In the book of Revelation, John writes that everyone who “loves and practices falsehood” (or lies) is not in the city of God (22:15). This has been compared to a similar list in Revelation 21:8, which mentions liars (or deceivers),…
Shame Doesn’t Lead to Repentance
It’s an interesting thing to be a leader in a sinful society. Paul the Apostle was growing baby Christians in a culture so sinful it might possibly make the Western world look pure. I won’t go into the details of…
Purity is Full, Not Empty
A few weeks ago, I talked about holiness – how holiness isn’t so much about being empty of sin as much as it is being filled with all good things. You can empty out a space for Christ, but unless…
Your Mouth Determines Your Level of Authority
The pursuit of freedom can take you some interesting places. In God, we’re made free (John 8:36, Galatians 5:1, Acts 13:39, etc.), especially if you walk by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17). But like the Galatians (5:13), Peter’s friends…
Motivation Not Through Guilt or Shame
If you want to help people toe the line, one of the most effective methods is through motivating them via guilt and shame. We see it all the time – “If you don’t do this, you can’t be one of…
Out of Fear, Into Trust
There are different kinds of fear. There’s the kind that is afraid of other people – what they will or will not do. That’s a lack of love. There’s the kind of fear that is afraid that bad things will…
Should We Apologize?
Today, I’d like to tackle a sticky topic that I don’t promise I fully understand. But I’ll try to give you the best revelation of the topic that I have at the moment – maybe they’ll be a follow-up post…
Logic vs. Trust
Fear is the direct result of mistrust. Maybe we don’t trust a person. Maybe we don’t trust ourselves. Maybe we don’t trust that all things really do work together for good. Whatever the reason, the fear comes because we aren’t…
Holiness is Full of Good Things!
Holiness has gotten a bit of a bad rap in the church in recent generations. That’s mostly because it’s been misrepresented. Growing up, whenever someone talked about holiness, they usually meant the “Pentecostal-Holiness” version of the word: In other words,…
Cultivating Incorrigible Hope
“Isabelle would think of me in the present tense [I thought]. She was incorrigible when it came to hope.” It’s a line from the book I’m currently editing (shared with permission). The narrator is “presumed dead,” but she knows her…