There are many people who will always want to return to the time when America was great. But was there ever a time when America was a wonderful place for everyone? As I saw on a Facebook meme recently...
God of justice and mercy, we come before you tonight in humility. We consider the first Thanksgiving meal, a time of celebration and unity, yet our country is filled with division. All too often, we d...
Galatians 5:14, Matthew 12:1-8, John 4:1-26, James 1:27, 1 John 4:20-21, Matthew 23:23, Mark 12:30-31
The only clear line I draw these days is this: when my religion tries to come between me and my neighbor, I will choose my neighbor…Jesus never commanded me to love my religion.
Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 11:2, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5-6, Philippians 2:3-4, Luke 18:9-14, Matthew 23:1-12
In his thoughtful book, Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes , Jonathan K. Dodson points out our blind-spots with respect to pride: We rarely think of ourselves as proud. I...
Isaiah 57:15, Mark 10:43-45, James 4:6, Ephesians 4:2, Micah 6:8, Matthew 23:12
In the Greco-Roman world of Paul’s day, humility was a despised trait. They viewed it as a sign of weakness. And our culture today is no different from that world of two thousand years ago. Maybe it’s...
For some reason I have always had a tendency to be a hero worshiper…Unfortunately I carried this tendency into my life in the church. Even those I learned to love and admire let me down. From an early...
Philippians 2:null, John 13:14-15, Galatians 6:2, 1 Peter 5:6, James 4:10, Matthew 23:12
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others. In your ...
Matthew 23:12, Proverbs 11:2, Psalm 25:9, Isaiah 40:8, Proverbs 12:15, Ecclesiastes 7:9, James 4:6
A radio conversation between a US naval vessel and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland. Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision. Canadians: R...
Exodus 5:1-21, 1 Samuel 8:4-22, Isaiah 1:10-17 , Matthew 23:23-28 , Galatians 3:26-29, Psalm 146:3-9
One of the gravest dangers to the Christian faith is its wholesale appropriation of the larger culture. When this happens, the citizens of those places cannot recognize the difference between their cu...
Romans 12:3, Colossians 3:12, James 4:10, 1 Peter 5:5-6, Philippians 2:3-4, Proverbs 22:4, Matthew 23:12
Of all the values at our disposal, humility seems to be the least attractive. You don’t see many television ads or billboards extolling the virtues of humility, do you?
Romans 12:17-21, Matthew 23:23, Amos 5:24, Zechariah 7:9-10, James 1:19-20
As any parent of small children will tell you, children have an amazingly acute sense of justice. Even the most fractional disparity in the distribution of the most trivial family good will be met wit...
Matthew 23:11-13, Luke 14:7-11, Colossians 3:23-24, Ephesians 4:2, Proverbs 3:34, Philippians 2:13, Romans 12:1
Loving Father, You receive all who come humbly before You. Yet we approach You far too often with much satisfaction and inappropriate pride. We think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. W...
Isaiah 49:15, Matthew 23:37-39, Hosea 11:3-4, Isaiah 66:13, Deuteronomy 32:18
God of all peace, We thank You for mothers For their nurture, For their unnoticed sacrifices, And for their care that showed us What Your love looks like before we knew Your name. We praise You for ...
Matthew 6:1-6, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Matthew 23:4, 5, 13-36, Mark 12:42, Luke 21:2, Isaiah 58:6, Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Ancient Lens What can we learn from the historical context? "Hear O Israel..." The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) commands the Israelites to love the Lord their God with heart, soul, and m...
Matthew 7:21-23, James 1:22-24, Mark 7:20-23, Matthew 26:14-16, Proverbs 25:28, Psalm 127:1, Matthew 23:27-28
Whenever there is a separation between values and practice, things break down. In ancient China, the people desired security from the barbaric, invading hordes to the north. To get this protection, th...
Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 55:8-9, James 4:6, Jeremiah 9:23-24, Romans 12:3, Matthew 23:1-12, Psalm 25:9, 1 Peter 5:5-6, Hebrews 4:16
All: Knowing God, we often believe our way is the best way. In our arrogance, we ignore your will and your ways. We confess our dependence on knowledge and our independence from you. Thank you that yo...
Matthew 23:12, Philippians 2:3-4, Isaiah 2:11, 1 Peter 5:6, Luke 18:14
If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done befor...
Matthew 5:20, Matthew 15:1-16, Matthew 23:23, John 4:23-24, Matthew 11:28-30, John 14:6
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, reporter Brian Hiatt asked Marcus Mumford whether he still considers himself a Christian. Mumford, a pastors son and a famous millennial (he is lead singer...
If we acknowledge the God of the Bible, we are committed to struggle for justice in society. Justice means giving to each his due. Our problem, as seen in the light of the gospel, is that each of us o...
John 13:14-15, Philippians 2:5-7, Matthew 23:11, James 4:10, Mark 10:45, 1 Peter 5:5-6
In 1878, when William Booth’s Salvation Army was beginning to make its mark, men and women from all over the world began to enlist. One man, who had once dreamed of becoming a bishop, crossed the Atla...
2 Samuel 7:18-19, Isaiah 66:2 , Matthew 23:11-12, Philippians 2:3-4 , Luke 18:9-14, Psalm 51:17
The priest Henri Nouwen learned humility on a mission trip to South America. He went expecting to pass on his wisdom to the poor and unenlightened. During his six-month stay, Nouwen concluded that a d...
Philippians 2:3, Romans 12:10, Colossians 3:12, Galatians 5:13, 1 Peter 4:10, Matthew 23:11-12
What he [Jesus] was attempting to instill in his disciples was the attitude of a servant: humility and a willingness to put others ahead of oneself. In that culture, washing the feet of others would s...
I saw the blessed Trinity working. I saw that there were three attributes: fatherhood, motherhood, and lordship—all in one God. In the almighty Father we have been sustained and blessed with regard to...
Colossians 3:12, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 57:15, Matthew 23:12, 1 Peter 5:5-6, James 4:10, Philippians 2:3
Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am bla...
Luke 1:46-55, Philippians 2:3-8, James 4:6-10, Proverbs 16:18-19, Matthew 23:11-12
Blessed Lord, who puts down the mighty from their seat and exalts those who have been humbled: Save us, we implore you, from pride and arrogance, from self-seeking and false ambition. Give us a humble...
Matthew 23:11, Mark 9:35, Luke 17:33, 2 Corinthians 6:10, James 1:2
Paradox...comes from two ancient Greek words, para meaning “beyond” and doxa meaning “opinion.” Literally, it means “beyond opinion,” but it originally conveyed the sense of “being beyond the pale of ...
Christianity can be such a pretty faith. God calls us to wonderful things, to noble deeds, and to be a people of love. We are meant to be kind, joyful, brave, and good. These are attractive qualities ...