Upon our first inhalation of air in a fallen world, we exhaled with a cry. When we breathe our last, crying will surround us. And rivers of tears in between – from the scraped knees and scary nights of childhood to the deeper soul wounds of adolescence and darker nights still as we grow old, facing the loss of loved ones as well as our own vitality and strength. The Puritans called our time on this earth a “vale of tears” ...
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If you are going to read just one out of print book with a terrible cover this year read C. John Sommerville’s devastating little book How the News Makes Us Dumb (IVP 1999). I read the book soon after it came out. It was wonderfully iconoclastic then–and that was before the ascendancy of the internet and social media. The news examples are hopelessly out of date (they were already in 1999), but the media criticism is as relevant as ever.
Words matter. God speaks loud and long regarding the power of our words. One prime example, Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue can bring both death or life (NLT).”While there are many expressions of a toxic tongue, comparing ourselves to others leads to words of death. Comparisons can be a carefully laid trap that will lead you down a road of relational ruin.
I think that most counselors would agree with my assessment that one of the most difficult counseling cases is someone who experiences chronic pain and is abusing their prescription pain medicines. It is such a trap. The legitimate pain makes medical relief a necessity, yet the tendency to over medicate makes it personally destructive. However, whenever the subject is addressed by a loved one or counselor the legitimacy of the pain makes for a quick and undeniable defense. “What, do you want me to live in pain? Is that any life to live? How is that humane?” The concerned person is made to feel heartless.
Passivity is rarely the result of a conscious decision. You don’t wake up one morning and say to yourself, "I’m going to begin to view myself as powerless. I’m going to look on God as small. So from now on, I’ll just close my
The Christian church has, at its best, been known for exemplary love and sacrificial service to “the least of these”—the poor, oppressed, and marginalized. Such service has provided a powerful witness for the gospel. By upholding the dignity of all human life as the image of God, and by tangibly expressing the biblical ethic of personhood that flows from it, the church has the opportunity to be a light to the nations by welcoming the weak and powerless to find grace, mercy, and rest in Jesus Christ.
God made each person unique. It is this uniqueness that makes each human an individual, distinct and different from every other human. Ephesians says that all of us were born following the ways of Satan, so that we naturally followed the cravings of our corrupted flesh. Satan’s deceptive work is to make individual humans believe that true individuality can be achieved only by rejecting God and his ways. So, humans are deceived into thinking that they can be really free only if they reject God and his law. In reality, however, individuality is absorbed into slavish submission to the enemy of God, Satan.
Last month I blogged about safety being the number one priority and first step we need to take as Biblical counselors when working with a couple in a destructive marriage. Words of remorse and tears of apology are never enough when there have been repetitive actions and attitudes of abuse, deceit, dependence and indifference. We want to see a change of heart as well as a change of habit. Putting off old destructive ways and putting on of new godly ways takes time, energy, and specific effort.
About Leadership Grace is not the opposite of strong leadership, but the heart of it. This is important for leadership in all realms, and especially in ministry. Insecure leaders worry about power dynamics and control. They worry about losing. Or as my friend Steve Brown says, “Real pastors worry about people and their walk with Christ. Wolves in sheep’s clothing worry about power and control."
In normal life your celebrations don't usually intersect with your sad times and your sad times aren't typically your times of celebration. When you are sad, you don't really feel like celebrating anything much. The opposite is also true, when you are celebrating, you don't want your good spirits dampened by reasons to be sad. We try our best to keep our sadness and our celebration separate. It just makes life less complicated.