Years ago my wife and I were talking with a man who went on a bit of a mini-rant. Somehow the conversation turned to the desire of many to be beautiful or fit or buff or thin or whatever standard of beauty they may have. He said he can’t stand when people would say, “I’d…

In my freshman year of college, just a few months after turning 18, I had a class about spiritual growth and maturation in Christians and I had to write a paper about the theology of sanctification. How is it that a follower of Jesus becomes more like Jesus? I had been a believer for only…

We’ve heard of persecution. When the general public disagrees with or even derides our views on various issues we may even think we experience persecution. Imagine, however, that God sends a prophet to you to tell you everything will be stripped away from you. The prophet tells you—on God’s authority!—that your people will be taken…

Recently I was asked whether a person can miss his or her “calling” from the Lord. The idea is that God has one specific will for your life—a calling—and if you miss it, you’ve messed up everything. If you follow Jesus, the simple answer is, “No.” Let’s dig a little deeper, however. The idea of…

Last Sunday we had our fifth and final excursus in our sermon series through 1–2 Timothy. We had a more focused study on just one verse. Paul wrote he endured everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ (2 Timothy 2:10). Paul often used the…