from a conversation I had years ago with a woman in my church. She was helping me because I was in a real spiritual funk (depression?) and one of her points was that I was not submitting…
-
Vandalizing Shalom
From one of my favorite books … C. Plantinga’s, Not The Way It’s Supposed to Be–A Breviary of Sin: “None of our lives is an accident. We have been called into existence, expected, awaited, equipped, and assigned. We have been called to undertake the stewardship of a good creation, to create sturdy and buoyant families that pulse with the glad give-and-take of the generations. By the sins of attack, we vandalize shalom. By the sins of flight we abandon it. We ‘hate the light and do not come to the light’ (John 3:20). [BUT!] Don’t forget the resolve of God. God wants shalom and will pay any price to get it…
-
Stupid Ol’ Apology
Earlier today, the girls and I had to run to our doctor’s office for a quick well-child check. The entire outing took less than an hour and everything went perfectly on time. But, in one of those “tell your children about your BIG GIANT FAILURE” kind of teaching moments … (Because wow! They sure do love to hear about when we’ve blown it, don’t they?!) … I told them about a visit to this doctor’s office that did not go nearly as well … Years ago, I rushed and rushed to get through our morning, pack up the (much younger) kids, get them to my friend’s house, and make it to my appointment…
-
Ministers are Suspicious, Insecure and Jealous People
Or so says, Rev. Dr. Ligon Duncan in a sermon that I encourage every one of you to listen to: Who is the Greatest? (Taken from Luke 9:46-56 ESV …) An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we…
- Eulogy for a Bad Mother, How to Love a Mentally Ill Addict, Perfectionism & Shame, Sin & Repentance, Surviving a Childhood of Neglect and Abuse
Sane Faith in the Insanity of Life (David Powlison)
I’m rereading some of my old CCEF Journal of Biblical Counseling articles (on good old fashioned paper) and I’m also beginning to get acquainted with their online library. This classic series from David Powlison is on the CCEF website and I encourage you to slowly read and process it, especially if, like me, you are convicted that some areas of your life are in need of serious change: Sane Faith in the Insanity of Life In it, he discusses five people struggling with various challenges in life: “Each of these five stories describes a person who needs help in order to face up, to deal, to change. But these people…
-
Sin Scatters Thoughts of Consolation
“Sin takes away all sense of the privilege of our adoption; and if the soul begins to
-
“One reason people cling to the hurts they have received is that it gives them an excuse for being angry …”
My friend and one of my heroes of the faith, Ajith Fernando, graciously gave me permission to share this with you. It includes some of his key teachings from Reclaiming Love: Radical Relationships in a Complex World (which I just ordered and am looking very forward to reading). Ajith has a particular burden for this topic because of the deep hurt that angry Christian leaders can cause. RESIDUAL ANGER Ajith Fernando A few days ago I realised that Paul used the words “rejoice,” “rejoiced,” “joy,” and “glad” a total of sixteen times in the Epistle to the Philippians. The great Bible scholar A. T. Robertson aptly named his classic exposition on Philippians, Paul’s…
-
When My Dad Loved Me At My Worst
When My Dad Loved Me At My Worst Great story here from Justin Holcomb: Many of us think (whether we admit it or not) there must be some breaking point where our Father God gives up on us. Even if we successfully avoid believing this fallacy, others’ overzealous cries still reach our ears: certainly there must be some sin or amount of sin that is just too much. The flood My understanding of unconditional love and its implications deepened when I was 10 years old. Our neighbors had moved and they were trying to sell their house. One day I broke in through the back door and closed…
-
Love and Lust
This is definitely one of the best sermons I have ever heard on love and lust—but it’s application goes far beyond merely sexual relationships. List and enjoy!
-
How to Put Sin to Death
(Grateful for The Resurgence and especially Bob Thune for this outline …) “Precious little is written or taught these days on how to put sin to death. But thankfully, our forebears spent some ink on this issue—the most notable work being John Owen’s marvelous treatise On the Mortification of Sin … This outline was organized for preaching, so it is not exactly correlative to Owen’s layout. However, it does preserve the general logical flow of the original. For those who prefer a more thorough and analytical outline, including some of the more memorable quotes from Owen’s pen, you can download my 12-page reading summary in PDF format.” Bob Thune WHY MUST WE MORTIFY…