Once there was a crusty old music teacher who taught the 3rd and 4th semesters of music theory at a famous music college. As he was explaining the details of an obscure point of classical harmony, one of the students, a theory major, sent a text message to one of his friends: “How will I […]
Before we move on, I wanted to pause to give you a roadmap of the general territory you are about to traverse. There is a certain shape of theology which has arisen as I have gone down this road, and I want to give a simple overview of what is assumed in general here. 1. […]
Grace, forgiveness and mercy are the real central message of God, the core gift and offering of Jesus Christ to the world. They are the key difference between Christianity and every other system of belief. The gospel is truly good and happy news. It is not necessary or even possible to be forgiven once in […]
To the uninitiated, Christianity’s obsession with sin can seem off-putting. We don’t like to constantly face what is wrong with ourselves, and no one wants to talk about it. We hear about God and love and yet it immediately descends into talk of morals and guilt and forgiveness. The idea of grace is all wrapped […]
Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch Christian holocaust survivor, imprisoned for sheltering Jews. She and her sister Betsie were imprisoned at a death camp called Ravensbruck. Corrie Ten Boom survived the ordeal; Betsie did not. She tells the story that after one of her talks, a former Ravensbruck guard came up and introduced himself: “”You […]
I remember distinctly the time that the central message of this book was born in me. I was running a failing business and was in the middle of laying off my treasured employees. I owed great sums of money that I had no real hope of obtaining. We were going through marriage difficulties. I was […]
A fellow named Roger Ball posted a comment on Tullian Tchividjian’s blog in response to one of Tullian’s wonderful posts on grace: This is a gross oversimplification. Let’s take a holocaust victim for example. Let’s say that he has serious emotional problems, nightmares etc. Let’s say he also drinks very heavily and struggles everyday […]
photo © 1890 The Library of Congress | more info (via: Wylio) I know I’m supposed to be doing a study through the book of Job, but I keep having these other ideas so I’m going to go with them. I wrote last time about the church as a gift culture. I’m going to […]
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NASB. Life in the universe of grace is closely intertwined with gratitude. It is a gift culture, not a labor culture. If you live in a labor culture, there is not really much […]
We’re going through the book of Luke in my men’s Bible study, and we happened to have arrived at the story of the prodigal son Saturday. Naturally, I noticed new things, as always when you encounter a familiar scripture and pray for fresh insights. This stood out to me on this reading: “Then He […]