A reflection on the Christian life as a long obedience in a consistent direction. This is not a process where Jesus gets us in, and then we set to work to keep ourselves in. This is a constant remembering of the fact we’re only in because of what Jesus has done. The more our lives …
Peter Adam points out that being in pastoral ministry is not being in an environment that automatically promotes growth in Godliness and firewalls the pastor from sin. The opposite is true. Pastoral ministry provides a rich environment of stumbling blocks through which temptation yield the fruit of besetting sin. Pastors can learn and those who …
The expectations of an impatient culture run counter to the reality that growth is a long term process. But the conviction of that long-term expectation does not manifest itself in frustration, or in complacency and inactivity. Rather the expectation that we are growing like Jesus produces the immediate regular actions that produce that fruit. From …
Abigail Dodds writes an article that directly addresses women, but speaks to the experience of every Christian. She contends that increasing age should represent a growth in more that the number of candles on our birthday cakes. Now, instead of growing old, we are growing new. The mature Christian woman is the one who has …
Joni Eareckson Tada is well known as a Christian how ministers from a life experience as a paraplegic. In an article taken from her book Heaven she recounts a situation where, after another painful physical therapy situation, she hears a question, and responds: “I bet you can’t wait for heaven. You know, like Paul said, …
Randy Alcorn is supporting his wife, Nanci, through her season of cancer. God is supporting them both. He writes about the experience of God using the very situations that nobody wants as the circumstances in which faith and Christlikeness grows: If asked, “Do you want to be closer to Jesus, and more like him?” we …
This is the battle every Christian fights, and it’s the hardest battle in ministry: the battle against yourself. From Jeff Robinson: The ministry is a lot like golf. You really are your own worst enemy. You have to battle you all the time. It comes down to realizing that you are weak. As Paul says …
