Learning how to really listen is the hardest and most constantly challenging part of being a disciple of Jesus and a pastor. The temptation is to jump in with answers, as if that will bring God’s power to the situation. We’re not the first response team. God is always here before us. What is he …
C Michael Patton suffers pain caused by a chronic degenerative back condition and observes a contrast in the pain which he experiences now and the pain he used to experience in his body after a good workout. One pain was good, the other seems like a sign of defeat. And that sense of defeat, of …
Mark Buchanan offers some pointers about how to love – and even like – difficult people. A pastor friend of mine quipped the other day: “There are some people I couldn’t warm up to even if I was cremated with them.” I laughed, and then didn’t. I know exactly what he means. … Jesus commanded …
Justin Taylor quotes a classic from Don Carson (who is providing his own take on a poem by Wilbur Rees). I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please. Not too much—just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don’t want so much gospel that …
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