GraceWaves Articles

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:44 Do you have an enemy? It’s always been interesting to me that most Christians would claim to have no enemies. Disputes among Christians are often in church and revolve around eternally important matters like the color of the new carpet or the volume of the organ (or drums). They respond to one another with snide comments, gossip, hard feelings, and holding grudges. This kind of mischief is highly infectious (all evil is), yet the  involved parties would  still claim they do not have

“Can that kind of faith save him?” James 2:14 The green bean casserole is a standard of Baptist practice. Ranking in importance just under the wafer and juice, the green bean casserole shows up at dinner on the grounds, the homes of grieving families, Sunday School fellowships, and just about every other place where at least two or three Baptists gather together. So common is the dish that some people mock it. Heresy! I can make the argument that the green bean casserole is a pure form of good religion and the kind of action that all of you reading

“The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his thigh.” (Gen. 32:31) In this corner, Jacob, a man who had schemed his way through life beginning in the womb. Remember his little hand grasping his twin’s heel, trying to win the race down the birth canal? Here is Jacob, remembered for cooking a stew for which his impulsive brother traded a vast estate. Here is Jacob, who deceived his old and blind father into giving him the blessing that should have gone to his elder. Here is Jacob, whose name at its best can mean “one

“I called to the Lord, out of my distress, and He answered me.” Jonah 2:2 Jonah’s story is one of the most familiar and favorites in the Bible. Children love to hear the story of a giant fish swallowing a man. Adults often spend useless energy arguing over how a man could live inside a fish, and miss the real point of the story that even God’s people (Jonah) can misunderstand and puzzle over His amazing grace (He even loves the Ninevites?!?!?). Grace is eternally puzzling, and for that reason, so hard to accept, trust, and live by. Another overlooked

“And He said to him, ‘Rise and go. Your faith has made you whole.’” Luke 17:19 There’s a great difference in biblical terms between being healed and being made whole. The statement above is Jesus’ final words to the one leper who returned to thank Him for being healed. You recall ten were healed, but only this “foreigner” (v. 18) came back to express his gratitude. Jesus then drew the distinction. He noted in verse 17 that ten had been healed (from which we get the English word catharsis). Only this man was “made whole.” The word can be translated

“Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for He has said, ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:3 Do you remember your first job? Do you recall what you were paid? I do. My first job was at Rosemont Grocery, a little, full-service grocery store, originally on the outskirts of town but long since having been swallowed up by an ever-growing Lexington. It was across the street from where we lived, and I had been going there on errands for a loaf of bread or a gallon of

“When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” John 5:6 Are you familiar with the word bilious? The first time I heard it, I wasn’t sure. Something to do with bile, I supposed. Later I learned from the dictionary that it means “relating to or containing bile,” and “a sickly yellowish color” At least I had the bile part right. The woman who used the word was an elderly lady in a former church who was describing for me the inadequacies of a

“Make love your aim” 1 Corinthians 14:1 Love is so multifaceted, so broad in its scope that in its purest expression it transforms everything in your life. The Bible teaches us to love God, to love our neighbor, and even ourselves (love your neighbor as yourself). Certainly we must make our chief goal in life to become more loving. But everybody loves something, and we make a mistake if we do not understand the different degrees and directions of love. Anyone can “make love their aim” but they risk becoming narcissistic or maudlin. Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th century monk,

“God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son.” (Rom. 8:29 The Message) Several years ago I learned something about the male brain that helps explain the mysteries of adolescent and young adult male behavior. A professor from Duke said the male brain takes longer to “wire up,” a process that extends into a man’s mid-20’s, several years longer than the female brain. I am not making this up! Young men typically are later in

“But about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 Paul and Silas were having a very rough time. In spite of trying to serve God faithfully in Philippi, they were stripped, beaten with rods by Roman soldiers, and imprisoned with their feet in stocks. They had done nothing wrong! In fact, they had done everything right. Let this lesson again be clear: life can be exceedingly hard and is incapable of caring about how good you are. We find more important lessons here. First, notice that Paul

“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” 2 Timothy 2:1 Philip Yancey often refers to his having been raised in a strict religious environment. In and of itself that is neutral. The problem was that grace was not a feature of his church or his early Christian thinking. He understands today why some troubled people say “Why would I want to go to church? They only make me feel worse.” I want to point out here, that there are some legitimate reasons people need to feel some guilt and pain, but the contrast between the way many

“Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11 The Lord’s Prayer, or more properly The Model Prayer, should be a part of your morning devotion. This prayer is Jesus’ gift to us, His answer to our request “teach us to pray.” Therefore, part of what we should pray every day is “give us this day our daily bread.” The key to understanding this initial request in The Model Prayer is the word “daily” a surprisingly obscure word in the NT (found only here and in the parallel in Luke). Outside of the NT we find only one example, in

“Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe.” John 20:29 Have you ever taken a leap of faith? The “leap of faith” is a commonly used phrase to describe the final act of a person to believe that a particular direction is in keeping with God’s will. It apparently dates back to Kierkegaard, who actually wrote “leap to faith.” The phrase was his description of the final act of will to embrace the paradoxes of the Christian faith. In other words, you take a leap of faith when the commitment seems unlikely, un-provable, or counter-intuitive. We come to the

“Let everyone see your grace-filled kindness.” Philippians 4:5 In any Olympic event where judging is necessary, one criteria is the “degree of difficulty.” In the past Winter Olympics, for example, the snowboard half-pipe routines have a degree of difficulty. The more difficult routines have a higher degree of difficulty. By the way, as an occasional snowboarder, I have done some of those flips and spins, though never intentionally. I realized later that people often come with a degree of difficulty. Some are quite high, others less so. A part of dealing with difficult people is coming to the point where

“And He told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Luke 18:1 One of the most misunderstood and misapplied teachings of Jesus is the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8).  Luke is very clear about the reason Jesus told this parable: He wanted us to pray always and not lose heart. What follows is the story of a powerless widow who had been defrauded in some way. She approached the uncaring judge and was rebuffed. But she kept coming until finally the unrighteous official relented and pronounced a judgment in