Endurance

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The most dangerous word in the Bible

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The most dangerous word in the Bible

Leaving a church can be like committing spiritual divorce.

Have I got your attention?

I evidently got the attention of the group I was teaching last week, to the point I had to make a lengthy clarification of my comments the next time the group was together.

The (very fair) question came back at me: “Then is it ever right to leave a church?” Obviously the answer is yes. Once-thriving churches can start to die. They can begin to teach wrong doctrine. Leadership can go off the rails. Sometimes job relocation or other circumstance means we have to change church. And sometimes it is just not a spiritual fit. But all these things do not change the fact that people leave churches far too often for the wrong reasons, leaving a trail of hurt and brokenness behind and taking the same baggage with them, which sadly results in them often leaving the next church as well.

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Times of testing

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Times of testing

I hate the thought of being tested.

I spent a morning this week going through a battery of medical tests, and have more to come. My new doctor loves the idea of preventative medicine, which seems to involve his patients utilizing all available diagnostic services, in the good cause of forestalling worse to come in the future. It has nothing to do with my age, of course.

James 1:2-4 tells us pretty clearly that testing is not only from my doctor, but from God. In fact, he says, testing leads on to maturity and the state of lacking nothing.

And there you go. I thought the prosperity gospel had it all figured out that endless financial blessing is what leads to me lacking nothing. Evidently not.

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"The gates are open!"

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"The gates are open!"

Retracing some steps this week unlocked a remarkable memory.

Elaine and I were visiting our friends James and Libby, who pastor a church in northern Indiana I have preached in from time to time.

James’ dad was a fine Christian gentleman who used to take me out for breakfast when I visited. His first name was Moses, but his brothers had teased him over it so he went by his middle name, which I always thought was Jay. In reality it was simply J. He had been born Amish and that’s how his birth certificate (if he had one) came out.

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The end is nigh - or is it?

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The end is nigh - or is it?

It’s happened yet again.

I had just finished teaching a course last month on the book of Revelation. When I teach on eschatology (events of the end times), I always make a point of mentioning how many times the return of Christ has been mistakenly predicted or “prophesied” by people.

Even if the predicted event does not occur, which it never does, two things can be predicted with absolutely certainty. First, no one will ever apologize for getting it wrong. Second, the name of the Lord will once again be brought into disrepute.

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The runner

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The runner

There are a lot of things that intrigue me about running.

For one thing, why do so many people enjoy doing it? It lacks all the fun and fellowship of team sports and can be a lonely pursuit.

Though running is often done alone, it can be quite competitive. If you don’t believe me, just get around some runners talking about their personal bests or posting their latest times and running routes on social media.

I took up running as a young man partly because I was pretty uncoordinated and not great at other sports. It was something I could do to get into shape. At one point, I ran quite a lot and was reasonably good for my age. Less so lately, though I haven’t given up!

But what really interests me is that the Bible says some significant things about running.