GraceWaves Articles

“Do not grumble, brethren, against one another, that you may not be judged; behold the Judge is standing at the doors.” James 5:9 Words. What’s the big deal? The deal is very big. According to a recent Pew Center report, the American teenager (13-17) sends an average of 3,339 text messages per month. Let that sink in for a moment . . . . yes, that’s more than 100 per day. And that’s just the average. Some teens have told me they hit 10,000!! Of course they said that while texting. Is there a carpel tunnel equivalent for thumbs? Moving

“Share one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 Some friends you don’t hear from very often, but it doesn’t make them any less your friend. John is one of those friends to me. We were in seminary together, I was a few years ahead of him. Both of us received our doctorates in Greek. His wife was the secretary to one of the professors for whom I worked as a teaching assistant. After graduation, I became a pastor. He went into teaching. Occasionally he would fill in for me at churches, and occasionally I would

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27 Today you have a choice, a remarkable, life changing eternity shaping choice to make. What voice will you listen to? What will guide you? What or who will have your highest devotion and deepest belief? I love the play Our Town by Thornton Wilder. It illustrates the differences in the ways people live, the choices they make. The main point of the play is that most people do not live before they die. In fact, most people do not even realize that they were not

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3 If we had only the first Beatitude I believe we could construct the entirety of the Christian faith. I’ll give it a try. First, we find that God wants to bless us. This Greek word, and its Hebrew parallel, mean something akin to happiness, but much more. God is not interested in cursing or smiting us, but blessing us. He longs to do that. At the very least that means that He is positively predisposed to us. He doesn’t look at us in disgust, but

“I press on to make it my own…straining forward to what lies ahead.” Philippians 3:12-13 Last week I noted the most important truth that enables us to press forward in life is the certain knowledge that God is on our side. We are not left to our own devices. We begin with God and His power in our lives. Abandoning ourselves to Him opens up the possibility of eternal consistency in a fluctuating life. But the other side of the coin is just as important. We must respond to God’s grace. We must ask, seek, and knock. James wrote, “faith

“Because Jesus Christ has made me His own.” Philippians 3:12 Letting go and pressing ahead is our theme for the start of this new year, and the last two weeks of GraceWaves have focused on letting go. Now let’s turn our attention to the equally important skill of pressing ahead. 2015 will be like every other year you have lived, 365 days of mostly good days and a few really bad ones. I’d be willing to wager that the vast majority of us will have 360 fair to good days and only 5 bad days. Really. I mean five days

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’” Luke 18:13 Last week I began writing about the fine art of letting go, and I want to delve into this important topic more deeply again this week. The parable of the two men who went to the temple to pray casts light on the most necessary but neglected part of letting go. Namely, we ignore the fact that nearly all of our problems are spiritual in nature, and we must rely on

“One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” Philippians 3:13 At the end of a year various magazines publish their “best of” and “worst of” articles. The best movie, book, song, etc. I enjoy these editions because they are a good way to remember and reflect. The same things occur on a personal level. The close of a year is always a time of reflection, for leafing through the pages of another chapter of life. We sing auld lang syne and pledge to hold fast to the good and cherish the family and

"'And you shall call His name Emmanuel,' which means, 'God with us.'" Matthew 1:23 When our children were young and at home (Oh, the bliss of the empty nest!!!) Leslie and I maintained a “policy for scared kids in the middle of the night” that worked for all those years. If one of the children has a nightmare they can come in our room and go to sleep in a sleeping bag we keep on the floor next to our bed. Historically, Lauren was on my side, Gregory on Leslie’s. I commend this policy to all couples with young children

“While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light.” John 12:36 Light is a cardinal theme in the Gospel of John. He introduces the word early and returns to it often. The Light is Jesus Himself, who was with God and was God from the very beginning, created the world, and then came into it (1:5). The words of Jesus, “I am the Light of the world” (9:5) are found only in John. We find more “light” in John’s gospel than any other. Advent is a time to celebrate The Light. We remember

“Do not fear to take Mary as your wife.” Matthew 1:20 Has everything in your life turned out the way you expected? If you’re honest the answer is a resounding NO! It’s curious to me, however, that in spite of the ridiculous notion that everything should turn out as we expect, most of the time we’re still surprised, hurt, or angry when it doesn’t. The theme of this Second Sunday of Advent is peace, and in many traditions we light The Bethlehem Candle. Peace. Bethlehem. An odd combination. At the birth of Jesus that little town of Bethlehem was hardly

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” Isaiah 9:2 Remember the countdown chain? When I was a boy, it was a tradition to make a paper chain about this time of year and each day tear off a link. Time crawled slowly as we approached Christmas. That phenomenon is in Einstein’s theory of general relativity somewhere. As a child, the days seemed endless. The countdown chain proved time was moving. The end was nearing. The wait would be over. But what do

“Then Jesus said, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except for this foreigner?’” Luke 17:17-18 A former editor of mine, who still remains a dear friend (not always the case I might add, for editors can be notoriously obtuse, aggravating, and unreasonable), suggested I re-run this GraceWave. Seeing as I am on the road today, I will take his suggestion, as I ALWAYS faithfully and gratefully did. Let me add this warning. This Wave is satirical. Whenever I write satiracally I risk being taken literally, and some

“Your Father who sees things in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:4, 6:6, 6:18 When you think of the word “consequences” chances are you think of something negative, as in “you will suffer the consequences” of a bad action. This, of course, is indisputably true. Paul wrote, “Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). You can tell how far back in my memory this verse goes for I quote it in King James. The verse is not comforting. It’s used by youth ministers to keep kids in line on

“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 I was in my office, at a former church about 20 years ago, when Lauren, my five year old daughter, came running in tearfully confessing to some disagreement with one of our youth. She was nearly hysterical, explaining that Sarah, a 16 year old girl, had a bloody nose and that she, Lauren, was somehow responsible. My daughter was a typical little girl. She loved playing with little ponies, flowers, blocks. She