The Weightiness of Worship
We need churches that take God seriously and that refuse to resort to gimmicks to keep people interested.
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We need churches that take God seriously and that refuse to resort to gimmicks to keep people interested.
Ding ding, ding ding, ding ding went the machines in the hospital tracking my baby’s oxygen saturation. They had been stable and in a healthy range all afternoon. I was starting to feel hope that we could go home the next morning. But then night came. His oxygen levels kept dipping too low and struggling to come back up. I paced back and forth anxiously watching the numbers, the exhaustion from several days in the hospital weighing on me. The nurse came in and increased his oxygen support. I felt gutted. Not only would we not be going home the...
Develop habits without becoming habituated to the beauty and glory of the gospel.
Imagine this: you are kidnapped by raiders from your life of plenty and safety, then taken to a country across the sea and doomed to life-enforced servitude. Then, you have a dream that you must escape. You miraculously make it back home, but remain restless—”Why was I so fortunate to get away?” You might wonder if you were made for a greater purpose. “How shall I live my life in light of such rescue?” Acknowledging the grace of almighty God who brought him through trial to this place, he commits to serving him and to go across another sea to...
I love Matthew the gospel writer for two reasons. First, Matthew wanted everyone who read his gospel to know he was a tax collector when Jesus found him. He worked for occupying Rome, hired to take taxes from his community, and possibly stole some for himself too. He was hated by his neighbours. Matthew always remembered who he was when Christ first loved him. I like that. Second, Matthew loves more than any other gospel writer to reference the Old Testament, writings that were around years and years before Jesus was born. Matthew was looking for Christ and his promises...
