One of the main themes of the Bible is that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. But what does that mean? There’s a place in Job where God shows how important this term is when he says, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is none...
The appeal of legalism—of multiplying more and more rules—is so we don’t have to think. We want a rule to cover every situation. We don’t want to have to actually think out the implications. But you know what? No matter how much you multiply rules,...
Most of the situations you face in life aren’t covered by moral rules: “Do I say something, or do I wait? Do I act, or should I be more passive?” The rules don’t cover those things. And yet, you will sink, and the people around you will sink, unless...
It’s not good enough to be a person of vision, a person of high principle, a person of high moral values. Not if you’re not a person of wisdom. Wisdom is knowing the right thing to do in the 80 percent of life situations to which the moral rules don...
Ancient societies usually had more consensus about morality. Partly because of that, I think they saw something we have a harder time seeing: that moral standards, as important as they are, don’t actually address most of the situations we face. If y...
Jesus addresses our worry about money. We are in the grips of anxiety about money, about what we will eat, about what we will drink, where we will live, whether we can make the rent. We are in deep anxiety. Jesus comes to us and says, “Stop it!” But...
Jesus addresses a crowd with some things he wants them to hear, but he also gives them some things he wants them to overhear. Jesus wants the crowd to overhear him talking to his disciples about their money. And I’ve begun to realize that one of the...
Christmas shows why Christianity is unique. In all other religions, a prophet arrives and teaches how we can find eternal life. In Christianity, God himself comes to us and gives himself as the way to eternal life. Christmas shows that salvation is b...
In public these days, Christmas is seen as meaning that if we work hard, if we hold hands and breathe in unison, if we get together, we can make the world a better place. It’s like the song in the Live Aid concert in 1985, “We Are the World.” That’s...
If the baby in the manger was God—not just a guru, not just a supernatural being, not just the first created thing, not just a hologram, but God himself—it should make a difference in our lives. Christmas is about the incarnation: God becoming human....
No place gives us a loftier and more penetrating view of who Jesus is than Colossians 1, which tells us that Jesus is a king. This passage tells us Jesus is the king of all kings. One paragraph tells us about the kingship of Christ that is. The othe...
It’s one thing to have the gospel presented to you. It’s another thing to have it come to you. According to this passage, it is very easy to miss the gospel. How do you know if the gospel has come to you? This passage tells us four tests so you can...
If you want an idea of who Jesus is, he says he’s more like the bridegroom than anything else. If you want an idea of what it means to be a Christian, he says it’s more like going to a wedding feast than anything else. When Jesus says he’s the brideg...
Jesus tells us that to become a Christian, there has to be a smashing. Christianity is new wine: it ferments, it swells, it’s organically and chemically active, and it will smash the old, inflexible wineskins. Jesus teaches that there’s an old way t...
Here’s my thesis: The reason most people who profess belief in Christianity still don’t live big lives is because they don’t actually understand Christianity. Most people think Christianity is basically like other religions. But Jesus says his messag...
